And what did Elijah return to earth to accomplish? The grand and glorious purpose is stated in a single sentence: He came to “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.” The Prophet Joseph Smith later elaborated on the word turn, expanding it to mean also “bind” or “seal.”75 The spirit and purpose of Elijah and the sealing powers are to promote the labor of love we call genealogy (from the Greek, meaning the study of race or family) and family history—researching and preparing the basic and necessary data on every child of Heavenly Father, in order to perform the saving ordinances: baptism, confirmation, priesthood ordination, marriage, and sealing of man and woman to each other and children to their parents. “For we without them cannot be made perfect; neither can they without us be made perfect” (D&C 128:18). We all need the welding links of family units, else the earth would be smitten, cursed, and utterly wasted at the Savior’s coming (D&C 110:14–16; Joseph Smith–History 1:36–39).
During Moroni’s many hours of instructional interviews with Joseph Smith, “respecting what the Lord was going to do, and how and in what manner his kingdom was to be conducted in the last days” (Joseph Smith–History 1:54), the ancient Nephite prophet quoted the first sentence of Malachi’s last verse in this way: “And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers” (Joseph Smith–History 1:39). The promises made to the fathers (Adam, Enoch, Noah, Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so on) include the great blessings of the covenant: the gospel of Jesus Christ and its associated principles and ordinances, the receiving of which, and the living of which, seals upon the obedient the blessings of exaltation in celestial glory with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. All these things are available to men, women, and children—and their ancestors—in the holy temples of the Lord. Our most ardent desire will be to have the great covenant promises and blessings for ourselves and our progenitors and our posterity.