Question
Gramps,
When the earth receives its paradisiacal order or its terrestrial glory, will it be near Kolob during the Millennium?
Kevin
Answer
kevin,
Thank you for taking a moment to ask your question pertaining to the earth’s location during the Millennium. The only revelation we have received regarding your question is that the earth will receive its paradisiacal glory; although, it appears logical that during the Millennium it will be in the same place it is now.
“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. And when man fell . . . the earth fell into space, and took up its abode in this planetary system, and the sun became our light . . . This is the glory the earth came from, and when it is glorified it will return again unto the presence of the Father” (Journal of Discourses Volume 17, pg. 143).
So according to the above quote, the earth will return unto the presence of the Father. Where exactly that is in our great solar system we just don’t know.
Gramps
Question
Gramps,
I know the oxen in the Temples represent the 12 tribes of Israel. I have heard there is a specific order of the oxen, such as the three oxen on the North side represent three specific tribes and the three oxen on the South side represent three other specific tribes, but when people tell me there is a certain order they never can explain which tribes are on which side. So my question is, are the oxen placed in a certain order? and if so, is there any meaning behind that order. Thanks.
Jared
Answer
Jared,
I couldn’t find anything that suggested that they were placed in a certain order. I did find this:
Decades after the tabernacle was dedicated, Solomon built a great temple complex. Included in the temple was a large basin font supported by “the similitude of oxen.” (2 Chr. 4:3.) Solomon employed Hiram of Tyre to build the temple, and Hiram’s foundry laborers produced the bronze oxen for the temple. (See 1 Kgs. 7:40, 44–46; 2 Chr. 4:11, 15–17.) The oxen were placed in groups of three, with each group facing outward toward a point of the compass, and with the large basin placed upon their backs. (See 1 Kgs. 7:25; 2 Chr. 4:4.)
….
The ancient pattern of temple-building has influenced the construction of temples in our own dispensation. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “the baptismal font was instituted as a similitude of the grave, and was commanded to be in a place underneath where the living are wont to assemble.” (D&C 128:13.) Baptismal fonts in latter-day temples since the Nauvoo Temple have followed the ancient pattern wherever possible. (See History of the Church 4:446; 7:358, 430–31.) For various reasons, some fonts—such as those in the Hawaii, Atlanta Georgia, and Seoul Korea temples—are not situated below the main level of the temple, but most fonts stand upon the statues representing the twelve oxen.
Gramps