The everlasting covenant and gospel dispensations -- Part 1 (Introdution and Adam)

I have started to ponder the everlasting covenant, what it is and how it was restored at every gospel dispensation. As I wrote the recent posts on Melchizedek, I realized that there is a covenant connection between Enoch, Noah and Melchizedek/Abraham, which led me to think about the everlasting covenant in the context of gospel dispensations. Gospel dispensations is a unique concept in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as far as I know. We usually talk about seven dispensations where the true teachings, priesthood and ordinances had been lost and needed restoration. Each of these had one righteous priesthood holder as the head, starting with Adam. Those seven are:

1. Adam
2. Enoch
3. Noah
4. Abraham
5. Moses
6. Jesus Christ
7. Joseph Smith

I want to spend this and some future posts detailing how the everlasting covenant relates to these seven persons/dispensations. First of all, we need to define what the everlasting covenant is. In church, we often talk about the new and everlasting covenant. Elder Marcus B. Nash defines it as follows in this Ensign article:

This covenant, often referred to by the Lord as the “new and everlasting covenant,” encompasses the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, including all ordinances and covenants necessary for the salvation of mankind.

It is new because it was restored in our dispensation through the prophet, Joseph Smith. It is everlasting because it existed from before "the foundation of the world". But let's start with that term. Lord Wilmore has written about it here. There are many examples in the Book of Mormon that the plan of salvation, the atonement and the priesthood order was from before the foundation of the world. Hugh Nibley makes this remark:

When I recently collected, sorted, and classified many doctrinal elements in the early apocrypha, the most conspicuous was the plan laid from the foundation of the world. The idea has been suppressed by the editors and translators of the Bible, but it breaks out repeatedly in the apocrypha, and it is nowhere more succinctly and emphatically stated than in the Book of Mormon; "The way is prepared for all men from the foundation of the world" (1 Nephi 10:18). (Hugh Nibley: Rediscovery of the apocrypha)

It only confirms what Lord Wilmore wrote in the linked post where he drew from the apocryphal Book of Enoch. The essence of the plan is to help mankind back into God's presence, through Christ and covenants. The everlasting covenant is, simply speaking, the means to redeem us by binding us to God. As we shall see, this is manifest in the different gospel dispensations. The covenant has been broken and needs to be restored. God does not give up on us even though we may give up on him. Seven times (the number symbolizing perfection or fullness) he calls a prophet to bring it back. This seventh time, the restoration through the prophet Joseph Smith, is the last and leads into the millennium and fulfillment of the everlasting covenant.

We have written at length about the creation-covenant connection before. But I don't expect every reader of the blog to have read all posts written a year or two ago. So we need a small recap of that before I move on because the creation is closely linked to and contextualizes the everlasting covenant. In Hebrew, the word for covenant, "berith" is related to the word for creation, "bereshith". The covenant was before the foundation of the world but came into effect at the foundation of the world. It was meant to keep the whole creation together in unity and harmony. The opposite happened at the fall of man and since then, God has been eager to establish a covenant people to restore this harmony and ultimately bring man and the whole creation back to unity with Him. The scriptures describe how creation struggles and suffers as a consequence of the broken covenant and yearns for rest, peace and redemption.

21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain (Romans 8:21)

4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.

5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. (Isaiah 24) 

And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face? (Moses 7:48) 

The seven dispensations listed above are typically regarded as the gospel dispensations in our theology, the main instances where God calls a prophet after his order to establish a covenant people. But there are several other minor dispensations in between where we see the establishment of a covenant people. Lord Wilmore is currently writing a series on it and how these establishments or "mini-dispensations" follow a temple pattern and relate to the creation. So I am not going to elaborate on that, but this series of posts goes hand in hand with that, since the covenant path in the temple is a reversal of the creation, uniting heaven and earth and brings man back into the presence of God. I want to spend this and the next posts, going through each of the dispensations and show how covenant and creation are a central part of each of them. 

Adam

Adam is the culmination of the creation, created on the last day before God pronouncing his creation complete and "very good". In other words, the creation was bound together in harmony as it should at that time. But the fall disrupted it and man became "carnal, sensual and devilish" (Moses 5:13). Still, Adam is counted as the head of the first dispensation because he "called upon the name of the Lord (Moses 5:4), "was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord" (Moses 5:5) and along with Eve, "blessed the name of God, and [...] made all things known unto their sons and their daughters" (Moses 5:12).

Even though Adam had caused the fall, he became eager to do his part to restore the creation as he learned more about Christ and covenants. When he called upon the name of the Lord and was obedient, an angel came to instruct him. Later he learned about covenants and their relation to the atonement

53 And our father Adam spake unto the Lord, and said: Why is it that men must repent and be baptized in water? And the Lord said unto Adam: Behold I have forgiven thee thy transgression in the Garden of Eden.

54 Hence came the saying abroad among the people, that the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt, wherein the sins of the parents cannot be answered upon the heads of the children, for they are whole from the foundation of the world. (Moses 6)

Finally, Adam was ordained after the order of God and became a blueprint of someone who is redeemed and has become a new creation.

67 And thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity.

68 Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. (Moses 6)

What characterizes the heads of each dispensation and their accounts is:

• The creation
• Eternity or "before the foundation of the world"
• Hearkening to the word of God and receiving instruction
• Being called after his order
• Preaching and exemplifying redemption, becoming a new creation

Many of these topics are found in various posts on this blog already. I am not going to repeat all that but rather frame these within the concept of gospel dispensations. We see these topics in the case of Adam and will over the next posts see how they characterize the remaining six dispensations.