Shared with permission.
The Holy Order as defined by God is that Jesus Christ is under the head of The Father. He does the will of God and as he does God’s will he becomes equal to God in power and authority.
Man is then subject to Jesus Christ and he falls under Christ’s head. Meaning he is required to be obedient to Jesus Chris and as man is obedient to Christ he receives power and authority.
But Jesus Christ is and will forever remain under the head of the Eternal Father and cannot act outside his authority.
Every woman has a divine right to be under the divine protection of a man who is righteous and receives power and authority from Jesus Christ to lead, protect, and bring his family back into God’s presence.
Man cannot be saved without Jesus Christ. And both men and women cannot be saved with out each other. Man is eternally subject by covenant to obey Jesus Christ. He can never act outside the bounds established by Jesus Christ just as Jesus Christ never and does never do his own will or act outside of the bounds of His Father. But they become equal in power and authority as long as Jesus continues to be obedient.
Man is subject to Christ the same way Christ is subject to the Father.
If a man is righteous like Adam, and a woman obeys his righteous authority she becomes equal to her husband and they are one in mind, purpose, and authority. They are equal.
But man cannot get ahead of Christ and we cannot rule OVER our husbands. That is the way God designed it.
Plural marriage is a woman’s principle because it does not deny any woman the right to have a righteous husband who will lead her, protect her, and bring her into God’s presence. If her husband fails, she is entitled to choose someone who is more righteous regardless of how many wives he has.
And why was David given so many wives? So he could save them in God’s kingdom. David at the time had proven himself worthy of being able to lead his wives and posterity back to God’s presence. When David fell, God didn’t cause his wives to fall with him instead he gave David’s wives to another who was more righteous.
As a woman, I look at it like this. If Jesus Christ is forever subject to His Father, i too can be subject to my husband as long as he stays righteous. Knowing that by doing so we become equal and are able to enjoy exaltation in the Father’s kingdom.
My answer would be to read the writings of the Plural wives of the Prophet Joseph Smith especially Eliza R Snow who was One of the greatest women of the Restoration.
She was a plural wife of Joseph Smith and later became a plural wife of Brigham Young.
Yet she became one of the most influential women in the history of the world.
She was a High Priestess, a high Prophetess, a Presidentess. She gave healing blessings, spoke in tongues, walked on Mount Olives and helped to re-dedícate the land of Palatine for the gathering of the Jews.
She along with her counselors in the relief society who were also plural wives of very righteous leaders became the CEO of Deseret’s first hospital. The women had their own magazine, met with and influenced Government leaders, they helped lead the women’s movement and lead the charge for women’s suffrage and more.
Eliza also wrote Hymns that became Doctrine for the church.
The plural wives of the Prophet Joseph Smith are perfect examples of how plural marriage raises women up to be more free And receive the gifts of the spirit that none of us have ever experienced.
You will not find a woman in scripture or in any book of the entire history of the world that are anywhere as powerful, righteous, influential, and as accomplished as Eliza R Snow and some of the other plural wives of the Restoration. Some other examples of women you could study are Helen Mar Kimball and Elizabeth Ann Whitney.
And Eliza R Snow would be the first to tell every woman that being obedient to righteous priesthood authority is what made her so great!
She and other plural wives left a legacy of righteousness that has never been surpassed!!!
But at the end of the day, God never forces a woman to live a principle that won’t make her happy. No woman will be forced to be in a polygamous relationship in this life or the next. But if she is righteous she will want the most righteous man possible even if he has one wife or a hundred wives. The great thing about God’s plan is that every woman will get to be the one who chooses her husband.
No it doesn’t meant that men are inherently above women. Men are subject to the Priesthood and women are subject to the Priesthood. When they both become righteously obedient to the Priesthood they together can become exalted. Man cannot become exalted without a woman and woman without a man. But they also cannot be exalted if they are unequally yoked in righteousness.
And yes most likely there are far more righteous women than men. That is why God will never deny a righteous woman a right to be eternally sealed to a righteous man.
And I understand how it may seem harsh the way the revelation is worded in Doctrine and Covenants section 132. But we have to remember that Joseph Smith was a dispensation Head. He had a foreordained mission to restore all the laws and ordinances to this generation that are essential to the salvation of all both in last dispensations and future.
Emma as Joseph Smith’s 1st wife was also foreordained to fulfill her part of the restoration. She made Covenants long before we came to this world.
The Lord was simply reminding her the seriousness of breaking a Covenant.
This revelation doesn’t just apply to Emma it applies to every member of the church.
When you have advanced to the station that Emma had advanced to before this life ( she was literally a Queen in the Celestial Kingdom before coming to the earth) and the salvation of other people rests on your shoulders it is not something you can just decided not to fulfill.
If you do a word search of the word “destroyed” in the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon and etc. you will be surprised how many times the Lord warns his people they will be destroyed if they break the covenant.
And here is something else to think about. If women want to be equal to men shouldn’t they also be willing to accept “equal” responsibility? The Lord told the Prophet, Joseph Smith, that he would be destroyed if he showed the plates and the Urim and Thummim to anyone that he wasn’t commanded to show. Are we equal or aren’t we. If the Lord would destroy Joseph for disobedience shouldn’t the Lord also destroy Emma for disobedience. And the Lord literally came to Joseph Smith with a drawn sword commanding him to teach and practice Celestial Plural marriage. So they were equally told they would receive the same punishment for disobedience.
