Temples

01 · Creation and the first generations

Before a temple of stone

The story begins with God's desire to be near His children. Latter-day Saints read Eden as a sacred place where Adam and Eve lived in God's presence. After leaving the garden, they called upon Him, worked, raised a family, and learned to worship. Their story gives temple study its first great question: how can people return to God?

In Moses 5, an angel explains that Adam's sacrifice points to the future sacrifice of the Only Begotten. Adam and Eve then teach their children. The connection with temples is a connection of worship, redemption, and return; the account does not describe a stone temple in Eden. Modern temple teaching begins with the Creation and Fall and leads toward the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.

02 · The patriarchs

Altars along the covenant journey

Long before the temple in Jerusalem, Genesis describes worship at altars. Abram travels into Canaan, receives the promise of a land for his descendants, and builds an altar. Near Bethel he pitches his tent, builds another altar, and calls upon the Lord. Worship accompanies a journey whose outcome he cannot yet see.

The promise reaches beyond one household: through Abraham all families of the earth are to be blessed. Latter-day Saints connect temple covenants with that larger gathering. An altar in a landscape and a later temple are different structures, but both belong to this scriptural story of responding to God and remembering His promises.

03 · The Exodus

A sanctuary that traveled with Israel

After the Exodus, Israel is commanded to make a sanctuary so that the Lord may dwell among the people. The tabernacle is portable: a tent sanctuary, its furnishings, and its surrounding court can accompany a traveling community. Exodus describes gifts of materials and work offered for this shared purpose.

The account closes with the cloud covering the tabernacle and the Lord's glory filling it. Israel's worship is not waiting for a settled capital or an impressive stone building. Here, in the wilderness, the people are learning to order their life around God's presence.

04 · Solomon's reign

A house of prayer in Jerusalem

The sanctuary becomes a lasting house in Jerusalem during Solomon's reign. First Kings describes the ark being brought into the temple and the cloud filling the house. Yet Solomon's dedicatory prayer refuses to confine God to architecture: even heaven cannot contain Him.

Solomon asks that prayers offered toward this place be heard, including the prayer of a stranger who comes from a distant country. The dedication joins a particular holy place to a hope extending beyond Israel. The building matters because of the God worshipped there and the repentance, justice, and mercy His people seek.

05 · Exile and the Second Temple

Loss, return, and rebuilding

Jerusalem's first temple was destroyed in the Babylonian conquest. Ezra tells of returned exiles restoring an altar and laying the foundation of a new house. Those gathered respond with both joy and tears: older people remember the former temple while others rejoice at a new beginning.

The rebuilt temple is associated with Zerubbabel. Centuries later, Herod enlarges and transforms the temple complex. That later setting is the temple world of the Gospels. Keeping these stages distinct helps us follow the story: Solomon's temple, the rebuilt Second Temple, and its great Herodian expansion are not three interchangeable pictures.

06 · Nephi and later Nephite worship

A temple in the Book of Mormon record

The Book of Mormon preserves a second scriptural setting for temple worship. Nephi says his people built a temple after the manner of Solomon’s, without all the same precious materials, and describes its fine workmanship. The surrounding passage mentions learning to work in wood and other materials; it does not give an exhaustive list of what was used in this temple. This picture interprets the building in timber, while its exact materials and appearance remain unknown.

Later, King Benjamin gathers his people at a temple to teach them about Christ and their responsibility to one another. The record supplies these acts of worship and teaching, but few architectural details. We can follow its spiritual narrative without assigning a particular surviving ruin or modern map location to the temple.

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07 · The childhood of Jesus

Jesus at twelve in His Father's house

Luke places Jesus in the Jerusalem temple when He is twelve. After the Passover journey, Mary and Joseph search for Him and find Him among the teachers, listening and asking questions. Those who hear Him are astonished at His understanding.

His answer to His parents reveals His awareness of His Father's work. Luke also says He returns to Nazareth with them and continues to grow. This temple scene holds together an extraordinary calling and a real childhood. The Son of God listens, asks questions, and learns among His people.

08 · Jesus' final week in Jerusalem

Restoring the purpose of the house

Matthew describes Jesus entering the temple, driving out buyers and sellers, and overturning the money changers' tables. His words call the house back to prayer. This is a forceful act, rooted in the purpose of the place and the needs of those who come to worship.

