What Can We Learn From the Old Temple? The Veil

Heb. 10:20 talks about the Old Temple, and equates the Veil with the flesh of Christ. This is an interesting designation. In this life, our flesh acts as a veil, keeping us from seeing in many ways. It impairs judgment—the mists of darkness in Lehi’s dream were the temptations of the devil. He gets his power over us through our bodies. In John 9, Jesus makes clay from dirt and spit, and anoints the eyes of a blind man. He tells the man to wash his eyes in a certain pool and "came seeing." Enoch anointed his eyes with mud and washed them at the Lord's instruction, and became a seer. I believe that in these scenarios, dirt represents matter, and liquid represents the spirit. Just as water and mud make living clay, spirit and matter combined create living beings. But the mud obscures our vision. Washing the mud off with a great amount of water, i.e. baptism of the Spirit, removes the obstacle and lets us see through the eyes of the Lord. Enoch became a seer; he saw into the spirit world.

An Unseen World

The Veil of the Old Temple was embroidered with images of cherubim, or angels. There is an unseen world that affects our physical world the way wind drives a sailing ship. The invisible and intangible greatly affects the visible and tangible.

We are inclined to see the heavier things around us as being of greater import and influence than lighter things, but Calum Coates has pointed out that the hierarchy is reversed. Energy (wispy and intangible) from the sun heats the atmosphere, which blows on the water, which churns incessantly against the hard rocks of the shore and breaks them into sand. Who is the boss here? Gravity, the weakest of the known forces, ultimately overcomes everything, swallowing whole planets and stars into massive black holes, inescapable even for light when it comes too close. Truth, zero-dimensional and weightless, is the hinge on which everything in heaven turns. If something is true or correct, and we rebel at it, we immediately receive less spiritual light (see D&C 88). Truth is a knowledge of things as they are, as they were, and as they really will be. Faith cannot be genuine unless it is exercised in regard to something unseen AND true (Alma 32:21). There are many things seen and true, many things unseen and false, a few illusions seen and false, and a horde of unseen fictional falsehoods. But to believe in any of them does not constitute genuine faith. Jesus said “I am…the truth.” The veil is what adds the element of "unseen" to our mortal probation. "For now we see through a glass (veil), darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith..." (1Cor. 13:12).

Wispy Flesh, Firm Spirit

The body is a wonderful servant, my mission president taught me, but a horrible master. Indeed, when the body is in control of the spirit, it is like a horse trying to ride a human. Neither of them can get anywhere; neither benefits from the other’s strengths. Horses can run fast and carry heavy loads, while humans can think clearly and plan ahead. When spirit rules matter, joy is the result; when the spirit surrenders its job of being the boss to the body, death and misery result. The body wants to overeat, oversleep, exact revenge, steal, take the easy route, have sex on a whim, and other shortsighted behaviors. Food, sleep, justice, property, efficiency, sexuality, etc., are not evil in themselves, but need proper timing and restraint to keep them productive rather than destructive. “Bridle your passions” does not mean shoot the horse. It means use it properly.

Margaret Barker described Lehi’s Jerusalem as a place where two forces were competing, and one swallowed up and dissolved the other. The first force was the Aaronic priests, with their outward ceremonies, a focus on Moses and the carnal commandments, rule books, regulations, proscriptions, etc. The second force was Melchizedek priests, who focused on the writings of Enoch and the influence, ancient and modern, of angels. How inconvenient for the first group to have unseen beings and current revelations interfering with their interpretations of scripture. How indispensable for the second group to have current communication from heaven and divine assistance. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Church because it belongs to Christ, but it is a living Church because it has the Holy Spirit. Joseph Smith cited that as the main difference between our faith and all others.

Necessitating Faith

The veil over our eyes and memories serves an important function in the plan of salvation. It makes us less accountable for our sins because we are acting on faith, in the dark as it were, rather than with perfect knowledge. This allows us to exercise greater faith when we are doing what is right, and keeps us from being fully accountable when we are doing the wrong thing. As to when this veil over our premortal memories will be removed, I can only speculate, but it seems to be after the resurrection when full restoration of memory will happen. Till then, the game is still on, the test is still being administered. Alma 32:17-19: "Yea, there are many who do say: If thou wilt show unto us a sign from heaven, then we shall know of a surety; then we shall believe. Now I ask, is this faith? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for if a man knoweth a thing he hath no cause to believe, for he knoweth it. And now, how much more cursed is he that knoweth the will of God and doeth it not, than he that only believeth, or only hath cause to believe, and falleth into transgression?" To accept the gospel with full memory of premortal realm and events would be no test at all. So I believe that the veil is still over our minds, even after we die. But that is my conjecture based on scriptural accounts, not the result of experience.

The veil is permeable rather than opaque. It is a barrier, but one through which information and assistance can pass in both directions. When we work in the Temple on behalf of our ancestors, we are saviors on mount Zion, and we empower them. They in turn are then able to help us. Priesthood means power to gather posterity, and I assume that means on either side of the veil.

Ministering Angels

The Veil in the Old Temple was decorated, embroidered, with images of cherubim, or angels.

