The Abrahamic Covenant

The Abrahamic covenant enables men to create for themselves eternal family units that are patterned after the family of God our Heavenly Father. 

Elder Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, 503–5; Pearl of Great Price Student Manual, p. 34

“And verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these: All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise…are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead” (D&C 132:7)

“This has been true since the beginning of time. Adam and Eve, Noah and his wife, Abraham and Sarah, Lehi and Sariah, and all other devoted disciples of Jesus Christ – since the world was created – have made the same covenants with God. They have received the same ordinances that we as members of the Lord’s restored Church today have made” (Russell M. Nelson, “Come, Follow Me”; April 2019 general conference). 

Marriage is the epitome of a covenant relationship. It is the new and everlasting covenant. Christ often referred to His covenant people Israel as the symbolic bride and He the bridegroom who would one day be united as one.

According to Robert Kay, a Jewish Latter-Day Saint and Judeo-Christian scholar, there are 5 pillars which constitute a covenant relationship. The 5 pillar model is found extensively throughout Jewish, Islamic, and Christian beliefs worldwide. However, by studying the patterns found in the Old Testament we can come to understand the pillars for which any covenant relationship may stand and by so doing, we can contractually and legally go before the Lord of heaven and claim the promises (Robert Kay, The Book of Mormon and the Covenant).

5 – symbolizes God’s grace and man in his fallen state. May also signify The Bride; the one who is growing in grace. The Mosaic dispensation, including its tabernacle, had the number five stamped all over it. “Five sacrifices [were required]—a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove, and a pigeon (Gen. xv. 9).” If these sacrifices were performed with faith, and as the typifying of their Messiah, Israel had reason to believe that they would be the recipients of God’s grace. The portable temple in which these sacrifices were to be performed “had five as its all-pervading number; nearly every measurement was a multiple of five.“ It, too, was a source of God’s grace, just as temples and temple work are today. There are 5 races of humanity.

Each pillar and it’s descriptive foundation can be found in the first 5 books of the Old Testament, or books of the Torah:

1 Genesis	2 Exodus	3 Leviticus	4 Numbers	5 Deuteronomy
Declaration of God and His sovereignty.	Hierarchy; kingdom, order, and mediation.	The heart of the covenant – the law.	Sanctions, blessings and cursing; specific to posterity.	Continuity; How to maintain the covenant relationship from generation to generation.

We find these same patterns and principles repeated and given greater depth and meaning in the Book of Mormon:

1 Nephi – Omni	Mosiah – Helaman	3 Nephi	4 Nephi- Mormon	Ether – Moroni
Declaration of God and His sovereignty.	Hierarchy; kingdom, order, and mediation.	The heart of the covenant – the law	Sanctions, blessings, and cursing	Continuity; how to maintain the covenant.

Pillar 1:  Declaration of God and His sovereignty.

In the first chapters of the Book of Mormon Lehi is shown a pillar of fire just as Moses was. Later Nephi, called to return to get the plates of brass, executes a comparative role as he takes the first steps into his stewardship as prophet-defender and sovereign leader of this branch of Israel, just as Moses did when he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. 

Throughout 1st and 2nd Nephi and on through Omni the message enumerates the promises to those who live on this covenant land. “This land shall be a land of liberty … and there shall be no kings upon [it]… For I, the Lord, the king of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever, that hear my words… For it is a choice land, saith God … wherefore I will have all men that dwell thereon that they shall worship me.” (2 Ne. 10:11–19; also see Enos 1:10, Jacob 2:12)

Pillar 2: Hierarchy – kingdom, order, and mediation.

Mosiah (whose name is a derivative of the name Moses) gives specific patterns for the kingdom to be established and how a righteous leader should lead from his father king Benjamin. He delivers a speech at the feast of tabernacles which lays out how the kingdom should operate. The government later transitions from the reign of kings to the reign of judges elected by the people. It was this shift from king to judges which would allow just mediation between God and His covenant people upon the land of promise.

“Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe and make it your law—to do your business by the voice of the people.

