Post by Nephi –
I worry that when Jacob and I and even Isaiah talk to and about you, our posterity, and how you are the covenant people, you suppose that you are more righteous than the Gentiles will be. Let me make this clear; unless you keep the commandments of God, you will all likewise perish.
I also don’t want you to read into what has been written about the Gentiles that they will all be utterly destroyed. In fact, as many of the Gentiles will repent, they too are the covenant people of the Lord, and as many of the Jews as will not repent will be cast off, for the Lord covenants with only those who repent and believe in His Son who is the Holy One of Israel.
Let me discuss being a covenant people for a minute. Consider why it is important to be the Lord’s covenant people. In one way as previous blogs have mentioned, this terminology refers to the inheritors of the Lord’s covenant with Abraham. In another way, it refers to the recipients of the covenant made with the Israelites on Mount Sinai. These covenant people include the Jews, the house of Israel, including all the descendants of Israel or Jacob and the children of men. Certainly you are thinking, “Ok, I know who the Jews are and with enough work and a bit of inspiration I can probably figure out the house of Israel, but wouldn’t “and the children of men” include everybody else in the world?” To answer simply, I say Yes it does, which will then lead you to conclude – “then everybody ever born is among the Lord’s covenant people.” And you have concluded correctly – with an understanding of covenants you will see how this works. Permit me please to expound a little.
Covenants
God makes covenants with individuals and peoples wherein He promises certain blessings for obedience to His will. Covenants are evidence of our sacred relationship with our Father in Heaven. Whether it is a collective covenant – a covenant with a group of people, such as the house of Israel or the posterity of my father Lehi, or a covenant with an individual, those with whom God makes a covenant are referred to as a “covenant people.” Time and again God makes it clear that being part of a covenant people is more dependent on righteousness than it is on genealogy. Let me give you a few examples of covenants God has made with His children.
Members of the house of Israel were promised that they would ultimately be gathered and redeemed both spiritually and temporally. If you have paid attention to any of the past several blogs, I have referred to this over and over. The posterity of my father Lehi have been promised that as a people they would “not be utterly destroyed,” but that God would preserve them and in future generations they will become a righteous branch unto the house of Israel. Examples of covenants with individuals include the covenant God made with Abraham, which promised Abraham that through his posterity all the nations of the earth would be blessed. God covenanted with my father Lehi that this promised land would be a land of inheritance to our family and our posterity.
God made covenants with Joseph that a righteous branch of Israel would be raised up from him, that the Messiah would be “made manifest unto them in the latter days and a choice seer descended from him would play a vital role in restoring God’s covenants. God makes covenants with many individuals as they are baptized that they will inherit His fullest blessings, including eternal life. God made a covenant with me that in the last days the book that contains the covenants He made with the Jews will come together with these writings and together they will be instruments in spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to the converting both Jew and Gentile.
Understanding and remembering the covenants made with us individually or collectively motivates us to behavior befitting a child of God. We are divine beings with great blessings promised us as we strive to obey the commandments of a very merciful Father in Heaven.
In a future post I will attempt to answer one last question that you may have and that is “Why do we need covenants in the first place, can’t we just obey the commandments and be a good people?”
(Book of Mormon | 2 Nephi 30:1 – 18)
(Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 15:14- 18)
(Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 14:14)
(Book of Mormon | 2Nephi 6:13, 17)
(Book of Mormon | 1 Nephi 17:40)
(Book of Mormon | 2 Nephi 29:14)
