Why Are Temple Ordinances for Our Ancestors Important?
Temple ordinances are so important! For baptisms, the spirits who are in prison cannot be released and progress along the covenant path without the proxy work being done for them in the temple. They need to follow the covenant path just as we do so we can return to live with Heavenly Father.
Did you know your ancestors are praying for you? Sister Wendy Nelson has said: “Those who are joining the Church are joining precisely because their ancestors have been praying for one of their posterity to join the Church so that they, the ancestors, can receive their essential ordinances by proxy.”
Preaching to Those in the Spirit World
Each spirit in prison who did not have an opportunity to accept the gospel while on earth is being taught by the spirits who are in the spirit world, and many will accept the gospel, as revealed to President Joseph F. Smith. President Smith was pondering the verses in 1 Peter 3 about how Christ went to visit the spirits in the spirit world during the time when His body was in the tomb and how He was able to preach to so many in so short a time.
This was revealed to President Smith: “From among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead” (Doctrine and Covenants 138:30).
His revelation continues:
“And the chosen messengers went forth to declare the acceptable day of the Lord and proclaim liberty to the captives who were bound, even unto all who would repent of their sins and receive the gospel.
“Thus was the gospel preached to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets.
“These were taught faith in God, repentance from sin, vicarious baptism for the remission of sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands” (Doctrine and Covenants 138:31–33).
Proxy Baptism
Notice in verse 33 they were taught “vicarious baptism.” This is what we do in the temple, proxy baptisms for ancestors who are on the other side of the veil. Each baptism for the dead is witnessed by two people and a recorder who make sure that the proxy goes all the way under the water—his or her whole body is immersed—so that the ancestors are pronounced clean, every bit.
This ordinance was understood by Paul and the New Testament Saints when Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:29).
The Lord’s pattern for baptismal fonts was revealed anciently in the Old Testament. He was very specific when He outlined the way that temple baptismal fonts were supposed to be built.:
“And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.
“And under the brim of it round about there were knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops were cast in two rows, when it was cast.
“It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward” (1 Kings 7:23–25).
This same pattern is the way that baptismal fonts are always built today in temples around the world, from Ogden, Utah, to Accra, Ghana.
Creating a Welding Link
It’s not just baptisms that are to be done in temples for our ancestors. The Lord’s pattern for our salvation is defined by ordinances, up to and including the sealing ordinances. We create a welding link between us and our ancestors when we perform sealing ordinances for spouses and families.
Hence, the scripture that is in all four of our standard works in one form or another:
“And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.
“If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming” (Doctrine and Covenants 2:2, 3).
We need to create that welding link or else the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming! That means the Creation of the world, God sending us to earth in families, the Restoration of the gospel, the Second Coming of our Lord, even the Atonement of Jesus Christ—all would be null and void—the whole earth would be utterly wasted when He comes again.
There is also a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that says: “My dearly beloved brethren and sisters, let me assure you that these are principles in relation to the dead and the living that cannot be lightly passed over, as pertaining to our salvation. For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect” (128:15).
Did you catch that? It is very important! No matter how obedient we are and how we apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we cannot be made perfect without turning our hearts to the fathers (doing proxy work for our ancestors) and they cannot be made perfect without us. We need to do the proxy work in the temple for our ancestors!
So the question is this: How important is salvation to you personally? Are you willing to do the proxy work in the temples for your ancestors? Do you want to be made perfect? If so, you need to remember that their —your ancestors’—salvation is necessary and essential to your salvation.