And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he has hitherto visited this land” (Mosiah 29: 26-27).

Pillar 3: The Heart of the Covenant- The Law

3 Nephi 11 is the heart of the heart of the Book of Mormon when Jesus delivers His sermon at the temple in Bountiful and gives the holiness code of baptism, the laying on of hands by the gift of the Holy Ghost, repentance, and promises eventual exultation.

“And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me; and I bear record of the Father, and the Father beareth record of me, and the Holy Ghost beareth record of the Father and me; and I bear record that the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in me. And whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God” (3 Ne. 11:32-33).

Pillar 4: Sanctions, blessings, and cursing

We see the juxtaposition of the cursing brought upon Moses’s ancient Israelites for rebellion in Numbers 11-16 with fire, plagues, and meat instead of manna, in comparison to the blessings of a covenant-living Zion culture following the great destruction and subsequent visitation of Jesus Christ to the people of the American continent in 4 Nephi. “…and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God” (4 Ne. 1:16).

Pillar 5: Continuity; maintaining the covenant relationship from one generation to another. 

The way to maintain this covenant relationship from generation to generation is as the weekly renewal of the baptismal covenants, the sacrament prayers, tells us – we must remember. We must remember Him. We do so by reading and reviewing daily the patterns of covenant living and the consequences of rebellion against God and our covenants.

“And in the mouth of three witnesses [the testimony of the three witnesses – Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmore, and Martin Harris], shall these things be established; and the testimony of three, and this work, in the which shall be shown forth the power of God and also his word, of which the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost bear record – and all this shall stand as a testimony against the world at the last day. And if it so be that they repent and come unto the Father in the name of Jesus, They shall be received into the kingdom of God” (Ether 5:4-5).

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Elder Jeffrey R. Holland explained that “a covenant is a binding spiritual contract, a solemn promise to God our Father that we will live and think and act in a certain way—the way of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In return, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost promise us the full splendor of eternal life.” (Understanding Our Covenants with God,” Ensign, July 2012, 25).

From the very beginning with Adam and Eve, there have been covenants made between Father in Heaven and His children on earth. This covenant of obedience was linked to the very land upon which they stood.

“We must remember that the whole earth was paradisiacal before the Fall. The Garden of Eden was a center place. After the Fall, there was no Garden of Eden or paradisiacal status on earth. Yet relative to the locale of the site of the Garden of Eden, the Prophet Joseph Smith learned through revelation (D&C 57) that Jackson County was the location of a Zion to be and the New Jerusalem to come” (Bruce A. Van Orden, associate professor of Church history, Brigham Young University).

It was the  promised land where our first parents had lived in child-like felicity in the garden of Eden until they chose to live in a fallen world “that men may be” (2 Nephi 2:25). In fact,  “If Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end” (2 Ne. 2:22).

Their fall brought the first covenant and promise of eternal marriage, family, and progression. Gratitude fills my heart when I think of courageous and virtuous mother Eve and the noble and great Adam taking this grand step for all their posterity after them. 

 Unfortunately, Adam and Eve’s children generally did not accept these teachings. The adversary has always been zealous in his purposes. And yet, the Lord continually desires to bless, elevate, and lead us home.

The Lord promised Adam that he would have a righteous seed which would last to the end of the earth, which is recorded in the Book of Moses: “And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying: … as thou hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will.” (Moses 5:9.) Adam’s righteous posterity through Seth “…dwelt in a land of promise, which he called after his own son, whom he had named Cainan”(Moses 6:17). The land of Cainan contains the promised blessings of God, and it is on this American continent. 

We see these promises fulfilled in Enoch’s city. In the Book of Moses, Enoch declares: “Behold, our father Adam taught these things, and many have believed and become the sons of God, and many have believed not, and have perished in their sins, and are looking forth with fear, in torment, for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God to be poured out upon them.” (Moses 7:1).

And so it was. Because of the righteousness of Enoch and the people in his Zion city, they were taken up, preserved until they would again be brought to earth and meet the righteous Zion people in the last days.  “…Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there, and we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see us; and we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our necks, and we will kiss each other;” (Moses 7:63). What a beautiful image!

