It would seem that there is something about the priesthood and its keys which requires both 'physical' or 'temporal' direct bestowal by the laying on of physical hands as well as having to be the proper 'heir' of the priesthood covenant in terms of its higher keys, that is the everlasting covenant. While Adam was still in the presence of God the Father in the Garden of Eden, Adam would likely have been given the priesthood directly under the bestowal of the Celestial physical hands, the laying on of hands, on the part of God the Father. From Adam to Noah and from Noah to Abraham that heirship and physical bestowal remained in tact. Then the 'covenant' was in Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph and thence to Ephraim. That is the priesthood linage, heirship and right of the covenant, and it was not to be found in or through Judah. In the time of Christ and in the church's restoration, for certain keys of the high priesthood keys it seemed to take that combination. On the mount of transfiguration, Elijah and Moses, both as translated beings, returned to bestow the priesthood keys upon Jesus and then in the Kirtland Temple upon Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith was told that he was one to who the rights of the priesthood rightly belonged as its 'heir' in respect to his ancestry. John the revelator was also a 'translated physical being' who bestowed the apostleship and high priesthood upon Joseph Smith. He would have been of that unbroken line, never having died from the time he received it under the hand of Jesus Christ. Even John the Baptist, and Peter and James would have been 'resurrected beings', having been resurrected after the time of the Lord's resurrection.

And now, though certainly Jesus Christ was heir of the Father, the Firstborn of the Father, still in order to fulfill all righteousness, he too, being 'of and pertaining unto this second estate' in his mortality, he would also needs be held by the same second estate or temporal requirements in mortality as any other. That is Jesus would needs been the 'heir of the covenant' and that would have had to come via heirship and right as the legal and rightful heir of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then Joseph and Ephraim (not Judah), as well as having had to receive the priesthood and its keys from the likes of Moses and Elijah and likely others by the physical laying on of hands. This gives definite purpose to why such as Moses, Elijah and in terms of Jospeph Smith, John the Apostle were translated rather than having suffered death. This section explores this line of reasoning and is a part of the evidence that Jesus was the rightful heir of Joseph and Ephraim, though he was also of the blood line of Judah via Boaz's vicarious performance of raising up seed unto Mahlon the Ephraimite.

How strong and effective are the covenant ordinances of the Lord? Can they bridge the 'literal' boundries of ancestral bloodlines or is blood more powerful than the covenant promises of God? This may seem to be a strange question and one of the line of whether a Leapord is able to change one's spots. 'Can a cursed descendant of Cain become heir to the priesthood of God?', might be another way of asking esentially the same question. And we certainly know the answer to that question. Let me ask another along this same line. When the Lord has established but one line of covenant people, the seed of Abraham and the House of Israel, how is it possible that the promises of the fathers of the gospel of Christ extending to every soul who has even lived, every nation, kindred, tongue, and people be realized beyond the bounds of the house of Israel? For those 'eletest' who would restrict God's blessings to but a restricted few, consider the following:

"And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." ~ Matthew 3:9

The Sealing Powers

Lets present an 'extreme' case as an example of the powers of sealing, thus leaving the less 'hefty' matters out of this line of reasoning. Consider the sealing of families and forming a 'welding link' of all the peoples of the earth back to heaven by the power of the priesthood of God. Now say that within those lines of 'ancestral inheritance' there are gaps causes by one or another 'son of perdition' which places a no immediate ancestral presence in the positioned slot to be linked and sealed? Is the sealing link lost and forever broken? Or does God provide and order the means that such 'literal ancestry' is bridged by the power and authortiy of the laws of God. Of course we know that any such gaps are filled in, whether they be great or small. And all the families and people of the earth will be sealed and linked back to heaven and the immortality and salvation of mankind will still be wrought upon us all. Not even one such 'missing link' will thwart the plan of God.

