What is
the sealing power?
Behold, I give unto you power,
that whatsoever ye shall seal
on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this people.
Helaman
10: 7-10
Nephi was trusted with this power because, as it says in
verse 5: “all things shall be done unto thee according
to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.”
Jesus Christ also possessed this power, and exercised it
throughout His ministry. All power in heaven and earth was given to Christ
while he was here on earth (Matt 28: 18) He extended that power to his servants
beginning with the apostle Peter, saying:
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it.
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the
kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Matt
16: 18-19
The Prophet Joseph Smith received the keys to use this
power from the prophet Elijah in 1836. (See D&C 110) Joseph Smith sealed
those keys and powers upon his successors, to our current prophet today, Thomas
S. Monson. President Monson is the only person on the earth who possesses the
sealing power as given to Elijah and the prophets and apostles of old. While he
may delegate those powers to other men throughout the world to make them
accessible to us, all those who have received the sealing power can trace their
authority back to the prophets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
How is
the sealing power used today?
The primary purpose of the sealing power in our lives
today is to be sealed together for time and all eternity in our families. By
entering into one of the many temples throughout the world with our families,
we are able to stand before a man with this authority, and he declares that our
family will be together forever. God honors this declaration on two
conditions—that the sealing was offered by someone who possesses the proper
authority, and that we honor the promises which we will make with God at that
time. They are no different than the covenant we make at baptism—therefore, if
we will continue to obey our baptismal covenants, we will always be worthy to
be sealed in the temple.
So, what
is an eternal family?
In the strictest sense, an eternal family is a husband
and wife who have made covenants in the temple to be together for time and all
eternity. The children who are born to them after their sealing are born in the
covenant, and will automatically be sealed to them if the children accept the
gospel for themselves. Children may also be sealed to their parents and choose
to become part of an eternal family after their birth.
The Book of Mormon teaches about eternal families in Moroni 8:
10 Behold I say unto you that this thing
shall ye teach—repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable
and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be
baptized, and humble themselves as their little children,
and they shall all be saved with their
little children.
Being sealed to our families provides us with the
blessings we most desire in the Church. Because they are so important, problems
and misunderstandings with regards to being sealed can be some of the more
painful experiences we have in the Church. I want to address some of these
today through questions I know many of us have. I pray that as I address these
sensitive subjects that I will be able to provide you with helpful suggestions,
peace of mind and heart, needed healing, and a more determined resolution to
serve the Lord in his great work of Salvation.
How can
the blessings and promises of the sealing power bring me closer to my spouse?
Adam and Eve provide the example which every couple
desires to follow.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my
bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken
out of Man.
24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto
his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Genesis
2: 23-24
Christ echoed this same teaching in the New Testament
when He taught:
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye
not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave
father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one
flesh?
6
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined
together, let not man put asunder.
Matt
19: 4-6
When Christ was teaching this doctrine, he was not
referring to marriage. He was referring to something far more permanent. It
operates under the assumption that the relationship does not exist until death
do you part, but continues after death.
The entire purpose of being sealed is to become united in
love and trust with your spouse. It is the opportunity to create an unbreakable
bond with someone in a spirit of openness and honesty, sharing yourself with
someone you can trust to love and appreciate you for who you are. It is an
equal relationship of acceptance and kindness, where any injury felt by one
person is felt by the other.
This unity is not necessarily accomplished by becoming
the same person. It means to be a complement to each other—to depend on each
other, and to be each other’s strength. You may be very different from your
spouse, as I have come to recognize that I am a near polar opposite from mine.
But in this recognition, I see how very much I need him, and how incomplete my
life would be without him. And in many ways, I’m coming to recognize how much he
needs me. As it says in 1 Corinthians 11:11:
Nevertheless neither is the man
without the woman, neither the woman
without the man, in the Lord.
Our minds may be different, but when we agree we are
unstoppable. I rely so much on his wisdom and quiet example, and he relies on
my affection and determination. For us, being sealed together has provided so
much opportunity for growth, and our love for each other is deeper now than it
was before we got married. The only hope we have of receiving eternal life is
with each other, because together we have so much more to offer the Lord. Being
sealed to my husband has put my choices and my future into a very different
perspective
What
happens if I am not sealed to my family? Will I still be able to be with them after
I die?
When we are sealed, we receive a promise to come forth in
the first resurrection. In D&C 132: 19, we can read this promise. It’s a
very long verse, so I will only read a section of it:
And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry
a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new
and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed
unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise,
by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys
of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them—Ye shall come forth in the
first resurrection…
We will all live again after we die because of the
Atonement of Jesus Christ. Because He was resurrected, we all shall be
resurrected. We will become immortal, never to die again. This will happen
regardless of who we are or what we do—it is a free gift to help us overcome
death.
However, this does not mean that we will continue
together with our families—this blessing is only given to those who decide to
be sealed, and who enter the Celestial Kingdom together. When we are sealed, we
are promised that we will come forth as a family in the 1st
resurrection—but it depends on each family member keeping their part of the
promise. We all will be judged, and the fact that we are sealed will not
override the decision of our judgment. If we do not keep our promises to the
Lord, we have broken our agreement with Him and He is no longer bound to keep
up His end of the agreement. (D&C 82:10) We have no guarantee that we will
live with Him again, but fortunately He is the only one who will decide our
fate. But that is why He makes His expectations exceedingly clear throughout
the scriptures, including in John 14: 21:
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth
them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved
of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest
myself to him.
