Ordinances of Divine Service

"[A]nd a worldly sanctuary" is a terrible translation.  The last words of the verse in Greek are to te hagion kosmikon, which is better read as "and a sacred cosmic thing" or maybe "and its sanctuary [was] cosmic."  The translation "worldly" makes it sound like Hebrews disparages the first temple, but the opposite is true -- Hebrews knows that the temple is the same thing as all of creation, the kosmos.

Thou, Lord, in the Beginning

The Melchizedek priest is the creator.  The Greek, both here and in Psalm 102, says not "in the beginning" but "according to dominions," showing again that the Melchizedek priest always acts by power, authority, and dominion (the Hebrew doesn't have this phrase at all).

Psalm 102, by the way, is a "prayer for the ptochos."  The ptochoi are the "poor in spirit" of Matthew 5.

The garments of the Melchizedek priest are eternal.  The garments of others are mortal, and will pass away.

Whatsoever Adam Called Every Living Creature

Adam's ritual journey begins with his naming lesser orders of creature.  It will climax in his asking to be given a new name by the order of creature above him, and being judged as to his worthiness.

The Gods Had Not Appointed Unto Adam

The fact that Adam is to have a reckoning of time is corroboration that Kolob, with its reckoning, is not a planet as we understand it but a star-angel-priest.

The Breath of Life

Breathing into an initiate's nostrils is an obvious ritual action.

The Seventh Time

Some think Abraham's use of "time" instead of "day" saves the creation account making a six day error by virtue of permitting each "time" to have lasted billions of years.  I think the book's use of "time" shows us that these are ritual directions, and we should imagine the "times" as intervals marked out by singing, or a ritual cry.

Spiritually, Before They Were Naturally

We know by now that the creation accounts of Genesis and Moses are rituals.  Moses clarifies that the rituals enact the spiritual creation of the world and its contents--the form, essence, design, or meaning of the world, and not its tangible substance.

Fowl Which May Fly

The fowls of the air are also part of both the creation and the Worship of the Shalems.  In the latter, whereas grass is clothed, the birds are fed.

Let the Earth Bring Forth Grass

The earth brings forth grass (as it does in Genesis).  This is provocative because in Isaiah 40, following the revelation of the "glory of the Lord" the shalems collectively compare themselves, and all flesh, to grass.  The self-humiliating comparison to grass is part of the Worship of the Shalems, connected with the appearance of the Lord and the shalems' clothing at his hands.

By the Word of My Power

In Moses 2, God tells us he accomplished creation by means of the Word, the same high priestly figure who appears in John 1 and, as the "rod of iron," in 1 Nephi 8.

Let There Be Light

The first thing God creates is light; he then divides it from the darkness.

I will omit the links, since I've posted them often, but John 1, Isaiah 9, Alma 5, 2 Nephi 1, 2 Nephi 31, 1 Nephi 8, Matthew 7, and other shalem texts teach us that the great lamp of the temple is in the Holy of Holies.  This image therefore suggests that the first and fundamental moment of creation is the placement of the lamp within the Holy of Holies, followed by the hanging of the veil.