This week’s “Come, Follow Me” study guide covers Doctrine and Covenants 109-110, which includes the Kirtland Temple dedicatory prayer and subsequent appearance of Jesus Christ, Moses and Elijah to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.
Following are a few quotes from past and present leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about these sections of the Doctrine and Covenants.
Doctrine and Covenants 109
“Joseph Smith’s dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple is a tutorial about how the temple spiritually empowers you and me to meet the challenges of life in these last days. I encourage you to study that prayer, recorded in Doctrine and Covenants section 109. That dedicatory prayer, which was received by revelation, teaches that the temple is ‘a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God’ (Doctrine and Covenants 109:8).
“This list of attributes is much more than a description of a temple. It is a promise about what will happen to those who serve and worship in the house of the Lord. They can expect to receive answers to prayer, personal revelation, greater faith, strength, comfort, increased knowledge and increased power.
“Time in the temple will help you to think celestial and to catch a vision of who you really are, who you can become and the kind of life you can have forever. Regular temple worship will enhance the way you see yourself and how you fit into God’s magnificent plan. I promise you that.”
— The late President Russell M. Nelson, April 2024 general conference, “Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys”
“The phrase ‘in the path of their duty’ describes individuals who, having turned away from God, humbly are returning to Him once again, repenting of their sins, and seeking the cleansing and healing power of the Savior’s Atonement. … As they press forward with faith and weary not in well-doing, they are laying the foundation of a great work in their individual lives, ‘to all generations and for eternity’ (Doctrine and Covenants 109:24).”
— Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2023 general conference, “In the Path of Their Duty”
“By making and keeping temple covenants, we learn more about the Lord’s purposes and receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost (see Doctrine and Covenants 109:14-15). We receive direction for our lives. We mature in our discipleship so that we do not remain perpetual, unknowing children (see Doctrine and Covenants 109:15). Rather, we live with an eternal perspective and are more motivated to serve God and others. We receive increased capacity to fulfill our purposes in mortality. We are protected from evil (see Doctrine and Covenants 109:22, 25-26), and we gain greater power to resist temptation and to repent when we stumble (see Doctrine and Covenants 109:21). When we falter, the memory of our covenants with God helps us return to the path. By connecting to God’s power, we become our own pororoca, able to go against the flow of the world, throughout our lives and into the eternities. Ultimately, our destinies are changed because the covenant path leads to exaltation and eternal life (see Doctrine and Covenants 109:15).”
— Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 2023 general conference, “Accessing God’s Power Through Covenants”
“The temple can help us in our quest. There we are endowed with God’s power, giving us the ability to overcome Satan, the instigator of all contention (see Doctrine and Covenants 109:22, 26). Cast him out of your relationships. Note that we also rebuke the adversary every time we heal a misunderstanding or refuse to take offense. Instead, we can show the tender mercy that is characteristic of true disciples of Jesus Christ. Peacemakers thwart the adversary.”
— The late President Russell M. Nelson, April 2023 general conference, “Peacemakers Needed”
“In the temple, we learn who we are and where we have been. The Roman philosopher Cicero said, ‘To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.’ He was, of course, referring to secular history, but his astute observation can be expanded. We live as perpetual children if we are ignorant of the eternal perspective gained in temples. There we grow up in the Lord, ‘receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost’ (Doctrine and Covenants 109:15) and become more fully committed as disciples of the Savior (Doctrine and Covenants 109:22). As we keep our covenants, we receive God’s power in our lives.”
— Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 2022 general conference, “Your Divine Nature and Eternal Destiny”
“As promised in the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple, we leave the temple armed with God’s power (see Doctrine and Covenants 109:22). There is no expiration date associated with the power God bestows upon those who make and keep temple covenants, nor is there a restriction from accessing that power during a pandemic. His power diminishes in our lives only if we fail to keep our covenants and do not live in a way that allows us to continually qualify to receive His power.”
— Elder Kelly R. Johnson, General Authority Seventy, October 2020 general conference, “Enduring Power”
“Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord has repeatedly told us to ‘seek learning even by study and also by faith’ (Doctrine and Covenants 109:7). We can receive light and understanding not only through the logical reasoning of our minds but also through the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Ghost.”
— Elder Mathias Held, General Authority Seventy, April 2019 general conference, “Seeking Knowledge by the Spirit”
“If we are to receive all the blessings God so generously offers, our earthly path must lead to the temple. Temples are an expression of God’s love. He invites us all to come, learn of Him, feel His love and receive the priesthood ordinances necessary for eternal life with Him. Each covenant is made one by one. Every mighty change of heart matters to the Lord. And yours will make all the difference to you. For as we go to His holy house, we can be ‘armed with [His] power, … [His] name … upon [us], … [His] glory … round about [us], and [His] angels have charge over [us]’ (Doctrine and Covenants 109:22).”
