The Dispensation of Enoch and God's Covenant with Him

 A dispensation of the gospel is a period of time in which the Lord has at least one authorized servant on the earth who bears the holy priesthood and the keys, and who has a divine commission to dispense the gospel to the inhabitants of the earth. *

*Dispensations (churchofjesuschrist.org)

Enoch is one of the most enigmatic characters in the Bible.  References to him in the Bible are limited:

In Genesis we read:

Jared begat Enoch. . . and Enoch lived sixty-five years and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God ... and begat sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years And Enoch walked with God and he was not: for God took him. (Genesis 5: 18, 21-24)

In the New Testament, Jude tells us that Enoch was the seventh generation from Adam and that he prophesied for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would judge the ungodly. (Jude 1: 14)

In Hebrews we read: By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5)

That is very limited information about this great prophet and head of the dispensation between Adam and Noah. For that, we have to turn to latter-day revelation. The Pearl of Great Price is exactly that - a pearl of great price - for the information it gives us about Enoch.  After giving the generations after Adam, in far more detail. Moses tells us that all the righteous descendants from Adam were preachers of righteousness, and spoke and prophesied, and called upon all men everywhere to repent; and faith was taught unto the children of men. (Moses 6: 23) 

One day, according to this account, Enoch was out among the people when the Spirit of God descended from heaven and Enoch heard a voice saying: Enoch, my son, prophecy unto this people, and say unto them, Repent. God then tells him the sorry state of the human race and intimates that a judgment is coming against them. Later, Enoch saw the Lord and spoke with Him, face-to-face (Moses 7:4) Then, in one of the most chilling verses in scripture, the Lord tells Enoch that He will destroy the residue of the people because they have become wicked to the degree that any spirits sent to earth through them would have no opportunity to be righteous.

Then Enoch was lifted up . . . and the power of Satan was upon all the face of the earth. . . And he beheld Satan; and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced. (Moses 7: 24, 26) And Enoch understood.

Then Enoch noticed God weeping and asked how is it that thou canst weep? (Moses 7: 31) The Lord explained that because He knew the fate of these rebellious ones who were, even so, his own children and the workmanship of [His] own hands. . . Wherefore, for this shall the heavens weep . . . (Moses 7: 32, 40) 

Then Enoch began to weep.  The Lord allowed him to see his great- grandson, Noah, building an ark. And the Lord . . . covenanted with Enoch, and swore unto him with an oath, that he would stay the floods, that he would call upon the children of Noah; And He sent forth an unalterable decree, that a remnant of his (Enoch's)seed should always be found among all nations, while the earth should stand. (Moses 7: 51-52)

This was an unconditional promise to Enoch.  We don't speak of the Enoch covenant, but God made him that promise specific to him. Through Noah, Enoch's seed was saved upon the waters.

Noah's Ark Painting by James Edwin McConnell - Fine Art America

The Covenant on Earth: The Adamic Covenant

 

God fulfilled the first part of His promises by creating the Heavens and the Earth. His stunning final act was creating physical bodies for two of His children, those choice spirits that we know as Adam and Eve. In the beginning, He walked and talked with them in the Garden as He had in their pre-earth lives. He gave them two initial commandments:

1. Multiply and replenish the Earth.
2. Refrain from eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 

It has always interested me that in order to keep the first of these commandments, they had to transgress the second so as to become mortal (they were still immortal at this point, even in Eden.)

It also interests me that Lucifer, as a serpent, was still worming his way into the picture (sorry; I couldn't resist!) Always in the background, Satan was trying to hijack the Father's plan. Fortunately for us, he didn't understand what Aslan* called "the deep magic." He didn't know the mind and will of the Father and the Son. So when he beguiled Eve to partake of the fruit, he thought he was stopping god's purposes.  In fact, he was aiding them.  Our first parents had to transgress a lesser law in order to keep a higher law.  Because mortality is fraught with trials and tribulations, the Father and Son, according to the laws of agency, couldn't just foist it off on two unsuspecting spirits.  He explained to them the consequences of such a transgression so that, ultimately, the choice was theirs.

After the Fall (for that is what is was called) God ceased to daily walk and talk with Adam and Eve in the garden.  As mortals they were cast out of the Garden into a world of trials and tribulations. For Adam, this meant that he would have to work his entire life to provide for his wife and family; for Eve, it meant motherhood, with all its accompanying pains and joy.

Before they were cast from the Garden, God gave them further commandments. 

