“Lesson 5 Class Preparation Material: Becoming the Lord’s Covenant People,” Jesus Christ and His Everlasting Gospel Teacher Material (2023)
“Lesson 5 Class Preparation Material,” Jesus Christ and His Everlasting Gospel Teacher Material
Lesson 5 Class Preparation Material
Becoming the Lord’s Covenant People
It takes a high level of trust and love to bind yourself to someone in a covenant relationship. And that trust is developed as you come to know each other. In the case of making covenants with God that bind you to Him, He already knows you perfectly and desires to give you all that He has—all that He is. He invites you to trust Him and to enter His covenant path. You will be abundantly blessed as you do, for “His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come” (“The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles,” ChurchofJesusChrist.org).
Section 1
Who is Jehovah, and why can I trust Him?
“The Living Christ” teaches that “[Jesus Christ] is the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament.” Where did the name Jehovah come from, and what can it teach you about the Savior?
After the children of Israel had been in Egyptian bondage for many years, the Lord called Moses to “bring [them] out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:10; see also verses 1–9). Moses felt inadequate to accomplish this task. He asked the Lord His name so that he could tell the Israelites who had sent him (see Exodus 3:11–13).
Study in Preparation for Class
Read Exodus 3:13–14, and consider marking the name the Lord revealed to Moses.
The name I Am means “He is” or “He exists” and is directly related to the Hebrew name Yahweh, or Jehovah. Jehovah denotes the “Unchangeable One” (Bible Dictionary, “Jehovah”). The reverence they felt for Jehovah’s name is the reason the Jews mentioned in the New Testament account reacted so violently when Jesus Christ told them, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). Christ’s use of the term “I am” is the same as in Exodus 3:14 when He says, “I am that I am.”
Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said of the Savior’s declaration:
This is as blunt and pointed an affirmation of divinity as any person has or could make. “Before Abraham was I Jehovah.” That is, “I am God Almighty, the Great I AM. I am the self-existent, Eternal One. I am the God of your fathers. My name is: I AM THAT I AM.” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary [1965], 1:464)
Ponder in Preparation for Class
How can knowing that Jesus Christ is the Great Jehovah—God of the Old Testament, He who exists and is unchangeable—affect your trust in Him? What do these titles teach you about His ability to make and keep promises with you?
Section 2
In what ways can my life be blessed by making and keeping covenants with Jehovah?
Even though the Lord, Jehovah, is mighty and unchangeable, He and His Father invite each of us into a covenant relationship with Them. This covenant relationship includes potential blessings that cannot be received in any other way.
You may recall that a covenant is “a sacred agreement between God and a person or group of people. God sets specific conditions, and He promises to bless us as we obey those conditions. When we choose not to keep covenants, we cannot receive the blessings, and in some instances we suffer a penalty as a consequence of our disobedience” (Gospel Topics, “Covenant,” topics.ChurchofJesusChrist.org).
Abraham is a great example of someone who made and kept covenants with the Lord. Despite the idol worshipping and poor example of many people around him, Abraham desired to be “a greater follower of righteousness” (Abraham 1:2). Abraham’s desires were rewarded when Jehovah entered into a covenant with him.
Study in Preparation for Class
What is often called the “Abrahamic covenant” includes promises God offers to all of us. Study Abraham 2:8–11 to become more familiar with part of the Abrahamic covenant, and imagine the Lord speaking these promises to you as well as to Abraham. You could mark the blessings you find.
The Abrahamic covenant includes all the eternal blessings that come from the Lord’s gospel, priesthood ordinances, and celestial marriage. This path begins with a covenant made at baptism and continues toward and beyond the temple as we are obedient to the covenants we have made.
President Russell M. Nelson said of the Abrahamic covenant:
The ultimate blessings of the Abrahamic covenant are conferred in holy temples. … The fulfillment of the ancient Abrahamic covenant is feasible only because of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who has made it possible for us to dwell with God, with Him, and with our families eternally. (In “Special Witnesses of Christ,” Ensign, Apr. 2001, 7)
Read the following statement by Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and consider marking the blessings that come from walking the Savior’s covenant path:
What is the covenant path? It is the one path that leads to the celestial kingdom of God. … In the course of the covenant path (which, by the way, extends beyond mortality), we receive all the ordinances and covenants pertaining to salvation and exaltation.
Our overarching covenant commitment is to do God’s will “and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us” [Mosiah 5:5]. …
… The covenants God offers to His children do more than guide us. They bind us to Him, and, bound to Him, we can overcome all things. …
… God provides an almost incomprehensible gift to help covenant-makers be covenant-keepers: the gift of the Holy Ghost. This gift is the right to the constant companionship, protection, and guidance of the Holy Spirit. …
On the covenant path we also find the essential blessings of forgiveness and cleansing from sin. …
Those pursuing the covenant path also find singular blessings in various divinely appointed gatherings. … A literal gathering of the long-dispersed tribes of Israel … is now underway with the gathering of the covenant people into the Church. … There is also a weekly gathering of the covenant people to … partake of sacramental bread and water in remembrance of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. …
The covenant people also gather to the temple, the house of the Lord, to obtain the ordinances, blessings, and revelation uniquely available there. …
Finally, it is only in pursuing the covenant path that we inherit the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ultimate blessings of salvation and exaltation that only God can give. (“Why the Covenant Path,” Liahona, May 2021, 116, 118)
Act
President Nelson observed, “The greatest compliment that can be earned here in this life is to be known as a covenant keeper” (“Covenants,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2011, 88). Identify one action you will take starting this week to move yourself forward on the covenant path. Ponder how Jesus Christ—Jehovah, the Unchangeable One—can help you reach your goal. Then consider how you might help others on their path.