Bridging the Gaps of Bloodlines
and the
'Literal Descendants of the Chosen Seed'

Now to the previous discussion it may well be heard, 'Hear, Hear, we all are agreed and how else is the blessing of the everlasting covenant of God's vast eternal plan for man to reach unto all who have even lived?' And we all nod in agreement and say Amen. But can we take it a step further? Can we now 'bridges' the gaps of bloodlines, making all 'literal descendants of the chosen seed'? And what of Christ himself?

What does it mean to be a 'literal descendant of a chosen seed'? We do have an example to draw upon. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending upon your perspective, the term 'adoption' has been introduced into the process by which those who are not the seed of Abraham do become his seed by true and faithful conversion to the gospel. When Joseph Smith presented the sequence of events which makes a 'gentile' into a 'son of Abraham' he did not use the word 'adoption'. Joseph Smith simply stated that the Holy Ghost does 'purge out the old blood' and makes him 'actually of the seed of Abraham'.(See TPJS p.149) There is no 'adoption' in that process. The person becomes the 'seed of Abraham' he is then of that 'literal seed' and ever after will be. Such are the powers of God. 'Even of stones can God raise up seed unto Abraham.'

Now Christ in his life did perform all things in a perfect and proper manner. And he did so to fulfill all righteouness. At birth all the rights of law where performed upon him. In youth he was properly presented at the temple. In adulthood he was baptised of John the Baptist, 'For thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.' Christ submitting himself to following all the laws governing God's righteousness and perfect order. And therefore we must also consider that he did comply to the proper order of rights in conjunction to his right to the priesthood, though the priesthood power was after the order of the Son of God, in mortallity, even Christ would have complied to the proper order of things as he had done with his own baptism. The scriptures state the following:

"The order of this priesthood was confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promises were made." ~ D&C 107:40

This brings us to the very question as to whom where those promises made and by whom did these promises 'remain' in effect that they would have reached unto Christ by right under the proper 'order of the priesthood'? In verses 41-50 of that same section it clearly traces the 'father to son' order down to Noah including Seth, Abel's substitute. Yet in section 84:16, it states that Enoch's priesthood line was back to Abel. Now that is no big issue as Seth was but Abel's substitute and Abel can well be considered still in the lines of proper priesthood. Also in that same section 84;14, it states what we also understand from other sources that Abraham did not obtain the priesthood by way of his immediate father but under the hand of Melchizedek by whom obviously the promises of the fathers had remainded, Terah, Abraham's own father not being worthy of the priesthood to bestow it upon his son himself. So we also come to understand that priesthood rights may jump generations but still does come from the rights of the preserving fathers.

But now we come to the question of by whose 'preserving right' did the priesthood come to Christ. Judah was not worthy as previously stated, so the right to priesthood hardly came via the tribe of Judah. But did it go all the way back to Jacob or did Christ have a more proper line of right to his claim to the priesthood by right? We know and understand that Joseph of Egypt received the covenant blessings next which did preserve these rights. This is not only had by way of Biblical inferences by by a very pointed latter-day revelation of scripture upon that matter.

"And also with Joseph and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, your fathers, by whom the promises remain." ~ D&C 27:10

Here it is well stated that it was Joseph who next received the firstborn rights of the birthright blessings of the Covenant of Abraham which included the rightful lineage to the priesthood power of God. And it was through Joseph that those promises did remain in tact. In our previous discussion about the Covenant of Abraham, we have well established that those blessings and covenants of the fathers where preserved to this very latter-day from Jacob to Joseph and thence on to Joseph's son of promise Ephraim. It was Ephraim who the the Lord did call his 'firstborn'. And the Old Testament well establishes as being the rightful heir of Jacob. The simple question is by most proper 'right' from whose lineage did Christ obtain his 'rightful' claim to the priesthood in order to fulfill all righteousness as he had by complying to every other matter of right and law, even to being properly baptised by the authority of John the Baptist? Was it not by his lineage of the seed of Ephraim that Christ did obtain his most proper and legal right to his mortal obtaining the priesthood of God, or did he exempt himself from that propriety?

