Entering the Holy Order (Part 2)

Entering the Holy Order (Part 2)



https://unblogmysoul.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/entering-the-holy-order-part-2/





Holy Order

Continued from Part 1

The Holy Order thus becomes a grand effect, a glorious outcome of the priesthood we presently hold, which we may seek and obtain!

10 And again, verily I say unto you that it is your privilege, and a promise I give unto you that have been ordained unto this ministry, that inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am—not with the carnal neither natural mind, but with the spiritual. (D&C 67:10)

The bridge between these two priesthood orders is entering into the presence of God. We enter the Melchizedek priesthood by ordination under the hands of men. When we come to understand what our calling truly is, and we magnify that holy calling with perfect resolve, we will in time be invited into the Divine Presence, and ordained into the Holy Order which will exist in Zion.

57 And are priests of the Most High, after the order of Melchizedek, which was after the order of Enoch, which was after the order of the Only Begotten Son. (D&C 76:57)

Thus, all these promised blessings are but many manifestations of the same grand blessing of becoming a Zion individual. As we have detailed in the proceeding pages, these blessings are:

1) Being sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise,

2) The Second Comforter and entering the presence of God

3) Translation or some other "endowment"

4) Entering the Holy Order

5) Receiving fullness of the Priesthood

6) Receive all the Father has

7) Membership in Zion

8) Membership in the Church of the Firstborn

9) Membership in the Church of Enoch and Order of Enoch

10) Becoming Priests and Kings of the Most High

Such are the nearly unfathomable blessings of our Priesthood.

This glorious transition from our present calling in the Kingdom, into the Holy Order is much more deliberate and demanding than the transition from elder to high priest might be presently perceived. It is not a natural progression that one simply waits until maturity or some other natural trigger moves us on. Obtaining ordination under the hands of God into the Holy Order is a blessing that we must actually be Holy to obtain.

Obtaining the Holy Order is not the byproduct of long and faithful service alone. It is the result of specifically seeing this grand promise through the lens of revealed truth as the destiny and promise of your life, and in a series of inspired strides that never waver, to allow the Master Sculpture to reshape our lives into purity and holiness. Obtaining the Holy Order is a result of an inspired decision, of a diamond-hard determination to lay anything and everything upon the altar that is required to arrive there.

It bears being said that such a pursuit will not be the desire of every heart, nor the ordained pathway for every soul. It is not normally required of mankind to be a member of the Holy Order, Zion or to be translated to enter the Celestial Kingdom, nor to receive the highest exaltation available to mortals. We must, however, obtain the fullness of the priesthood in this life or the next in order to be exalted.

There is no exaltation in the kingdom of God without the fulness of priesthood. (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation,3: 132.)

Since the fullness of the priesthood, the Holy Order and Zion are closely associated, it becomes obvious that we will at some point pass through this degree of worthiness on our way to the Celestial Kingdom. The only question then is whether we do it in this life, thus obtaining the blessings of Zion, or wait until the next, and miss being a part of these glorious mortal privileges, and also miss being a builder of Zion.

As a people these blessings are required to enable us to build Zion. If as an individual it is our foreordained duty to be a part of the latter-day Zion, then we cannot expect to be exalted without accomplishing this great labor. It is a grand personal epiphany when one hears the voice of revelation issue the call of Zion, and to thereafter know that they are ordained to be a part of the building of Zion. But, not every righteous soul is ordained to this path, and not every celestial soul will hear the call.

Blessed are you if your ordained pathway crosses other thorny ground, or ends in some other real estate than Zion. But, in my humble opinion, far more blessed are those whose feet fall upon the holy soil of Zion, and whose destiny it is to engage and conquer in this, the greatest endeavor mankind will ever undertake; to build the City of the Living God, end the telestial world, receive the conquering Christ at His return, and invite the millennial era of peace to begin.

Brother John

Next time: Part 3

© May 2011, John M. Pontius, all rights reserved. Non-commercial reproduction permitted