1993
Sharing Time: The Lord Commands His People to Build Temples
February 1993

“Sharing Time: The Lord Commands His People to Build Temples,” Friend, Feb. 1993, 12

Sharing Time:

The Lord Commands His People to Build Temples

By Judy Edwards

I command you, all ye my saints, to build a house unto me (D&C 124:31).

Whenever there have been righteous people upon the earth, the Lord has commanded them to build temples. From the time of Adam to the present day, temples have been places of sacred worship.

Who Am I?

Instructions: Read the riddles about some of the prophets and other leaders who were commanded by the Lord to build temples. Match each picture of the man, and the temple built under his direction, with the riddle. Color the pictures, mount them on heavy paper, cut them out, then glue a flat stick to the back of each one. Use the pictures to retell the stories to your friends and family.

Moses

1. Moses

Solomon

2. Solomon

Nephi

3. Nephi

Joseph Smith

4. Joseph Smith

Brigham Young

5. Brigham Young

Spencer W. Kimball

6. Spencer W. Kimball

  1. I directed my people to build a temple like Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, even though the land in which I lived was far from Jerusalem. We did not have as many precious materials to use for our temple as Solomon did, but we used the best materials we had and worked hard to make the temple as beautiful as we could. Who am I? (See 2 Ne. 5:16.)

  2. The Saints were living in poverty, but the Lord commanded me that we should build a temple; we knew that we would be blessed to do the difficult task. Our women helped by supplying food and clothing for the temple workmen. The women also donated their fine china to be ground up and added to the plaster for the outer temple walls. The sparkling plaster made the temple even more beautiful. Who am I? (See D&C 95:preface, D&C 95:11.)

  3. My father, King David, had a great desire to build a temple for the Lord. He collected many materials for the construction of it, but the Lord told him that he was not to build the temple because he had been a man of war and had shed much blood. I was given the honor of building the temple, instead. Who am I? (See 1 Chr. 22:6–11.)

  4. I lived in the greatest era of temple building ever known. Many temples were built under my direction. There was special joy in the Church when the Freiberg Germany Temple was dedicated, because the Saints who lived in what was then East Germany did not have freedom to visit temples in other countries. The Freiberg Germany Temple was the thirty-third temple in use in the world at the time it was dedicated. Who am I? (See Ensign, August 1985, page 75; September 1985, pages 73–74; December 1985, page 34.)

  5. Because my people were traveling in the wilderness, I was commanded to build a portable temple, which was called a tabernacle. In the most holy part of the tabernacle was the Ark of the Covenant (Testimony), in which were the two tables (tablets) of stone that God gave to me on Mt. Sinai. The Ten Commandments were written on the tables of stone. Who am I? (See Ex. 25:1–2, 8–9, 16, 22; Ex. 31:18; 1 Kgs. 8:9.)

  6. A few days after my people reached the beautiful valley that was to be our new home, I saw the spot where the house of the Lord was to be built. This temple took forty years to build. It helped fulfill the prophecy that “the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains,” as Isaiah foretold (Isa. 2:1–3). Who am I? (See Ensign, July 1988, pages 6–13.)

Answers:

Sharing Time Ideas

  1. Have the children divide into groups and read about each temple and the prophet or leader associated with that temple, as discussed in Sharing Time. (See page 12.) The children could retell the stories using their own drawings or props.

  2. Play “Who Am I?” using either the examples given or other prophets who have been commanded to build temples. Have an adult play the part of each prophet or leader and interview him, asking for details about the temple-building experience and his testimony of the importance of temples.

  3. Discuss how God’s temples throughout history are alike—all are houses of the Lord, all have sacred ordinances performed in them, etc.—and how they are different—open courtyards versus closed buildings, ordinances performed for the living only versus ordinances performed for the living and the dead, etc. (See Bible Dictionary, pages 780–784.)

  4. Discuss the visits of Jesus Christ to the temples in Jerusalem, in the land of Bountiful, and in Kirtland, Ohio. (See John 8:1–20, John 10:23–39, 3 Ne. 11, D&C 110:1–10.)

  5. Sing “Easter Hosanna” (Children’s Songbook, page 68), or “Had I Been a Child” (Children’s Songbook, page 80), and discuss how each relates to Christ’s appearance to the Nephites as recorded in 3 Nephi 11. Sing “Truth from Elijah” (Children’s Songbook, page 90), and discuss the appearance of Christ and Elijah in the Kirtland Temple as recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 110.

  • (1) E, (2) C, (3) A, (4) B, (5) F, (6) D.

Illustrated by Beth M. Whittaker