A LAND CHOICE ABOVE ALL OTHER LANDS

The Patriarch, Abraham, left his home in Ur. There was famine and suffering.  Most importantly, the people had turned away from God, including Abraham's father.  Like Lehi would do thousands of year later, Abraham left his home and took his family, including his nephew, Lot, and their flocks, and moved to the land of Canaan.

Abraham was faithful and obedient. He worshipped the Lord and offered sacrifices.  He paid tithing to the High Priest, Melchizedek. He prayed for a son.  God heard Abraham's prayers and granted him a son, whom he named Issac. Abraham entered into a covenant with God, one that had begun in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.  It had three main clauses, what I call the three P's:

• POSTERITY
• God promised Abraham that he would have descendants that were as numerous as the stars in the heaven and the sands of the desert.
• PROMISED LAND
• He promised him a land wherein he could raise a righteous family.
• PRIESTHOOD
• He promised him that He would be their God and they would be His people. This included having the priesthood to officiate in the ordinances of the covenant.

All of these blessings from God were predicated upon Abraham's keeping his part of the covenant.

We often refer to this covenant as the Abrahamic Covenant, but it is God's eternal covenant with His Children.  Whenever mankind has striven for righteousness, God remembers His part of the Covenant and blesses them.

The Covenant in the days of Nephi

Because Lehi was a descendant of Abraham, the Covenant was renewed with him.  The land to which the Lord would eventually lead Lehi was part of the renewal of the Covenant. We sometimes refer to this as the Promise of the Book of Mormon.  It is woven through the context of the entire Book.  If Lehi's family wanted the blessings, they would need to worship the God of this land, who is Jesus Christ.

And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands. (1 Nephi 2:20)

Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; (2 Nephi1:5)

[T]his is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off (Ether 2: 10)

The Covenant in our day

This is the Covenant which the Lord offers to us.  It is the covenant that each of us makes individually at baptism.  It is the covenant we renew each week when we partake of the Sacrament. If we remember the Savior and keep His commandments and partake of the tokens of the Covenant, then we will be blessed and enjoy freedom in the land.  Like the Nephites, we will never be brought into captivity except through unrighteousness.

We who are the Covenant Keepers have an obligation to ourselves, our families, and the families of this land, to keep sacred that Covenant and worship the God of this land, who is Jesus Christ.  It is an obligation that we meet with diligence because there are so many in this land who don't remember Christ and who flaunt His commandments and even celebrate their own wickedness. We are the salt of the earth. We are the leaven in the bread.  We must never forget. Semper Fi.

©January 2020, Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson