Three years before Adam died, he gathered his righteous posterity at Adam-ondi-Ahman to prepare them to enter the Lord's presence.¹ President Ezra Taft Benson asked: "How did Adam bring his descendants into the presence of the Lord? ... Today we would say they went to the House of the Lord and received their blessings."² Temple ordinances were the primary purpose for the ancient gathering at Adam-ondi-Ahman.³ Enoch may have served as the Temple Recorder⁴ since he wrote the missing Book of Enoch where he described the temple ordinances performed at Adam-ondi-Ahman.⁵ His record remains largely hidden from the world,⁶ as is always the case where sacred temple ordinances are concerned.⁷

The scriptures give no indication that temple ordinances were instituted among Adam's posterity before they gathered to Adam-ondi-Ahman in about 3077 BC.⁸ Doctrine and Covenants Section 107:42-52 confirms that some of Adam's male descendants were ordained to the office of patriarch⁹ within the Patriarchal (evangelical) Priesthood before they gathered,¹⁰ and some people within the church equate the Patriarchal Priesthood with the Patriarchal Order of the Priesthood.¹¹ However, husbands and wives enter the Patriarchal Order of the Priesthood only when they are married (sealed) in the new and everlasting covenant of marriage in the temple.¹² Thus, if the Patriarchal Priesthood and Patriarchal Order of the Priesthood were the same priesthood, then Noah was married at the very young age of ten because that's when he was ordained to the Patriarchal Priesthood.¹³ Also, Doctrine and Covenants Section 107:42 specifically distinguishes Seth's ordination as a patriarch at age 69 from his blessing where he entered the Patriarchal Order of the Priesthood at Adam-ondi-Ahman at age 779, which is also when he succeeded Adam as the earthly head of the Patriarchal Order.¹⁴

The ordinations of ancient patriarchs in the Patriarchal Priesthood were not temple ordinances that united husbands and wives in the Patriarchal Order of the Priesthood.¹⁵ Adam waited until the end of his life to gather his righteous posterity at Adam-ondi-Ahman¹⁶ where he instituted the sealing ordinance of celestial marriage¹⁷ and established the Patriarchal Order for the first time.¹⁸ This timing is confirmed by the following:

Adam and Eve were married for time and eternity in the Garden of Eden before the fall of Adam.¹⁹ After the fall, they became spiritually dead.²⁰ They were shut out from God's presence when they were expelled from the garden.²¹ They retained their memory of God,²² but did not know or understand the details concerning the plan of salvation.²³ Therefore, after many days²⁴ an angel taught Adam and Eve the gospel²⁵ line upon line and precept upon precept.²⁶ Gospel ordinances were then instituted²⁷ starting with baptism.²⁸ Adam and Eve had to comply with the law of earthly ordinances to be spiritually redeemed from the fall.²⁹ After they were fully reconciled to God through the first principles and ordinances of the gospel,³⁰ their Edenic sealing for time and eternity³¹ was fully efficacious and they possessed the fulness of the priesthood.³² After the posterity of Adam and Eve proved themselves faithful to the same gospel principles,³³ they gathered at Adam-ondi-Ahman to receive from Adam the culminating ordinance of the gospel³⁴ at the culmination of Adam's mortal life.³⁵

When Adam and Eve were married for eternity before the fall, "the grand Key-words of the Holy Priesthood, [were] revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden," as stated in the Book of Abraham.³⁶ Long after Adam and Eve left the garden, the same key-words were revealed³⁷ to Seth,³⁸ who was Adam's double.³⁹ Seth became the presiding high priest in the Patriarchal Order after Adam's death,⁴⁰ followed by Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, and others in their later dispensations.⁴¹ Seth undoubtedly received the key-words of the temple when Adam's righteous posterity was gathered to Adam-ondi-Ahman and Adam blessed Seth to be the presiding patriarch.⁴² Once Seth received the authority and key-words from Adam, Seth administered the temple ordinances at Adam-ondi-Ahman for the first time⁴³ to Adam's righteous posterity then living.⁴⁴

Three years before Adam's death, the Lord (Jehovah)⁴⁵ appeared to Adam's righteous posterity at Adam-ondi-Ahman.⁴⁶ He appeared only after they first entered into temple covenants on that occasion.⁴⁷ Temple ordinances prepare righteous people to enter God's presence⁴⁸ and the sealing ordinance is the gateway ordinance by which they become exalted kings and queens to the most high God.⁴⁹ In a future day, 3½ years before Christ's Second Coming, Adam's righteous posterity will again gather to Adam-ondi-Ahman to come up to the crown prepared for them and to be made rulers over many kingdoms.⁵⁰ At this future gathering, exaltation-worthy kings and queens will come into Christ's presence at Adam-ondi-Ahman, just as Adam's righteous posterity came into Jehovah's presence anciently at Adam-ondi-Ahman.⁵¹