The scene should not be used to condemn Jewish people as a group: Jesus, His disciples, and the worshippers belong within Israel's story. Read what He does next. Matthew moves immediately from the overturned tables to people coming to Him for healing, joining His demand for reverence to His care for human need.

09 · Jesus' final week in Jerusalem

Healing in the temple courts

The temple is also a place where Matthew shows Jesus healing. People who are blind or unable to walk come to Him there. Children call out in praise, and Jesus answers those who object. Their voices belong in the account alongside the movement of crowds and the concerns of the leaders.

This brief passage changes the way we imagine sacred space. Reverence does not make the suffering invisible. In the Gospel story, the Savior receives people with needs and gives attention to them. A temple study centered on Him must leave room for that compassion.

10 · Jesus teaches near the treasury

The offering Jesus noticed

Sitting opposite the treasury, Jesus watches people give. A poor widow places two small coins among the offerings. He calls His disciples' attention to her gift and explains its cost: others have given from abundance, while she has given from what she needs to live.

The smallness of the coins is not the smallness of the gift. Read this passage beside the warning immediately before it about those who exploit widows. Christ's attention makes a vulnerable person visible. Sacred buildings and visible offerings never excuse neglect of the people around them.

11 · A closer look at the same temple encounter

Seen by the Savior

Return to the same moment from the Savior's side. Jesus sees a person whose small gift could pass unnoticed in a busy court. He asks His disciples to pay attention to her.

His expression in this companion picture invites reflection on His care. Mark records His observation and teaching, not a conversation with the widow. As you look, consider whom you might notice more carefully today, especially when a quiet act of faith costs more than others can see.

12 · Christ's ministry at Bountiful

The risen Lord and the covenant people

Third Nephi begins the Savior's appearance with people gathered at the temple in Bountiful. He identifies Himself, invites them to witness His wounds, and teaches them. The gathering becomes a place of personal recognition as well as shared instruction.

During this ministry He speaks of Israel, the prophets, and the covenant made with Abraham. He tells the people they are children of that covenant and turns them toward blessing and repentance. Temple history and the gathering of Israel meet here in the voice of the risen Christ. Read His words slowly and notice how He connects an ancient promise with the lives of those listening.

13 · The apostles and Jerusalem

At the gate, in the name of Jesus

Acts returns us to Jerusalem after the Resurrection. Peter and John go to the temple at the hour of prayer. At the Beautiful gate, a man who has been unable to walk asks for help. Peter takes his hand, and the man rises in the name of Jesus Christ, entering the temple with them and praising God.

The Jerusalem temple was destroyed by Roman forces in AD 70. Latter-day Saints understand the later Restoration as a renewal of priesthood authority and temple ordinances. That belief does not erase the long histories of Jewish worship, Christian churches, or other sacred buildings; it explains the Church's own claim about restored authority.

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14 · 1833–1836

Kirtland: building a house together

The early Latter-day Saints in Ohio undertook temple construction while their community was still young and resources were limited. The Kirtland Temple was dedicated on March 27, 1836. Its assembly halls served a community that gathered to pray, learn, and prepare to carry its message abroad.

The dedicatory prayer asks for a house of learning, faith, and order, and for those who leave it to go forth with God's power. Kirtland was an important beginning in a developing temple history. Its uses and ordinances should not simply be pictured as identical to those of present-day temples.

A local quarry supplied stone, and a sawmill operated through donated service supplied wood. Skilled carpenters shaped the unusual tiered pulpits inside. The building required more than financial contributions: people gave time, strength, and practiced skills. Their small community made a house large enough for shared worship and learning, even while its own future remained uncertain.

Meet one of the people whose generosity helped the Kirtland work move forward. Read John Tanner’s story

15 · April 3, 1836

The Savior's acceptance and restored keys

A week after the dedication, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery recorded a vision of Jesus Christ in the Kirtland Temple. Doctrine and Covenants 110 describes Him standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit and accepting the house. This is the witnesses' recorded sacred experience, central to the Latter-day Saint understanding of the temple.

The account continues with Moses, Elias, and Elijah entrusting priesthood keys. Latter-day Saints connect these keys with gathering Israel and binding families across generations. Keys here means authority to direct God's work. The passage joins the new house in Ohio to ancient covenant promises and to service reaching beyond a single lifetime.

