Covenant Israel and the Blessings of the Gospel

As Nephi wrote about the coming of the Messiah and those who would reject him, he said, “Nevertheless, when that day cometh, saith the prophet, that they no more turn aside their hearts against the Holy One of Israel, then will he remember the covenants which he made to their fathers. Yea, then will he remember the isles of the sea; yea, and all the people who are of the house of Israel, will I gather in, saith the Lord, according to the words of the prophet Zenos, from the four quarters of the earth.” The promise of the Lord is that He will remember His covenant to gather in the house of Israel in the last days, and the result of fulfilling this promise was described in the next verse by Nephi: “Yea, and all the earth shall see the salvation of the Lord, saith the prophet; every nation, kindred, tongue and people shall be blessed” (1 Nephi 19:15-17). As the Lord gathers in His people in the last days, it will bless all people and all nations. This is what he promised about His covenant to Abraham: “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 2:11). What will the Lord do for covenant Israel? He will bring them “the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal.” And of course there is no greater gift!

                After these statements Nephi quoted two chapters of Isaiah, and these also contain promises to Israel about what the Lord will do for those who keep their covenant with Him. In a powerful declaration of this we read, “And thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I have sent him, the Lord thy God who teacheth thee to profit, who leadeth thee by the way thou shouldst go, hath done it. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments—then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea” (1 Nephi 20:17-18). The Lord will teach us to profit, He will lead us by the way we should go, He will grant us peace as a river if we hearken to His commandments that are part of His covenant. I love that promise for it is exactly those things that we really seek most for in this life—we want to find real success in our labors (“to profit”), we want to know the way we should go and what we should do, we want to have peace as constant as a flowing river. He offers all of these as we keep our covenants with Him. He promises to provide the way for us in this life and to lead us through difficult places as we trust in Him: “He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.” He will “comfort his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.” In one of the most powerful declarations in the words of Isaiah, He promised to remember His people: “But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not. For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me” (1 Nephi 21:10-16). His promise was to literally graven upon His palms the marks that represent His love for all of us, and He will not forget us. He will have compassion on covenant Israel and on each of us as we come to Him.

Using these words of Isaiah, Nephi summarized what the Lord will do for covenant Israel: “Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to make bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations, in bringing about his covenants and his gospel unto those who are of the house of Israel. Wherefore, he will bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be gathered together to the lands of their inheritance; and they shall be brought out of obscurity and out of darkness; and they shall know that the Lord is their Savior and their Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel.” He will bring His Gospel to Israel, taking them out of spiritual and physical captivity, and helping them come to know their Savior and Redeemer. Because of this promise that He is fulfilling today, we can each come unto His Gospel and receive the blessings of peace in this life and salvation in that to come.