Cerainly the Law of Moses' law of proxy marriage and raising up seed to the dead well did make Christ of the Seed of Mahlon most legally and 'literally'. We have already established how such laws of God prevail over bloodlines. The only question here to consider is, does Christ's 'right' to the priesthood come most correctly through the 'preserving fathers' of Joseph and Ephraim. And if so, then here then is one more cooroborating consideration which supports that Christ is certainly Messiah ben Joseph, as well as Messiah ben David. And in closing this item consider Christ's words to Joseph Smith.

"Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers -- For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God -- Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began. Therefore, blessed are ye if ye continue in my goodness, a light unto the Gentiles, and through this priesthood, a savior unto my people Israel. The Lord hath said it. Amen." ~ D&C 86:8-11

We will not go into all the possible implications of what this particular scripture may well involve. Surfice it to say that through Joseph Smith, a 'pure Ephraimite' was the priesthood preserved by the lineage of his fathers, back to Ephraim. That was Joseph Smith's right. He was the promised prophet of the seed of Joseph of Egypt of which was spoken of by Joseph of Egypt himself in conveying the promises of the Lord to him. He was of the lineage of Joseph of Egypt. By this lineage was Joseph Smith the rightful 'heir' to the priesthood which did continue through that lineage. Would not Christ require the same of himself to fulfill all righteousness in his own ancestral claim by right to the priesthood through Ephraim and Joseph of Egypt?

Christ's Earthly Right to the Priesthood

Jesus Christ was the Great High Priest from before the foundation of the earth. He was ordained and anointed by God the Father and has been given the fulness of the powers and authority of God, by which powers and authority he was and is the creator of all things. And in parallel, there are many of the children of God the Father who did also logically hold offices of priesthood power and authortiy in the preexistent heavens. In fact, of our rebellious brother Lucifer, it is clearly stated that he was 'an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God' (D&C 76:25). And angels do work by the power and authortity of God which is 'priesthood' power and authority.

Now it might seem presumptuous to state that Jesus Christ, who was and is the Great Jehovah, the Great High Priest, who held the the fulness of the power of God in the preexistence would have to have a mortal lineage right to hold the priesthood upon the earth for him to do so. Yet this is the case. John the Baptist was also 'presumptuous' from an opposite persepctive. When Jesus came to John to be baptised, John presumed to forbid Christ by his statement, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" ~ Matthew 3:14.

'To Fulfil All Righteousness'

In response to John's presumption that Christ did not have need of baptism, Jesus, Jehovah in whom is salvation, stated, "Suffer it to be so now for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." ~ Matthew 3:15. This was the pattern throughout Jesus' entire life. He lived and fulfilled all the requirements of the Law of Moses. After eight days were accomplished, the child was properly circumcised and named (Luke 2:21) with his premortal name of 'Jehoshua' or JESUS, which was given him by the father (Philippians 2:9-10) as commanded by the angel Gabriel (Noah) to both Joseph and Mary (Matthew 1:21 & Luke 1:31). Then after the days of Mary's purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord at the temple (Luke 2:22-24). One of the most telling statements is that recored in Luke 2:39 which records the extent and intent of the Lord's compliance to fulfil all things according to the law and in all righteousness, " . . . they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord . . . "

And again, at the age of 12 when he was in his 13th year, having 13 birthdays past, was Jesus brought to Jerusalem. And his barmitzvah was accomplished and Christ was recognized as a 'male in Israel', having completed a prescribed course of study and tested and quized by the 'doctors' of the temple (Luke 2:46). Jesus did not begin his ministry until the age of 30, which is also according to the law and the custom of the Jews. And as already stated, Jesus who was without sin still was baptized of John, as he was and is our example in all things, in doing all things required in fulfilling all righteousness.

The Book of Mormon supports this line of reasoning, that the Savior Jesus Christ was just such man of perfection in fulfilling all righteousness and requirements of his ministry, both temporal and spiritual.

