Summary Lesson 40: “Hiding Joy In Temple And Family History Work”

Saviors on Mount Zion: On April 6, 1890, President Wilford Woodruff said, “We are called upon, as saviors on Mount Zion . . . to go forth and redeem our dead. I do not want to go into the spirit world to meet these people and have them say . . . ‘You had power to enter into these Temples to get redemption for me, but you have not done it.’ (Brian H. Stuy, Collected Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, 5 vols. Burbank, Calif., and Woodland Hills, Ut.: B.H.S. Publishing, 1987-1992)
Passover Week – the Favorite Jewish Family Holiday: There are manuals called the “Haggadah” which often are booklets with artistic creations to capture and anchor a child’s memory. The purpose is to bring our children back to a recollection of the greatest deliverance in our history. As a believing Jew, I see a great amount of symbolism.
Deliverer Born on Deliverance Holiday: Jesus was born during Passover. According to the biblical calendar and because Passover always occurs at the first full moon after the first day of spring, April 6, 1830, the date the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, leads us to look at the biblical date. It was Passover that year! “. . . being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh . . .” (Doctrine & Covenants 20:1) The Deliverer was born at the season celebrating the deliverance of Israel from Egypt and celebrating an expectation of an even greater deliverance in the future.

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Jews Anticipate Elijah: “The Sabbath before Passover . . . connects it with the . . . day on which the Israelites in Egypt set aside the lamb that they were to slaughter on the first Passover (Exodus 12:3) . . . a special haftarah, [reading from the Prophets] . . . from the Book of Malachi and referring to the day on which Elijah the Prophet will reappear as forerunner of the great day of the Lord, is read.” (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)
Weekly Reminder of Deliverance: In a religious Jewish home, a weekly reminder of the first Passover is done with a “Kiddush.” The master of the house always pours the wine with an appropriate blessing, sips first, followed by everyone else sipping the wine. He breaks a piece of bread and after the appropriate blessing, eats the first piece with everyone following his example. The prayers said include a promise that in the future another deliverance would occur greater than the first Passover.
Sacrament, a Weekly Reminder: Weekly, Latter-day Saints take a “sacrament” that consists of bread that is broken, blessed and the presiding Elder partakes first, then water (nowadays, water instead of wine) is blessed. Again the presiding authority partakes first and then everyone follows. This is done in “remembrance” of the greater deliverance provided by the Savior’s atonement. It should be considered that symbolically, the Jews take wine and bread in anticipation of a greater deliverance while Christians take bread and wine in remembrance of that great deliverance . . . a chiasmus–with the Savior’ atonement in the middle.