The New and Everlasting Covenant
Eternal Life
“We must begin with the
truth about God and our
relationship to him.
Everything else follows
from that….
Dallin H. Oaks
Quorum of the Twelve
(Ensign, May 1995, 84)
“Our theology begins with
heavenly parents. Our
highest aspiration is to be
like them.… The fulness of
eternal salvation is a family
matter.”
Dallin H. Oaks
Quorum of the Twelve
(Ensign, May 1995, 84)
Joseph Fielding Smith
President
("Sealing Power and
Salvation," BYU, 1971)
“This plan of salvation is
family centered. It leads to
eternal life, and eternal life is
the name of the kind of life
which God, our Father, lives.
This plan of salvation is
designed to enable us to create
eternal family units of our own
which are patterned after the
family of our Eternal Father.”
ETERNAL LIFE
(God’s Life)
Exalted Marriage
Godhood
Spirit +
Mortal Body
Intelligence
Spirit Body
We become Heavenly
Parents for other
intelligences.
The New and Everlasting Covenant
D&C 132:6
“What is the new and
everlasting covenant?… The
new and everlasting covenant
is the sum total of all gospel
covenants and obligations.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
Quorum of the Twelve
(Doctrines of
Salvation, 1:156)
“What is the new and
everlasting covenant?… The
new and everlasting covenant
is the sum total of all gospel
covenants and obligations.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
Quorum of the Twelve
(Doctrines of
Salvation, 1:156)
Baptism
Sealed to
Parents
Gift of the
Holy Ghost
Sealed to
Spouse
Priesthood
Ordination
Endowment
Washing/
Anointing
“The new and everlasting
Bruce R. McConkie
Quorum of the Twelve
(Brigham Young
University, 6 November
1977)
covenant” is the fulness of the
gospel, and the gospel is the
covenant of salvation that the
Lord makes with men. It is
new because it has been
revealed anew in our day; it is
everlasting because it has
always been had by faithful
people, not only on this earth
but on all the earths inhabited
by the children of our Father.
D&C 132:6
If you receive a fulness of God’s
glory, what are you?
D&C 76:56, 58
Bruce R. McConkie
(Mormon Doctrine, p. 594)
“Those women who go on to
their exaltation, ruling and
reigning with husbands who
are kings and priests, will
themselves be queens and
priestesses. They will hold
positions of power, authority,
and preferment in eternity.”
If you receive a fulness of God’s
glory, what are you?
D&C 76:56, 58
What makes this possible?
D&C 76:69; Rev. 5:10; John 1:12
Kings & Priests
Queens and Priestesses
“We do not rear children just
to please our vanity. We bring
children into the world to
become kings and queens,
and priests and priestesses
for our Lord.”
Spencer W. Kimball
President
(The Teachings of Spencer
W. Kimball, p.331)
“[H]e that has overcome and is
found worthy, will be made a
king of kings, and lord of lords
over his own posterity, or in
other words: A father of
fathers.”
Brigham Young
President
(J of D 10:355a-355b)
Eternal Kingship, Priesthood, and Sonship =
“the fulness of my glory” (D&C 132:6)
Our Collective Dilemma
What’s our problem?
Moses 6:48-49
If we are “shut out” from His presence
then what else are we shut out from?
Moses 6:57
Regaining God’s Presence
and Becoming Heirs
Models of Re-inheritance
Moses 6:64-68
Ezra Taft Benson
(Ensign, Aug. 1985, pp.
6-10)
“To enter into the order of the Son
of God is the equivalent today of
entering into the fullness of the
Melchizedek Priesthood, which is
only received in the house of the
Lord….
“Adam and his descendants
entered into the priesthood order
of God. Today we would say they
went to the House of the Lord and
received their blessings.”
Heirship & Inheritance
Heirship is a royal word. Children of kings
and queens are heirs to the throne and all that
their parents have. Children can only inherit
what their parents have. If parents don’t have
it then they cannot give it to their children.
Once a man and woman have been anointed
to become kings and queens and are sealed to
one another, then their children “born in the
covenant” are heirs of all the blessings of the
kingdom.
Russell M. Nelson
Quorum of the Twelve
(“Covenants,” Ensign,
November 2011, p. 88;
emphasis added)
“Children of the covenant have
the right to receive His
doctrine and to know the plan
of salvation. They claim it by
making covenants of sacred
significance.”
The Chosen Lineage
God, the Father
Jesus Christ
Christ is the Heir of the Father (Heb. 1:2)
Adam
Adam became “a son of God” (Moses
6:68). He was promised, “a multitude of
nations shall come of thee” (D&C 107:55)
Seth
Promised that “his posterity should be the
chosen of the Lord” (D&C 107:42)
Enoch
God swore “unto Enoch and unto his seed
with an oath by himself” (JST Gen. 14:30)
Noah
The Lord “sent forth an unalterable decree,
that a remnant of his seed should always
be found” on earth (Moses 7:52)
Melchizedek
Noah
Melchizedek
Abraham
• Abraham 1:1-4
• Abraham 1:18
• Abraham 2:9-11
Noah
Melchizedek
Abraham
Isaac
Jacob (Israel)
Gen. 26:3-5
Gen. 28:12-15
Gather Israel
D&C 132:19
Kingdoms, Thrones, Principalities
(Promised Land)
Powers, Dominions
(Priesthood)
Continuation of Seed “forever and ever”
(Posterity)
Joseph Fielding Smith
Quorum of the Twelve
(Doctrines of Salvation, 3
Vols., ed. Bruce R.
McConkie [1954-56], 2:67)
“Through the restoration of
the priesthood held by Elijah,
knowledge has been given to
the Church that each family
unit, where the parents have
been married for time and for
eternity, shall remain intact
through all eternity….
Joseph Fielding Smith
Quorum of the Twelve
(Doctrines of Salvation, 3
Vols., ed. Bruce R.
McConkie [1954-56], 2:67)
“Moreover, each family unit is to
be linked to the generation which
went before, until all the faithful,
who have proved their title to
family membership through
obedience to the gospel, shall be
joined in one grand family from
the beginning to the end of time,
and shall find place in the celestial
kingdom of God. In this way all
who receive the exaltation become
heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Jesus Christ in the possession of
eternal family relationships.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
Quorum of the Twelve
(Doctrines of Salvation, 3
Vols., ed. Bruce R.
McConkie [1954-56], 2:6768)
“Eventually, when this work is
perfected, and Christ delivers
up to his Father the keys and
makes his report, and death is
destroyed, then that great
family from the days of Adam
down, of all the righteous,
those who have kept the
commandments of God, will
find that they are one family,
the family of God, entitled to
all the blessings that pertain to
the exaltation.”
Questions?