Scripture Study

Cover image via Gospel Media Library. 

The Prophet Joseph Smith declared, “If a man gets a fullness of the priesthood of God he has to get it in the same way that Jesus Christ obtained it, and that was by keeping all the commandments and obeying all the ordinances of the house of the Lord.”

It is of great significance that the Lord, who is the Exemplar, and who presides over all things, submitted himself to all of the ordinances of his own house in order to conform to the path that brings eternal life.

It was, therefore, essential that he seek baptism from John, his Aaronic forerunner who was called and sent to prepare his way, and who testified verbally and by reed pen and papyrus that he had seen the Lord in his glory. (John 1:14; D&C 93:6-18) The Baptist, the Prophet Joseph tells us, “the kingdom of God for a season seemed to rest with John alone.” (Teachings, p. 272)

On this account, a sinless Lord sought baptism, yielding with perfect obedience to the law as    administered by John. This he did, in his own words, “to fulfill all righteousness,” meaning that he intentionally complied with the requirements of the covenant path. (Matt. 3:15)

Upon baptism, we read that he was led into the wilderness by the Spirit. He did not go to be tempted by the Devil, as biblically stated, but as JST Matthew tells us he went “to be with God.” (JST Matt. 4:1) That he went fasting, and this for a 40 day* period, we are further apprised. (Matt. 4:2)

Elder Bruce R. McConkie suggests that he was “visited by the Father” there, and that the Lord’s subsequent Nazareth testimony, “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he hath anointed me” was in reference to that wilderness endowment in which the Lord was given “power from on high” for his Messianic mission. (Luke 4:18)

Elder McConkie noted further, “As pertaining to his mortal ministry, Christ our Lord received the Melchizedek Priesthood here on earth, and was ordained to the office of a High Priest therein, thus setting an example for others and being in all things the Prototype of salvation.”

In this juncture Christ had come in fulfillment of the Psalmist’s prophecies: “Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee,” meaning he was spiritually begotten. And again, “The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalm 2:7; 110:4) David’s expressions concerning the Lord’s ordination and the surety of his calling and election were met in that wilderness administration and conversation, Father to Son.

In this wilderness interlude the depth and breadth of the Savior’s atoning mission surely would have been sustained and prepared. Surely, the visions of heaven were opened to him as he communed with his Father.

When we read in the synoptic gospels that he was ministered to by angels at the conclusion of his experience there we are touched that he was comforted after Satan assaulted him there, hoping to destroy his mission in the temptations that occurred after his communion with the Father. We might also consider the likelihood that he received keys from persons anciently translated for that commission. This pattern appears again as Peter, James, and John received Keys from Moses and Elias on the Mount of transfiguration. “Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.” (Luke 4: 1-14; Matt. 4: 1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Matt. 17:1-9.)

In his Hebrews treatise on Christ as the Great High Priest, Paul tells us that the Lord did not take this honor on himself, but that it was bestowed upon him as with Aaron. Paul wrote of the Lord’s humility and obedience in his call: “Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.  As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”  (Heb. 5:46)

Ordained a High Priest, the Lord returned in power to Galilee, and then to the synagogue in Nazareth. There he read to the Jews from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4: 18-19)

“This day,” the Lord declared, “this scripture is fulfilled in your ears.”  (Luke 4: 17-21) The Nazareth synagogue understood that he meant he had come as the Christ, the Anointed One. Filled with wrath they determined to take his life. “But he passing through the midst of them went his way.” (Luke 4: 28-30)

I have a sister who served a mission in the London Temple Visitors Center. She wrote me and asked if the Lord who was the Lamb slain from before the foundations of the earth, and who was rejected and despised of men” liked his work? Perhaps the answer lies in Paul’s reference to the Lord’s wilderness experience. Drawing upon a Messianic psalm, Paul said, “God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above many of thy fellows.” (Heb. 1: 9; Psalm 45:7)

That anointing brought an outpouring of the spirit of the Holy Ghost in which heart and soul were lifted with an exquisite love of truth, and which in the same moment provided profound comfort in the deepest sorrow. Isaiah speaks of that same oil as the oil of joy which the Lord was given in his appointed office and which in turn he bestows on those who love him, and he linked it with the “garment of praise,” a clear temple allusion. (Isaiah 61: 3) This is what led him to say of the Last Supper, “With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.” (Luke 22:15)

As with the Lord, every step we take should lead us to the temple for an anointing with pure oil of the olive (a symbol of Gethsemane) which has been consecrated and administered by priesthood instruction. That anointing of joy prepares us to walk and minister in and through the Melchizedek Priesthood as the Lord in his majestic tenure.