Haggai's Question

History confirms that following Lehi's departure in 600 BC, Jerusalem was in fact destroyed in 587 BC  by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar.  Many of the inhabitants perished.  Others were carried captive into Babylon.  Some few were scattered.  These scattered Jews later returned to the ruins of Jerusalem and the regions round about.  They intermarried with the Assyrians and others.  Their descendants became the biblical Samaritans.


About 50 years later, Babylon fell to the Persians under Cyrus the Great in 538 BC.  Cyrus granted the Jews permission to return to Israel to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple (as prophesied by Isaiah, see Isaiah 45).  Many of the Jews chose to remain in Babylon, but about 40,000 returned to Jerusalem under the leadership of Zerubbabel sometime between 538 and 520 BC.  Following their return, these Jews commenced the work of rebuilding the temple which had been destroyed.  


As work on the temple commenced, the Samaritans initially offered to help with the reconstruction.  Their offer, however, was refused by the Jews due to perceived corruptions in the Samaritan's religious practices. Once spurned, the Samaritans began to oppose and hinder the reconstruction effort.  This opposition, combined with the hardships of rebuilding the city and surviving in an area that had been abandoned for roughly 50 years and had become somewhat uninhabitable, effectively ground the temple effort to a halt.  


Roughly sixteen years later, Haggai enters the scene with a message from the Lord.  By this time the people had begun to prosper by degrees, but the temple still sat with no more than a foundation completed and the altar of sacrifice restored.  Haggai comes with a challenge from the Lord to "Consider your ways." (Haggai 1:5,7)


The Lord states that the people are now living in paneled homes but His house still lies in ruins.  He states the the people have sown much but reaped little in return.  They have earned wages only to put them in a bag with holes (Haggai 1:4-6).  (Anyone with teenagers can relate!)


Following his summary of their circumstances, the Lord again asks the people to consider their ways. 


Fortunately they did.  They repented and within a few years had completed and dedicated the temple to the Lord.  (This is the temple to which the Savior visited and cleansed during his lifetime.)


Haggai's question is still a good one for us today.  Consider our ways.  We don't have to make great sacrifices to construct temples as the Lord's people have done in the past.  Most of us have fairly convenient access to them.  But do we utilize them as we should?  Do we live in nice homes while the house of the Lord sits idle or vacant (at least as far as our presence there)?


Temple work is not just another "program" in the Church.  Elder Russell M. Nelson taught:  “The temple is the object of every activity, every lesson, every progressive step in the Church. All of our efforts in proclaiming the gospel, perfecting the Saints, and redeeming the dead lead to the holy temple. Ordinances of the temple are absolutely crucial. We cannot return to God's glory without them.” ("Prepare for the Blessings the Temple," Temple magazine, 41)


Brigham Young once stated, "We have a work to do just as important in its sphere as the Savior's work was in its sphere.  Our fathers cannot be made perfect without us; we cannot be made perfect without them.  They have done their work and now sleep.  We are now called upon to do ours; which is to be the greatest work man ever performed on the earth."


I heard once that the average recommend in the church is used 1 - 3 times a year with one of those times being a wedding or other family event.  I don't know if this statistic is accurate.  Hopefully, it is not for our family.  


Attending weekly has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.  I feel so fortunate to live less than 5 miles from a temple.  Some of the most sacred experiences of my life have occurred in the temple.  Though I still fall so short, it has made me a better person, a better husband, and a better father.  One of the great, and unexpected, blessings to me has been an increased sweetness and closeness in my marriage with Traci.  Others who attend weekly have noted this effect in their marriages as well.  Someone once asked a great question about our marriages.  If your wife (or husband) could still have her (or his) children but could chose whether or not to have you in their life, would they still want you there?  If the answer to that question is not a resounding yes, then perhaps we have some work to do.  One of the best ways I know to improve your marriage is to increase your temple attendance.


In saying this, I recognize that everyone's situation varies.  (Plus some people, like Mac and Rachel, chose to live in their own zip code for reasons only they understand.  They don't have convenient access.)  Traci and I attended weekly when we were first married.  Later when we had young children our attendance dropped to monthly and then quarterly. There were probably a few years when we only went once or twice in an entire year.  Everyone's situation is different and you alone can evaluate yours.  However, if you are in a position to do so, I encourage you to attend weekly.  It will impact your life in a different way than attending monthly or less frequently.


Don't worry if you don't understand it all.  It takes time and repetition. Start by learning the 5 main covenants we make in the endowment. Can you name them?   I feel like after all these years, I'm just starting to get it.  Adam offered sacrifice for many years before an angel appeared to him and explained what he was doing (Moses 5:5-7).  This is part of the process the Lord uses to test and try us.  Because of this price we pay as we gain answers and insights they have greater meaning and purpose to us when they come.  That which is easily earned is cheaply valued.  


In this respect, our current version of the Book of Mormon is the same.  The Lord could have given us much more, but we are told "and when they shall have received this, which is expedient that they should have first, to try their faith, and if it shall so be that they shall believe these things then shall the greater things be made manifest unto them." (3 Ne. 26:9).  We are all on trial with respect to the Book of Mormon.  The temple is no different.


President David O. McKay once spoke of his niece's first visit to the temple.  He stated:  "Brothers and sisters, she was disappointed in the temple.  Brothers and sisters, I was disappointed in the temple. . . .There are few, even temple workers, who comprehend the full meaning and power of the temple endowment.  Seen for what it is, it is the step-by-step ascent into the Eternal Presence.  If our young people could but glimpse it, it would be the most powerful spiritual motivation of their lives.  (Quoted in, The Temple where Heaven meets Earth; Truman G. Madsen, pages 10,11)


“No man or woman can come out of the temple endowed as he should be, unless he has seen, beyond the symbol, the mighty realities for which the symbols stand…The endowment is so richly symbolic that only a fool would attempt to describe it; it is so packed full of revelations to those who exercise their strength to seek and see, that no human words can explain or make clear the possibilities that reside in temple service.  The endowment which was given by revelation can best be understood by revelation; and to those who seek most vigorously, with pure hearts, will the revelation be greatest.”   John A Widstoe


This takes time.  We are given “line upon line, here a little and there a little”.  Go with a question in your heart.  Go in a spirit of reverence, regularly and patiently and it will begin to unfold to you.


We will return to the Book of Mormon later, but I want to leave it for a time to share a few things that have been helpful to me in understanding the temple.  We won't discuss anything inappropriate.  You may already know these things, but if not, I hope they will be helpful to you as well.  


Let's begin with a discussion of covenants.