Sealing to Christ at the Second Coming

The covenant path of Zion ultimately leads to Jesus Christ Himself.

At baptism, a person takes upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ and begins the covenant relationship by which they choose Him as their Lord and prepare to belong to Him. Through the covenants that follow, they learn obedience, sacrifice, the gospel of Jesus Christ, chastity, consecration, fidelity, stewardship, and how to become one with the people of Zion.

The Couple Sealing establishes the Household Kingdom and teaches a husband and wife to become faithful stewards of the family God has placed in their care. The Alliance Sealing joins Household Kingdoms into a larger Covenant Family and teaches the people of Zion to love beyond the borders of their own household, bear one another's burdens, rejoice in one another's blessings, and become one in heart and mind.

When Jesus Christ comes, that covenant progression reaches a greater fulfillment.

Sealed to Jesus Christ

The marriage supper of the Lamb is the greatest sacrament of the covenant order.

Daniel, Joseph Smith, and the revelations recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants revealed important parts of this event. Adam, the Ancient of Days, will gather with those who have held priesthood keys and presided over the Lord's work throughout the generations. The stewardships and keys that came from Jesus Christ will be returned to Him in their proper order as He assumes His place as King over the earth.

Those things are true, but they are not the whole picture.

The greater purpose of this gathering is covenantal. It is the great sealing ordinance in which the family of God is finally brought upward into Jesus Christ.

At this sacrament, each faithful generational head will be sealed directly to the Savior. Because that generational head is already joined by the sealing power to the worthy members of that generation, the sealing forms the welding link by which the entire faithful generation is joined upward into Christ.

This is not merely a council where priesthood officers report their stewardships. It is the marriage supper of the Lamb. The Bridegroom receives the Bride, and the covenant people who have been prepared through generations of ordinances, covenants, marriage, sacrifice, consecration, and sealing are brought into direct covenant union with Jesus Christ.

The sacrament has pointed toward this moment from the beginning.

Throughout mortality, the covenant people partake of the sacrament and witness that they are willing to take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ, always remember Him, and keep His commandments. At baptism they first take His name upon themselves and enter into covenant belonging with Him. Throughout their lives they renew that covenant and prepare themselves to become His people in fulness.

At the marriage supper, what was begun in those earlier ordinances reaches its appointed fulfillment. The people who took His name upon themselves, remained faithful to Him, and became prepared as His Bride are now sealed into Him through the order He has established.

Jesus Christ is no longer only the One whose name they bear in anticipation. He becomes the covenant Husband and Head of the exalted family.

The Fulness of the Abrahamic Covenant

This sealing brings the Abrahamic covenant to its fulness.

The promises made to Abraham were not merely promises that his mortal descendants would become numerous nations. They concerned an eternal covenant family, continuing seed, priesthood, inheritance, kingdoms, and the blessing of all the families of the earth through the covenant order God established.

The Lord connected the higher law of marriage directly with Abraham and commanded those who would receive the same promises to enter into the law and do the works of Abraham.

Through the sealing order, those promises are finally gathered into one living family under Jesus Christ.

Parents remain joined to children. Generations remain connected through the parent-child welding link. Those within each exalted generation are joined according to the marital order Christ establishes. The generational head then forms the direct covenant connection between that generation and the Bridegroom.

Thus the promises made to the fathers are not fulfilled merely because genealogical records have been completed or because individual couples remain married after death. They reach their fulness when the whole righteous family is welded together across the generations and those generations are finally brought into Jesus Christ.

The covenant that began with the fathers becomes one family under the Son.

Adam and the Heads of the Generations

Adam's place in this gathering is greater than merely being the first priesthood officer to whom later keyholders report.

He is the Ancient of Days and the father of the human family. Those who have held the great stewardships of the generations gather before him, and the order given through them is brought back toward its source in Jesus Christ.

The return of priesthood keys belongs within that greater family order.

Authority came from Christ. Stewardship came from Christ. Priesthood came from Christ. The generations themselves exist under Christ. Therefore, when the work reaches its appointed fulness, everything returns to Him.

The priesthood stewardships are returned to Him, and the covenant family is sealed to Him.

