The Priesthood always was given for the blessing of the human family. People talk about it as though it was for the special benefit of individuals. What was said of Abraham? “In thee and in thy seed”—what? I will confer blessings upon thee. O, that is all right so far as it goes. But “in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” [See Abraham 2:11.] Let us act in the capacity of benefactors, and if we are descended of Abraham, let us walk in his footsteps and make ourselves worthy of the promises, let us extend our feelings wide as eternity, and seek to bless and benefit, lift up and ennoble all around us; that we may all rejoice together and be exalted by the same principles which have been revealed for the benefit of all men. …
Sunday, May 3, 2026
If we are descended of Abraham, let us walk in his footsteps and make ourselves worthy of the promises,
Thursday, April 9, 2026
The Everlasting Covenant
The Everlasting Covenant
In this world torn by wars and rumors of wars, the need for truth, light, and the pure love of Jesus Christ is greater than ever. The gospel of Christ is glorious, and we are blessed to study it and live according to its precepts. We rejoice in our opportunities to share it—to testify of its truths wherever we are.
I have spoken frequently about the importance of the Abrahamic covenant and the gathering of Israel. When we embrace the gospel and are baptized, we take upon ourselves the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Baptism is the gate that leads to becoming joint heirs to all the promises given anciently by the Lord to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their posterity.1
“The new and everlasting covenant”2 (Doctrine and Covenants 132:6) and the Abrahamic covenant are essentially the same—two ways of phrasing the covenant God made with mortal men and women at different times.
The adjective everlasting denotes that this covenant existed even before the foundation of the world! The plan laid out in the Grand Council in Heaven included the sobering realization that we would all be cut off from God’s presence. However, God promised that He would provide a Savior who would overcome the consequences of the Fall. God told Adam after his baptism:
“Thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity.
“Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons” (Moses 6:67–68).
Adam and Eve accepted the ordinance of baptism and began the process of being one with God. They had entered the covenant path.
When you and I also enter that path, we have a new way of life. We thereby create a relationship with God that allows Him to bless and change us. The covenant path leads us back to Him. If we let God prevail in our lives, that covenant will lead us closer and closer to Him. All covenants are intended to be binding. They create a relationship with everlasting ties.
A Special Love and Mercy
Once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him. In fact, all those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy. In the Hebrew language, that covenantal love is called hesed (חֶסֶד).3
Hesed has no adequate English equivalent. Translators of the King James Version of the Bible must have struggled with how to render hesed in English. They often chose “lovingkindness.” This captures much but not all the meaning of hesed. Other translations were also rendered, such as “mercy” and “goodness.” Hesed is a unique term describing a covenant relationship in which both parties are bound to be loyal and faithful to each other.
A celestial marriage is such a covenant relationship. A husband and wife make a covenant with God and with each other to be loyal and faithful to each other.
Hesed is a special kind of love and mercy that God feels for and extends to those who have made a covenant with Him. And we reciprocate with hesed for Him.
Because God has hesed for those who have covenanted with Him, He will love them. He will continue to work with them and offer them opportunities to change. He will forgive them when they repent. And should they stray, He will help them find their way back to Him.
Once you and I have made a covenant with God, our relationship with Him becomes much closer than before our covenant. Now we are bound together. Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us. Each of us has a special place in God’s heart. He has high hopes for us.
You know of the historic declaration the Lord gave to the Prophet Joseph Smith. It came by revelation. The Lord said to Joseph, “This promise is yours also, because ye are of Abraham, and the promise was made unto Abraham” (Doctrine and Covenants 132:31).
Thereby, this everlasting covenant was restored as part of the great Restoration of the gospel in its fulness. Think of it! A marriage covenant made in the temple is tied directly to that Abrahamic covenant. In the temple a couple is introduced to all the blessings reserved for the faithful posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
As did Adam, you and I personally entered the covenant path at baptism. Then we enter it more completely in the temple. The blessings of the Abrahamic covenant are conferred in holy temples. These blessings allow us, upon being resurrected, to “inherit thrones, kingdoms, powers, principalities, and dominions, to our ‘exaltation and glory in all things’ [Doctrine and Covenants 132:19].”4
In the closing text of the Old Testament, we read of Malachi’s promise that Elijah will “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6). In ancient Israel, such reference to the fathers would have included fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This promise is clarified when we read the different version of this verse Moroni quoted to the Prophet Joseph Smith: “He [Elijah] shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers” (Joseph Smith—History 1:39). Those fathers surely include Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (See Doctrine and Covenants 27:9–10.)
