The temple holds the key to holy places
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A refuge from storms
"The sun was setting on the mortal ministry of the Messiah as He departed the temple at Jerusalem for the last time," said Elder Lance B. Wickman of the Seventy at the October 1994 general conference.
"Climbing atop the Mount of Olives with His disciples, the Savior prophesied the cataclysmic events that would precede the destruction of Jerusalem and His second coming. He then issued this portentous admonition to His disciples, ancient and modern:
" 'Then you shall stand in the holy place; whoso readeth let him understand.' (Joseph Smith-Matthew 1:12; see also Matthew 24:15.)
"Latter-day revelations provide understanding. They teach that in our day, amidst strife and catastrophe and pestilence, there are two kingdoms locked in grim struggle for the souls of men — Zion and Babylon. More than once they repeat the injunction to 'stand in holy places' for a refuge from these storms of latter-day life." (D&C 45:32; see also D&C 87:8; 101:16-23.)
Elder Wickman said that prominent among such holy places, and key to all the others, is the temple of the Lord. "The words Zion and temple belong in the same sentence together," he said. "In August 1833, as the Saints attempted against much persecution to establish a geographic Zion in Jackson County, Mo., the Prophet Joseph Smith was counseled in revelation to build a house unto the Lord 'for the salvation of Zion.' (D&C 97:12.) "The temple is the key to salvation, it said, because it is a place of thanksgiving, a place of instruction, and a place of understanding in all things. (See D&C 97:12-14.)
"Then comes this glorious promise: 'Yea, and my presence shall be there, for I will come into it, and all the pure in heart that shall come into it shall see God. . . . Therefore, . . . let Zion rejoice, for this is Zion — the pure in heart; therefore, let Zion rejoice, while all the wicked shall mourn.' (D&C 97:16, 21.)
"For Zion, the pure in heart, the temple holds the key that unlocks holy places — places of rejoicing — while those in Babylon's byways are condemned to mourn."
