In D&C
84:25 we read, as a result of the sinfulness of the Israelites, that:
. . . [God] took Moses out of their midst,
and the Holy Priesthood also;
However, as
we know, prophets after Moses held the Melchizedek Priesthood, including the Davidic
Kings who were ordained “after the order of Melchizedek” (Psa 110:4), with Christ
being the ultimate fulfilment of these type (for more on Psa 110:4 and related
texts, see my book, After the Order of the Son of God: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for Latter-day Saint Theology of the Priesthood [2018]).
In
his account of a meeting dated 5 January 1841, William Clayton provided the
following record of Joseph Smith's comments that addresses this very issue:
Answer to the question, was the Priesthood of
Melchizedeck taken away when Moses died.
All priesthood is Melchizedeck; but there are
different portions or degrees of it. That portion which brought Moses to speak
with God face to face was taken away; but that which brought the ministry of
angels remained. All the Prophets had the Melchizedeck Priesthood and was
ordained by God himself.
In other
words, the fullness of the Melchizedek Priesthood was taken away from the
people, but I persisted, albeit, in a weaker form, after Moses.
Taking the higher priesthood out of the midst
of the Israelite people is not the same as taking it entirely from the earth. I
understand that the higher priesthood was still present in very limited
channels for there were prophets of God among the Israelites - but the
blessings of that priesthood were not available in general to the Israelites,
including the higher ordinances that go with it. The context of D&C 84 is
the Temple, which is the crowning aspect of the higher priesthood. (After the Order of the Son of God, p.
258)