The concept of ascension is significant to both ancient and modern temples because worshippers, then and now, ascend to the Lord’s house. The Hebrew term alah (“go up,” “ascend”) is a watchword utilized by biblical writers in connection with individuals who ascend unto God’s sacred places. The Israelites were required to “go up to appear before the Lord” to worship in the temple three times a year (Ex. 34:24, emphasis added); when King Hezekiah needed divine help, he “went up into the house of the Lord” (2 Kgs. 19:14, emphasis added); King Josiah, too, “went up into the house of the Lord” (2 Kgs. 23:2, emphasis added; see also Jer. 26:10). Moses ascended Mount Sinai and received a temple experience: “Moses went up into the mount of God” (Ex. 24:13, emphasis added; see also 19:3). The Psalmist asked, “Who shall ascend into the hill [Hebrew: “mountain”] of the Lord?” (Ps. 24:3, emphasis added), a reference to the temple.
President David O. McKay spoke of the endowment as an ascension: “Seen for what it is, [the endowment] is the step-by-step ascent into the eternal Presence.”25 The step-by-step ascent may be literal, from one level or floor to the next, but the step-by-step ascent is always a spiritual ascent that each temple worshipper experiences when he or she worthily attends the temple.
Why ascend? Because God is elevated above mortals and the world. He is “the most high God” (Gen. 14:20) and He sits “upon a throne, high and lifted up” (Isa. 6:1). Some prayers express God’s elevated status: “O Lord . . . thou art exalted as head above all” (1 Chr. 29:11; see also 2 Sam. 22:47); “Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens” (Ps. 57:5); “For thou, Lord, art high above all the earth: thou art exalted far above all gods” (Ps. 97:9). See entry “Stairs/Staircases.”