"And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water! And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, wherein the Lamb of God did fulfil all righteousness in being baptized by water? Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments. Wherefore, after he was baptized with water the Holy Ghost descended upon him in the form of a dove. And again, it showeth unto the children of men the straitness of the path, and the narrowness of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the example before them. And he said unto the children of men: Follow thou me. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, can we follow Jesus save we shall be willing to keep the commandments of the Father?" ~ 2 Nephi 31:5-10

Here it is shown that Christ did fulfil all righteousness and that he did and would comply to all the saving ordinances and covenants of the gospel of God, even in obeying all of Gods commandments in this respect. Baptism was but the gate and the narrow and strait path which Christ was the example to us in every wit included all ordinances and covenants of the gospel required of salvation and for them to be done according to the law, the law according to the flesh in respect to the gospel as well as the law according to God's divine holiness.

By the very fact that Christ was that divine and holy God, the God of the Old Testament, Jehovah, and because he was perfect and without sin, he indeed had no need to be baptized except to meet the requirements of the 'covenant' of the flesh, showing that example before men which they should follow in keeping the commandments, ordinances and covenants of God with man. Thus the Savior, after the way of the requirements of the flesh, did in all righteousness, in fulfilling the full measure of the law, humble himself to be baptized.

Now there are other required 'ordinances' and 'covenants' which are so required. And after the proper order of the kingdom, these too had to be fulfilled by the Lord in his perfect walk of life in meeting not only his right by his divine and holy position, but in fulfilling all measures of the law and covenant of God, even those associated with the covenant and blessing of the fathers from Adam to Noah, from Abraham to Ephraim. And one of those requirements was that of the oath and covenant of the priesthood if you were a male who was to walk the example of the strait and narrow path. And the Savior would have to comply to not only the holy and divine nature of that covenant but also that which is required of man after the order of the earth of the flesh which was the right of the fathers handed down through the ages, that right and heirship to the priesthood of God.

In terms of his holy and divine nature, being God, Christ was the Great High Priest of the priesthood. This holy order of the priesthood is after the order of the Son, meaning the Son of God. Melchizedek was one of the names of God, he being the 'King or Prince of Righteousness' which was given to and bestowed upon the man and priest to whom Abraham paid his tithes and was blessed by. And thou we state that to avoid the too frequent use of the name of the Son of God, we call the higher priesthood the Melchizedek Priesthood after that great high priest of Abrahams day, we in fact are calling the high priesthood by one of the names of God, Melchizedek, that great 'KING OF RIGHTEOUSNESS', even Jehovah, for that is one of his names. But dispite Christs right and heirship, being the Son of God, to the priesthood of God, like unto the matter of his baptism, Christ did comply and comform to the earthly proper order in the priesthood by which any man of the flesh would have to so qualify for his rights to that priesthood and required ordiance and covenant for man to so perfectly walk that strait and narrow path.

This now brings us to the earthly proper 'order of the priesthood' after the manner of the flesh. Now Christ was not of the linage of Levi, thus he was not the legal heir to the lesser priesthood of Aaron, though we know that the priesthood of Aaron was a part, an appendage as it were. of the greater priesthood. Not only was Chirst to be of this higher order of the priesthood of God but he was to be the 'rightful heir' of the covenant and priesthood of God, he being the rightful King and promised Messiah of the Covenant of the Fathers, which is the same as the Covenant of Abraham and the promises of the Fathers from Adam down to and including Joseph, by whom such promises did remained (D&C 27:10).

Before we continue with Christ, lets establish well just what that requirement of the covenant did require in order to be a 'rightful heir' unto the priesthood, not just according to 'divine sonship' but according to the order of the flesh, by which the right to such priesthood is conveyed to such earthly men as Christ had condesended to becoming and subjecting himself to being in all humility and righteousness before the Father and the world.

