Latter-day Saints expect that this rapid expansion of temple building will continue. Sacred temple ordinances are to be made available to all. Brigham Young prophesied that during the Millennium there would be thousands of temples dotting the earth. At that time, tens of thousands of the faithful are to enter and perform sacred ordinances around the clock.
Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.4, TEMPLES
In 1906
I
heard President Joseph F. Smith make this statement in Rotterdam,
Holland:
"The day will come when temples of the Lord will dot this whole land of Europe," and I have lived long enough to see two of them there, and I tell you it is changing the feeling of our people toward the Church to know that these glorious blessings are coming within their reach.
LeGrand Richards, Conference Report,
October 1959, p. 35
We expect to see the day when temples will dot the earth, each one a house of the Lord; each one built in the mountains of the lord; each one a sacred sanctuary to which Israel and the Gentiles shall gather to receive the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Perhaps they will number in the hundreds, or even in the thousands, before the Lord returns.
Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah, p. 277
"We don't build temples until the Church is well established in a country. Our predecessors have prophesied that temples will dot the landscape of North and South America, the isles of the Pacific, Europe, and elsewhere. If this redemptive work is to be done on the scale it must be, hundreds of temples will be needed."
...the day will come when temples will dot the earth...
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 781 TEMPLES
"We have temples--they now dot the maps of nations--where the worthy can enter, worship, be taught, and make covenants to serve God and abide by His law."
Elder L. Tom Perry, April 1990 General Conference
"Temples dot the maps of nations, making the saving ordinances available to millions more of our Heavenly Father's children."
Elder L. Tom Perry, April 1989 General Conference
"Today our chapels and congregations dot almost every land in the free world. Our temples will soon be within easy traveling distance of almost every member."
An appropriate, related Old Testament reference is Isaiah 11:9:
"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain:
for
the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters
cover
the sea."
Richard O. Cowan's book
"Temples to Dot the Earth" may
have additional information about that quotation.
(Brother Cowan
wrote the "Temples" entry in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism.)