Another valuable purpose for earth life is related to, but goes beyond, the matter of mortality being a time of trial and testing for the children of God … They must undergo such experiences as would give them the peculiar knowledge of good and evil he possessed. For as Brigham young said “The only key to open the door of knowledge is experience.”
Eternity is often defined as the endless continuum of existence which lies on either side of mortality. But eternity is also defined as a single epoch or cycle of creation, redemption, and perfection—one “round” of God’s work and glory. This earth and all others associated with it are bound together through their mutual Redeemer and by common bonds of Spirit and truth … Earth and her chosen ones will have come full circle; having begun in spirit, they will have returned to spirit … They will possess divine creative powers which will enable them to enter into the most glorious enterprise of all. The work of the Father—the immortality and eternal life of man—will become their work as well …In time, they will organize new earths out of eternity’s infinite materials … In this way, an endless chain of life is formed, link by link, to bind the family of Man together from world to world and form eternity to eternity! The “eternal round” of the Gods will have begun again. The curtain will rise on yet another production of the endless cosmic drama … the immortality and eternal life of another generation of the family of Man will be a reality and a new realm of immortal glory will find its place among that galaxy of celestial worlds to which Earth will have long since ascended.
“And I have made the earth rich, and behold it is my footstool, wherefore, again I will stand upon it.” (D&C 38:17.) … It will move in harmony with mighty Kolob once more. It will flee this benighted solar system for the distant reaches of galactic space … Joseph Smith confirmed this point when he said that this earth “will be rolled back into the presence of God, and crowned with celestial glory” … On several occasions, Brigham Young stated the same idea: “When [the earth] is celestialized it will go back into the presence of God, where it was first framed” … The cycle will be complete. Having begun its career “near the throne of our Father in Heaven” or, in other words, “near the planet Kolob,” Earth will return to her “native place.” However, she—like her celestial inhabitants—will be far more exalted and far more glorious in returning to the Father’s presence than she had been when departing from it.
The garden of Eden was located in what is now Independence, Jackson County, Missouri—making America the oldest inhabited land on earth … America is the choicest of all the lands of promise because it is the site of the Garden of Eden—the holiest spot on earth. For this reason Zion, the New Jerusalem, cannot be built anywhere else—it must and will be located in Independence, Missouri, prior to the second coming of the Savior.
We have been working out our salvation from the very beginning of our association with God. For as Elder Melvin J. Ballard declared: “Long before we were born in to this earth we were tested and tried in our pre-existence.” Only in the premortal world was the Father’s entire spirit family obliged to face the opposition represented by Lucifer and thus be proven as to their spiritual integrity. And so it seems that, for some, a decisive judgment was made in the first estate, but, for others, it will follow their works in the second.
“And the Gods watched those things which they had ordered until they obeyed.” Abraham 4:18 Matter unorganized, infused with the Spirit of the Lord—“the law by which all things are governed”—responded and a new world was born. And all without the sound of hammer or chisel! The Creator pronounced it “very good.”
A Sea if Glass—John the apostle beheld God sitting upon his throne with a “sea of glass like unto crystal” lying before him. (Revelation 4:6; See also Rev. 15:2; 21:18, 21). Some eighteen centuries later, Joseph Smith learned that the sea of glass was “the earth, in its sanctified, immortal and eternal state.” It will be like unto the very heavenly body where God and his angels dwell, for they reside on a great Urim and Thummim—“a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord.” (D&C 130:7,8.).
Among the stars which he [Abraham] saw was Kolob, the star nearest the throne of God, meaning, “nearest t0 the celestial, or the residence of God.” The Lord further informed Abraham that Kolob belonged to the highest order or system of worlds, having the same “season” and the same measurement of time as that of the celestial dwelling place of God himself: “one revolution was a day unto the Lord, after his manner of reckoning, it being one thousand years according to the time appointed for the earth upon which Abraham stood.
Joseph Smith prophesied: “This earth will be rolled back into the presence of God, and crowned with celestial glory.” (TPJS, p. 181). Obviously, the earth could not be “rolled back” into the presence of God unless it had once been in his presence. That such had been the case was the teaching of Brigham Young who taught that the earth “will go back into the presence of God, where it was first framed.” (JD, 9:317, See also 7:163; 8;8). He further remarked: “When the earth was framed and brought into existence and man was placed upon it, it was near the throne of our Father in Heaven.” (JD, 17:143). This implies that the earth was “nearest unto the throne of God.” (Abraham 3:2, 3). Such was Elder Taylor’s understanding in writing that the earth “was first organized, near the planet Kolob."
The suggestion that this planet is only thousands of years old is considered ludicrous by contemporary geologists who calculate its age to be about 4.6 billion years. While scripture fails to support geologists on this point, a letter written by William W. Phelps (a close associate of Joseph Smith) to William Smith states that “eternity … has been going on in this system (not this world) almost two thousand five hundred and fifty five millions of years.” Phelps indicated that this information was gleaned—apparently by Joseph Smith—from the, as yet, unpublished portions of the writings of Abraham and Joseph. To say that eternity has been “going on” for some two and a half billion years in the “system” of which the earth is a part is most revealing.
The [pre-mortal] family [of God] had already become quite diverse in so far as individual capacity, obedience, progress, and achievement were concerned: the premortal achievements of men and women would affect their opportunities and performances in mortality. The competence and diligence with which the children of God obeyed his laws in their first estate have profoundly affected their opportunities for spiritual grown and development in their second estate. Spiritual scholarships were given to the Father’s most meritorious sons and daughters—the noble and great ones—whom he determined to make his “rulers” on earth in both time and eternity … God’s great servants from Adam to the present day were foreordained in the councils of heaven.
Lucifer is the prime example of one whose conduct in heaven determined his fate on earth. He failed to “keep” his first covenants with the Father. His rebellion was total; his judgment was final. Lucifer and his followers are denied the blessing of physical incarnation. Consequently, they will not obtain a “glory” in any earthly “kingdom.”
Mortality—in terms of its opportunities for spiritual growth and development—is largely the harvest of seeds sown in that former life. And just as yesterday’s sowing dictated today’s harvest, so will today’s works dictate the character of mankind’s tomorrows. The foregoing view of mortality as a period of trial and testing must be qualified. As has been stated, many spirits enter this world under conditions which do not allow for any genuine opportunity to obey such revealed commandants as are found in the law of Moses or the gospel of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith described these people as “heathens.” Being without divine law (administered through the priesthood), they will be judged in accordance with the moral and spiritual understanding they possess … Joseph Smith described these candidates for the terrestrial kingdom as follows: “Behold, these are they that have died without law; The heathen of ages that never had hope.”
The Lord’s course is “one eternal round”—a divine creative cycle in which all things are organized first spiritually and then temporally … the earth was brought forth in harmony with this principle of duality. Initially it was organized as a spiritual sphere or heaven) which, in time, became the pattern for its second organization as a physical planet.
Another valuable purpose for earth life is related to, but goes beyond, the matter of mortality being a time of trial and testing for the children of God … They must undergo such experiences as would give them the peculiar knowledge of good and evil he possessed. For as Brigham young said “The only key to open the door of knowledge is experience.”