God’s Everlasting Covenant with the House of Israel

Heavenly Father’s work and glory “is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life” of His children. As part of this purpose, He has established what is often called the “new and everlasting covenant”—the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This covenant includes all the ordinances and covenants necessary for salvation and exaltation. It is described as new because it has been reestablished at various points in history and everlasting because it is eternal and unchanging.

A covenant is a sacred agreement between God and His children. God sets the terms of the agreement and promises great blessings to those who obey. President Emily Belle Freeman, Young Women General President, taught that a covenant is “not only about a contract, although that is important. It’s about a relationship.” President Russell M. Nelson explained that when we make covenants with God, “we have a new way of life. We thereby create a relationship with God that allows Him to bless and change us. The covenant path leads us back to Him. If we let God prevail in our lives, that covenant will lead us closer and closer to Him. All covenants are intended to be binding. They create a relationship with everlasting ties.”

Covenants between God and His children play a central role in the Old Testament. After the earth was created and filled with life, the Lord joined Adam and Eve together in an eternal marriage. They then chose to partake of the forbidden fruit, which led to the Fall. This meant they could no longer live in God’s presence. After the Fall, God made covenants with Adam and Eve that allowed them to be redeemed through Jesus Christ and have a lasting relationship with Him. President Nelson explained, “Adam and Eve accepted the ordinance of baptism and began the process of being one with God. They had entered the covenant path.”

Adam and Eve taught their children the importance of making covenants with God and participating in sacred ordinances. Their righteous posterity became the Lord’s covenant people. However, over time, many rejected the Lord’s covenants, which led to tragedy and misery. After periods of apostasy, the Lord reestablished His everlasting covenant with prophets like Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Moses.

The Lord’s renewal of His everlasting covenant with Abraham is known as the Abrahamic covenant. As part of this covenant, God promised that through Abraham’s posterity, all the families of the earth would be blessed with the blessings of the Savior’s gospel. This covenant was reaffirmed with Abraham’s son Isaac and his grandson Jacob, whom the Lord later named Israel. From Jacob’s twelve sons came the twelve tribes of Israel, and the name Israel came to represent the people who are obedient to God and chosen by Him to carry out His covenant.

When the Lord later reestablished His everlasting covenant through Moses, He promised that if the children of Israel would honor their covenant with Him, they would be His treasured, holy people. The Lord emphasized His desire to maintain a relationship with His covenant people when He declared, “I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.” This promise is central to the Lord’s everlasting covenant and is repeated frequently in the Old Testament.

The Old Testament records many times when the Israelites failed to remain faithful to their covenant relationship with God. Instead of honoring Him as their God and blessing all the families of the earth, the Israelites frequently turned to the false gods that were worshipped by surrounding nations. As a result, the Lord allowed the Israelites to be scattered by their enemies. This scattering (often called the scattering of Israel) occurred in phases, including the following:

• Around 722 BC, the Northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians. Many Israelites were taken into exile in Assyria, and they eventually became lost to history. This group is often referred to as the lost tribes of Israel.

• In about 600 BC, the Lord commanded Lehi to lead a group of Israelites to the Americas.

• Early in the sixth century BC, the Southern Kingdom of Judah was conquered by Babylon. Many Judahites were taken into Babylonian exile. Though some later returned to rebuild Jerusalem, many remained in Babylon.

• In 70 AD, a few decades after the death of Jesus Christ, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and scattered many of the remaining Jews throughout the empire.

These and other events led many Israelites to become spiritually lost and disconnected from their covenant identity.

Even though Israel was unfaithful at times, the Lord did not forget His everlasting covenant. Through the prophet Isaiah, He affirmed, “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. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.”

The Lord has promised never to forget His covenant people because of His special covenantal relationship with them. President Nelson taught:

“Once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him. In fact, all those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind of love and mercy. In the Hebrew language, that covenantal love is called hesed. …

“Hesed is a special kind of love and mercy that God feels for and extends to those who have made a covenant with Him. And we reciprocate with hesed for Him.

“Because God has hesed for those who have covenanted with Him, He will love them. He will continue to work with them and offer them opportunities to change. He will forgive them when they repent. And should they stray, He will help them find their way back to Him.

“Once you and I have made a covenant with God, our relationship with Him becomes much closer than before our covenant. Now we are bound together. Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us. Each of us has a special place in God’s heart. He has high hopes for us.”

As an expression of His everlasting covenantal love, the Lord promised that He would gather Israel in the last days. The gathering of the Lord’s covenant people is foretold throughout the scriptures. Speaking to scattered Israel through Isaiah, the Lord declared, “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness [hesed] will I have mercy on thee.”

A central theme of the Book of Mormon is the restoration of Israel to their covenant relationship with God. On its title page, Moroni explained that the book was written so that “the remnant of the house of Israel … may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever.” President Jeffrey R. Holland taught that “the Book of Mormon is the preeminent statement of God’s covenant with and his love for his children here on earth.”

The latter-day gathering of Israel began with the Restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith. In the preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord declared that many had “strayed from [His] ordinances, and have broken [His] everlasting covenant.” He continued, “Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments; … that mine everlasting covenant might be established.”

With the gospel of Jesus Christ restored, the Lord could once again establish a covenant relationship with His people. He has commanded His servants in our dispensation to preach the gospel and “build up my church in every region … , that ye may be gathered in one, that ye may be my people and I will be your God.”

Literal descendants of the house of Israel are found in nations all around the world. But even if a person is not a literal descendant, all people, everywhere, who accept Jesus Christ and make and keep sacred covenants with Him become part of the house of Israel. As “children of the covenant,” they are entitled to the same blessings promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

As members of the Lord’s restored Church, we have a responsibility to help gather Israel. President Nelson called this “the most important work taking place on earth today.” He taught, “Anytime we do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—to make and keep their covenants with God, we are helping to gather Israel.”