RESTORATION OF THE PRIESTHOOD AND ITS KEYS

The priesthood of God is the power and authority to act in God’s name. We are the only church on the face of the earth that has this priesthood power.

To understand the restoration of the priesthood we need to look at its background in the New Testament. The Book of John which must have been written by John the Baptist for the reason that he is the only one that could have known what is happening. In John 1:19 – 25 we learn that the people in the temple or the temple priesthood came down to John the Baptist and asked him who he was. They wanted to know if he was the Christ, Elias which actually should read Elijah, or if he was that prophet. We learn that in John 7:40-41 that the prophet and Christ are different characters. We know that prophet to be Joseph Smith. John told them he was none of these. Verse 23 has a good cross reference with Isaiah 40:3-5. What we learn at the end of this story is that these three men, Christ, Elijah and that prophet will come baptizing. This is why the Jews wanted to know why John is rebaptizing the people if he isn’t any of those characters.

We then turn to Matthew 16:13 – 14. At this point of the scripture story John the Baptist had been dead for years and it was known amongst the people. Did they believe that John the Baptist would come back? The people were anticipating a prophet because they knew a restoration was coming. A prophet would come to restore the gospel, the priesthood and baptize. The people knew that there would be a second coming of John the Baptist. They were waiting for his return.

In Doctrine and Covenants 84:25 – 28 it is confirmed that the ordinance of baptism existed before Christ. In verse 28 there are some misconceptions about John’s infancy that needs to be corrected. John was baptized at age eight; we do not baptize infants then and now. A blessing was given to him not the priesthood. We do not give infants the priesthood either. John the Baptist was sent to overthrow the kingdom and take over the temple.

We will now study Joseph Smith History 1:68 – 71. The account tells a great example on how to act when there is little or nothing known on a subject. Joseph and Oliver did not assume authority, they didn’t just go out and baptize each other and although they had the Urim and Thummim they went and prayed about the matter. They didn’t even argue it. The words of John here make it evident that short blessings are valid blessings and that it isn’t a requirement to make them lengthy. They were ordained to the Aaronic priesthood, then baptized and then they ordained each other to the Aaronic priesthood. All of this occurred in a matter of minutes.

Order always comes with the priesthood. The word ordinance comes from the word order. You cannot have the priesthood without being a member so to emphasize order Joseph and Oliver ordained themselves to the priesthood after their baptism even though they had already been ordained by John the Baptist.

John the Baptist teaches a valuable priesthood lesson in verse 72 on how the priesthood works. The law of witnesses applies to the restoration of priesthood keys. Two men were present and received them.

We have a wonderful account of the history given by Oliver Cowdery. Oliver teaches in his account that to profess to have the priesthood is to profess to have revelation. You can’t have the priesthood without revelation. No revelation means no priesthood. No other religion claims to receive revelation which makes it evident that they do not have the priesthood of God.

The record from the Council of Naicea shows that they did not have a prayer or quote any scripture. There was no claim to revelation which teaches that there was no priesthood.

In the book of Malachi 3:1 – 3, which in Hebrew Malachi means angel, we learn that none of the events recorded ever happened yet. The offering of the sons of Levi does mean sacrifice. Sacrifice will eventually return. John the Baptist will come again and restore the priesthood to prepare the way for the Lord’s Second Coming.

There is no official account of the restoration of the Melchizedek priesthood. The best account of its history is found in “Dating the Restoration of the Melchizedek Priesthood” by Larry Porter in June 1979. Joseph Smith’s record was probably lost during the many moves in early church history. We do know that Peter, James and John restored the Melchizedek priesthood again on the earth.

The Doctrine and Covenants teach us the definition of priesthood keys. Doctrine and Covenants 107:8 define keys as the “right of presidency.” Keys come with limitations and boundaries to the priesthood office. Keys are only to be used within the ward or the stake depending on how the keys are assigned when they are given. Keys give discipline and order to the priesthood. In a stake and ward only the stake president, Elders quorum president, bishop and Aaronic priesthood quorum presidents receive keys. None of the other callings which are auxiliary callings hold keys. Those callings are in support of those who hold keys. Instruction, command and presidency go through hierarchy of keys.

Other religions don’t have or offer keys let alone understand them or the priesthood. To be blessed with priesthood keys is a great blessing from God that separates us from all the other religions. If you can’t have the gospel of Jesus Christ without his priesthood we know that all other religions are false.