Those who make sacred covenants and keep them are promised eternal life and exaltation. Jesus Christ is the guarantor of those covenants.
Jesus Christ: The Center of the Covenant
The Savior’s atoning sacrifice enabled the Father to fulfill His promises made to His children. Because Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life,” it follows that “no man cometh unto the Father, but by [Him]” (John 14:6). The fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant becomes feasible because of the Atonement of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is at the center of the Abrahamic covenant.
The Old Testament is not only a book of scripture; it is also a book of history. You remember reading about the marriage of Sarai and Abram. Because they were childless, Sarai gave her handmaid, Hagar, to be Abram’s wife also, in accordance with the Lord’s direction. Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.5 Abram loved Ishmael, but he was not to be the child through whom the covenant would pass. (See Genesis 11:29–30; 16:1, 3, 11; Doctrine and Covenants 132:34.)
As a blessing from God, and in response to Sarai’s faith,6 she conceived in her advanced years so that the covenant would pass through her son, Isaac (see Genesis 17:19). He was born in the covenant.
God gave Sarai and Abram new names—Sarah and Abraham (see Genesis 17:5, 15). The bestowal of those new names marked the beginning of a new life and a new destiny for this family.
Abraham loved both Ishmael and Isaac. God told Abraham that Ishmael would be multiplied and become a great nation (see Genesis 17:20). At the same time, God made it clear that the everlasting covenant would be established through Isaac (see Genesis 17:19).
All who accept the gospel become part of the lineage of Abraham. In Galatians we read:
“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
“… Ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
“And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:27–29).
Thus, we can become heirs to the covenant either by birth or by adoption.
Once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him.
Isaac and Rebekah’s son Jacob was born in the covenant. In addition, he chose to enter of his own accord. As you know, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel (see Genesis 32:28), meaning “let God prevail” or “one who prevails with God.”7
In Exodus we read that “God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (Exodus 2:24). God told the children of Israel, “If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me” (Exodus 19:5).
The phrase “peculiar treasure” was translated from the Hebrew segullah, meaning a highly valued possession—a “treasure.”8
The book of Deuteronomy recounts the importance of the covenant. Apostles of the New Testament knew of this covenant. After Peter had healed a lame man on the temple steps, he taught onlookers about Jesus. Peter said, “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus” (Acts 3:13).
Peter closed his message by telling his audience, “Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed” (Acts 3:25). Peter made it clear to them that part of Christ’s mission was to fulfill God’s covenant.
The Lord gave a similar sermon to the people of ancient America. There, the resurrected Christ told the people who they really were. He said:
“Ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
“The Father having raised me up unto you first, and sent me to bless you in turning away every one of you from [your] iniquities; and this because ye are the children of the covenant” (3 Nephi 20:25–26).
Do you see the significance of this? Those who keep their covenants with God will become a strain of sin-resistant souls! Those who keep their covenants will have the strength to resist the constant influence of the world.
Those who keep their covenants with God will become a strain of sin-resistant souls! Those who keep their covenants will have the strength to resist the constant influence of the world.
Missionary Work: Sharing the Covenant
The Lord has commanded that we spread the gospel and share the covenant. That is why we have missionaries. He wishes for every one of His children to have the opportunity to choose the Savior’s gospel and embark upon the covenant path. God wants to connect all people to the covenant He made anciently with Abraham.
Thus, missionary work is an essential part of the great gathering of Israel. That gathering is the most important work taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude. Nothing else compares in importance. The Lord’s missionaries—His disciples—are engaged in the greatest challenge, the greatest cause, the greatest work on earth today.
But there is even more—much more. There is a huge need to spread the gospel to people on the other side of the veil. God wants everyone, on both sides of the veil, to enjoy the blessings of His covenant. The covenant path is open to all. We plead with everyone to walk that path with us. No other work is so universally inclusive. For “the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name” (Helaman 3:27).
Because the Melchizedek Priesthood has been restored, covenant-keeping women and men have access to “all the spiritual blessings” of the gospel (Doctrine and Covenants 107:18; emphasis added).
A week after the dedication of the Kirtland Temple in 1836, under the direction of the Lord, Elijah appeared. His purpose? “To turn … the children to the fathers” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:15). Elias also appeared. His purpose? To commit to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery “the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:12). Thus, the Master conferred upon Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery priesthood authority and the right to convey the unique blessings of the Abrahamic covenant to others.9
In the Church, we travel the covenant path both individually and collectively. Just as marriages and families share a unique lateral bond that creates a special love, so does the new relationship formed when we bind ourselves by covenant vertically to our God!