The apostle Erastus Snow gives a very complete discourse upon this matter in terms of such rights to the priesthood. I shall present one paragraph from Apostle Snow's discourse, though leghthy it may be. It speaks by what right the priesthood comes to us today to the keys of the priesthood and the resposibility of taking the gospel to the nations of the world, yet was not this the same order by which the Savior would have right to the keys and to the responsibility of taking the gospel to the world as he did so perform his 'earthly' ministry? Consider the following (one note of commentary is inserted in blue in the midst of this paragraph and underscoring is done to emphasize various aspects of the paragraph):

"The first important labor of this ministry is to go abroad and preach the Gospel to the nations. The Gospel of the kingdom must be preached to all people and nations and tongues before the end can come; and by the preaching of the word and the administering of the ordinances of the Gospel, is Israel sought out from among the nations among the seed of Ephraim unto whom the first promises appertain, the promise of the keys of the Priesthood which they are scattered, especially. For it must be remembered that of all the seed of Abraham whom the Lord chose to bear the keys pertaining to this holy order of Priesthood, the seed of Ephraim, the son of Joseph, were the first and chief. While the tribe of Levi, unto which Moses and Aaron belonged, was specially charged with the administration of affairs of the lesser Priesthood under the law, yet Ephraim, the peculiar and chosen son of Joseph, was the one whom the Lord had named by his own mouth and through the Prophets, to inherit the keys of presidency of this High Priesthood after the order of the Son of God. In this also we see the fulfillment of the covenants and promises of God; not that Joseph by birthright inherited this blessing, for Reuben was the first-born among the twelve sons of Jacob; but we are told in Chronicles, the 7th chapter, that Reuben forfeited this birthright by his adultery, and that God took it from him and conferred it upon the sons of Joseph; and of the sons of Joseph he chose Ephraim as the chief; and while the Patriarch Jacob, as we read in the 49th chapter of Genesis, adopted into his own family two of the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, yet he placed Ephraim the younger foremost, and blessed him with the chief blessing, saying, that Manasseh shall be great, but Ephraim shall be greater than he; he shall become a multitude in the midst of the earth. Another Scripture also says concerning scattered Israel, that Ephraim has mixed himself among the people; and speaking of the gathering of Israel in the latter-day dispensation, the Prophet Jeremiah has said that God would gather Israel and lead them as a shepherd does his flock, and says he, I am Father to Israel, but Ephraim is my first-born. Now, if Ephraim has been scattered and has mixed himself with the people until their identity is lost among the nations, how are they going to be recognized and receive the promised blessings—how is it that Ephraim shall be the first-born of the Lord in the great gathering of the latter-days? If we turn back to the blessing which Moses gave to the twelve tribes of Israel, as found in Deuteronomy, we shall there see that in blessing the tribe of Joseph, he especially charged them with the duty of gathering the people from the ends of the earth. Said he, Joseph's horns are like the horns of unicorns, which shall push the people together from the ends of the earth, and they are the thousands of Manasseh and ten thousands of Ephraim; showing that it shall be the ten thousands of Ephraim and thousands of Manasseh who shall be in the foremost ranks of bearing the Gospel message to the ends of the earth, and gathering Israel from the four quarters of the world in the last days. Whoever has read the Book of Mormon carefully will have learned that the remnants of the house of Joseph dwelt upon the American continent; and that Lehi learned by searching the records of his fathers that were written upon the plates of brass, that he was of the lineage of Manasseh. The Prophet Joseph informed us that the record of Lehi, was contained on the 116 pages that were first translated and subsequently stolen, and of which an abridgement is given us in the first Book of Nephi, which is the record of Nephi individually, he himself being of the lineage of Manasseh; but that Ishmael was of the lineage of Ephraim, and that his sons married into Lehi's family, and Lehi's sons married Ishmael's daughters, thus fulfilling the words of Jacob upon Ephraim and Manasseh in the 48th chapter of Genesis, which says: "And let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the land." Thus these descendants of Manasseh and Ephraim grew together upon this American continent, with a sprinkling from the house of Judah, from Mulek descended [Obed was of the blood of Boaz, but Boaz was but surrogate father and Mahlon, that Ephrathite (Ephraimite), was the legal and rightful ancestor, Obed being his rightful heir and heir to the priesthood of the Covenant of Abraham though Ephraim, Nun, Joshua, Elimelech and Mahlon. Thus Mulek was also legally and rightfully of the tribe of Ephraim and rightful heir to the blessing of Joseph and the fruitful bough running over the Ocean to the Americas.  And thus it was also that Jesus Christ, though Son of God and holder of God’s power, became the earthly heir to the priesthood in order to fulfill all righteousness, being heir of the house of Ephraim, Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham as well as to the house of David, being hidden as a Jew and Messiah ben David, he was also legally and rightfully heir to the house of Ephraim, the chosen firstborn of the covenant of God.] ,who left Jerusalem eleven years after Lehi, and founded the colony afterwards known as Zarahemla and found by Mosiah—thus making a combination, an intermixture of Ephraim and Manasseh with the remnants of Judah, and for aught we know, the remnants of some other tribes that might have accompanied Mulek. And such have grown up on the American continent. But we are not informed that the Prophet Joseph and the first Elders of this Church who were called and chosen of God to bear the Priesthood and lay the foundation of this work, were descended from any portion of those remnants that peopled America anciently, and whose history is given us in the Book of Mormon. Yet we find in the Doctrine and Covenants the declaration concerning the first Elders of this Church, that they were of the house of Ephraim; and another passage referring to the wicked and rebellious, says, they shall be cut off from among the people, for the rebellious are not of the seed of Ephraim. And there is a passage in the Book of Mormon which is a part of the prophecy of Joseph written on the plates of brass and quoted by Lehi, concerning the Prophet Joseph Smith, who, it says, was to be raised up in the latter days to translate the records of the Nephites, and whose name should be Joseph, and who should be a descendant of that Joseph that was sold into Egypt, and also that that should be the name of his father." ~ Erastus Snow, Journal of Discourses, vol. 23, pages 185-186

