“Caught Up into an Exceedingly High Mountain,” Liahona, Feb. 2025.
Historical Perspectives on the House of the Lord
“Caught Up into an Exceedingly High Mountain”
Like the prophets who had remarkable visions of the eternities, we can see in the endowment the Savior’s role in the plan of salvation and learn how to prepare for the day when we will literally enter His and His Father’s presence.
Early photograph of the Kirtland Temple
As the Prophet of the Restoration, Joseph Smith was blessed to witness remarkable visions of the eternities. He saw the Savior more than once and experienced in vision “what was, and now is, and yet is to be.”
Joseph was not the only prophet to have such visions. The scriptures contain several accounts of faithful people who witnessed a view of the eternities. Abraham saw the eternities, including the premortal Council in Heaven and the Creation of the earth (see Abraham 3; 4). Moses was “caught up into an exceedingly high mountain” and was taught all things “concerning this earth” (Moses 1:1, 36), including the Creation, the Fall of Adam and Eve, and the saving mission of Jesus Christ. Enoch, Nephi, and John the Revelator had comparable visions through which they gained prophetic perspective (see Moses 7; 1 Nephi 11–15; Revelation 1).
Have you ever read these accounts and wished you could have a similar experience? What would it be like to see the expanse of the Father’s plan with your eyes and hear His voice with your ears?
The Endowment Gave the Saints a View of the Eternities
In Kirtland, Ohio, USA, Joseph sought to prepare other early Saints for the privilege of catching a glimpse of the eternities for themselves like the ancient prophets. As the Saints built the Kirtland Temple, the Lord promised that “all the pure in heart” who entered that first latter-day temple would “see God” (Doctrine and Covenants 97:16).
Joseph urged the Saints to prepare physically and spiritually to receive this blessing. They fasted, prayed, studied the gospel, washed their bodies, and dressed in clean clothing. Then, beginning in January 1836 and culminating with the dedication of the temple and a solemn assembly two months later, many Saints in Kirtland entered the house of the Lord and obtained the promised glimpse of eternity. “The Savior made his appearance to some,” Joseph wrote in his journal, “while angels ministered unto others.” Echoing the Lord’s promise that He would endow the Saints with power in His house, Joseph Smith referred to these experiences as an “endowment indeed.”
The time surrounding the Kirtland Temple dedication was a remarkable moment, a sacred season, one of the great miracles in the early history of the Church. And through the visitation of heavenly messengers in that temple, the Lord gave the Prophet Joseph Smith the keys required to carry out future temple work (see Doctrine and Covenants 110).
A few years later in Nauvoo, Illinois, USA, the Church had grown. Thousands of new converts who had not experienced the “endowment of power” in Kirtland streamed in from the Church’s missions in England and throughout the United States.
As the Saints gathered to Nauvoo, the Lord inspired Joseph Smith to use dramatic reenactment in the endowment to present a grand vision of the Lord’s plan. This reenactment of the Creation, the Fall, and our eventual return to the presence of God through the saving mission of Jesus Christ was at the heart of a repeatable endowment ceremony performed in temples. It allowed the Saints to participate for themselves and for their ancestors. While different from the visionary experiences recounted by Abraham and Moses, the content at the heart of the ordinance was the same.
The endowment situated participants in a cosmic narrative. Instead of simply reading about a prophetic vision, the Saints were taught about the eternities through sights and sounds. They became actors in the story as they made covenants that would help them return to God’s presence. It was as if they were Nephi on the mountain or Joseph Smith in Kirtland. And the same Spirit that taught the prophets could instruct them as they participated in the endowment ceremony.
Photograph of Nauvoo Illinois Temple by Shane Michael Bezzant
The Endowment Put Their Daily Concerns in Perspective
Participating in the endowment in the Nauvoo Temple helped put the Saints’ day-to-day concerns and difficult trials in perspective. It reassured them of the Savior’s love and reminded them of the glorious future that awaited those who make and keep covenants. Reflecting on the Saints’ forced departure from Nauvoo and their long trek to a new home in Utah, Sarah P. Rich testified, “If it had not been for the faith and knowledge that was bestowed upon us in that temple by the influence and help of the Spirit of the Lord, our journey would have been like one taking a leap in the dark.”
President Russell M. Nelson affirmed Sarah’s observation when he taught that the instruction and covenants of the endowment “elevate us beyond the limits of our own power and perspective.”
“Each temple is a house of learning,” President Nelson declared. “There we are taught in the Master’s way. His way differs from modes of others.” Alluding to how spiritual preparation, such as scripture study, can enhance our temple experience, President Nelson added, “A review of ancient scripture is even more enlightening after one is familiar with the temple endowment.”
Over time, the methods used to present the glorious truths of the plan of salvation in temples have changed from Church members playing the roles to a filmed presentation that has been translated into many languages. Regardless of the mode of presentation, millions of Latter-day Saints over the past 180 years have been blessed by the expanded eternal vista they experience when they ascend the mount by entering the house of the Lord.