The Greater Priesthood Taken.—So long as Moses lived, both the Melchizedek and the Aaronic priesthoods were present and operative in Israel. But with the passing of the great leader, went likewise the authority of the higher priesthood, without which "the power of godliness is not manifest to men in the flesh." Nay, without it "no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live."[[8]] Moses had taught this to his people, seeking diligently to sanctify them that they might behold God face to face. "But they hardened their hearts, and could not endure His presence. Therefore He took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also."[[9]]
John the Baptist.—The Lesser Priesthood, with the law of carnal commandments, continued "with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel" until John the Baptist, in the Meridian of Time, came to "make straight the way of the Lord."[[10]] This same John the Baptist, as an angel of God, came also in the Fulness of Times, restoring the Aaronic Priesthood, as a forerunner to the Priesthood of Melchizedek, that there might be a preparation for the second appearing of the Savior.[[11]]
An Acceptable Offering.—Moses represents the Melchizedek Priesthood; Aaron the Aaronic; and "whose is faithful unto the obtaining of these two priesthoods . . . . and the magnifying of their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron, and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom and the elect of God."[[12]] Moses and Aaron were sons of Levi, and their sons are to offer "an acceptable offering and sacrifice in the House of the Lord," which shall be built "upon the consecrated spot" "in this generation." Such is the divine promise.
Footnotes
[1]. Numbers 12:3.
[2]. Psalms 16:10.
[3]. The observance thus described suggests Latter-day conditions, when, like the plagues sent upon Egypt, terrible judgments are to be poured out upon the wicked, so suddenly and so overwhelmingly that even "the righteous will scarcely escape," and when the Lord, in order to save some, will "cut short his work in righteousness."
[4]. Gen. 25:1, 2; 1 Chr. 1:32 1 Chr. 1:32.
[5]. D. and C. 84:6.
[6]. Ex. 28:1-3.