2 Peter 1:10
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
Oh! I beseech you to go forward, go forward and make your calling and your election sure; and if any man preach any other Gospel than that which I have preached, he shall be cursed; and some of you who now hear me shall see it, and know that I testify the truth concerning them. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 366)
“When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter… Now what is this other Comforter? It is no more nor less than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; and this is the sum and substance of the whole matter; that when any man obtains this last Comforter, he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him from time to time, and even He will manifest the Father unto him, and they will take up their abode with him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him, and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God”. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Page 150-151)
What,
then,
is the calling and election made sure? The following scripture gives
the
definition:
“The
more sure word of prophecy means a man’s
knowing that
he is sealed up unto eternal life, by revelation and the spirit of
prophecy,
through the power of the Holy Priesthood.” (D&C
131:5.)
As
expressed
by Elder Bruce R. McConkie:
“To
have
one’s calling and election made sure is to be sealed up unto eternal
life;
it is to have the unconditional guarantee of exaltation in the highest
heaven
of the celestial world; it is to receive the assurance of godhood; it
is, in
effect, to have the day of judgment advanced, so that an inheritance
of all the
glory and honor of the Father’s kingdom is assured prior to the day
when the
faithful actually enter into the divine presence to sit with Christ in
his
throne, even as he is ‘set down’ with his ‘Father in his throne.’ (Rev.
3:21.)
(Doctrinal
New
Testament Commentary, Bookcraft, 1973, 3:330–31.)
As
Elder
McConkie goes on to indicate, the “unconditional guarantee” means that
a
person’s actions have been fully approved, that “there are no more
conditions
to be met by the obedient person.” (P. 335.) When one has been thus
sealed up
unto eternal life, he is “sealed up against all manner of sin except
blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost and the shedding of innocent blood.” (Doctrines of
Salvation, 2:46.)
The
Prophet
Joseph Smith’s exhortation to press forward to this goal of assured
exaltation is as follows:
“I
would
exhort you to go on and continue to call upon God until you make your
calling and election sure for yourselves, by obtaining this more
sure word of prophecy, and wait patiently for the promise
until you
obtain it.” (Teachings, p.
299.)