The one qualification placed upon Apostle Snow's statement is that Mulek, the son of King Zedekiah, was also of the lineage of Ephraim by right and legal 'vicarious surrogate adoption' by the Law of Moses. And though Apostle Snow is not in error by stating that Mulek was of 'Judah', for assuredly this was his 'bloodline' from the surrogate parentage of Boaz. However, Apostle Snow does not give the additional understanding that by legal right of ancestry, Mulek, like those Ephrathites David, Jesse and Obed, was of the tribe of Ephraim and was the seed of Joseph.

We have already discussed how the Covenant of Abraham included the ancestry to the Messiah. It was a 'patriarchal' order of the Fathers, of the priesthood, of the covenant of God with man. And the righteous descendant of that order had by right of heirship, to receive of the priesthood of God. It is often speculated as to why the Gentiles and the Black did not have access to the heirship to the priesthood of God, this in itself is the answer. It was a right of lineage. The Gentiles, by the understanding that they where not of the chosen lineage of the priesthood, did not hold the priesthood. They who held the right to the priesthood held that right by the rightful lineage of the covenant. The Doctrine and Covenants state it this way:

"Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers--For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God--Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began. Therefore, blessed are ye if ye continue in my goodness, a light unto the Gentiles, and through this priesthood, a savior unto my people Israel. The Lord hath said it. Amen." ~ D&C 86:8-11

Now a clearer statement as to whom has the right by the proper lineage of the covenant of the fathers could not be said. As previously stated, as quoted from the Prophet Brigham Young, Joseph Smith was a 'pure Ephraimite' and thus was Joseph Smith heir to the covenant of the fathers, the promises of the fathers, the Covenant of God with man, and the priesthood pertaining there unto. And that promise and priesthood was to come forth of Ephraim, the Lord's selected firstborn of the covenant as ordained under the hand of Jacob in Genesis chapter 48 (see the JST version). We of the latter-day church understand that right was unto Ephraim and a goodly majority if not all of the 'restoring saints' of the gospel have received in their patriarchal blessings that they are descendants of Joseph and his son Ephraim, and are therefore acting in fulfilment of these promises of the covenant and are thereby the rightful heirs to this priesthood of God.