The city of Enoch became so righteous and pure that the Lord could not deny them every blessing, even to bring the entire city up and out of this world. In other words, God keeps his promises.

While Enoch’s Zion city faded into some part of eternity, there were other valiant sons and daughters of God who were preparing for their time on earth. But, how could the Lord continue to allow children to be born into a society where there was no hope of being taught the plain and precious truths of the gospel – where wickedness reigned and faith had no place to take root. Faith in Hebrew means “trusting; loyalty.” Was there any of the children of Adam and Eve whom God could trust and whose loyalty was sure?

When all around had forgotten the Lord, Noah, great-grandson of Enoch would not. He “…was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God”(Genesis 6:18). Because of Noah’s faithfulness, God was able to preserve him and his family and continually bless them. Not because Noah was more loved than any other child of God on the earth at that time, but because Noah was faithful to his covenants. Noah prophesied to the people and warned them of the consequences of disobedience. They would be swept off the land because they would not keep the commandments of God. 

Father in Heaven must have been saddened to see his beloved children rebel.  And yet, He is a God of eternal laws. “There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated” (D&C 130:20-21). God’s hands were tied by eternal laws. He could not bless and preserve his rebellious children when they knew, willfully disobeyed, and broke the commandments. Not because He didn’t long to, but because He keeps His promises – as He did by preserving this righteous man and his family, and through Noah came every generation of humankind, including father Abraham.

The covenant between God and Abraham is a covenant of family and the eternal sealing power of the temple. It is the chord that tie us together from ancestor to progenitor. However, this binding power would do nothing if not for our Savior.

“There is a principle associated with the Abrahamic covenant that is essential in understanding God’s dealings with his children. Because the Lord promised Abraham that his posterity would have gospel/priesthood rights, the Abrahamic covenant insures that if Abraham’s posterity ever strayed from the gospel covenant, the Lord would do all in his power to bring them back into the covenant. This is only possible if the law of justice, which would condemn Abraham’s posterity because of their disobedience, could be satisfied. Thus, the role of Jesus Christ was to satisfy the law of justice making it possible for Abraham’s posterity (and any Gentile who unites himself with Abraham’s posterity by covenant) to return to God’s covenant and receive the same blessings promised to Abraham” (The Abrahamic Covenant, Bruce Satterfield, Department of Religious Education; Brigham Young University-Idaho).

The covenant God made with Abraham is of transcendent significance. It did not just affect Abraham and his immediate descendants. It affects all of God’s children who live upon this world as well as those who live upon the numberless worlds that have and will be created (Abr. 3:22). 

Abraham is called the “father of the faithful” and the founder of the covenant. He was a valiant spirit before he came to earth (Abr. 1-5), and through Abraham, Isaac, and  Jacob’s faithfulness now has “received all things…[because they] did none other things than that which they were commanded; and because they did none other things than that which they were commanded, they have entered into their exaltation, according to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels but gods” (D&C 132: 29, 37). 

When Abraham’s grandson Jacob, whose name was changed by Heavenly Father to Israel, left his blessing on his 12 sons he also blessed two of his grandsons. His beloved Joseph was blessed through his posterity – Ephraim and Manasseh. Collectively, the offspring of Joseph’s sons would be a great multitude of nations. The word nations is often translated as “Genties” and may also be translated as “fullness”. 

“Ephraim was scattered among all the nations of the Gentiles (Amos 9:8-9, Hosea 8:8), Today Ephraim is being gathered out of those nations. As Ephraim is gathered, the Gentiles are being given an opportunity to accept the gospel and be numbered with Ephraim. When the gathering is completed, it will bring in the fulness of the Gentiles. We are living in the day of its fulfillment. (R. Wayne Shute, Monte S. Nyman, and Randy L. Bott, Ephraim: Chosen of the Lord, pp. 20-21).

