Thoughts to Keep in Mind

The Covenant

Throughout the Old Testament, you will frequently read the word covenant. Today we usually think of covenants as sacred promises with God, but in the ancient world, covenants were also an important part of people’s interactions with each other. For their safety and survival, people needed to be able to trust each other, and covenants were a way to secure that trust.

So when God spoke to Noah, Abraham, or Moses about covenants, He was inviting them to enter into a relationship of trust with Him. One of the best-known examples of a covenant in the Old Testament is the one God made with Abraham and Sarah—and then renewed with their descendants Isaac and Jacob (also called Israel). We often call this the Abrahamic covenant, although in the Old Testament it was known simply as “the covenant.” You will see that the Old Testament is fundamentally the story of people who saw themselves as the inheritors of this covenant—the covenant people.

The Abrahamic covenant continues to be important today, especially to Latter-day Saints. Why? Because we are also the covenant people, whether or not we are direct descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (see Galatians 3:27–29). For this reason, it is important to understand what the Abrahamic covenant is and how it applies to us today.

What Is the Abrahamic Covenant?

Abraham wanted “to be a greater follower of righteousness” (Abraham 1:2), so God invited him into a covenant relationship. Abraham wasn’t the first to have this desire, and he wasn’t the first to receive a covenant. He sought for “the blessings of the fathers” (Abraham 1:2)—blessings that were offered by covenant to Adam and Eve and thereafter to those who sought these blessings diligently.

God’s covenant with Abraham promised wonderful blessings: an inheritance of land, a large posterity, access to priesthood ordinances, and a name that would be honored for generations to come. But the focus of this covenant was not just on the blessings Abraham and his family would receive but also on the blessing they would be to the rest of God’s children. “Thou shalt be a blessing,” God declared, “and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:2–3).

Did this covenant give Abraham, Sarah, and their descendants a privileged status among God’s children? Only in the sense that it is a privilege to bless others. The family of Abraham were to “bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations,” sharing “the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal” (Abraham 2:9, 11).

This covenant was the blessing Abraham was longing for. After receiving it, Abraham said in his heart, “Thy servant has sought thee earnestly; now I have found thee” (Abraham 2:12).

That was thousands of years ago, but this covenant has been restored in our day (see 1 Nephi 22:8–12). And it is currently being fulfilled in the lives of God’s people. In fact, the fulfillment of the covenant is building momentum in the latter days as God’s work progresses, blessing families throughout the world. And anyone who, like Abraham, wants to be a greater follower of righteousness, anyone who seeks the Lord earnestly, can be a part of it.

What Does the Abrahamic Covenant Mean to Me?

You are a child of the covenant. You made a covenant with God when you were baptized. You renew that covenant every time you partake of the sacrament. And you make sacred covenants in the temple. Together, these covenants make you a participant in the Abrahamic covenant, the fulness of which is found in temple ordinances. As President Russell M. Nelson taught, “Ultimately, in the holy temple, we may become joint heirs to the blessings of an eternal family, as once promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their posterity.”¹

Through these covenants and ordinances, we become God’s people (see Exodus 6:7; Deuteronomy 7:6; 26:18; Ezekiel 11:20). We become different from the world around us. Our covenants make it possible for us to be true, committed disciples of Jesus Christ. “Our covenants,” President Nelson explained, “bind us to Him and give us godly power.”² And when God blesses His people with His power, it is with the invitation and expectation that they will bless others—that they will “be a blessing” to “all the families of the earth” (Abraham 2:9, 11).

This is the precious understanding granted to us because of the Restoration of the Abrahamic covenant through the Prophet Joseph Smith. So when you read about covenants in the Old Testament, don’t think just about God’s relationship with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Think also about His relationship with you. When you read about the promise of numberless posterity (see Genesis 28:14), don’t think just about the millions who today call Abraham their father. Think also about God’s promise to you of eternal families and eternal increase (see Doctrine and Covenants 131:1–4; 132:20–24). When you read about the promise of a land of inheritance, don’t think just about the land promised to Abraham. Think also about the celestial destiny of the earth itself—an inheritance promised to the “meek” who “wait upon the Lord” (Matthew 5:5; Psalm 37:9, 11; see also Doctrine and Covenants 88:17–20). And when you read about the promise that God’s covenant people will bless “all the families of the earth” (Abraham 2:11), don’t think just about the ministry of Abraham or the prophets who descended from him. Think also about what you can do—as a covenant follower of Jesus Christ—to be a blessing to the families around you.

Notes

1. Russell M. Nelson, “Covenants,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2011, 88.

2. Russell M. Nelson, “Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 41. President Linda K. Burton said: “Making and keeping covenants means choosing to bind ourselves to our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ. It is committing to follow the Savior” (“The Power, Joy, and Love of Covenant Keeping,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2013, 111).