If someone does not want to live in God’s presence
according to His laws and commandments, He will not force anyone to do so. In
order to achieve an eternal family, all family members must decide together
that this is what they want. Alma taught this to his son Corianton when he
said:
Therefore, O my son, whosoever
will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely; and whosoever will
not come the same is not compelled to come; but in the last day it shall be restored
unto him according to his deeds.
Alma
42: 27
No one will ever be prevented from coming to God who
wants to be in His presence. But the condition will always be that we keep His
commandments. (D&C 76: 50-53) If we want no one to be left behind, we have
to decide that individually for ourselves, and together as a family. When each
family member feels responsible for their part of an eternal family, this is
when a family can truly progress together.
What if
my family members have chosen not to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ and are
not sealed to me?
With time and patience, every good person who deserves to
live in the presence of God will make it back to His presence. I believe this
because I have seen it powerfully enough in my own family.
I was promised that my father would accept the gospel if
I would pray for Him and forgive Him for all that has happened between us. This
was the hardest thing I have ever been asked to do. My father and I have been
estranged for nearly 10 years, and we did not reconcile before his death in
2009. I still struggle to be at peace with him—but that is because of my own
weakness. He has since accepted the gospel, has become a priesthood holder, and
I trust that he praises God every day for giving Him a second chance. If my
father can be baptized, anybody can. If my father has a hope to be sealed to
his family, to become a member of an eternal family, every person on this earth
can receive that blessing. My father’s life is a testimony that everyone can be
saved by the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
My mother is not interested in the Church, and at times I
wonder if she will ever accept the gospel. But then I remember that she has an
entire wonderful family on the other side of the veil waiting for her.
There is a promise in Malachi that reads:
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers
to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come
and smite the earth with a curse.
Malachi
4: 5-6
Joseph Smith expounded on this promise in D&C 128: 18
when he said of our ancestors:
For we without them cannot be made perfect;
neither can they without us be made perfect.
My mother is the perfect example of someone who cannot be
saved without her family. She loves her family more than anything in this
world—it’s the closest thing she has to understand what believing in God is
really like. She would change her entire life to be with her family forever.
And they love her dearly. They reach out to her continually. The times she is
most receptive to the gospel are when we are discussing her family history. She
loves to talk about it, and to be touched by the lives of her ancestors. She
craves that association. When my mother truly understands the doctrine of
eternal families, she will be baptized. Because I know her, I can also say with
confidence that she will probably refuse to be baptized for any other reason.
In the meantime, I need to continue providing the
ordinances of the temple to her family members—linking them to her so that she
might receive this blessing. So much depends on us doing our genealogy and
family history work. And I know that if the veil could be parted for just a
moment, for us to see our kindred dead who have passed on, we would see them
all around us—helping their descendants who need to receive the gospel. I love
my ancestors, and I know that because of the ordinances of the temple, we will
be an eternal family someday.
If there is still a lot of work to do in your family, don’t
lose hope. Keep trying. Good things will happen if you are patient and
persistent.
What if
my family members are sealed to me, but they choose to leave the Church and
choose not to live according to the Lord’s standards anymore? Will they still
be sealed to me forever?
There is a temptation to think sometimes that as soon as
someone decides to leave the Church, or break a commandment—that’s it for them.
Especially if they went through the temple—they are punished even more severely
for falling short of the glory of God. They don’t qualify for any more help, they
get no more blessings, and God is so offended with them that He literally turns
His back on them. The justification that comes along with this belief is that
we don’t need to do anything to help them because they made their choice. If
they want to come back, they’ll come back—and they are only worth our time if
they decide to stay.
But the scriptures are full of examples of God doing the
exact opposite. God understands that when we push Him away is when we need Him
the most. We may wonder if He has forgotten us, or our family members who have
strayed, but He NEVER stops trying to save His children. He would never give up
on His children because they are precious to Him!
Many times, the help He extends to those who have wandered
comes exactly because they ARE sealed to Him and to their families. He has
every right to decide to uphold His end of the agreement, even when they have
not. I saw Him do this often as a missionary. He wants you all to know that He
is still doing this today—here, now—for every family in this ward.
Once when the Lord’s people were so full of iniquity that
God could have cast them off forever, He still chose to be patient:
Nevertheless, for my name’s
sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain from thee, that
I cut thee not off.
1
Nephi 20: 9
It is not up to us to decide who God should try to save,
and who has wandered too far for too long. There is NO SUCH THING as too far,
or for too long. God doesn’t believe in it, and neither should we. He loves all
of His children, and if we could fathom that love enough, we would not be
sitting here—content, and sometimes even bored. We would be on our feet, saving
souls. And if we are the soul who needs saving, we will be wise and ask for
help.
I promise you that if you will approach Our Father in
Heaven in prayer, and ask Him what your family needs most in order to become an
eternal family, He will answer your prayers. He will instruct you through the
Spirit what changes you most need to make to come closer to that goal. If you
implement that instruction, I cannot tell you what will happen. But our God is
a God of miracles, and I know that at the very least, it will be exactly what
you needed all along.
I know that this Church is the true Church of Jesus
Christ here on the earth. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet; that he was
endowed from on high with the sealing power. I know President Monson holds that
sealing power today. If we will make the necessary sacrifices, we all can be
sealed to our families forever. I leave my witness with you that Jesus is the
Christ. Every good thing that comes into our lives is a blessing from His
Atonement.
May we love Him more fervently and with more devotion is
my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