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The Abrahamic covenant contains several promised blessings, that can be broken down into five categories: 1. Inheritance lands 2. Posterity, 3. Prosperity 4. Priesthood/Protection, and 5. Salvation and eternal life. These blessings include:

• Jesus the Christ would be born through Abraham’s lineage. In Matthew 1:17  we learn of the lineage that the generations from Abraham to Christ are described in segments of three 14 generations. When you add Joseph’s two sons who were numbered among Israel’s 12 sons  you come up with the number 14 as well.

14 – symbolic in scripture of significant societal change for the Lord’s people (Mathew 1). There are 3 sets of 14 generations between and including Abraham to Joseph (husband of Mary). Joseph Smith Jr. was the prophet from 1830-1844 (14 years), Russell M. Nelson was ordained as prophet on January 14, 2018.  The number 7 signifies spiritual perfection, completeness, fullness, entirety or totality.  As a rule, multiples of seven (2×7=14)  carry the same spiritual or symbolic significance, but with added emphasis – a double measure of spiritual perfection.  3 Signifies divine perfection.42 (3×14) to bring 3-fold resurrection and salvation and deliverance: of spirit, of soul, and then in bodily resurrection from the earth.

• A numerous posterity, entitled to an eternal increase and also entitled to bear the priesthood.
  • “kings shall come out of thee” (Genesis 17:6). The most important descendant of Abraham was the King of kings, even Jesus Christ, who came through the royal lineage of Judah (Mathew 1:1-16; Revelation 19:16). Additionally, those who receive the Abrahamic covenant and are faithful to it are promised they may become “kings and priests [or queens and priestesses] unto God” (Revelation 1:6; D&C 76:56).
• Certain lands would be inherited by Abraham’s posterity.
  • Ultimately, this promise of an everlasting inheritance of land is fulfilled when the righteous shall inherit the earth in its glorified, celestial state (see D&C 45:57-59; 63:20; 88:17-20).
• All nations of the earth would be blessed by his seed.
  • Abraham and his posterity were promised the blessings of receiving the Lord’s name through the priesthood (Abraham 1:18; Abraham 2:11) ” Because Abraham also received the promise that his posterity would have the right to the priesthood from his day until the end of the world, all who desire the blessings of the saving priesthood ordinances receive them at the hand of Abraham and his descendants. This blessing is fulfilled when those who bear the same priesthood that Abraham held administer ordinances, such as baptism, the sacrament, and temple ordinances” (Family History Student Manual, Ch. 3).
• And that covenant would be everlasting—even through “a thousand generations.” (Deut. 7:9)
  • The crowning blessing of the covenant is through the sealing power of the temple marriage.

Some of these promises have been fulfilled, some are in the process of being fulfilled, and others are still pending. However, the Abrahamic covenant will be finally fulfilled only in the latter days. “Our father [Lehi] hath not spoken of our seed alone, but also of all the house of Israel, pointing to the covenant which should be fulfilled in the latter days; which covenant the Lord made to our father Abraham” (1 Nephi 15:18, emphasis added).

It is not surprising with what we have learned about the 5 pillars of a covenant and the promises made to Abraham that the promises we must make in order to be numbered among the covenant people would coincide with one another. As a recipient of these covenant blessings we promise to :

• Believe that Jesus is the Christ. (Pillar 1 – 2 Nephi 10:7; Genesis 12:7, 49:10)
• Observe to keep the commandments of the Lord. This encompasses both the 2nd pillar found throughout Mosiah 2, Alma 37, and Exodus 20-21, and the 3rd pillar as found in the heart of the covenant in 3 Nephi and Leviticus 14-21.
• Obtain and fulfill priesthood duties. (Pillar 4)The blessings of worthily fulfilling and utilizing the priesthood is most evident in the Zion society achieved in 4 Nephi (also see Numbers 5).
  • Latter-day revelation found in D&C 84:33-38 clarifies, “And also all they who receive this priesthood recieve me, saith the Lord; For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father; And he that receiveth my Father receiveth my Father’s kingdom; therefore all that my Father hath shall be given unto him.”
  • More recently President Russel M. Nelson taught the women of the church, “…Because the Melchizedek Priesthood has been restored, both covenant-keeping women and men have access to “all the spiritual blessings of the church”(D&C 107:18) or, we might say, to all the spiritual treasures the Lord has for His children. Every woman and every man who makes covenants with God and keeps those covenants, and who participates worthily in priesthood ordinances, has direct access to the power of God. Those who are endowed in the house of the Lord receive a gift of God’s priesthood power by virtue of their covenant, along with a gift of knowledge to know how to draw upon that power” (Spiritual Treasures; Oct. 2019 General Conf., Women’s Session).
• Fulfill the Abrahamic covenant by bringing all who will accept the gospel into the fold and perpetuate those blessings from generation to generation. (Pillar 5) “We invite all of God’s children on both sides of the veil to come unto their Savior” (Russel M. Nelson, General Conf. April 2018).

