Sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise
(Doctrine and Covenants 132:7)
Receiving priesthood ordinances and entering into sacred covenants are essential steps in the “quest of a lifetime” to align our hearts, minds, and lives with God’s will.
I learned a vital lesson many years ago from President Boyd K. Packer. He said:
“No matter what citizenship or race, whether male or female, no matter what occupation, no matter your education, regardless of the generation in which one lives, life is a homeward journey for all of us, back to the presence of God.
“Ordinances and covenants become our credentials for admission into His presence. To worthily receive them is the quest of a lifetime; to keep them thereafter is the challenge of mortality.”
I pray the Holy Ghost will instruct and enlighten each of us as we consider the importance of ordinances and covenants as spiritual credentials for our journey home to Heavenly Father.
The Parable of the Passport
I begin with a short story. Once a man wanted to visit family members in a distant country. He planned his trip, packed his suitcase, and traveled by airplane to the city where his relatives lived.
The man excitedly exited the airplane and walked to the passport control checkpoint. He had a valid passport issued by an authorized agency of his country’s government. He presented his passport to a border official, who verified the man’s identity, nationality, and reasons for visiting the country. But the man had not taken good care of his passport. The personal information page had been stained and damaged. And a ripped page had been repaired in an unauthorized manner with tape and glue.
Consequently, the border official rejected his passport and refused to provide the stamp necessary for him to enter the country. The man was disappointed and perplexed about what he should do next.
The lesson of this story is quite simple: the integrity of a passport must be maintained over time. Holding a valid passport provided the opportunity for the man to enter the country, but the passport alone did not guarantee he actually would be allowed to enter the country.
Of course, this simple analogy has limitations. Unlike damage to a physical passport, the adversities and afflictions we experience through no fault of our own do not diminish God’s promises to us or invalidate our covenants.
Covenants, Ordinances, and Promised Blessings
For disciples of Jesus Christ, receiving priesthood ordinances and entering into sacred covenants are essential steps in the “quest of a lifetime” to align our hearts, minds, and lives with God’s will.
A covenant is a solemn promise—an enduring commitment between God and His sons and daughters. God establishes the conditions of all gospel covenants, and His children exercise their moral agency to learn about and consent to what He asks them to do.
Covenants are received through sacred ordinances. An ordinance is a holy act performed by the authority of the priesthood that has spiritual purpose and eternal significance and is related to God’s laws and statutes. Ordinances also teach us about the nature of the covenants we accept in our lives.
The covenants and ordinances of the Savior’s restored gospel are spiritual credentials that can open wide the heavenly windows of opportunity to receive in our lives divine purpose, direction, and strength. God promises His sons and daughters supernal blessings for honoring covenants, including obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Ongoing faithfulness is required for those credentials to be valid and for promised blessings to be received.
The Holy Ghost Is the Holy Spirit of Promise
The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead. He is a personage of spirit, testifies of all truth, and is the witness of and messenger for the Father and the Son.
The Holy Ghost is also described in scripture as the Holy Spirit of Promise, who ratifies or confirms as acceptable to God the righteous acts of His children. Ultimately, all gospel ordinances and covenants must be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise. As the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, “All covenants … not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise … are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead.”
When sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, an ordinance, vow, or covenant is binding on earth and in heaven. This sealing is conditional in mortality and can be broken or forfeited through unrighteousness.
Receiving this ratifying sealing by the Holy Ghost typically is not a one-time event; rather, it comes over time as we repent sincerely and consistently, honor our covenants, and yield our hearts unto God. Righteously seeking for this blessing is “the challenge of mortality,” as described by President Packer.
Just as the man in my passport story needed an authorized stamp in his passport to enter a foreign country, so each of us needs the verifying witness of the Holy Spirit of Promise in order for us to receive the eternal blessings associated with the covenants and ordinances of the Savior’s gospel.
Each of us should ever be grateful for sacred opportunities to “walk in all the ordinances of the Lord” and to receive by the Holy Spirit of Promise, “in process of time,” the ratifying seal that guarantees all promised blessings.
The Sealing Ordinance
The sealing of a man and a woman in the house of the Lord is a crowning covenant and ordinance of the Savior’s restored gospel. And importantly, understanding the doctrinal importance of a sealing ordinance being sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise helps to address, in part, deeply personal questions about whether another person’s choices can deprive a faithful covenant keeper of eternal blessings.
The sealing ordinance includes two fundamental and related parts: (1) the eternal union of a man and a woman in marriage—what may be understood as a lateral sealing—and (2) the sealing of the husband and wife into God’s eternal family and the linking of humankind through all generations—what may be understood as a vertical sealing. Both elements of the ordinance are vital.
The intended and prayed-for outcomes of a temple sealing between a man and a woman include a lifetime of spiritual growth, marital devotion, fidelity, working together to overcome the uncertainties and challenges of mortality, and enduring happiness.
Sometimes, unfortunately, the intended and prayed-for outcomes do not happen. A spouse’s sins, infidelity, personal apostasy, or other difficulties may cause contention, alienation, and even divorce. In these cases, a faithful spouse may ask, “Can the unrighteous exercise of moral agency by another person rob me of what God has promised?” The answer to this question is an emphatic no!
The unworthy actions of a spouse certainly bring heartache and sorrow to the other spouse and family members. However, unrighteousness by one person cannot hinder or thwart the flow of God’s love, strength, and blessings to another person. The power of the Lord’s infinite and eternal Atonement can overcome all things, all the time, everywhere, for every person who holds fast to their covenants with Him.
A spouse who violates covenants and does not repent relinquishes the opportunity to receive for himself or herself the ratifying seal of the Holy Spirit of Promise for both the lateral and vertical aspects of the sealing ordinance.
A faithful spouse who honors covenants and presses forward in faith remains worthy to receive for himself or herself the ratifying seal of the Holy Spirit of Promise for the vertical aspect of the sealing ordinance and to receive all other associated individual blessings.
You may ask, “How can this be the case if a temple marriage does not endure?”
The revealed doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not address all details of and nuances about such cases. I do not know and cannot explain precisely how and when promised blessings are received. But I do know promised blessings will be received. No faithful disciple will ultimately be deprived of any eternal blessing God has promised because of another individual’s unrighteous exercise of moral agency.
I conclude with the reassuring testimony of King Benjamin: “I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.”
I joyfully testify to the truthfulness of King Benjamin’s prophetic promise in the sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.