🌿 Living the Celestial Law
🌿 Living the Celestial Law
A Porch Thought About Ordinances, Keys, and What Christ Really Came to Restore
A friend and I sat down for lunch recently.
He's a good man.
A faithful man.
A temple-going man.
The kind of man who can talk for an hour and a half without coming up for air.
I asked a simple question.
Before long we were discussing Solomon's Temple.
Ancient Israel.
Priests.
Levites.
The Ark of the Covenant.
Veils.
Sacred clothing.
Signs.
Tokens.
Keys.
Authority.
Temple ordinances.
One subject led to another until I felt like I was drowning in religious terminology.
As I listened, a thought kept returning to my mind:
What did Christ actually come to restore?
Or perhaps a better question:
What did Christ come to fulfill?
🌿 The Law of Moses
Ancient Israel lived under the Law of Moses.
Animal sacrifices.
Priests.
Altars.
Incense.
Washings.
Sacred garments.
Holy places.
Everything pointed forward to something greater.
When Adam offered sacrifice, the angel explained that it was a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten.
The sacrifice was never the point.
Christ was the point.
The ritual pointed toward the reality.
The symbol pointed toward the Savior.
🌿 Sinai
Then I found myself thinking about Moses.
Moses climbed the mountain.
He spoke with God.
The Lord invited the people to come unto Him.
But they were afraid.
They wanted Moses to speak to God for them.
They preferred a mediator.
They preferred someone else to have the experience.
And from that point forward, Israel lived under a lower law.
A law of performances.
A law of ordinances.
A law of outward instruction.
A schoolmaster.
A tutor.
A preparation.
🌿 Then Christ Came
When Christ came, He fulfilled the Law.
Animal sacrifice ended.
The old symbols had accomplished their purpose.
The reality had arrived.
The Savior's invitation became remarkably simple:
Come unto Me.
Repent.
Be baptized.
Receive the Holy Ghost.
Follow Me.
Offer a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
The focus shifted from external sacrifice to internal transformation.
The sacrifice became the heart.
🌿 What Is the Higher Law?
This is where I believe many of us get confused.
The higher law is not more rules.
The higher law is not more complexity.
The higher law is not more religious machinery.
The higher law is learning to hear and follow the voice of Christ through the Holy Ghost.
The law is no longer written primarily on stone.
It is written in the heart.
That is why the Book of Mormon keeps returning to the same themes.
Faith.
Repentance.
Charity.
Humility.
The Holy Ghost.
A mighty change of heart.
Mosiah 3:19.
Again.
And again.
And again.
🌿 A Question That Would Not Leave Me
As my friend continued explaining temple ordinances, signs, tokens, and keys, another question formed in my mind.
If the higher law is direct communion with Christ, why do we spend so much time talking about intermediaries?
Why do we spend so much time discussing access to heaven instead of learning to hear heaven?
Why do we spend so much time discussing ordinances instead of discussing what those ordinances are supposed to produce?
The Book of Mormon's concern seems remarkably simple.
Not:
"What token do you possess?"
But:
"What have you become?"
🌿 The Difference
One statement from the Nemenhah records caught my attention recently.
It says:
Nothing is withheld from those who live the Celestial Law.
Think about that for a moment.
Not those who master every ordinance.
Not those who memorize every symbol.
Not those who hold every office.
Not those who possess every key.
Those who live the Celestial Law.
That is a profound difference.
The emphasis shifts from possession to transformation.
From authority to discipleship.
From credentials to character.
🌿 What If We Have Been Asking the Wrong Question?
Perhaps the question is not:
"What ordinances have I received?"
Perhaps the better question is:
"Have I become the kind of person Christ is trying to create?"
Am I more patient?
More humble?
More charitable?
More submissive to the Spirit?
More willing to care for the poor?
More willing to forgive?
More willing to hear His voice?
King Benjamin would probably care about those things long before he cared about any title or position.
🌿 The Test
Suppose two people leave a religious service.
One can explain every symbol.
Every ordinance.
Every token.
Every historical connection.
The other leaves with greater love for Christ.
Greater compassion.
Greater humility.
Greater desire to serve.
Which one passed the test?
I believe the Book of Mormon answers that question clearly.
The natural man has been put off.
The saint begins to emerge.
That is the miracle.
That is the transformation.
That is the purpose.
🌿 Lessons From the Porch
I still attend the temple.
I still respect sincere believers.
I still believe many good people are trying to serve God with all their hearts.
But I also believe it is possible to become so focused on the map that we forget the destination.
The destination has always been Christ.
The destination has always been a changed heart.
The destination has always been becoming a saint through the atonement of Christ.
Maybe that is why Mosiah 3:19 continues to speak to me after all these years.
Because it doesn't describe a ceremony.
It describes a disciple.
And in the end, I suspect that is what the Lord is really trying to create.
Not experts in religion.
But men and women whose hearts have been changed by Him.
🌿
After all the ordinances...
After all the debates...
After all the symbols...
After all the years...
Christ is still the center.
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🔗 SIMILAR POSTS TO READ NEXT:
Just Walk With Him — The core message everything led to.
He Was Closer Than I Thought — Learning to recognize Him in quiet ways.
Repentance Is Softer Than You Think — Letting go of pressure and returning gently.
What I Thought Zion Was vs What I See Now — How everything shifted from system to something personal.
🔗 Start here:
👉 https://thetrueremnantblog.blogspot.com
(Then use the 🔍 magnifying glass at the top to search any topic.)
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