— Sister Jean A. Stevens, then the first counselor in the Primary general presidency, October 2014 general conference, “Covenant Daughters of God”
Doctrine and Covenants 110
“As I studied the Kirtland dedicatory prayer, I was also struck that Joseph again and again pleaded for mercy — for the members of the Church, for the enemies of the Church, for the leaders of the country, for the nations of the earth. And, very personally, he pleaded with the Lord to remember him and to have mercy upon his beloved Emma and their children.
“How must Joseph have felt when, one week later, on Easter Day, April 3, 1836, in the Kirtland Temple, the Savior appeared to him and Oliver Cowdery and, as recorded in section 110 of the Doctrine and Covenants, said, ‘I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here; and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house’ (Doctrine and Covenants 110:7). This promise of mercy must have had special meaning to Joseph.”
— Elder James R. Rasband, General Authority Seventy, April 2025 general conference, “The Plan of Mercy”
“The Kirtland Temple has unusual significance in the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Several events that took place there had been prophesied for millennia and were essential for the Lord’s restored Church to fulfill its latter-day mission.
“The most important of these events occurred on Easter Sunday, April 3, 1836. On that day, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery experienced a series of remarkable visitations. First, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared. The Prophet recorded that the Savior’s ‘eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters’ (Doctrine and Covenants 110:3).
“During this visitation, the Lord affirmed His identity. He said, ‘I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father’ (Doctrine and Covenants 110:4).
“Jesus Christ then declared that He had accepted the temple as His house and made this stunning promise: ‘I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house’ (Doctrine and Covenants 110:7).
“This significant promise applies to every dedicated temple today. I invite you to ponder what the Lord’s promise means for you personally.”
— The late President Russell M. Nelson, April 2024 general conference, “Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys”
“Joseph and Oliver Cowdery knelt in solemn, silent prayer in the newly dedicated Kirtland Temple. We do not know what they prayed for, but their prayers likely included a plea for forgiveness, for, as they arose, the Savior appeared and declared, ‘Behold, your sins are forgiven you; you are clean before me’ (Doctrine and Covenants 110:5).
“In the months and years after this experience, Joseph and Oliver would sin again. And again. But in that moment, for that moment, in response to their plea and in preparation for the glorious restoration of priesthood keys that was about to happen, Jesus made them sinless.
“Joseph’s life of regular repentance gives me confidence to ‘come boldly unto the throne of grace, that [I] may obtain mercy’ (Hebrews 4:16). I have learned that Jesus Christ truly is ‘of a forgiving disposition’ (Lectures on Faith, 1985). It is neither His mission nor His nature to condemn. He came to save.”
— Elder Kyle S. McKay, General Authority Seventy, October 2024 general conference, “The Man Who Communed With Jehovah”
“In 1836, Moses appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Kirtland Temple and ‘committed … the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth’ (Doctrine and Covenants 110:11). On that same occasion, Elias appeared and ‘committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed’ (Doctrine and Covenants 110:12). With this authority, we now carry the gospel of Jesus Christ — the good news of redemption through Him — to all parts and peoples of the earth and gather all who will into the gospel covenant. They become ‘the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God’ (Doctrine and Covenants 84:34).
“On that same occasion in the Kirtland Temple, there was a third heavenly messenger who appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. I speak of the prophet Elijah, and it is the authority and keys he restored that I want to speak about today (see Doctrine and Covenants 110:13-16). The power to validate all priesthood ordinances and make them binding both on earth and in heaven — the sealing power — is crucial for gathering and preparing a covenant people on both sides of the veil.”
— Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2023 general conference, “The Sealing Power”
“Earlier the Saints had finished the Kirtland Temple, and many participated in the dedication. After the dedication the temple was received by the Lord. The Lord told them to ‘greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings which shall be poured out … upon the heads of [His] people’ (Doctrine and Covenants 110:9-10).
“As more and more holy temples have been built across the earth, I have seen the blessings that come into the lives of the members. …
“Keeping covenants is true joy and happiness. This is comfort and peace. This is protection from the evils of the world. Keeping our covenants will help us in times of trial.
“I testify that as we have faith in Christ and cleave unto our covenants, we will receive the joy spoken of in the holy scriptures and promised by our latter-day prophets.”
— Sister Barbara Thompson, then the second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, October 2011 general conference, “Cleave Unto the Covenants”
