The challenge of learning the otherwise unknown1 name of God is a central purpose of life. You learn more about God’s character line upon line as you live what you already know about him. Solving the mystery of God’s character by learning more about him, living what you have learned, and discovering why his character is better than any alternative is symbolically described as having his name written upon you. The Son has the name of the Father written on his forehead,2 and has declared that he will write that name on the foreheads3 of all who pass the trials of life through learning and living as Christ would in their place at all times and in all places.4
The Lord progressively engraves his name upon you as you continuously choose to learn more about and live by his example in each choice you face.5 As you reconcile to how you understand him to be, the Lord leads you to and through situations that expose the differences between you and him beyond the prior limits of your understanding. Knowing Jesus is an iterative process6 in which you continually receive new invitations to be more like him through recognizing and responding to those you already received.7 As you seek his purpose completely in all things, you incrementally become more like him.8 As you become more like him, you receive the incremental increase in the blessings that derive from how he is.9
It is through being iteratively engraved into the image of God that you become sealed to him, or sealed up to eternal life.10 Jesus became sealed by and to the Father through learning and living the character of the Father,11 and it is through learning and living the character of the Son that we become sealed by and to him.12 The high priest under the law of Moses was commanded to wear a golden plate “like a signet” (otherwise known as a seal) on his forehead to symbolically invite all to receive and live the name of the Lord in order to become holy and be bound to God by becoming like him.13
Contrary to what some churches have taught, being sealed to God is a process,14 not an event, because it consists of learning and living like him,15 which happens over time, through increasing information, and against increasing opposition. The only way to make your relationship with God permanent is to overcome all things that could cause you to turn away from him. While you have yet to face the greatest possible challenges in mortality, you have no assurance that your relationship with God is eternal in nature. While you are not yet indistinguishable from God, there is still more to learn and grow, and blessings to obtain that you cannot have in any other way.
Footnotes
- 1. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (Ephesians 1:9) ↩
- 2. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. (Revelation 19:12) ↩
- 3. And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. (Revelation 14:1) ↩
- 4. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. (Revelation 3:12) ↩
- 5. I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances? (Alma 5:19) ↩
- 6. The Lord transforms you into a person more and more like he is, expanding and cementing your life to be more like his, in the equal and opposite fashion that the devil seals you his by enwrapping you in flaxen cords that thicken over repetition into thick chains. See 2 Nephi 26:22, 2 Nephi 28:22, and Alma 12:11. ↩
- 7. I say unto you, I would that ye should remember to retain the name written always in your hearts, that ye are not found on the left hand of God, but that ye hear and know the voice by which ye shall be called, and also, the name by which he shall call you. (Mosiah 5:12) ↩
- 8. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. (Revelation 22:3-4) ↩
- 9. Behold, I will lead thee by my hand, and I will take thee, to put upon thee my name, even the Priesthood of thy father, and my power shall be over thee. (Abraham 1:18) ↩
- 10. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. (John 3:33) ↩
- 11. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. (John 6:27) ↩
- 12. And of as many as the Father shall bear record, to you shall be given power to seal them up unto eternal life. Amen. (D&C 68:12) ↩
- 13. And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, Holiness To The Lord. And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre; upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. And it shall be upon Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord. (Exodus 28:3638) ↩
- 14. Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his, that you may be brought to heaven, that ye may have everlasting salvation and eternal life, through the wisdom, and power, and justice, and mercy of him who created all things, in heaven and in earth, who is God above all. Amen. (Mosiah 5:15) ↩
- 15. For example, Nephi was given power to seal because he knew and exclusively sought the will of God (see Helaman 10:4-11). ↩