Now this priesthood is the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God (D&C 107:3). The Gospel Plan is according to the Order of the Son of God. Yet the Son of God did humble himself to be so ministered to by the ordinances of that Gospel, His Gospel, by being properly baptized according to the law to fulfill all righteousness. Is it not consistent that the Son of God would also so comply to the proper order, lineage and heirship to that same High Priesthood in receiving of that priesthood upon earth as he had complied to the performance of earthly baptism?

Was not Jesus the rightful 'heir' of the priesthood of the covenant by lineage, not only in being the literal Son of God, but by the earthly requirement of being of that earthly lineage whereby the priesthood was to be preserved in the earth, the same lineage right by which those of the restorers of the gospel held their right to the priesthood as recorded by the voice of he Lord in Doctrine and Coveants section 86? Jesus was the literal son of Mary of the house of David, and Joseph the Carpenter did by the right of law made Jesus his son and heir in the house of David by raising him and teaching him to be a carpenter after the profession of his Father, Joseph the carpenter. Jesus was of the lineage of David by blood and by right through Joseph and Mary.

Yet we have just established that the rights of the High Priesthood were preserved by the lineage of the covenant and those promises and covenant where preserved through Joseph (D&C 27:10) and his son of the covenant, Epharim, the Lord's firstborn in Israel. Did not Jesus, as did Joseph Smith and the others of the restoration, have by the heirship of lineage the right to the priesthood to fulfill all righteousness and to perform all things according to the law and order of heaven? Speaking of the 'Root of Jesse' the Doctrine and Covenants states the following:

"What is the root of Jesse spoken of in the 10th verse of the 11th chapter? Behold, thus saith the Lord, it is a descendant of Jesse, as well as of Joseph, unto whom rightly belongs the priesthood, and the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering of my people in the last days." ~ D&C 113:5-6

Now by what right does the priesthood come in linege? The lineage of Jesse, as well as of Joseph (of Egypt). This is to whom the priesthood rightly belongs. Is not Jesus our example in this as he is our example in order and righteousness in all things? Is not Jesus of the 'root of Jesse', the 'root of David'? Is not Jesus of the priesthood lineage of right being of Joseph of Egypt? Does he not hold the keys of the kingdom? Is he not the Ensign we hold up to the world? Does not this apply to Christ, as well as to we of the latter-day as part of that same covenant and blessings preserved by the fathers, even by Joseph (D&C 27:10)? Is it not a performace of fulfilling all righteousness and according to the order, law and covenant of God for it to be so?

With this understanding, the next verses of Doctrine and Covenants 113, at not at all out of place or jumping to another train of thought, but a natural flow of concept from the fact that the promised lineage is through Jesse, as well as of Joseph. Lets read that logical progression of thought.

"Questions by Elias Higbee: What is meant by the command in Isaiah, 52d chapter, 1st verse, which saith: Put on thy strength, O Zion--and what people had Isaiah reference to? He had reference to those whom God should call in the last days, who should hold the power of priesthood to bring again Zion, and the redemption of Israel, and to put on her strength is to put on the authority of the priesthood, which she, Zion, has a right to by lineage, also to return to that power which she had lost." ~ D&C 113:7-8

That power is the High Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. He held it in the preexistence by right and ordinantion as the firstborn son of the Father in the spirit. And he held it by earthly right being of the 'root of Jesse', the 'root of David', as well as of Joseph of Egypt, just as we also by such right of lineage do so hold it. Christ was Messiah ben David. Christ was Messiah ben Joseph. And by the lineage right, he held the right to the priesthood according to the earthly law of descend, being the legal and rightful offspring, seed and descendant of Joseph, through Jesse, as well as David, as this presentation does establish.

