Without Beginning of Days or End of Years

Priesthood power connects us not only with God but also with other people, including our ancestors.

Abraham grew up in an idolatrous society, raised by a father who had abandoned the teachings and practices of their ancestors. But Abraham wanted more, and as he learned about prior generations, he yearned to connect with God as they had. As a result, he received knowledge, power, and peace from God:

It was conferred upon me from the fathers; it came down from the fathers, from the beginning of time, yea, even from the beginning, or before the foundation of the earth, down to the present time, even the right of the firstborn, or the first man, who is Adam, or first father, through the fathers unto me.

I sought for mine appointment unto the Priesthood according to the appointment of God unto the fathers concerning the seed.

Abraham 1:3-4

Abraham received the priesthood from Melchizedek:

…who received it through the lineage of his fathers, even till Noah;

And from Noah till Enoch, through the lineage of their fathers;

And from Enoch to Abel, who was slain by the conspiracy of his brother, who received the priesthood by the commandments of God, by the hand of his father Adam, who was the first man.

Doctrine and Covenants 84:14-16

So when the author of Hebrews describes Melchizedek as “without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God” (Hebrews 7:3), he is referring to the priesthood Melchizedek held and later conferred on Abraham. That priesthood power “continueth in the church of God in all generations, and is without beginning of days or end of years” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:17).

Alma emphasized this same point as he taught the people in the city of Ammonihah about the priesthood. The priesthood is eternal, he said, because it comes from the Savior, who is eternal (Alma 13:9), but also because it is intergenerational:

This high priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the world; or in other words, being without beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from eternity to all eternity, according to his foreknowledge of all things—

Alma 13:7

What does that mean for us? Whenever we fulfill a calling or exercise priesthood power on another’s behalf, we honor and continue the work of those who preceded us. Abraham must have felt lonely when he decided to be “a greater follower of righteousness” (Abraham 1:2), but he found a sense of belonging in following in the footsteps of ancestors whom he admired.

Priesthood Lines of Authority

Priesthood holders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can trace their authority through the one who ordained them, through each successive ordaining priesthood holder, back to Joseph Smith, who received the Melchizedek Priesthood from Peter, James, and John under the direction of Jesus Christ.

Tracing this line of authority is more than a legalistic exercise. As shown by the example of Abraham, it can help the priesthood holder connect their service and their faith to the work of their predecessors, reminding them of the trust placed in them and of the help available to them as they contribute to work that began long before they were born.

Predecessors in our callings

When Gordon B. Hinckley became president of the Church in 1995, he stood alone one evening in a council room in the Salt Lake Temple. On the walls of that room were portraits of Joseph Smith and every subsequent president of the Church. Later that evening, he wrote in his journal:

I walked in front of those portraits and looked into the eyes of the men there represented … Every one seemed almost to come alive. Their eyes seemed to be upon me. I felt that they were encouraging me and pledging their support.

They seemed to say that they had spoken in my behalf in a council held in the heavens, that I had no need to fear, that I would be blessed and sustained in my ministry.

quoted in Sheri Dew, Go Forward with Faith: The Biography of Gordon B. Hinckley, pp. 507-8

Some version of President Hinckley’s feelings could be appropriate for each of us in every calling we hold. We did not begin this work, and we will not end it. We are merely contributing our small part, and in so doing, we are joining an extraordinary community of men and women who have contributed and will contribute through the ages.

Today, I will remember my forebears, who laid the foundation on which I build. I will be grateful for their faithful service, and I will recommit to serve in a way that honors them.