The everlasting covenant and gospel dispensations -- Part 3 (Noah)

Part 1 introduces the everlasting covenant in the context of gospel dispensations. At every new dispensation, there is a righteous priesthood holder who seeks to re-establish the everlasting covenant. We saw how Enoch did this in part 2. He managed to gather the righteous, becoming a new creation in a city that was taken up to heaven. The wicked were left behind and therefore a new gospel dispensation or re-establishment of the everlasting covenant was needed. This dispensation was headed by Noah and it was quite dramatic. Lord Wilmore has written extensively on Noah and related symbolism of "rest" (the Hebrew meaning of his name), which stands in stark contrast to the unrest that the wicked experienced at the flood.

What is the nature of "the everlasting covenant"? In part 1, we defined it as "the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, including all ordinances and covenants necessary for the salvation of mankind". This may seem confusing because the covenants with Enoch and Noah that are sometimes referred to as "the everlasting covenant" are quite specific for them and may differ from the ordinances and covenants we have today. But I believe that the core of the covenant always is to offer the ordinances, conditions and promises necessary for salvation. The practical details of that may vary from one dispensation to another but on an overall level it is about restoring man, and by extension the whole creation, back to God's presence.

In the JST of Genesis 9:15, we read

And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I will establish my covenant with you, which I made unto your father Enoch, concerning your seed after you.

This marks a new dispensation and a new establishment of the covenant. God specifically refers to the covenant he made with Enoch. Later, in JST 9:21-25, we get more details

21 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant, which I made unto thy father Enoch; that, when men should keep all my commandments, Zion should again come on the earth, the city of Enoch which I have caught up unto myself.

22 And this is mine everlasting covenant, that when thy posterity shall embrace the truth, and look upward, then shall Zion look downward, and all the heavens shall shake with gladness, and the earth shall tremble with joy;

23 And the general assembly of the church of the firstborn shall come down out of heaven, and possess the earth, and shall have place until the end come. And this is mine everlasting covenant, which I made with thy father Enoch.

24 And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will establish my covenant unto thee, which I have made between me and thee, for every living creature of all flesh that shall be upon the earth.

25 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and thee; for all flesh that shall be upon the earth.

In Enoch's time, the covenant was about gathering the righteous in a city and lifting them up to heaven. In Noah's time, it was about having posterity that could "embrace the truth" and long for the same city but not attain it until the onset of the millennium when heaven and earth would reunite. This covenant, as all covenants at the time, was to be taken very seriously. This is indicated by the token of the covenant. In Hebrew, there is no word for rainbow, there is only the "bow". This is pointing upward towards heaven as if God is saying: "May I be shot if I break this covenant".

With the re-establishment of the covenant with Noah, we see the recurring elements listed before:

• References to the creation
• References to 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

Especially the creation is alluded to repeatedly. The whole story of Noah is both an anti-creation account and a re-creation account. Both before the flood, describing the destruction, and after the flood, describing the new beginning, we find multiple allusions to the creation account, as Lord Wilmore also has mentioned previously.

And the Lord said: I will destroy man whom I have created, from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the creeping things, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth Noah that I have created them (Moses 8:26)

Beast, creeping things and fowls of the air are all creation language from Genesis 1. So is "breath of life", which is only found in the creation account in addition to the story about Noah:

And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. (Genesis 6:17)

Then God brings the earth to a pre-creation state of watery chaos by flooding the earth. When the flood recedes, the narrative describes a re-creation with continued references to the first creation account.

• In Genesis 5:29, there is a wordplay on the name, Noah (Hebr. "rest"), who will "comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed". The cursed ground alludes to Genesis 3:17 after Adam had eaten the forbidden fruit. In Genesis 8:21 God promises not to curse the ground again.
• In Genesis 9:1, Noah and his sons are commanded to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth", just like Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28
• In Genesis 9:2-3, Noah is commanded to rule over the creatures, just like Adam in Genesis 1:28-29
• Genesis 9:6 repeats that God made man in his image

This is all part of a re-creation and beautifully symbolizes the two creations necessary for salvation. The dual destruction/anti-creation and re-creation narratives also remind us that we need to destroy the parts of our lives that are not in line with our covenants and preserve or re-create the parts that are. 

These references to the creation and Adam also follow the pattern of referring one head of a dispensation to other dispensations. In addition to Adam, Noah connects to Enoch in Genesis 6:9. "Noah walked with God" just like "Enoch walked with God" (Genesis 5:24).

Moses 8 displays further typical characteristics of a gospel dispensation.

13 And Noah and his sons hearkened unto the Lord, and gave heed, and they were called the sons of God...

16 And it came to pass that Noah prophesied, and taught the things of God, even as it was in the beginning...

19 And the Lord ordained Noah after his own order, and commanded him that he should go forth and declare his Gospel unto the children of men, even as it was given unto Enoch.

I didn't think that I would spend the entire post on Noah, but it turned out to be even more than I thought once I started digging deep. The next post will continue with the gospel dispensation of Abraham and its relation to the everlasting covenant. 

 

 

"...the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved." (Part 1)

8 Now, the decrees of God are unalterable; therefore, the way is prepared that whosoever will may walk therein and be saved. (Alma 41)

"Walk" as a covenant symbol.

I love identifying covenant symbols in the Book of Mormon.  The more I carefully study these words, the stronger I come to know how carefully prepared these words were. This two-part series of posts will cover the term "walk," which I believe most often refers to a people who are living according to the temple covenant.

To illustrate this, I'll give a few example of how this word is used in the other books of scripture in part 1, followed by a long list of examples of its use in the Book of Mormon in part 2.

Old Testament

• Enoch "walked with God." (See Genesis 5:22.)
• Noah "walked with God." (See Genesis 6:9.)
• Abraham walked "before God." (See Genesis 17:1, Genesis 48:15.)
• Leviticus 26 specifies the conditions of the covenant.  The Lord outlines conditions for what will happen in consequence of the people "walk[ing] in [His] statutes" and "walk[ing] contrary unto [Him]" (see verses 3 and 21, for example).  One of the blessings of obedience is to have the Lord's promise: "I will walk among you" (see verse 12). One of the consequences of disobedience is to have the Lord "walk contrary unto you" (see verse 24).
• 33 Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess. (Deuteronomy 5)
• 3 And the king (Josiah) stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant. (2 Kings 23)
• 18 Whoso walketh uprightly shall be saved... (Proverbs 28)

Of all of the references in the Old Testament, perhaps my favorite is found in Micah 4:

2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem...

5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

In these verses we get a direct connection between the latter-day temple, Zion, walking in the Lord's ways, and "walk[ing] in the name of the Lord."  We also find some of these direct connections in Isaiah 2/2 Nephi 12:2-5.

New Testament

• 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6) This verse seems to clearly connect the baptismal covenant with the term "walk."
• 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2) This verse connects "good works," "walking," and the purpose of our creation in "Christ Jesus." This is a very interesting passage that I will dedicate an entire future post to.
• 6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him... (Colossians 2)
• 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1)
• 6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. (2 John 1)
• 4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. (Revelation 3, NIV) We find some pretty striking temple imagery in these verses.

D&C

• 133 Art thou a brother or brethren? I salute you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in token or remembrance of the everlasting covenant, in which covenant I receive you to fellowship, in a determination that is fixed, immovable, and unchangeable, to be your friend and brother through the grace of God in the bonds of love, to walk in all the commandments of God blameless, in thanksgiving, forever and ever. Amen. (D&C 88)
• 24 Search diligently, pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another. (D&C 90)

In the next part, we'll look at how "walk" is used in the Book of Mormon in a covenant context.