[A]nd if you do not these things at the end of the appointment ye shall be rejected as a church, with your dead, saith the Lord your God. (D&C 124:31-32.)

The revelation required the construction of the Nauvoo Temple. It was a "command" to the saints. There was a set time. If at the end of that time the temple was not constructed, the words are clear: "ye shall be rejected as a church, with your dead, saith the Lord your God."

It is critical to know when the time period of that "appointment" ended. Latter-day teaching assumes the appointment was kept, and the condition met. The presumption is based on the fact that a small group of saints left behind to complete the work on the temple after the church abandoned the site, dedicated it just before they also abandoned the city . . . Joseph died June 27, 1844. No one claims the Nauvoo Temple was completed by that time. The outer walls of the second floor were not even finished at the time of Joseph's death. The question of whether or not the "sufficient time" for the "appointment" ended at Joseph's death is important to answer. In Nauvoo at the time of Joseph's death, there were complete homes built, a Masonic Temple, and manufacturing and retail facilities, but the Nauvoo Temple had been neglected. It was nowhere near completed when Joseph and Hyrum died . . . The "keys of the holy priesthood" are "ordained" to be received exclusively in such a "house" belonging to God, and built through sacrifice. The Nauvoo Temple was never complete enough to use for that purpose while Joseph was alive.