This may be what Nephi meant when he said that God “loveth those who will have him to be their God” (1 Nephi 17:40). This is exactly why, as part of the covenant, a special mercy and love—or hesed—is available to all who enter this binding and intimate relationship with God, even “to a thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9).
Making a covenant with God changes our relationship with Him forever. It blesses us with an extra measure of love and mercy.10 It affects who we are and how God will help us become what we can become. We are promised that we, also, can be a “peculiar treasure” unto Him (Psalm 135:4).
Promises and Privileges
Those who make sacred covenants and keep them are promised eternal life and exaltation, “the greatest of all the gifts of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 14:7). Jesus Christ is the guarantor of those covenants (see Hebrews 7:22; 8:6). Covenant keepers who love God and allow Him to prevail over all other things in their lives make Him the most powerful influence in their lives.
In our day we are privileged to receive patriarchal blessings and learn of our connection to the ancient patriarchs. Those blessings also provide a glimpse into what lies ahead.
Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us.
Our calling as covenant Israel is to make sure every member of the Church realizes the joy and privileges associated with making covenants with God. It is a call to encourage every covenant-keeping man and woman, boy and girl, to share the gospel with those who come within their sphere of influence. It is also a call to support and encourage our missionaries, who are sent forth with instructions to baptize and help to gather Israel, so that together we may be God’s people and He will be our God (see Doctrine and Covenants 42:9).
Every man and every woman who participates in priesthood ordinances and who makes and keeps covenants with God has direct access to the power of God. We take the Lord’s name upon ourselves as individuals. We also take His name upon us as a people. Being passionate about using the correct name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a vital way that we as a people take His name upon us. Truly, every benevolent act of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members is an expression of God’s hesed.
Why was Israel scattered? Because the people broke the commandments and stoned the prophets. A loving but grieving Father responded by scattering Israel far and wide.11
However, He scattered them with a promise that one day Israel would be gathered again into His fold.
The tribe of Judah was given responsibility to prepare the world for the first coming of the Lord. From that tribe, Mary was called upon to be the mother of the Son of God.
The tribe of Joseph, through his and Asenath’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh (see Genesis 41:50–52; 46:20), was given the responsibility to lead in the gathering of Israel, to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord.
In such a timeless hesed relationship, it is only natural that God wants to gather Israel. He is our Heavenly Father! He wants each of His children—on both sides of the veil—to hear the message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
A Path of Love
The covenant path is a path of love—that incredible hesed, that compassionate caring for and reaching out to each other. Feeling that love is liberating and uplifting. The greatest joy you will ever experience is when you are consumed with love for God and for all His children.
Loving God more than anyone or anything else is the condition that brings true peace, comfort, confidence, and joy.
The covenant path is all about our relationship with God—our hesed relationship with Him. When we enter a covenant with God, we have made a covenant with Him who will always keep His word. He will do everything He can, without infringing on our agency, to help us keep ours.
The Book of Mormon begins and ends with reference to this everlasting covenant. From its title page to the closing testimonies of Mormon and Moroni, the Book of Mormon makes reference to the covenant (see Mormon 5:20; 9:37). “The coming forth of the Book of Mormon is a sign to the entire world that the Lord has commenced to gather Israel and fulfill the covenants He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”12
My dear brothers and sisters, we have been called at this pivotal time in the history of the earth to teach the world about the beauty and power of the everlasting covenant. Our Heavenly Father trusts us implicitly to do this great work.
Wednesday, February 25, 2026
The Abrahamic 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 Enoch, Noah, Moses, and others about covenants, He was inviting them to enter into a relationship of trust with Him. We call this covenant the new and everlasting covenant or the Abrahamic covenant—a reference to the covenant God made with Abraham and Sarah and then renewed with their descendants Isaac and Jacob (also called Israel). 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. 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. It was, after all, an everlasting covenant. Abraham sought for “the blessings of the fathers” (Abraham 1:2)—blessings that were offered by covenant to Adam and Eve and thereafter to people 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). Being God’s covenant people didn’t mean they were better than others; it meant they had a duty to help others be better.
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. And it is currently being fulfilled in the lives of God’s people. 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 make a covenant with God when you are baptized and when you partake of the sacrament. And you receive the fulness of the covenant with the sacred ordinances of the temple.
