Principle: "We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof." (Articles of Faith 5)
Read: 2 Nephi 5:10 - 5:25
Why was Nephi so quick to build a temple? What blessings have you seen because of a temple?
After reading D&C 107:2–4 consider the following statements from B.H. Roberts and Bruce R. McConkie
"This passage [D&C 107:2–4] clearly establishes the fact that the Melchizedek Priesthood existed before the great High Priest Melchizedek, but that it existed under another name, viz—‘The Holy Priesthood after the order of the Son of God.’ That is to say, it was the same kind of priesthood, the same order of priesthood, that the Son of God held. But this was before the days of Melchizedek, before Abraham, and hence hundreds of years before the birth of the Christ into the world. … Jesus, then, held what we call now the Melchizedek Priesthood before he appeared in this world, and doubtless before the world itself was formed, … but ‘how, where and by whom’ he received it, no man knoweth, except perhaps as to the last, viz., ‘by whom.’ He must, of course, have received it of God” (B. H. Roberts, Improvement Era, May, 1908, 557).
"But as pertaining to his mortal ministry, Christ … 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” (Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary,vol. 3 [1973], 157).
Why is important to understand by what authority Christ worked on earth?