Some Say Temples Are No Longer Needed - What Are The Facts?

Jacob, the Old Testament prophet, equated the "house of God" to "the gate of heaven". [Gen 28:17] Modern revelation affirms that in a very real sense, the highest kingdom of heaven can only be obtained through the ordinances of the temple. [D & C 131:1-2] Although most Christians today recognize the importance of the temple to ancient Israel, they seem to ignore references to temple worship in the New Testament church. They reason that temples were only for blood sacrifices and that when Christ became the final sacrificial "Lamb of God" , blood sacrifices and the need for temples were "done away". [see 2 Cor. 3:14; Heb 9:1-28; 10:1-20]

Those who hold that temples are no longer required ignore the biblical teachings that the Lord will return suddenly at the last day "to his temple" [Mal 3:1-2] and that the anti-Christ will reveal himself "in the temple of God". [2 Thes 2:4] We are also told by John the Revelator that those who "wash their robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb" will serve God "day and night in his temple". [Rev 7:14-15] We might ask them who will build this temple and why will it be used "day and night" if the work is no longer needed?

We should also note that Christ and his disciples often taught and worshiped in the temple. Christ, according to all four gospels, "taught daily in the temple" [Matt 26:55; Mar 14:49; Luke 2:46; 19:47; 21:37-38; John 7:28; 8:20; 18:20] and would not allow men to defile it. [Matt 21:12-15; Mark 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-46; John 2:14-17] There he taught his gospel [Luke 20:1] and healed the blind and the lame. [Matt 21:12-15; Mark 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-46; John 2:14-17] After the resurrection, we find the disciples "continuing daily in the temple" [Acts 2:46] "praising and blessing God". [Luke 24:53] We also find the apostles teaching and healing at the temple as Christ had done. [Acts 3:1-26] Significantly, Paul was praying in the temple and was there visited by the Lord in his glory. [Acts 22:17-18] Later in his first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul asks, "Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? [1 Cor 9:13] How can we live of the things of the temple if there is no temple? If we trust our Bibles, the temple remained the center of Christian worship even after Christ's death. [NOTE: for additional information on early Christian temple rites see Eugene Seaich, Ancient Texts and Mormonism, pp 56-58 and Darrick Evenson, The Gainsayers pp. 79-92]]

The importance of temples and temple work will increase as we enter the millennial period of the earth's history. Bruce R. McConkie has stated:

"Salvation cannot be gained except thought baptism of water and of the Spirit, nor can exaltation be achieved except through temple endowments and the sealing of families together for eternity. These saving and exalting ordinances are performed vicariously in the temples for the worthy dead who did not have the opportunity to receive them in this life. We are commanded to go to with our might, collect all the accurate genealogical data we can, and perform these saving and exalting ordinances for our worthy ancestors. Obviously, due to the frailties, incapacities, and errors of mortal men, and because the records of the past ages are often scanty and inaccurate, this great work cannot be completed for every worthy soul without assistance from on high. The millennial era is the time, primarily, when this assistance will be given by resurrected beings,. Genealogical records unknown to us will then become available. Errors committed by us in sealings or other ordinances will be rectified and all things will be arranged in proper order. Temple work will be the great work of the millennium". [Mormon Doctrine, pp 500-01; see also Doctrines of Salvation, 2:251-52]

After the millennium there will come a day when temples will no longer be required, [Rev 21:22] but that day will not come until the end of the earth [Rev21:1] when God will dwell with his people. [Rev 21:3] Until that day the Lord's people have been commanded to build houses to his holy name [D & C 124:39] that we, therein, might receive his ordinances and the revelation pertaining to this dispensation. [D & C 124:40-41]