The Patriarchal Order is the Order of Celestial Marriage
Scripture References
Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-4
1. this is where the text of the verses will be
Prophets and Apostles
Ezra Taft Benson (President of the Quorum of the Twelve)
The order of priesthood spoken of in the scriptures is sometimes referred to as the patriarchal order because it came down from father to son.
But this order is otherwise described in modern revelation as an order of family government where a man and woman enter into a covenant with God—just as did Adam and Eve—to be sealed for eternity, to have posterity, and to do the will and work of God throughout their mortality.
If a couple are true to their covenants, they are entitled to the blessing of the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. These covenants today can only be entered into by going to the House of the Lord. ("What I Hope You Will Teach Your Children About the Temple," Ensign, Aug 1985, 6)
Bruce R. McConkie (Quorum of the Twelve)
It is in the temple that we enter into the patriarchal order, the order of priesthood that bears the name "the new and everlasting covenant of marriage." (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, p.315)
The Church of the Firstborn is the church among exalted beings in the highest heaven of the celestial world. It is the church among those for whom the family unit continues in eternity. In a sense it is the inner circle within the Lord's church on earth. It is composed of those who have entered into that patriarchal order which is called the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. As baptism admits repentant souls to membership in the earthly church, so celestial marriage opens the door to membership in the heavenly church. (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, p.337)
Those who receive the Melchizedek Priesthood covenant and promise, before God and angels, to magnify their callings, to "live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God" (D&C 84:44), to marry for time and all eternity in the patriarchal order, and to live and serve as the Lord Jesus did in his life and ministry.
In return the Lord covenants and promises to give them all that his Father hath, meaning eternal life, which is exaltation and godhood in that eternal realm where alone the family unit continues in eternity.
In return the Lord admits them to his eternal patriarchal order, an order that prevails in the highest heaven of the celestial world, an order that assures its members of eternal increase, or in other words of spirit children in the resurrection. (See D&C 131:1–4.)
These are the most glorious promises given to men. There neither is nor can be anything as wondrous and great. And so the Lord uses the most powerful and emphatic language known to the human tongue to show their importance and immutability. That is to say, the Lord swears with an oath in his own name, because he can swear by no greater, that everyone who keeps the covenant made in connection with the Melchizedek Priesthood shall inherit, receive, and possess all things in his everlasting kingdom, and shall be a joint-heir with that Lord who is his Only Begotten. (“The Doctrine of the Priesthood,” Ensign, May 1982, 32-34)
In the Nauvoo Temple… the saints were to receive "the fulness of the priesthood" through celestial marriage, which is the patriarchal order. (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, p.602)
John A. Widtsoe (Quorum of the Twelve)
The family is the ultimate unit of the organized Church. It represents the patriarchal order, which is the order of heaven. (Evidences and Reconciliations, p.317)
Ezra Taft Benson (Quorum of the Twelve)
The Church was created in large measure to help the family, and long after the Church has performed its mission, the celestial patriarchal order will still be functioning. (God, Family, Country: Our Three Great Loyalties, p.223)
Joseph Fielding Smith (President)
Marriage for time and for all eternity is an "order of the priesthood," in which the participating parties are promised kingdoms and thrones if they are true and faithful to their obligations. (Ensign, Dec. 1971, 98)