Editor’s note: To support personal and family gospel learning, the Church News is publishing articles on messages from October 2025 general conference. It is recommended to listen to or read the full address in addition to reviewing these resources.
About this talk
- “Humble Souls at Altars Kneel”
- Elder Jeremy R. Jaggi | General Authority Seventy
- Saturday afternoon session of October 2025 general conference.
- Theme: Those who make and keep covenants with the Lord can receive His mercy, protection and healing.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Elder Jaggi’s message here.
Outline
- When Elder Jaggi toured Hill Air Force Base near Layton, Utah, a chaplain showed him an area for worship services. Different religious symbols could be displayed for various faiths. Elder Jaggi asked what the chaplain used during Latter-day Saint services, and the chaplain showed him an altar where the sacrament was prepared and blessed.
- Many people in the scriptures built altars, including Adam and Eve, who learned that sacrifices made on altars represent the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. (See Moses 5:5-8.)
- As children of God make covenants, they bind themselves to the Savior, gaining greater access to His mercy, protection, sanctification, healing and rest.
Mercy and protection through covenants
- As a teenager, Elder Jaggi asked his father if he could skip church one week. His father told him that he was old enough to make that decision himself, but he offered one piece of counsel: “If you choose to miss the sacrament once, it’s much easier to choose to miss it again.”
- Satan attempts to separate people from consecrated things and places. When individuals worship the Savior, they receive spiritual power to resist temptation.
- Individuals are more likely to progress on the covenant path as they intentionally make and honor covenants. Making covenants forms a relationship with God.
Reflection and sanctification
- Symbolically kneeling at the altar can be a time to check in with God and reflect on one’s life.
- As listeners prepare for and participate in the sacrament, they can always have the Holy Ghost as their companion. By the sanctifying power of the Holy Ghost, they can always retain a remission of sins.
- Because Jesus Christ drank the bitter cup, all of God’s children can overcome challenges of mortal life through Him.
A place of healing and rest
- As listeners learn about and bind themselves to Jesus Christ through covenants, they can receive healing.
- In the book “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” Aslan the lion is resurrected after giving his life for another. He taught that the sacrifice of a willing victim who had committed no treachery has the power to unwind death. Likewise, Jesus Christ makes it possible to live again.
- President Russell M. Nelson once told a story about a little boy on a temple open house tour who thought the altar was a place to rest. As individuals make covenants with the Lord, He will give them rest.
Reflection questions
What are you doing to prepare for your next ordinance?
How have you felt your covenants bring you strength?
How have covenants changed your relationship with Christ?
What are ways you can make the sacrament a more meaningful experience?
Why might God ask us to make and keep covenants?
Speaker quotes
- “As we make and honor our covenants, receiving the ordinances of the sacrament at church and the endowment and sealing at the temple, we bind ourselves to the Savior, gaining greater access to His mercy, protection, sanctification, healing and rest.”
- “As we make covenants with the Lord, a reciprocal relationship forms. We demonstrate our loyalty and love to Him. Our strength and power grow with each promise made and kept.”
- “How can we overcome stares of judgment, anxiety, depression, cancer, diabetes, online bullying, stolen identity, lost pregnancies, the loss of a child, a brother and a father? Because Jesus took of the bitter cup of trembling, the cup of fury — for me, for my family, for all of us.”
Reference scriptures
- “And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord. And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me. And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth. Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.”
- “And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.”
- “Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.”
Invitations and promises
- “Building an understanding of the Savior’s eternal Atonement line upon line, precept upon precept, provides a spiritual inoculation against the wiles of the adversary.”
- “When we come to the altar, we aren’t earning a reward; we are learning about the Gift Giver. In that learning and covenant binding comes healing.”
- “Our Savior’s arms are outstretched; His table is spread. Come worship the Son of God at His holy altars.”
Stories
- When Elder Jaggi toured Hill Air Force Base near Layton, Utah, a chaplain showed him an area for worship services of various faiths. Different religious symbols could be displayed during a service. Elder Jaggi asked what the chaplain used during Latter-day Saint services, and the chaplain pointed to an altar where the sacrament was prepared and blessed. Some other faiths also utilize the altar in some way.
- When Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, they were commanded to build an altar and make sacrifices to God. When an angel asked Adam why they did that, Adam replied that he did not know. The angel taught him that it was symbolic of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. (See Moses 5:5-8.)
- As a teenager, Elder Jaggi asked his father if he could skip church one week. His father told him that he was old enough to make that decision himself, but he offered one piece of counsel: “If you choose to miss the sacrament once, it’s much easier to choose to miss it again.”
Additional resources
- Related image: “Greatest of All” by Del Parson
- Related video: “Finding Strength in Jesus Christ”
- Related hymn: No. 1008, “Bread of Life, Living Water”
Recent conference talks on Christ’s Atonement
- President Henry B. Eyring: “Proved and Strengthened in Christ” (October 2025)
- Elder Neil L. Andersen: “The Atoning Love of Jesus Christ” (October 2025)
- Elder Kelly R. Johnson: “Be Reconciled to God” (October 2025)
Who is Elder Jaggi?
- Elder Jeremy R. Jaggi was sustained as a General Authority Seventy in April 2020. Born in Salt Lake City, Elder Jaggi attended the University of Utah and Pepperdine University, and he pursued a career in biotechnology marketing and sales. He’s currently serving as second counselor in the Church’s Pacific Area presidency.