Now, a comment relative to the question of the rights to the priesthood. It has now been established that they are lineage rights held by those who are the heirs and descendants of Jesse, as well as of Joseph. Those of Ephraim who were scattered and now gathered may have such right, as established in the early restored church. Priesthood is as much of a responsibility to performance as it is a blessing and right. The purpose of the early restore church was to bring that priesthood to its rightful heirs by lineage that the blessings of the covenants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Ephraim might be fulfilled, as well as all of the Fathers by whom the blessings come. Ephraim being the last of the recognized fathers to hold such lineage right of the promise and covenant of the fathers. Thus those who were and are of the lineage had the right, responsibility and heirship by lineage to receive that priesthood first in restoring the gospel and bring the blessings of the covenant to all the earth.

Further, let it be ask from another point of reference. Since the black is not primarily known to be of the promised linage of the priesthood, how is it that they are now given such rights to that priesthood, now that the gospel is well established and fully restored? The answer seems to be the one given by John the Baptist to the Jews when they took pride in being the sons of Abraham, the sons of the covenant. John told them that even of these stones could the Lord raise up seed unto Abraham. It is the same way that any who is of Gentile blood may have such rights today. And that is by the process of 'adoption', being born of new blood, the blood of Israel. So why didn't that apply from the beginning of the restoration? The restoration was to be performed by those upon the responsibility fell by 'lineage'. Thus is should be understandable why those primarily of Ephraim received it first. And why did the Lord wait as long as he did before he openned the priesthood to all worthy males? Only the Lord can answer that for sure. But a great act was that of the request, was the work and effort, was that of the seeking after it in worthiness. Abraham had to so seek and request it and live worthy of it. And Heaven knows that these others not of Abraham have now so performed as have the blacks also done as father Abraham. The black lineage was primarily from that of those who had not so attained unto the promises of the covenant of the fathers back in the days when by right it descended through Abraham and his seed.

So why was Abraham so blessed above the people and the nations of the earth and others were not? In Doctrine and Covenants section 121 it gives a long discourse as to why some do not have the right to the priesthood and how long that is to last. A reading of the entire section is suggested for understanding but verse 21 seems central as it states, "They shall not have right to the priesthood, nor their posterity after them from generation to generation." When such a removal of 'right' might be restored once lost, is in the hands of the Lord. It understandably takes righteous living and earnest seeking after it and one cannot tell or command them to so perform. It must be the honest seekings of the heart and soul of those based upon their own according and act of free agency over time and it is the Lord who governs when, not man. And God restored what had been lost to many in early June, 1978 which was made a matter of confirmed record in the church on September 30, 1978 (See Official Declaration 2, Doctrine and Covenants). The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. (Job 1:21)

Now in summary, by right of the covenant of the fathers, preserved by Joseph through his son Ephraim, does the right to the high priesthood of God come after the earthly order of the flesh. 'It is the seed of Ephraim unto whom these 'first' promises appertain, the promise of the keys of the Priesthood,' as pointed out by Apostle Erastus Snow. As he further stated, 'Of all the seed of Abraham whom the Lord chose to bear the keys pertaining to this holy order of Priesthood, the seed of Ephraim, the son of Joseph, were [was] the first and chief'. Christ was the first and chief in his right to the priesthood, not only as being the Son of God by that holy and divine right, but by the earthly right after the order of the flesh, as Christ was the legal and rightful heir of the priesthood through his lineage of being the Son of David. As to rights to priesthood, they were either through Levi, the order of Aaron, to the lesser priesthood, or they were 'first and chief' by the order and right of the seed of Ephraim. Christ was not of the seed of Levi and therefore did not have that eartyly right of heirship by the order of the flesh as did John the Baptist, who was of that Levitical order. Yet Christ was 'first and chief' among the rightful seed of the covenant, heir to the higher priesthood after the order of the flesh, as he was indeed the legal and rightful seed of Ephraim, of the house of Joseph. And it was through such heirship right that in the manner to fulfil all righteousness and adhere to the letter of the law, that Christ did inherit the keys of presidency of this High Priesthood which was after 'His' order in terms of 'holy divine right' and also according to the order of the flesh in his condesendsion, being the rightful heir of Ephraim, the son of Joseph by whom such promises did remain the rights of man on earth.