It is our responsibility to help fulfill the covenant. We are the seed foreordained and prepared to bless all people of the world. After some four thousand years of anticipation and preparation, this is the appointed day when the gospel is to be taken to all the earth. This is the time of the promised gathering of Israel. And we get to be part of it! 

This became significantly and profoundly apparent in two powerful events that took place on June 1st and 3rd of 2018.  June 1st, 2018 was the 40th anniversary of the Revelation on the Priesthood, in which every worthy man, regardless of race, ethnicity, or nationality was able to hold the priesthood. Why was this celebration of a revelation from decades ago so important? When you pay attention to numbers, which speak a language of their own, you can understand further meaning and knowledge. This was the 40th anniversary.

40 – symbolizes the duration or period of a trial, probation, testing, or mourning; Noah in the arc lasted 40 days, Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness lasted 40 years, and Moses was on Mount Sinai 40 days while the children of Israel were being tested by Jehovah.  “According to the reckoning in our Bibles, Christ was born into the world about the four-thousandth year, or fortieth century. Forty, we have seen, is the symbol of probation. So after a full period of the world’s probation under law, Jesus Christ was born into the world to usher in grace.” Jesus fasted for forty days and then was tempted prior to beginning his official earthly ministry. As evidence of his commitment to the Father and his divine plan, Christ passed the trials and tests put to him (see JST, Matthew 4:1–11).Jesus spent forty days after his resurrection (see Acts 1:3) teaching his disciples and initiating them into the higher ordinances of the fullness of the gospel.Perhaps it is not coincidental that it took a total of forty years to build the Salt Lake Temple.

 The second event followed quickly after in a worldwide youth devotional on June 3, 2018. President Nelson spoke powerfully and extended a divine call: “Our Heavenly Father has reserved many of His most noble spirits – perhaps, I might say, His finest team – for this final phase. Those noble spirits – those finest players, those heros – are you! I testify that the gathering is now, and it is real…my dear young brothers and sisters, right now I am preparing for the day  when I will be required to give an accounting to the Prophet Joseph Smith, to President Brigham Young, and others – and ultimately to the Lord – about my stewardship as God’s prophet upon the earth today…”

“So, now I am inviting every young woman and every young man between the ages of 12 and 18 in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to enlist in the youth battalion of the Lord to help gather Israel…Anytime you do anything that helps anyone – on either side of the veil – take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel. It is as simple as that” (Hope of Israel, Pres. Russell M. Nelson, 2018). This same invitation was extended to the women of the church during the Women’s session of general conference just 6 months later in October 2018. 

But Isaiah tells of the time when everyone, including those not of the lineage of Israel – Gentiles – would participate in the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant. “The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him” (Isa. 56:8; 3 Ne. 21:14, 22–25). 

“In keeping with the Abrahamic covenant, whenever an individual who is not a lineal descendant of Abraham accepts the gospel of Jesus Christ he becomes an adopted member of the house of Israel, regardless of his actual lineage, because he becomes an heir to the blessings of the covenant. Further, a literal descendant of Israel may lose his spiritual heritage if he does not accept the gospel.” (Richard K. Hart, The Marriage Metaphor; Ensign, Jan. 1995).

Therefore, through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob redemption is available to ALL who choose to accept it.