Temples & Temple Work

Lesson

Give each person a piece of paper and a crayon or pencil. Ask them to each draw a picture of a temple, and give them a few minutes to do so. Let each person share what they drew.

Explain that it probably was not too hard for them to draw a temple because they know what temples look like. They have seen temples or pictures of temples. However, when Joseph Smith was commanded to build a temple, he had never seen a temple or even a picture of one. The Lord revealed the plans for the Kirtland Temple to the Prophet Joseph in a vision.

The plans for the Kirtland Temple (show this picture) were shown to the First Presidency of the Church—Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams—in a vision. Frederick G. Williams reported that the Lord told Joseph to gather with his counselors, and the Lord would show them how to build the temple (see D&C 95:14).

The three men knelt to pray, and they saw a vision of the temple. First they saw the outside, and then the building seemed to pass over them and they saw the inside. Frederick G. Williams said that when the Kirtland Temple was completed it looked exactly as it had in the vision. During the building of the temple someone tried to get Joseph Smith to change some of the design, but Joseph insisted that the temple be built just as it appeared in the vision.

The Lord commanded the Saints to build the Kirtland Temple because he needed a place where he and other heavenly messengers could come to restore essential keys of the priesthood. The Saints also needed a place where they could meet together and learn from their leaders. Building the Kirtland Temple was a great task, but the members worked hard and had faith that the Lord would help them do what he had asked them to do.

Later in January 1841 Joseph Smith received a revelation commanding the Saints to build a temple in Nauvoo, Illinois (see D&C 124:26–44). The Prophet selected, and the Lord approved, a site on a hill overlooking the city (see D&C 124:43).

The plans for the Nauvoo Temple (show this picture), like the plans for the Kirtland Temple, were revealed to Joseph Smith in a vision. Joseph Smith told the architect (the man who drew the plans for the temple) how the temple should look.

Before the Nauvoo Temple was built, some temple ordinances were performed in places other than a temple, since there was no temple available. Baptisms for the dead were performed in the river. When the Lord commanded the Saints to build the Nauvoo Temple, however, he told them that after a certain time baptisms for the dead done outside the temple would no longer be acceptable to him (see D&C 124:29–32). Therefore, rooms in the temple were dedicated and used as soon as they were completed. Because the baptismal font was in the basement of the temple, it was ready for use before the rest of the temple was completed. Baptisms for the dead were begun in the temple in November 1841, when the outside walls of the temple had not yet reached the first-story windowsills.

One of the sacred temple ordinances is called the endowment. This ordinance helps us become more like Heavenly Father and prepares us to live in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. As part of the endowment we make covenants, or promises, with Heavenly Father. Most members of the Church receive the endowment just before going on a mission or getting married. After receiving the endowment, Church members can be married in the temple for time and eternity. When a husband and wife are married in the temple, their children who are born afterwards are automatically sealed to them. This is called being born in the covenant. Children who were born before their parents were sealed to each other can be sealed to their parents in the temple. In the temple we can also be endowed and sealed vicariously for people who were not able to receive these ordinances while they lived on the earth.

Several upstairs rooms of the Nauvoo Temple were finished and dedicated for endowment work at the end of November 1845, and the first endowments were given a week and a half later.

Watch Temples – difference between chapels, where Latter-day Saints meet for regular Sunday worship, and temples is also explained. (5:40)

Or watch Elders Bednar and Rasband give a tour of the Rome Italy Temple. They also explain what happens inside temples.

Toddlers

1. Use blocks, legos, or sugar cubes to build your own temple.

2. Make this booklet I Love to See the Temple by cutting on the dotted lines, punch holes where indicated, and thread the pages together in order with yarn or heavy string. Tie the yarn in a bow on the front of the booklet. Turn the pages one by one as you sing “I Love to See the Temple.”

3. Read Jesus Christ Accepts the Kirtland Temple as His House

4. Read Just Like Mommy (page 1 and page 2) a rebus story about being sealed in the temple.

5. Color this picture of a temple.

6. Color Temple Blessings Unite Families

7. Watch I’m Going There Someday about a little girl visiting a temple open house.

Children

1. Watch The Kirtland Temple is Dedicated created from the Doctrine & Covenants Scripture Reader.

2. Listen to Visions in the Kirtland Temple where we learn about the Kirtland Temple dedication and the visions that were received in that temple. The Saints were commanded to build a temple. The temple was dedicated and Joseph Smith had a revelation about the celestial kingdom. In that revelation he learned that those who die before eight years of age or who do not have a chance to accept the gospel (but would have accepted it) go to the celestial kingdom.

3. Read Kirtland and the First Temple to see pictures and learn more about Kirtland, Ohio.

4. Watch The First Endowments created from the Doctrine & Covenants Scripture Reader.

5. Watch Baptism for the Dead | Now You Know What is it? Why does it matter?

6. Listen to A Revelation About Marriage where a Primary teacher and children discuss God, angels, and temples. Joseph Smith told the Saints what angels look like. He told them what Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father look like. Joseph Smith received a revelation on temple marriages. If a couple married in the temple is faithful and obedient, the couple will be married for eternity.

7. Read Beauty Within: Designing a House of the Lord to see what it takes to design a new temple.

8. Read What Do We Do in the Temple? which has pictures of rooms in the Ogden, Utah temple and explanations of what happens in them.

9. Put together the Salt Lake Temple with these pieces.

10. Watch A Year on Temple Square

Teens & Adults

1. Read The Unfolding Restoration of Temple Work in the December 2001 Ensign. What blessings have you received because of the temple?

2. Read Endowed with Covenants and Blessings in the February 1995 Ensign.

3. Read Doctrine & Covenants 131:1-4 and Doctrine & Covenants 132:1-24 about Eternal Marriage. How can an eternal perspective influence the way we feel about marriage and families?

4. Watch Episode 27 – Endowment of Power and Solemn Assembly which takes a look at the events that took place in the temple at Kirtland and how those events shaped the church.

5. Read Baptism for the Dead to learn how this practice was first taught and restored in Nauvoo by Joseph Smith. Have you gone to the temple to do baptisms for your ancestors? If so, write about an experience you had. How did you feel?

6. Read What do We do in the Temple?

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