Soap Box Sunday

Ok, another late one...but I've been deathly ILL!! Well, have had probably the worst cold I've ever had over the past few days, so I didn't even make it to church. However, my father in law asked me to research a little about eternal marriage for a convert he home teaches. From that I discovered something pretty insightful!

When we talk about the "New and Everlasting Covenant" I know that that the first thing that pops into my head is Eternal Marriage. According to Joseph Fielding Smith, however, it's much more than that:

"Each ordinance of the Gospel is a covenant which is new and everlasting. It is new and everlasting because it is divine truth and never grows old....This was said of baptism, and the Lord calls it "a new and an everlasting covenant, even that which was from the beginning." (Sec. 22:1) It is so with all the covenants and obligations in the Gospel which pertain to salvation and exaltation of man....President Brigham Young has said, that "All Latter-day Saints enter the new and everlasting covenant when they enter the Church...." (Discourses of Brigham Young. pp. 247-248.)

And he continues:

"There are some members of the Church who seem to think that the new and everlasting convenant is the covenant of celestial marriage, or marriage for eternity, but this is not so. Marriage for eternity is an everlasting covenant, because it was from the beginning. It will be, if properly performed according to the law of the Lord, eternal.

In the opening verses of Section 132, the Lord draws a distinction between a new and everlasting covenant and the new and everlasting covenant. While the definifition is given in the negative form, it is plainly discernible that the new and everlasting covenant is the fulness of the Gospel.

In the words of the Lord, [Sec. 132:7, quoted]. (CHMR, 1948, 2:157-58.) marriage, when performed by the authority of God, is here announced to be "a" new and "an" everlasting covenant. In like manner, baptism is "a" new and "an" everlasting covenant (D&C 22:1) as are all other "covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations" intended to be of "efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection" (v.7). The composite or sum of these individual covenants is "the" new and everlasting covenant." (Revelations of the Restoration, p. 1059)

I think this is very interesting because it shows that though Eternal Marriage is something we should all aspire to, look forward to, and, if we already have this blessing, it is something that we should cherish and continue to work at. However, this explanation about the difference between "a new and everlasting covenant" and "the new and everlasting covenant" really shows me that the Lord is equally concerned with EVERY ordinance we partake in while living here on the Earth. Though marriage, the endowment, could be considered the "final step" it is not to be considered the most important step, as baptism, the receiving the Holy Ghost, for example, are just as important. They also pave the way to our endowment.

I also really like that "the new and everlasting covenant" is attributed correctly to the "fulness of the Gospel" and the "sum total" of the individual covenants we make with the Lord. It really shows us that the Lord values all of the covenants we make with Him, and that we are indeed, partakers of the FULNESS of the Gospel...something that others in the history of the world have not had the privelage to partake of.

I feel truly blessed to have made all of the covenants necessary with the Lord, and hope that I can keep myself worthy to partake of the eternal blessings that will come from this.