The Covenants of the Father

In 1 Nephi 14, as the angel spoke to Nephi in the midst of the great vision the young prophet was receiving, he said this: “Thou hast beheld that if the Gentiles repent it shall be well with them; and thou also knowest concerning the covenants of the Lord unto the house of Israel; and thou also hast heard that whoso repenteth not must perish” (v5). Thus he affirmed to Nephi that Nephi knew about the covenants of the Lord with the house of Israel. The angel then spoke of the work of the Lamb of God in the last days, saying: “For the time cometh, saith the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and a marvelous work among the children of men; a work which shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other—either to the convincing of them unto peace and life eternal, or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil, of which I have spoken” (v7). He then stopped and asked Nephi this question: “Rememberest thou the covenants of the Father unto the house of Israel?” (v8) What is odd is that he just said three verses earlier that he (the angel) knew that Nephi knew about those covenants. But perhaps wanted to really stress their importance, the angel asked Nephi directly to confirm his understanding. Nephi responded in the affirmative, but then the angel abruptly changed the subject and started discussing the great and abominable church. From verses 9-13 the angel spoke of this church and showed it in vision to Nephi. Seeing it he noticed its power in the last days, and commented, “She had dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people” (v11). Nephi compared that to the church of the Lamb, saying, “I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw” (v12). He then painted this frightening picture for us: “And it came to pass that I beheld that the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God” (v13). He beheld multitudes (who were numerous) gathered together against the saints of the Lamb of God (who were relatively few), and if we stopped there it would seem that the latter group would have little defense against this great and abominable church.

                I realized today the powerful connection between the angel’s question to Nephi about covenants in verse 8 and what came next in verse 14. This verse is probably the most well-known of the whole chapter, and it shows how this “small” church of the Lamb was to stay strong in the midst of an overwhelming host of wickedness. Nephi wrote, “And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory” (v14). The answer goes back to what the angel asked about: the covenants of the people with the Lord would protect them. The power of the Lamb of God would come upon the saints of the Lamb because they were the “covenant people of the Lord.” The angel’s question was not randomly placed in verse 8 but was the perfect preface to showing him both the wickedness of the world in the last days and the means by which the saints would find protection in the “covenants of the Father unto the house of Israel.” It seems that he really wanted Nephi to understand the power of these covenants in protecting the saints of the last days against the great and abominable church. He said again later in the same chapter, “And when the day cometh that the wrath of God is poured out upon the mother of harlots, which is the great and abominable church of all the earth, whose founder is the devil, then, at that day, the work of the Father shall commence, in preparing the way for the fulfilling of his covenants, which he hath made to his people who are of the house of Israel” (v17). So how do we stay protected in the midst of the terrible onslaught of wickedness that Nephi foresaw in the last days? We are protected by the power of Lamb that comes upon His covenant people. And so our greatest defense today is to make and keep covenants with the Lord no matter what the world around us does.