Celestial Kingdom

1. The celestial kingdom is a kingdom of resplendent glory (see D&C 137:1–4).
2. Faithful members of the Church will come forth in the morning of the First Resurrection and receive a glorified, celestial body (see D&C 76:64–65; 88:28–29).
3. Those who inherit the celestial kingdom will dwell in the presence of God and Christ forever (see D&C 76:62).
4. Those in the celestial kingdom will minister to the inhabitants of the terrestrial kingdom (see D&C 76:86–87).
5. Those who inherit exaltation, the highest degree in the celestial kingdom, will become kings and priests unto God and members of the Church of the Firstborn (see D&C 76:54–57).
6. Through the Atonement and their own faithfulness, those who obtain exaltation become gods (see D&C 76:58; 132:19–20).
7. Exalted beings receive all things that the Father has (see D&C 76:55, 59; 84:38).

Inheritors
1. We must receive the testimony of Jesus, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and keep the commandments (see D&C 76:51–52).
2. We must overcome all things by faith and be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise (see D&C 76:53, 60).
3. We must comply with the new and everlasting covenant of marriage (see D&C 131:1–3).

■ “The higher ordinances in the temple of God pertain to exaltation in the celestial kingdom.” (D&C 88:22)” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 2:41–42).
■ “Terrestrial glory may be all right for honorable Gentiles, who have not faith enough to believe the Gospel and who do right according to the best knowledge they have; but celestial glory is our aim … If there is a law that God has revealed and it is necessary to be obeyed before celestial glory can be reached, I want to know it and obey it.” (George Q. Cannon, in Conference Report, Apr. 1900, 55–56).
■ “When you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the Gospel—you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation. But it will be a great while after you have passed through the veil before you will have learned them. It is not all to be comprehended in this world; it will be a great work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the grave” (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 348).
■ “Some might suppose that it would be a great blessing to be taken and carried directly into heaven and there set down, but in reality that would be no blessing to such persons; they could not reap a full reward, could not enjoy the glory of the kingdom, and could not comprehend and abide the light thereof, but it would be to them a hell intolerable and I suppose would consume them much quicker than would hell fire. It would be no blessing to you to be carried into the celestial kingdom, and obliged to stay therein, unless you were prepared to dwell there” (Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, 95).

(Adapted from Doctrines of the Gospel, institute student manual, chapter 33, “Kingdoms of Glory and Perdition” by Zan and Misty Larsen.)