These are not two unrelated events. They are parts of the same great gathering in which Jesus Christ receives both the government of His Kingdom and the covenant family He has redeemed and prepared.

Crowns of Glory and the Measure of Faithfulness

When the Savior comes, He will judge His servants according to their faithfulness and give them crowns of glory according to the degree of glory and stewardship they have prepared to receive.

The parable of the talents teaches this order. The servants who faithfully multiplied what their lord placed in their hands were given greater stewardship. The servant who refused to use what had been entrusted to him lost the stewardship he would not magnify, and it was given to one who had proven faithful (Matthew 25:14–30).

When Jesus Christ comes, this same law of stewardship will govern His judgment.

The Lord knows whether a person kept the covenant they made at baptism. He knows whether they lived the covenants of the initiatory and endowment. He knows whether they were faithful to their spouse and Household Kingdom. He knows whether they learned to love those He joined to them, whether they consecrated what He gave them, and whether they became trustworthy stewards of people, property, priesthood, children, relationships, opportunities, and every other blessing placed in their care.

He also knows the difference between a person who struggled while sincerely trying to follow Him and a person who knowingly refused to obey.

Those who have been faithful over what Christ already gave them may be entrusted with greater things. Those who refused to magnify what He placed in their hands cannot expect the same increase merely because the Savior has returned.

This principle has serious consequences.

A spouse is a stewardship from God and is not to be treated carelessly, neglected, abused, despised, or taken for granted. If a person refuses to love, cherish, serve, protect, and remain faithful to the spouse the Lord has given them, they should not assume that relationship will remain theirs forever merely because it once belonged to them.

The Lord has already shown this principle in scripture. Concerning David, He declared that because of his unfaithfulness he would not inherit the wives who had been given to him, saying plainly, “I gave them unto another” (Doctrine and Covenants 132:39).

The parable of the talents teaches the same law of stewardship. What the unprofitable servant refused to magnify was taken from him and given to the servant who had proven faithful.

So it is with the stewardships of the Lord.

If a husband or wife was given a righteous spouse and would not love them, would not cherish them, would not keep their covenants with them, or persistently made that spouse miserable through selfishness, rebellion, neglect, or unfaithfulness, the Lord may take that stewardship from them and give that faithful spouse to another who will love them, receive them, and bring them joy.

No person should suppose that eternal relationships are possessions that cannot be lost through rebellion. They are sacred stewardships. What Christ gives must be received, loved, protected, and magnified.

Likewise, the faithful spouse will not be condemned to everlasting sorrow because another person failed them. If they loved the Lord, kept their covenants, sought repentance, and did everything within their power to be faithful, Jesus Christ will make the matter right. He knows what was suffered, what was withheld, what was faithfully endured, and what righteous joy that person is prepared to receive.

He will heal what can be healed, separate what must be separated, take from the unfaithful what they refused to value, and give greater blessings and relationships to those who proved faithful over what He had already placed in their hands.

This is not arbitrary punishment. It is the law of stewardship.

Those who are faithful over a few things will be made rulers over many things. Those who refuse the things of God may lose even what they were given.

Christ Will Organize the Families

The final organization of the family belongs to Jesus Christ.

The households, marriages, parent-child relationships, Alliance Sealings, and other family stewardships experienced in mortality teach His people how to love, serve, sacrifice, govern righteously, and become capable of greater eternal relationships. They are real and sacred, but Christ remains the One who ultimately determines how His eternal family will be ordered.

The Lord has said:

“I, the Lord God, have designed these families to perpetuate the human family and are designed for this life. In the eternities, I will structure families based upon their faithfulness and their willingness to keep My commandments. I shall divide and multiply according to My designs. Fear not; this is My work, and I shall do it. Behold, I am the Beginning and the End, Alpha and Omega, and this is My work.”

When He comes, He will begin placing His people into that greater family order according to their faithfulness, their willingness to keep His commandments, and the righteous desires He knows are within their hearts.

No person needs to seize an eternal relationship, compete for increase, or fear that another mortal can take away a blessing Christ intends to give. The work belongs to Him. He knows every heart and will organize His family in wisdom, righteousness, agency, and love.

