I hope you enjoy some insights from my Come, Follow Me for Doctrine and Covenants 49-50. If you missed last week’s insight, Doctrine and Covenants 45-48 click here for it. Please share this with your friends or use this picture to save this pin to read later:
Marriage is ordained of God.
And again, verily I say unto you, that whoso forbiddeth to marry is not ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man.
Wherefore, it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh, and all this that the earth might answer the end of its creation
Doctrine and Covenants 49:15-16
Today the world debates, “What is marriage?” For Latter-day Saints, we don’t need to debate. We have the revealed word of God. The LORD has declared that marriage is NOT simply two people who love each other, nor is marriage simply two people who want to be with each other. Marriage is Ordained of God, and defined by Him as one man and one woman. Marriage was introduced by God in the Garden of Eden, He performed the first marriage, and as an act of God, it is meant to last forever.
But today marriage is under assault. Satan is busy undermining every aspect of the plan of salvation, and nowhere is his work more visible than the assault on marriage. Less than 20 years ago, in 2004, this was a speech given on the floor of the United States Senate: “I believe that marriage is not just a bond, but a sacred bond between a man and a woman. I have had occasion in my life to defend marriage. To stand up for marriage. To believe in the hard work and challenge of marriage. So I take umbrage at anyone who might suggest that those of us who worry about amending the Constitution are less committed to the sanctity of marriage or to the fundamental, bedrock principle that it exists between a man and a woman going back into the mists of history as one of the founding, foundational institutions of history and humanity and civilization”
Who said this? Surely it was a Latter-day Saint Senator? Right? No. It was Hillary Clinton (listen for yourself). She was claiming that both wings of our government stood squarely on the side of marriage as God defined it in Doctrine and Covenants 49:15-16 as being between one and man and one woman. She claimed there was no reason or need to amend the Constitution to mirror Doctrine and Covenants 49:15-16. But over the last 17 years, the majority of the world has abandoned those principles of marriage, and it has been redefined because this amendment failed. Now in the USA marriage is simply whatever the changing opinion of the courts dictates that it is. What was once universally accepted and viewed almost as redundant, one might even say stupidly obvious, has become controversial and decisive. Simply stating that you believe that marriage has been defined by God as between one man and one woman (as He did in this verse) many consider to be hate speech! (For more on this aspect see this article, From Stupidly Obvious to Controversial and Divisive: The Family Proclamation 25 Years Later)
Returning to the topic at hand, God-ordained marriage is meant not to end with death do you part, but to last for eternity. In the Temple, you can be married by someone holding authority from God, this temple marriage is called being sealed. In the temple, one is married by the power of God, in the manner approved by God, and for the duration appointed by God, eternity.
In temple marriage, one can finally understand why God has ordained marriage. It is the ordinance whereby we enter into the patriarchal order of the priesthood; where we covenant with God to be faithful and true to our spouse, our God, and our covenants. In return, He promises that we shall become like Him, we shall enjoy eternal increase. That is the purpose of marriage, to enable us to reach our potential as sons and daughters of God.
President Russell M. Nelson
Apostolic Witnesses.
“And the day cometh that you shall hear my voice and see me, and know that I am.”
Doctrine and Covenants 50:45
Jesus Christ is the head of our Church, and He leads it through His Apostles and Prophet. They both talk with Him and have seen Him. A few years ago, Elder Christofferson spoke at UVU, before he spoke to the students he spoke to the Institute professors and staff. He was point-blank asked if he had seen Christ, his reply was straightforward: One cannot bear witness of the Resurrection and Divinity of Christ without having had a first-hand witness.
When he came out and talked with the students the address was all about Watergate (an odd topic) overall it was rather uneventful, but then he ended with this. “I testify of the reality of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ (He then paused for a few seconds) I am a witness of the resurrection!”
As he said these words the Spirit testified to my soul “He knows, He has seen Jesus Christ, He is an Apostle.” I find the words of Boyd K Packer and Bruce R. McConkie amazing on this topic. In one of his final Conference addresses President Packer said:
“And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!
“For we saw him” (D&C 76:22–23).Their words are my words.
I believe and I am sure that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He lives. He is the Only Begotten of the Father, and “by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (D&C 76:24).
I bear my witness that the Savior lives. I know the Lord. I am His witness. I know of His great sacrifice and eternal love for all of Heavenly Father’s children. I bear my special witness in all humility but with absolute certainty, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”
The Witness By President Boyd K. Packer April 2014