Evidence that God Loves All of His Children

President Nelson spoke in the most recent general conference about the blessing of priesthood keys. He taught, “Priesthood keys give us the authority to extend all of the blessings promised to Abraham to every covenant-keeping man and woman. Temple work makes these exquisite blessings available to all of God’s children, regardless of where or when they lived or now live. Let us rejoice that priesthood keys are once again on the earth!” He then invited us to consider three statements: “1. The gathering of Israel is evidence that God loves all of His children everywhere. 2. The gospel of Abraham is further evidence that God loves all of His children everywhere. He invites all to come unto Him—'black and white, bond and free, male and female; … all are alike unto God.’ 3. The sealing power is supernal evidence of how much God loves all of His children everywhere and wants each of them to choose to return home to Him.” These three statements correspond to the three priesthood keys that were given to Joseph and Oliver in the Kirtland Temple on March 3, 1836. We read in Doctrine and Covenants 110: “Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north. After this, Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed. After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said: Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come—To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse—Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands” (v11-16). Moses brought the authority to gather Israel (i.e. do missionary work); Elias brought the keys for the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham; and Eliah brought the keys of sealing families together. President Nelson suggested that this event and this gift of keys was a manifestation of God’s great love for all of His children. Rather than seeing it as an isolated event giving a spiritual experience to a small group of people, we should understand it as the beginning of blessings being poured out upon the whole earth.

               The first and third of these keys—gathering Israel and sealing families—are straightforward to understand, and we can see how they indeed show the love of God for all people. But what is “the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham” referring to? Elder Bruce R. McConkie said this: “The man Elias brings back ‘the gospel of Abraham,’ the great Abrahamic covenant whereby the faithful receive promises of eternal increase, promises that through celestial marriage their eternal posterity shall be as numerous as the sands upon the seashore or as the stars in heaven for multitude. Elias gives the promise—received of old by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—that in modern men and in their seed all generations shall be blessed. And we are now offering the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to all who will receive them.” So, the keys brought by Elias must be those that allow us in our dispensation to fulfill the Abrahamic covenant. In particular, he was promised this by the Lord: “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 2:11). Through the priesthood and these keys, the blessings of salvation can come to all through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Once again, as President Nelson highlighted, these keys related to the Abrahamic covenant are for the blessing of all people, a promise repeated in all the standard works. As we consider these three heavenly messengers, we might even relate them loosely to what we used to call the three-fold mission of the Church: redeem the dead (keys of sealing), perfect the Saints (keys of the gathering of Israel), and proclaim the gospel (gospel of Abraham). Perhaps it would be better, though, to not try to completely compartmentalize them because they are related to the same ultimate goal: to redeem the children of men. We gather Israel here, but we also gather it on the other side of the veil through temple work. The promises made to Abraham relate both to the gathering of Israel and the priesthood blessings of temples that are available to bless all the kindreds of the earth. Perhaps what is most important is to recognize exactly what President Nelson highlighted: that these heavenly messengers to the Kirtland Temple brought keys that give strong evidence that God indeed loves all His children everywhere.