Righteous Desires and Household Increase

The Lord has taught that He blesses His sons and daughters according to the righteous desires of their hearts as they obey Him and keep His commandments.

For this reason, the Household Kingdoms established under Christ during the Millennium will not all need to look the same.

A King and Queen may desire for their Household Kingdom to remain centered upon the two of them while they continue in loving Alliance with other Household Kingdoms. The Lord may bless them according to that desire.

Another King and Queen may desire additional wives to live within their Household Kingdom. Where those women also desire that family and Jesus Christ joins them together, the Lord may give them that increase.

Another household may desire additional husbands. Where those men likewise desire that family and Christ establishes the relationship, the Lord may bless that household accordingly.

The plural marriage restored through Joseph Smith showed one form in which the Lord may add spouses to a household. It was a true part of the restoration of celestial marriage, but it does not require every exalted Household Kingdom to have the same arrangement.

Some may desire brothers, sisters, or other family members to dwell with them as part of their household without those relationships becoming marital. The Lord may establish those family relationships in their proper order.

Some husbands and wives may desire above all to receive and raise many children together. The Lord knows that desire also and may bless them with great posterity.

Other households may receive combinations of these blessings according to the righteous desires of the people involved and the order Christ establishes.

One person's desire never creates a claim upon another person. Jesus Christ knows the hearts and desires of everyone involved. He is able to join together those whose righteous desires correspond and to establish families in which each person may receive joy without violating the agency, stewardship, or righteous happiness of another.

The question is therefore not how many spouses, children, or relationships a person can obtain. The question is what kind of steward that person has become.

A person who has learned to love faithfully can be trusted with more people to love. A person who has learned to govern a household in righteousness can be trusted with greater household stewardship. A person who has learned to rejoice in another's blessing can receive greater increase without turning that increase into jealousy, possession, rivalry, or pain.

The Millennium Completes the Work

The Second Coming does not mean that every willing person instantly becomes perfected.

The Millennium remains a period of learning, healing, restoration, experience, and growth under the personal reign of Jesus Christ. It is the time in which He will correct what remains unfinished, teach His people more perfectly, restore what should be restored, and prepare them to become a perfected people fit for the Celestial Kingdom.

Families will continue living, working, learning, building, loving, serving, and growing together. Children whose mortal development was interrupted will be raised. Relationships will be strengthened and perfected. Greater stewardships will be learned. The righteous family order established by Christ will be lived until His people become fully prepared for the glory they are willing to receive.

The Savior will also make right the things mortality left broken. The judgments already made concerning faithfulness and stewardship will be lived out under His direct reign, and He will organize families according to righteousness, covenant faithfulness, and the desires of the heart.

Those who were faithful but still have things to learn will continue to learn. Those who suffered loss through the rebellion or neglect of others will receive the opportunity for righteous joy and increase. Those who are willing to become more will be taught, corrected, healed, and prepared.

In this way the Millennium completes the work of mortal probation. Jesus Christ will judge, teach, organize, restore, divide, multiply, and perfect His people until every willing and faithful soul has received the opportunity to become fit for the eternal order of the Celestial Kingdom.

The Final Examination Is Before Christ

There is no mortal worthiness interview for this sealing.

Jesus Christ Himself is the Judge.

The interviews connected with earlier covenants help determine whether a person is prepared to enter a covenant or stewardship during mortality. At the Second Coming, the disciple stands before the One who knows perfectly what they did with every covenant and stewardship they received.

The questions will already have been answered by the life they lived:

• How well did you love Me?
• How good of a steward were you over the things and the people that I gave you?
• Did you keep My commandments?

Those who have loved Jesus Christ, kept His commandments, repented when they failed, and faithfully magnified what He placed into their hands will receive the joy and increase He has prepared for them.

No righteous sacrifice will be forgotten. No faithful love will be wasted. No righteous desire that can exist in the order of Christ will be overlooked.

Jesus Christ knows His people perfectly, and He will give each of them the fullness of joy, glory, relationship, and stewardship they have become willing and prepared to receive.