At the ancient gathering the Lord gave Adam the office and title of Prince.⁵² This title means that Adam stands at the head of the whole human family⁵³ and presides over the Patriarchal Order of the Priesthood.⁵⁴ His priesthood authority is second only to Jesus Christ, who is the King.⁵⁵ Consistent with the title of Prince given to Adam at Adam-ondi-Ahman, the Lord "set [Adam] upon high, and [gave] unto him the keys of salvation under the counsel and direction of the Holy One."⁵⁶ After Adam was made a Prince in the Patriarchal Order by right of primogeniture,⁵⁷ his righteous posterity could then enter the same priesthood order through the keys of Adam's presidency.⁵⁸ In other words, temple covenants⁵⁹ became possible at Adam-ondi-Ahman only after Adam was first made a Prince who could preside over those sacred temple ordinances and also preside over the Patriarchal Order established by those ordinances.⁶⁰ Acting under the keys of salvation held by Adam (and then Seth),⁶¹ Adam's posterity was sealed by a covenant with God⁶² that linked them for time and eternity⁶³ as one great family with Adam at its head.⁶⁴ Those that entered the Patriarchal Order at Adam-ondi-Ahman⁶⁵ sustained Adam as their Prince and their head.⁶⁶ Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do likewise when they make temple covenants today.⁶⁷

Joseph Smith called the Patriarchal Order of the Priesthood the order pertaining to the Ancient of Days.⁶⁸ Adam is the Ancient of Days.⁶⁹ He was given this name-title during the ancient gathering at Adam-ondi-Ahman.⁷⁰ At that same gathering, Adam's posterity revered him as Michael (Adam's premortal name)⁷¹ because, according to Joseph Smith, he was the first and father of all, not only by progeny, but the first to hold the spiritual blessings of the temple.⁷² At Adam-ondi-Ahman, Adam made known and instituted the same temple ordinances he first received in the garden of Eden and he did so just before his own death for the salvation of his posterity unto the end.⁷³ Adam's final blessing given at Adam-ondi-Ahman undoubtedly incorporated the promise of exaltation based on the temple covenants that his righteous posterity entered into on that occasion.⁷⁴ Adam also predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity unto the latest generation.⁷⁵ This prophetic view of a glorious future for his righteous posterity was based on the temple covenants they made at Adam-ondi-Ahman.⁷⁶ Only after Adam instituted the exalting ordinances of the temple could he then predict the blessings of kingdoms, thrones, and principalities that awaited his righteous posterity through the latest generations of time and throughout eternity.⁷⁷

Adam and Eve taught the gospel to their posterity after the fall of Adam.⁷⁸ The righteous were spiritually gathered as they accepted the gospel,⁷⁹ but many rejected these teachings.⁸⁰ The spiritual gathering of Adam's righteous posterity was a necessary precursor to their physical gathering⁸¹ at Adam-ondi-Ahman as a Zion people.⁸² Throughout history, the Lord's chosen people have physically gathered to Zion⁸³ to build temples⁸⁴ and receive their temple ordinances.⁸⁵ The temple is a foundation for Zion,⁸⁶ and is central to the principle of gathering.⁸⁷ The gathering of Adam's righteous posterity at Adam-ondi-Ahman to receive the ordinances of the temple⁸⁸ became the model or prototype for later gatherings to Zion where God's righteous people likewise receive the ordinances of the temple.⁸⁹

The events at Adam-ondi-Ahman were a climactic end⁹⁰ to the Adamic dispensation.⁹¹ At the end of Adam's life and dispensation, he bestowed on Seth the priesthood authority to administer the exalting ordinances of the gospel⁹² and Seth became the earth's second presiding patriarch.⁹³ As noted above, Adam's entire life was devoted to giving his righteous descendants the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood through the ordinances of the temple.⁹⁴ He died three years after bestowing on his righteous posterity this last and greatest possible blessing.⁹⁵ This foreshadows the life and death of Joseph Smith and his dedication to temple work in the current dispensation of the fulness of times.⁹⁶ Joseph Smith presided over the first endowments given in this dispensation on May 4, 1842⁹⁷ and he died two years later, on June 27, 1844.⁹⁸