The eighth lesson in the Joseph Smith manual for our course of study this year is entitled, “The Everlasting Priesthood.” Of course, as we’ve had the restored gospel since the time of Joseph Smith, the Priesthood is familiar to us, but Joseph was revealing things to the early Saints that were beyond their normal parameters, and I can only imagine how they felt when the concept of the Priesthood was introduced to them.
We are taught in this lesson that the Priesthood is everlasting and has been held by the prophet in charge of every dispensation in the world’s history. The keys of the Priesthood are sent down to earth every time the gospel is sent, and it is by Adam’s authority that the keys are delivered.
The ordinances of the Priesthood as we have them today were established in the beginning by God, and they must be kept in the way He has established. They can’t be used unless it is done in wisdom and order. We remember the story of Cain in the Book of Genesis. He did not administer his sacrifice in the way he had been commanded, and he was cursed for it. Those who seek to officiate in the ordinances of the Priesthood must do it properly, as has been revealed to us.
God reveals Himself through the channel of the Melchizedek Priesthood. Knowledge, doctrine and every important matter revealed by heaven comes through the Melchizedek Priesthood. We can’t attain perfection without the Priesthood—in order to become perfect, we must know the workings of God, and we can’t do that without it being revealed to us, and we need the keys of the Priesthood in order to have that revelation. *Tristi’s note: Women can have revelation too – this lesson is not meant to indicate that men are the only ones entitled to personal revelation. Women can also learn the deeper things of the Gospel.
Having the Priesthood is not a right, it is a privilege, and all men should revere it and treat it as such, a tool to be used in doing our Heavenly Father’s work on earth.
Related Blogs:
Home Teaching: Beyond the Lessons
Do Mormons Think They Have the Only True Church?
Give Heed Unto the Prophet’s Words