Understanding the Symbols, Covenants, and Ordinances of the Temple

There are few, even temple workers, who comprehend the full meaning and power of the temple endowment. Seen for what it is, it is the step-by-step ascent into the Eternal Presence. If our young people could but glimpse it, it would be the most powerful spiritual motivation of their lives!

—David O. McKay

Primary children sing, “I love to see the temple. I’m going there someday,” but with little understanding of what happens once they get there. Even some adults attend the temple regularly without a clear concept of the instruction they receive. Using teachings of living prophets and the scriptures, along with her advanced scholarship of ancient traditions, symbols, and beliefs, Amy Hardison outlines the significance of temple design, covenants, clothing, names, and more as a means of helping Latter-day Saints better comprehend the sacred nature of the house of the Lord.

Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell.

—Brigham Young