In December 1832, Joseph Smith received a revelation from the Lord in which the Lord said to the Saints,

organize yourselves, prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer,

a house of fasting, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.

This was the first direction to the Latter-day Saints,

to establish a temple. In the next six months, agents purchased different tracks of land for the church

and began plans for the temple, as well as a house for the presidency, and one for printing operations in Kirtland. Church

leadership likewise sent similar plans for the city of Zion in Independence, Missouri. Yet, in a

revelation that Joseph received on the 1st of June 1833, which we will talk about today, it made it clear that the Lord wanted them to move

faster. You have sinned against me a very grievous sin. In other words, build a temple, darn it.

My name is Janice Johnson. I'm a Willis Center Research Associate at the Maxwell Institute,

and I, along with Joseph Stewart, the

public communications specialist at the Institute, will be discussing each week's block of reading

from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, come follow me curriculum. We aren't here to present

a lesson, but rather to hit on a few key themes from the scripture block that we believe will help fulfill

the Maxwell Institute's mission to inspire and fortify Latter-day Saints in their testimonies of the

restored gospel of Jesus Christ and to engage the world of religious ideas.

The revelations found in Sections 94 through 96 all rotate around the temple and the necessity of building a temple.

I love what Richard Bushman says in rough stone rolling. Beginning in Kirtland, temples became an obsession.

For the rest of his life, no matter the cost of the temple to himself and his people,

Joseph made plans, raised money, mobilized workers, and required sacrifice.

Now, the saints haven't quite realized how important the temple is yet.

They are slow in following this commandment.

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