Nephi was borne up into an exceedingly high mountain on the wings of the Spirit. This imagery evokes the Veil of the Old Temple very well. The Temple was atop a mountain, and the Holy of Holies, separated from the rest of the Temple by the Veil, was both literally and figuratively the top of the mountain, the place where one communed with God. Whether a staircase led to the Veil or not, one was moving upward when approaching it. In 1Ne. 11-14, an angel gives Nephi a grand vision of the future, which is now our history and our future. He was forbidden to write more, and refers us to Isaiah and John to get the fuller account of what he was privileged to see. Isaiah and John both talk about angelic administrations they received in connection with their visions. The entire Book of Revelation is an account of an angel guiding John through a vision of world history (just like Nephi), including the Second Coming.

This story of Elisha incorporates many familiar elements: "And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the Lord, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha" (2Kings 6:15-18). A messenger of God helps one young man sees through the veil; a group of wicked people is smitten with blindness. Just because you can see something does not mean it is reliable; just because you cannot see something does not diminish its power. Elisha relied on the unseen army and escaped the visible one.

God introduced Himself personally to Joseph Smith in the first vision, but thereafter it was typically angelic messengers who instructed him. In the Old Temple, the priest prayed at the Altar of Incense before the Veil with its cherubim. Joseph prayed to dedicate the Kirtland Temple in D&C 109, and the Lord appears in D&C 110 to accept it. Accompanying the Lord were angelic messengers who restore keys, including Moses and Elijah.

Isaiah 6 records Isaiah’s prophetic calling. Whether the events were literal or part of a vision he witnessed, the imagery is saturated with Old Temple symbolism. It takes place in the Temple, and there is smoke everywhere. He sees the Lord, but feels unworthy, being a man of unclean lips. An angel intercedes on his behalf, taking a live coal from the Altar and placing it on his lips. He is then worthy to accept his calling as a preacher and a prophet. Angels, live coals, altars, are all found in the Old Temple.

When Abraham was about to be sacrificed, an angel saved his life. An angel also saved Isaac’s life when Abraham was about to sacrifice him as well. Metatron was the name of the angel who interrupted both sacrifices, according to extra-scriptural accounts. This Metatron was Enoch in mortality. The Lord had promised to call on the inhabitants of the earth and show them mercy because of Enoch’s special pleading for Noah and his descendants. "...Enoch continued his cry unto the Lord, saying: I ask thee, O Lord, in the name of thine Only Begotten, even Jesus Christ, that thou wilt have mercy upon Noah and his seed, that the earth might never more be covered by the floods. And the Lord could not withhold; and he covenanted with Enoch, and sware unto him with an oath, that he would stay the floods; that he would call upon the children of Noah; And he sent forth an unalterable decree, that a remnant of his seed should always be found among all nations, while the earth should stand..." (Moses 7:50-52). We are doubly indebted to Enoch's pleading and intercession for our very survival.

In Gethsemane, when Jesus’ disciples were asleep, He prayed for relief, and an angel came, strengthening Him.

Sentinels and Ushers

The cherubim on the Veil, as well as the two giant pillars at the door of the Temple, invoke images of sentinels, guardians who bar the way. We must be qualified before we can proceed any further. But they are also ushers, who give us the keys we need in order to proceed further. Jesus taught that the Spirit would “teach us all things and bring all things to our remembrance.” This is more than semantic information; we can be endowed with keys to breech barriers between ourselves and God. How to act, what to say, whom to listen to. “Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (D&C 88:63). “Angels speak the words of Christ...by the power of the Holy Ghost,” says Nephi (2Ne. 32:3).

The Veil in the Old Temple was only approached once a year, by one man, on the Day of Atonement. (By contrast, we enter the celestial areas of modern Temples daily.) The Veil was a point of interface, and the high priest was required to speak the forbidden name of God before he was admitted into the Holy of Holies. He would first put a pan filled with burning stones of incense through the Veil, and enter after the room was filled with the smoke. The Holy of Holies was without windows, and completely dark, unless the Lord Himself was there as the light source.

All these elements are reflected in the meeting between the Lord and the Brother of Jared atop the mountain. Jared goes up the mountain with man-made stones to get a light source for otherwise darkened vessels without windows. The Lord speaks to him in a cloud. The man-made stones are glowing by the middle of the account. The Brother of Jared sees the finger of the Lord through the veil, and gets new information about the Lord: He is in the form of a man. The Brother of Jared has a dialogue with the Lord, after which the Lord reveals Himself in entirety to him.

The Veil...Beginning to Burst

"...all they who call on my name, and worship me according to mine everlasting gospel, should gather together, and stand in holy places; And prepare for the revelation which is to come, when the veil of the covering of my temple, in my tabernacle, which hideth the earth, shall be taken off, and all flesh shall see me together." (D&C 101:22-23). "And there shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour; and immediately after shall the curtain of heaven be unfolded, as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up, and the face of the Lord shall be unveiled..." (D&C 88:95).

Enoch and his Zion will come down from heaven, and Zion below will be caught up to meet them: "...And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem. And the Lord said unto Enoch: Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there, and we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see us; and we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our necks, and we will kiss each other; And there shall be mine abode, and it shall be Zion, which shall come forth out of all the creations which I have made; and for the space of a thousand years the earth shall rest." (Moses 7:62-64). Enoch and his people will repeat the salvation of Abraham and Isaac at the Second Coming.