The everlasting covenant and gospel dispensations -- Part 4 (Abraham)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints boldly and uniquely teaches that the gospel was preached from the beginning. Jesus Christ did not introduce it, he only restored what had existed since the days of Adam

58 And thus the Gospel began to be preached, from the beginning, being declared by holy angels sent forth from the presence of God, and by his own voice, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost.

59 And thus all things were confirmed unto Adam, by an holy ordinance, and the Gospel preached, and a decree sent forth, that it should be in the world, until the end thereof; and thus it was. Amen. (Moses 5)

Even though the gospel would be in the world until the end thereof, there have been times when it was absent in its fullness for most people and needed to be restored. These restorations are referred to as gospel dispensations and I am writing this series to demonstrate that it is inseparably connected to the everlasting covenant. We have seen examples of that in the first three dispensations here, here and here.

I love the verses quoted above. Especially the part about all things being confirmed unto Adam by a holy ordinance in conjunction with the gospel being preached. We have seen Enoch and Noah too being ordained after the holy order and entering into covenants. This is often described in a text with lots of references to the creation, hinting at a connection. Next up is Abraham and we see the same trend here.

Abraham

I have already written on Abraham recently in a similar context so I will not repeat all the details but some of the main themes apply in this context as well. The beginning of the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price describes him as someone seeking after the blessings of the fathers. Since his biological father was an idolater, he is most likely talking about righteous priesthood holders of the past like Adam, Enoch and Noah. He sought after the blessings of the gospel and the eternal covenant. As we know, God made a specific covenant with Abraham, where his seed would be blessed, just like he had sought after and obtained the blessings of his fathers (of whose seed he was).

As mentioned, a new dispensation is often connected to the creation. We normally don't think about Abraham in those terms, but one of the creation accounts in our standard works is from the Book of Abraham after all. Not to mention that the other creation accounts in the Book of Moses and in the temple come from two of the other heads of gospel dispensations, namely Moses and Joseph Smith. The way the covenant with Abraham ties into the creation is really neat and something I have never considered before. Here are the terms of the covenant with Abraham

9 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations;

10 And I will bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father;

11 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal. (Abraham 2)

In Abraham's seed, all families of the earth shall be blessed with the gospel and the possibility of eternal life. This is part of the eternal covenant of which the marriage covenant is the crown. This is according to the order of God to have seed in this life and the next. In the revelation on the marriage covenant in D&C 132, Abraham is mentioned by name 20 times. 

After the covenant has been established, Abraham is shown the stars in Abraham 3. 

And it was in the night time when the Lord spake these words unto me: I will multiply thee, and thy seed after thee, like unto these [i.e. the stars that he had just been shown]; and if thou canst count the number of sands, so shall be the number of thy seeds. (Abraham 3:14)

So Abraham's seed is connected to the stars that he is being shown. The Lord goes on to compare the stars to intelligences or spirits, implying that many of the noble and great ones would be in the priesthood line of his seed. 

Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones (Abraham 3:22)

The stars and the comparison to spirits and their assembly in the great pre-mortal council is the prologue of the creation account in the next chapter.

24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;

25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them (Abraham 3)

"Them" in "we will prove them herewith" actually refers specifically to "the noble and great" spirits that were "good" from the verses prior to this. The creation account is contextualized by the need for the noble spirits to have an earth to dwell on to become Abraham's seed and bless the families of the earth. This adds a beautiful perspective to the creation-covenant connection. Also, those who eventually become like God and become creators themselves, become so as a result of the eternal covenant. They have been married for eternity with the proper authority, they are Abraham's seed and have eternal posterity themselves. It is only reasonable to assume that God is God as a result of covenants himself.

It is interesting to note that almost every scripture I have used to connect the gospel dispensations to the everlasting covenant in this series so far, have come from the Pearl of Great Price or the Joseph Smith Translation. It only confirms the words of the angel to Nephi

And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away. (1 Nephi 13:26)

Joseph Smith, the head of another dispensation that we will get to, restored the covenants which had been taken away.

One noteworthy difference between this gospel dispensation of Abraham and his predecessors is Abraham's lack of preaching. The others are ordained after the holy order and preach. Enoch gathers his followers in a city, Noah warns the people of the flood. Abraham is not a preacher. He does seek after and obtains the priesthood after the holy order. But the main focus is on him becoming a father and having a righteous posterity that will bless the rest of God's children. The children of Abraham's blood line were brought into bondage by the Egyptians where Abraham many years prior had taught about the universe, spirits and creation. That leads us to the delivery by Moses and the next Gospel dispensation, which is the topic for the next post.