16 · The 1840s

Nauvoo: a hope reaching beyond death

In Nauvoo, temple teaching expanded as Joseph Smith taught baptism for the dead, the endowment, and sealing. The temple rose while the Saints faced increasing danger. Many received ordinances before leaving the city, carrying their commitments into an uncertain journey west.

The Saints resumed work after Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed in June 1844. Endowments began in the attic in December 1845, before the whole building was finished; thousands of people received them before the exodus. The first departing company left in February 1846, and the temple was dedicated from April 30 to May 1, with some portions still unfinished. Finishing a house they would soon leave gives this chapter its particular weight: they valued the promises received there even when they could not keep possession of the building.

The original building was later damaged by fire and a tornado. A temple was rebuilt on the site and dedicated in 2002, recalling that earlier sacrifice. The hope behind proxy service remains personal: people who have died are remembered by name, while Latter-day Saint teaching preserves their freedom to accept or reject what is offered on their behalf.

The Saints Complete the Nauvoo Temple

17 · 1877–1893

Temples in the mountain settlements

In Utah, temple building continued across generations. St. George was the first temple completed there, in 1877. It became the first house of the Lord where endowment and sealing ordinances were performed by proxy for deceased ancestors. Logan and Manti followed while work continued in Salt Lake City.

The Salt Lake Temple took forty years to build, from 1853 to its dedication in 1893. The long project joined quarry work, transport, skilled craft, donated means, and sustained community effort. These houses differed in appearance, but each served the growing work of worship, covenant making, and remembrance of the dead.

18 · 1853–1893, with renewal continuing today

Salt Lake: forty years of patient work

Salt Lake's temple story stretches across forty years. For its first two decades, wagon teams hauled granite from Little Cottonwood Canyon. Poor harvests and difficult weather slowed progress. Weaknesses in the foundation required parts of the work to be taken apart and rebuilt. Progress sometimes meant correcting what lay beneath the visible walls.

Rail transport later made stone delivery more dependable. The temple was dedicated on April 6, 1893, after generations of effort. Its continuing renovation belongs to the same responsibility of caring for a sacred house. Today's strengthening work continues that story of care for a place set apart for worship.

Follow the life of a stonecutter who contributed to this long building effort. Read John Rowe Moyle’s story

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19 · The twentieth century

The temple journey becomes worldwide

The Laie Hawaii Temple, dedicated in 1919, brought temple worship closer to Saints across the Pacific. Bern Switzerland, dedicated in 1955, marked another step as temples served communities across national and language boundaries. Temples increasingly came nearer to the places where Church members lived.

The gathering reaches across languages and long travel distances. Each new temple belongs within the lives of the people who worship there, including families who have made sacrifices to attend. The story continues as communities prepare for temples nearer their homes.

20 · Today

Living worship, continuing care

Today, Latter-day Saints enter temples to make covenants with God, receive instruction centered on Jesus Christ, and serve on behalf of deceased people. Family history gives that service names and lives to remember. Public open houses also allow neighbors and visitors to learn about many new or renovated temples before dedication.

The work includes caring for older buildings as well as constructing new ones. As checked on September 29, 2026, the Church had announced a Salt Lake Temple public celebration for April 5 through October 1, 2027. Plans and temple operating status can change, so follow the Church's current announcements when planning a visit. The continuing story is about people learning to love God and one another through the covenants they make.

The Church publicly describes five endowment covenants: obedience to God, sacrifice in His service, living the gospel of Jesus Christ, chastity, and consecrating time and resources to His work. These are solemn commitments, meant to shape daily conduct. Preparation includes understanding what is promised and choosing freely; temple worship is a continuing opportunity to learn, repent, and draw closer to the Savior.

Temple sealing expresses the hope that marriage and family relationships can continue beyond death through Jesus Christ. The promised blessings are connected with faithfulness to God, not simply attendance at a ceremony. People whose family circumstances are painful or incomplete belong within the Church's invitation to hope; this study cannot determine another person's eternal relationships. Questions about individual circumstances deserve careful counsel and compassion.

About Temple Sealings

For the history of racial restrictions, the lives of Black Latter-day Saints, and the 1978 revelation, continue with the priesthood study. Explore priesthood and temple blessings

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