Sacred Ordinances and Covenants Available in Holy Temples make it possible for Individuals to Return to the Presence of God and for Families to be United Eternally.

Temples are places of learning. Their principal purpose is to provide ordinances necessary for the children of God to enable them to return to dwell with Him. Temple ordinances lead to the greatest blessings available through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Everything in the Church—the meetings and activities, the missionary efforts, the lessons taught and the hymns—all lead to the work done in holy temples. One ordinance received in the temple is called the endowment. The word endowment means “gift,” and the temple endowment truly is a gift from God. The ordinance consists of a series of instructions and includes covenants to live righteously and follow the requirements of the gospel. The endowment focuses on the Savior, His role in Heavenly Father's plan, and the personal commitment of each member to follow Him. Another temple ordinance is celestial marriage. In this ordinance husband and wife are sealed to one another for eternity. A sealing performed in the temple continues forever if the husband and wife are faithful to the covenants they make. -True to the Faith (2004), 170-74

No Church-built facility is more important than the temple... We are grateful for these edifices and the blessings they bring into our lives. -Thomas S. Monson, October 6, 2012

Scriptures:
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. -Isaiah 2:2-3, Holy Bible

 
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. -Malachi 4:5-6, Holy Bible

And it came to pass that when they came up to the temple, they pitched their tents round about, every man according to his family, consisting of his wife, and his sons, and his daughters, and their sons, and their daughters, from the eldest down to the youngest, every family being separate one from another. And they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple...-Mosiah 2:5-6, Book of Mormon

The elements are the tabernacle of God; yea, man is the tabernacle of God, even temples; and whatsoever temple is defiled, God shall destroy that temple. -Doctrine & Covenants 93:35

And Malachi, the prophet who testified of the coming of Elijah—of whom also Moroni spake to the Prophet Joseph Smith, declaring that he should come before the ushering in of the great and dreadful day of the Lord—were also there. The Prophet Elijah was to plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to their fathers, Foreshadowing the great work to be done in the temples of the Lord in the dispensation of the fulness of times, for the redemption of the dead, and the sealing of the children to their parents, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse and utterly wasted at his coming. -Doctrine & Covenants 138: 46-48

 

Definitions

Sacred - entitled to veneration or religious respect by association with divinity or divine things; holy; regarded with reverence

Ordinances - an established rite or ceremony; communion; sacrament

Covenants -an agreement, usually formal, between two or more persons to do or not do something specified.

Holy - specially recognized as or declared sacred by religious use or authority; consecrated.

Temples -an edifice or place dedicated to the service or worship of a deity or deities.

Return - to go or come back, as to a former place, position, or state.
United - to join, combine, or incorporate so as to form a single whole or unit.
Eternally - without beginning or end; lasting forever; always existing.