The everlasting covenant and gospel dispensations -- Part 6 (Jesus Christ)

The previous parts of this series are found here:

• Part 1: Introduction and Adam
• Part 2: Enoch
• Part 3: Noah
• Part 4: Abraham
• Part 5: Moses

This post will focus on the gospel dispensation of Jesus Christ himself. There is plenty of material to take from since the scriptures testify of him. Some of that describes Christ as a restorer of the everlasting covenant. It is interesting to note that from Enoch and on, there is an increasing amount of available information on the gospel dispensations. We know next to nothing about Enoch from the Bible but the Pearl of Great Price gives us a chapter and a half. We have several chapters in Genesis about Noah. We have even more chapters about Abraham in Genesis plus the Book of Abraham in the Pearl of Great Price. We have entire books about Moses (Exodus-Deuteronomy). The same can be said about Jesus. In addition to the four gospels, we have the account of his visit among the Nephites in 3 Nephi, but numerous prophecies and sermons in addition. From Joseph Smith we have almost the entire Doctrine and Covenants plus much more detailed accounts of his life than any of the other heads of previous dispensations.

But back to Jesus Christ. The peculiar thing about this dispensation is that he, as the God of the Old Testament, established the everlasting covenant in the first place. He covenanted with Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham and Moses. He is "the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning" (Mosiah 3:8). The author of the everlasting covenant came to earth himself to restore it. He who created all things longs to re-unite all creation and paid the price of it with his own blood.

In the previous post we discussed the dispensation of Moses. How the Lord wanted to give them the fullness and they could only handle a part. But Moses prophesied:

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers (Deuteronomy 18:15)

Christ identified himself as that prophet when he visited the Nephites.

Behold, I am he of whom Moses spake, saying: A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me (3 Nephi 20:23)

More on this in a previous post about Moses and Christ, explained beautifully by Abinadi. There is a Jewish tradition of the Messiah as the second Moses and there are numerous parallels in addition to the simple fact that Jesus identified as the prophet that Moses told about and said he had come to fulfill the Law of Moses. For instance:

• Jesus was born without shelter and laid in a manger. Moses was also born without shelter and laid in a basket, interestingly called an ark.
• Pharaoh and Herod both order all male infants killed and thereby threaten the lives of Moses and Jesus
• Jesus and Moses both spent their childhood in Egypt
• Both Jesus and Moses fasted 40 days in the wilderness

These historical events establish a parallel such that we can find meaning in the following:

• Moses led Israel out of physical bondage. Jesus leads out out of spiritual bondage
• The people that Moses led were fed manna from heaven. Jesus referred to this event as he identified as the bread of life
• Moses smote the rock so the water gushed out. Jesus is the rock who offers the water of life
• The 10 commandments were given through Moses. Jesus discussed and re-interpreted these in the Sermon of the Mount
• Moses erected a tabernacle to house God. Jesus came down in an earthly tabernacle to house his spirit
• Moses initiated the passover lamb. Jesus is the Lamb of God offering himself as a sacrifice.
• Moses led the people to the promised land. Jesus leads us to the promised land of the celestial kingdom

Jesus came as the second Moses to fulfill the law. The law came with a covenant. The old covenant/testament was replaced by a new. The animal sacrifice pointing forward to Christ's sacrifice was replaced by the sacrament held in remembrance of Christ's sacrifice.

27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;

28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26)

Both the sermon of Abinadi and the Letter to the Hebrews explain that salvation could not come by the Law of Moses alone but only through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Law of Moses was administered with the Aaronic Priesthood, also called the lesser or preparatory priesthood. The gospel of Christ and the everlasting covenant are administered with the Melchizedek Priesthood.

11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?

12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. (Hebrews 7)

6 But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: (Hebrews 8)

Since Christ's mission was to fulfill the Law of Moses, there are numerous parallels to that dispensation in particular. But the life and ministry of Christ also refers to the other gospel dispensations

• Adam plucked the fruit from the tree. Jesus reversed the fall as the firstfruits of God hanged on the tree at the crucifixion. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:22)
• Enoch established Zion that was taken up to heaven. When Jesus comes again from heaven, he will establish the millennial Zion and the two will meet.
• Noah survived the baptism of the earth and sent forth a dove when the water receded. When Jesus was baptized and came out of the water, the Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove.
• Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son. This is a "similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son" (Jacob 4:5)

As in previous dispensations, the everlasting covenant was brought to earth when Christ came. But where previous dispensations only had looked forward to the sacrifice that was required to effectuate it, Jesus, the creator, came to sacrifice himself for the creation.

