In both the Old and New Testaments, God teaches us through ritual, or sacred ceremony (which also includes the sacred ordinances of our day). In fact, the revelations make it clear that God does not simply suggest, but He commands His covenant people to participate in ritual. During the period of the Mosaic law, for example, these sacred rituals included the laying on of hands; the act of anointing oil on individuals and things; washing with water; smearing sacrificial blood on the body parts of the priests; offering incense; sprinkling sacrificial blood on things; and sacrificing certain animals to make atonement for the people. New Testament rituals include baptism; the laying on of hands; breaking, blessing, and partaking of sacramental bread; anointing the sick with oil followed by the laying on of hands; and many other rituals.
Drawing upon the understanding of ritual in both ancient and modern temples from various religious faiths of the world, biblical scholar John Lundquist summarizes the meaning of ritual: “Ordinary mortals, indeed priests too, approach the temple through ancient, carefully prescribed ritual preparations, including purification, special clothing, certain ritual movements and gestures . . . ritual speech . . . visual symbols . . . and group interaction. These rituals are not something recently thought up or devised in popular religious or artistic movements (although traditional forms of ritual may well appear in these media). They bear the stamp of tradition, are often passed on by elderly members of a society, are usually considered to be secret, and are purposefully kept from the knowledge of outsiders, or those who have not been initiated.”269
Ritual symbols, including those attached to clothing, gestures, speech, and movements, create a sacred environment wherein participants transcend profane time and space and enter into the realms of the sacred, where God and angels reside. Ritual also removes individuals from a worldly environment and allows them to enter into God’s presence, where eternal light and manifold glories exist.