Lessons on the Book of Mormon 2020
Lesson No. Forty-Six
The Plan of Ordinances - Moroni 2-6
The plan of ordinances – The plan of salvation is the only way that mortals can become like their Heavenly Parents. In Nauvoo while restoring the doctrine of temple worship Joseph Smith spoke of "the plan of ordinances for the salvation of [Adam's] posterity unto the end" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 167). The term “plan of ordinances” describes an essential part of the plan of salvation.
“An ordinance is a sacred, formal act or ceremony performed by the authority of the priesthood. Some ordinances are essential to our exaltation. They include baptism, confirmation, ordination to the Melchizedek Priesthood (for men), the temple endowment, and the marriage sealing. With each of these ordinances, we enter into solemn covenants with the Lord” (Gospel Topics, Ordinances).
Furthermore, the ordinance of the sacrament keeps us on the covenant path and enables us to endure to the end. All gospel ordinances pertain to and remind us of the atonement of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The plan of ordinances is taught in the Book of Mormon – Moroni 2 – 6, teaches about baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, priesthood ordinations, and the sacrament. “Moroni had seen our times (see Mormon 8:35), and he was inspired to ‘write a few more things, that perhaps they may be of worth…in some future day’ (Moroni 1:4). He knew that widespread apostacy was coming, bringing with it confusion about priesthood ordinances and religion in general….
“Because of the Great Apostasy, many people today are confused about how ordinances must be performed – and even whether they are needed at all” (Come Follow Me 2020, Nov 30 – Dec 6).
The plan of ordinances, as taught in the temple, unlock the full power of the atonement of Jesus Christ – “Whenever the Lord has had a people on the earth who will obey his word, they have been commanded to build temples in which the ordinances of the gospel…that pertain to exaltation and eternal life may be administered” (LDS Bible Dictionary, Temple, p. 781).
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that "the ordinances of the gospel...were laid out before the foundations of the world" and "are not to be altered or changed. All must be saved on the same principles....If a man gets the fulness of the priesthood of God, he has to get it in the same way that Jesus Christ obtained it, and that was by keeping all the commandments and obeying all the ordinances of the House of the Lord" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 367, 308).
Elder John A. Widtsoe taught that “power is knowledge made useful and active”. We learn the plan of Salvation though latter day scriptures and prophets. This knowledge is made useful and active through the ordinances of the gospel as we keep our covenants. Remission of sins is extended through the ordinance of baptism. We retain a remission of our sins from week to week through the ordinance of the sacrament. By receiving temple ordinances and living temple covenants we receive the full redemptive power of the Lord’s atonement.
Ordinances are eternal – We only have a rudimentary understanding of ordinances and their use in the eternal worlds. In the spirit world the Lord taught the righteous spirits, and I believe that it was through an ordinance, that He "gave them power to come forth, after his resurrection from the dead, to enter into his Father's kingdom, there to be crowned with immortality and eternal life" (D&C 138:51). In the marriage ordinance, conditioned on our faithfulness, we receive this same blessing and power.
There are ordinances performed in temples in the spirit world which make effective the vicarious work we do in our temples. (See The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, P. 252-53)
The priesthood and priesthood ordinances are eternal and essential. Ordinances are performed by the priesthood in the pre-earth life, in mortality, in the spirit world, and in eternity after the resurrection.
Ordinances are necessary in order to stay on the covenant path – “Ordinances and covenants help us remember who we are. They remind us of our duty to God. The Lord has provided them to help us come unto Him and receive eternal life” (Gospel Topics, Ordinances).
I have a vivid memory of receiving each of the ordinances of salvation and exultation. I was baptized at age eight in a font in the lower level of the Tabernacle on Temple Square. I was given the gift of the Holy Ghost the next day in the Lincoln Ward which is part of the Granite Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. I received the temple endowment in the Logan Temple (the Salt Lake Temple was closed) just prior to leaving for my mission in April 1963. I was married to my eternal companion in the Salt Lake Temple on March 15, 1968.
The memory of the ordinances and the associated covenants that Sue and I have received remind us of our great potential and the blessings we have been given. Our understanding of these ordinances have been a great motivation to stay on the covenant path. They give us the strongest desire to be faithful and endure to the end. Receiving all the ordinances necessary to stay on the covenant path and endure to the end is our greatest desire for each of our children, for our grandchildren, and for our dear friends.