Eternal Marriage

There is nothing more beautiful than a blushing bride on her wedding day.  The thoughts of “Happily Ever After” drift around her as she smiles for pictures and gets lost in her new husband’s eyes. 

The congratulations are heartfelt and the joy of a new beginning together has begun.

This is a picture most of us imagine when we think of the beautiful event of a wedding, but I am here to tell you of something even more beautiful …… living with one another for eternity, not just until death do you part. 

How is it possible, what does it mean, and who can gain this eternal reward?  I am going to share one of the most amazing blessings in my life and the teachings and beliefs of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

One of our Latter Day Prophets, President Ezra Taft Benson, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints shared that, “The temple is a sacred place, and the ordinances in the temple are of a sacred character. Because of its sacredness we are sometimes reluctant to say anything about the temple to our children and grandchildren.”  Today I want to move past that reluctancy to share why it is so important to be sealed for eternity in a Holy Temple.

We believe that the Priesthood has been restored to this earth.  Through it, we can make sacred covenants with our Father in Heaven in his house, the Temple.  It is in the temple that we receive covenants that bind and seal us for eternity.  President Benson further explained, “Then, on 3 April 1836, the Lord Jesus Christ and three other heavenly beings appeared in this holy temple. One of these heavenly messengers was Elijah, to whom the Lord said he had “committed the keys of the power of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, that the whole earth may not be smitten with a curse.” (D&C 27:9.) Elijah brought the keys of sealing powers—that power which seals a man to a woman and seals their posterity to them endlessly, that which seals their forefathers to them all the way back to Adam. This is the power and order that Elijah revealed—that same order of priesthood which God gave to Adam and to all the ancient patriarchs which followed after him. And this is why the Lord said to the Prophet Joseph Smith, “For verily I say unto you, the keys of the dispensation, which ye have received, have come down from the fathers, and last of all, being sent down from heaven unto you.” (D&C 112:32.)”

Bruce C. Hafen, a member of the Seventy in our church’s leadership, gave a beautiful explanation on the difference between a contract marriage and a covenant marriage.  He said that even if we are sealed in the temple of the Lord, we still need to live our covenants for them to be fulfilled.  We should watch out for the wolves that would rob us of the joy a covenant marriage can bring.   “When troubles come, the parties to a contractual marriage seek happiness by walking away. They marry to obtain benefits and will stay only as long as they’re receiving what they bargained for. But when troubles come to a covenant marriage, the husband and wife work them through. They marry to give and to grow, bound by covenants to each other, to the community, and to God. Contract companions each give 50 percent; covenant companions each give 100 percent.” 

We need to be living a covenant life and a covenant marriage in order to make it back to our Father in Heaven and be sealed to our loved ones for time and all eternity.  This is a promise and a blessing for those who fight for the beautiful gift of marriage.  

I was born into a family that had been sealed for time and all eternity.  I married my husband of 28 years in the Manti temple, one of over one hundred Holy Temples for our religion around the world, located in beautiful Utah, to be sealed for time and all eternity.  I have two of my sons that have been sealed to their wives.  I know that if I live up to the sacred covenants I made with my Father in Heaven, and live a covenant marriage, I can experience the blessings of eternal life with my loved ones.