Through these covenants and ordinances, we become God’s people. We are bound to Him “with everlasting ties.” “Once we make a covenant with God,” President Russell M. Nelson has taught, “we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him. In fact, all those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy. … Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us.” You will see this in the history of God’s covenant people in the Old Testament, and you will see it in your own life as one of His covenant children.
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, 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. 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). 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.
Come Follow Me, Old Testament 2026 Manual, Thoughts to Keep in Mind
Sunday, February 15, 2026
If you held a grain of sand on the tip of your finger at arms length, that is the part of the universe you are seeing — just one little speck of the universe
- “What appears to be tiny specks in space are actually galaxies — billions of years old,” according to NPR.
- “We’re looking back more than 13 billion years,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson explained during the event at the White House, according to the Washington Post. “Light travels at 186,000 miles per second, and that light that you are seeing from one of those little specks, has been traveling for over 13 billion years.”
- The image captures just a tiny portion of the universe. “If you held a grain of sand on the tip of your finger at arms length, that is the part of the universe you are seeing — just one little speck of the universe,” Nelson said, according to NPR.
- Washington Post science writer Joel Achenbach described it as “a hornet’s nest of brilliant but enigmatic objects in many colors. A smattering of stars have parked themselves in the foreground, but everything else is a galaxy — a vast agglomeration of stars, rendered into a small splash of light by the immense distances involved.”
James Webb telescope: NASA unveils the deepest-ever view of the cosmos, with more images coming Tuesday
Published: July 11, 2022, 7:48 p.m. MDT
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
The story of Isaac and Rebekah is an example of the man, who has the keys, and the woman, who has the influence, working together to ensure the fulfillment of their blessings. Their story is pivotal. The blessings of the house of Israel depended on a man and a woman who understood their place in the plan and their responsibilities to form an eternal family, to bear children, and to teach them.
President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) said, “This order … of family government where a man and woman enter into a covenant with God—just as did Adam and Eve—to be sealed for eternity, to have posterity … is the only means by which we can one day see the face of God and live.”
The rising generation need to understand that the command to “multiply, and replenish the earth” (Genesis 1:28; Moses 2:28) remains in force. Bearing children is a faith-based work. President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) said, “It is an act of extreme selfishness for a married couple to refuse to have children when they are able to do so.” Motherhood and fatherhood are eternal roles. Each carries the responsibility for either the male or the female half of the plan. Youth is the time to prepare for those eternal roles and responsibilities.
Parents, teachers, and leaders can help young people prepare for the blessings of Abraham. What are those blessings? Abraham tells us in Abraham 1:2. He says he wanted “the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer; … to be one who possessed great knowledge, … to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers.”
Where are these blessings Abraham received? They come only to those who have a temple sealing and marriage. A man cannot become a “father of many nations” without being sealed to his wife. Likewise, Abraham could not hold the right belonging to the fathers without a wife who had the right belonging to the mothers.
The stories of Abraham and Sarah and of Isaac and Rebekah are found in Genesis. Abraham and Sarah had only one son, Isaac. If Abraham was to be the “father of many nations,” how important was Isaac’s wife, Rebekah? She was so important that he sent his servant hundreds of miles to find the right young woman—one who would keep her covenants, one who understood what it meant to form an eternal family.
In Genesis 24:60, Rebekah is blessed to be “the mother of thousands of millions.” Where do we find those kinds of blessings? They are received in the temple.
The story of Isaac and Rebekah is an example of the man, who has the keys, and the woman, who has the influence, working together to ensure the fulfillment of their blessings. Their story is pivotal. The blessings of the house of Israel depended on a man and a woman who understood their place in the plan and their responsibilities to form an eternal family, to bear children, and to teach them.
In our day we have the responsibility to send “Isaac” and “Rebekah” forth from our homes and classrooms. Every young man and young woman should understand his or her role in this great partnership—that they are each an “Isaac” or a “Rebekah.” Then they will know with clarity what they have to do.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Study of the Book of Mormon is most rewarding when one focuses on its primary purpose—to testify of Jesus Christ.
Russell M. Nelson, A Testimony of the Book of Mormon, October 1999 General Conference
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
How the Abrahamic Covenant Works
Some of us are the literal seed of Abraham; others are gathered into his family by adoption. The Lord makes no distinction.21 Together we receive these promised blessings—if we seek the Lord and obey His commandments.22 But if we don’t, we lose the blessings of the covenant.23
October 2011 General Conference - "Covenants" Russell M. Nelson