Let the mountains shout for joy, and all ye valleys cry aloud; and all ye seas and dry lands tell the wonders of your Eternal King! And ye rivers, and brooks, and rills, flow down with gladness. Let the woods and all the trees of the field praise the Lord; and ye solid rocks weep for joy! And let the sun, moon, and the morning stars sing together, and let all the sons of God shout for joy! And let the eternal creations declare his name forever and ever! And again I say, how glorious is the voice we hear from heaven, proclaiming in our ears, glory, and salvation, and honor, and immortality, and eternal life; kingdoms, principalities, and powers! (D&C 128:23)

I think this verse is a fitting way to end the year on a positive note. We also wish our readers a Happy New Year! 

Lehi, Nephi and the shekinah -- Part 4 ("Stretch out the curtains of your dwelling place")

After having been asked about Isaiah 54 in the context of my recent series on the Shekinah, I found enough material to make two additional posts. Here are the previous parts 1, 2 and 3. 

The setting of Isaiah 54 is the latter-day gathering of Israel. It starts out with the imagery of the woman/wife, representing Israel, who was rejected in her youth because of unfaithfulness (see verse 6). 

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. (Isaiah 54:1)

The remarriage with Jehovah symbolizes the renewal of the covenant with "children" as a covenant blessing denoting the gathering of Israel. In verse 2 an expansion occurs to make room for all the covenant children. There is beautiful poetic parallelism here that is a bit lost in the KJV. A more direct translation reads something like this

A) Enlarge the site of your tent, 
B) stretch out the curtains of your dwelling place

Here, tent is translated from "ohel", basically the conventional word for tent. Dwelling place (habitations in the KJV) is translated from "mishkan", the word I have discussed in this series that also means tent/tabernacle and comes from the root, shakan (dwell), from which Shekinah is derived. Since this word often seems to imply a divine presence, I think we can read this poetic parallelism to describe two steps in the context of the latter-day gathering of Israel:

• A) Make room for a covenant people
• B) Make room for God to dwell among them

We find a similar description in the Book of Revelation. In Revelation 19:7-9 we read

7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

John the Revelator uses the wife imagery of Isaiah. There is a marriage supper at the onset of the millennium and the righteous covenant people are invited. This imagery continues in Revelation 21, adding the tent/dwelling symbolism that we also saw in Isaiah:

2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

There is quite a bit to unpack here. The tabernacle of God and him dwelling with his people fits Isaiah 54 and the Hebrew Shekinah concept very well, even though Revelation is written in Greek. The Greek word, skene, is both the noun translated into tabernacle and verb (skenoo) translated into dwell. Just like the similar Hebrew, "mishkan", skene/skenoo also frequently implies the divine presence. Examples of this is found in the Letter to the Hebrews

A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle (skene), which the Lord pitched, and not man. (Hebrews 8:2)

But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle (skene), not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building (Hebrews 9:11)

So what happens in the parallel prophecy of Isaiah and vision of John is that the covenant people is restored in a grand marriage feast in an expanding tent where God dwells among them. I believe this is the grand feast that Lord Wilmore has written about that occurs when the "fruitful" Ephraim has been restored to Israel and to the fulness of the gospel.

I also think that Isaiah's prophecy of enlarging the tent marks a difference between the old and new covenant people. In part 3, I wrote about the Tsadiks (the Righteous/Holy Ones), like Abraham, Moses and Lehi, who lived in tents as strangers and pilgrims on the earth, isolated from the wicked world but enwrapped in the Shekinah glory. Enlarging and stretching out the tent in Isaiah 54:2 signifies not only the increasing number of Israelites gathered in, but the fact that latter-day Israel is not characterized by the sole, isolated Tsadiks any longer. Instead, Israel becomes a grand kingdom of priests and priestesses, where the ever expanding tent enwraps us all in God's glory. Notice in Revelation 19:8 that was quoted, how the bride is wearing fine linen representing "the righteousness of saints". The saints at the feast are all Tsadiks. Temples and stakes of Zion are flooding the earth and all covenant people can enter in all the way to the Holy of Holies and partake of the feast. This is in fact a fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, a Jewish festival that I will discuss in the next post.