The eternal law of obedience governs the Order of Resurrection.¹ However, before accountable people² can be resurrected to the celestial kingdom³ they must also receive their gospel ordinances.⁴ This requirement is best identified as the law of earthly ordinances.⁵ In obedience to this law, the earth was baptized with water during the flood, and it will be baptized with fire and the Holy Ghost at the Second Coming before it ultimately dies and is resurrected to celestial glory.⁶

The interrelationship between the law of earthly ordinances and the Order of Resurrection creates certain constraints on how and when people can be resurrected. This section discusses how these related laws or doctrines affect the timing and conditions of the resurrection.

To begin, the law of earthly ordinances applies to all accountable people that have lived to at least the age of eight (8) years old.⁷ The law applies to all accountable people that have the opportunity⁸ to accept the gospel during their mortal lives or in the postmortal spirit world after their physical death.⁹ For deceased persons, earthly ordinances are performed vicariously by mortal proxies that stand in their place.¹⁰ Whether for the living or for the dead, baptism is the gateway ordinance into the celestial kingdom.¹¹ The temple sealing ordinance is the gateway into the highest degree of glory (exaltation) within the celestial kingdom.¹² Even little children that die before the age of eight and unaccountable people in this life must receive the sealing ordinance to be exalted.¹³ No man or woman can be exalted without the sealing ordinance,¹⁴ and they cannot be sealed after their resurrection because all such ordinances are earthly.¹⁵

Mortal proxies could not and did not perform vicarious ordinances for the dead before the resurrection of Jesus Christ.¹⁶ Therefore, the exalted saints resurrected at the time of Christ must have received their gospel ordinances before they died, including the sealing ordinance of the temple.¹⁷ If that did not occur, then these saints resurrected out-of-order and their status in a lesser state of glory was thereby fixed for eternity.¹⁸

Exalted saints resurrected at Christ's Second Coming or during the millennium must also be sealed in the temple¹⁹ while they are alive or by proxy.²⁰ Today, many latter-day temples have been built to accommodate the urgent and growing need for both living and proxy ordinances in this last dispensation before the Second Coming.²¹

Blessed people that die in the Lord before the Second Coming in Revelation 14:13 are those that receive the temple sealing ordinance for themselves or by proxy.²² People that die in the Lord will have power to come forth²³ from their graves²⁴ in the morning of the first resurrection with exalted celestial bodies.²⁵ They will be resurrected just in time²⁶ at the end of the Second Woe to meet Christ in the clouds of heavenly mount Zion²⁷ and they will descend with him in glory at his Second Coming.²⁸

At the end of the Second Woe when the morning of the first resurrection resumes,²⁹ many exaltation-worthy saints will be alive but not sealed in the temple because they are too young, because they have no access to a temple, or because they remain unmarried through no fault of their own.³⁰ People in this category will be quickened³¹ and caught up to meet the Savior before he descends to earth in glory.³² They will stand in the holy place with Christ on mount Zion and become his bride as recorded in Revelation 14:1-2 and Revelation 19:7-8.³³ This quickening, however, will be a temporary transfiguration³⁴ or translation³⁵ because they still need their temple ordinances. Therefore, in their quickened condition they will continue to live as millennial mortals³⁶ on the transfigured earth³⁷ during the millennium.³⁸ They can then receive their gospel ordinances for themselves in the temple during the millennium.³⁹

There may be some or many exaltation-worthy people who are dead at the time of the Second Coming that have not received their gospel ordinances. They cannot be resurrected until they receive their ordinances by proxy⁴⁰ during the millennium.⁴¹ This means their graves will not open at the Second Coming to ascend up to mount Zion and then descend with the Savior when he comes in glory. Their disembodied spirits will surely witness this event from paradise in the postmortal spirit world, and they will rejoice at the Second Coming in Revelation 19:6. But this illustrates the urgent need for temple work during the sixth seal so they can stand with Christ on mount Zion and not just watch from a distance.

Millennial mortals‒those who live during the millennium‒who receive their gospel ordinances for themselves will live to the age of a tree of 100 years. If they have received the sealing ordinance and they are exaltation-worthy, their mortal bodies will be changed in the twinkling of an eye to a resurrected and exalted state of glory.⁴²

At the Second Coming, exaltation-worthy people will be alive who are also sealed in the temple and require no further gospel ordinances before their resurrection.⁴³ They will also be quickened and caught up to meet the Savior, but their quickening may be a permanent change akin to resurrection⁴⁴ in the twinkling of an eye.⁴⁵ There is no impediment to their coming forth with exalted bodies in the morning of the first resurrection at the time of the Second Coming once they receive all their earthly ordinances and they are exaltation-worthy.⁴⁶

The Lost Ten Tribes are another group of exaltation-worthy saints that will exist in a translated condition at the time of the Second Coming.⁴⁷ They will be resurrected after the Second Coming and during the millennium as they receive their exalting temple ordinances at the hand of Ephraim in the New Jerusalem temple that will be located at Independence, Missouri.⁴⁸