• First, God cast Satan out before them. He placed enmity between Satan and God's people. Satan could bruise the offspring of God's people, but ultimately one would be born of Adam's lineage who defeat Satan in the end.
• Next, God clothed Adam and Eve in skins.  That is significant on several levels. First, in order to get the skins, death had to come into the world as one or more animals had to die. Also, He clothed them to cover their nakedness.  God would use the same expression when He called Aaron and his sons to the priesthood.  The first items of clothing were breeches of linen to cover their nakedness (See Exodus 28: 42)
• God asked Adam what he would name his wife, and he called her Eve because she was the mother of all living (See Moses 4: 26) God found that name to be appropriate.  I don't know how much Adam and Eve knew about microbiology, genetics, and mitochondria, God certainly knew, for He created them. Mitochondria are microscopic organelles present in every cell that generate the chemical energy for the cell to live and function. ** Without mitochondria, a person could exist, but not live. Genetic researchers of the late Twentieth century were able to trace mitochondrial DNA back to a single female ancestor, whom they named - appropriately - mitochondrial Eve. This DNA is different from cellular DNA.  A man can pass on his genetic code during reproduction, but he cannot pass on his mitochondrial DNA.  Only the woman can do that.  So when Adam called his wife, the mother of all living, he was right on point, whether he understood it or not.
• God also put them under covenant to keep the laws of obedience and sacrifice.  We read:

And Adam and Eve, his wife, called upon the name of the Lord, and they heard the voice of the Lord from the way toward the Garden of Eden, speaking upon them, and they saw his not; for they were shut out from his presence.  And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord.  And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord.  (Moses 5: 4-5)

They were obedient, even though they didn't understand why until an angel visited them with the knowledge that sacrifice was in similitude of the ultimate sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, Jehovah/Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve remained obedient throughout the remainder of their moral lives. (See Moses 5: 6-12)

We are still under the Adamic covenant to obey and to sacrifice, although our sacrifice today is that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

* The Chronicles of Narnia

** www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Mitochondria

Sustain or Dissent

When a leader in the Church of Jesus Christ calls for a sustaining vote, it does not mean that we are "voting on the proposed action." God has already voted. We are just raising our hand to sustain God in this thing.  We may choose to dissent, but that in no way changes God's Plan. Because agency was fully operational in the pre-Earth life, when God the Father presented His plan, we had the opportunity to sustain or dissent. 

The Father was not calling for plans in some sort of Celestial brainstorming session as some people believe.  They talk about Jehovah's plan or Lucifer's plan, but that is a misnomer.  There was simply the Father's Plan and we, as His spirit children were free to choose: we could support His plan with our sustaining affirmation, or we could reject His plan by dissent. Even those spirits who opted to reject the Father's Plan did not change the Plan.  They only removed themselves from the plan.  But is so doing, they not only removed themselves (or so they thought) from the responsibilities implicit in the covenant, but they also removed themselves from the blessings of the covenant.

The Lord taught Abraham that the role of Savior and Redeemer was key to the execution of His plan. He then asked, Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me.  And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first. (Abraham 3: 27-28)

In other scripture we learn that the first was Jehovah, the pre-mortal Jesus Christ.  The second was  Lucifer, the Son of the Morning. (Isaiah 14: 12)

The Lord later taught Moses the same thing and Moses recorded it in more detail:

And I, the Lord God, spoke unto Moses saying: That Satan, whom thou has commanded in the name     of my Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying - Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not    be lost, and surely, I will do it; wherefore give me thy honor.

But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me - Father, they will be done, and the glory be thine forever.  (Moses 4: 1-2) 

The contrast is clear.  Jehovah not only sustained the Father's plan, he also volunteered to execute it, retaining all glory for the Father, whose plan it was.  Lucifer, by presenting his ideas, rejected the Father's plan, sought to usurp both the Father's power and His glory.  Is it any wonder that God chose the first?

Wherefore, because Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord god, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him my own power, by the power of my Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down; And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and blind men, and to lead them captive to his will, even as many as would not hearken to my voice. (Moses 4: 3-4)

Those who sustained the Father and the Son remained in the Heavenly realms until it was time for them to be born into mortality, what God called their Second Estate.  Those who dissented with Satan were cast out of Heaven, never to gain a physical body nor participate in that Second Estate.

John, the Divine, would later write of this moment:

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Revelation 12: 7-9)

And thus the stage was set for the Father to implement His plan through His Chosen Son.

Truths in the Bible

 

There are many examples of doctrine taught in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that, as members, we accept because of latter day revelation, such as in the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, or Doctrine and Covenants - doctrines that some other Christians claim have no Biblical authority.  Yet that Biblical confirmation is there is you know for what you are looking.  

The doctrine of a pre-mortal existence, a grand council in Heaven, God's plan for His children, and the eternality of God's covenant with His children, is one of the doctrines explicit to latter day revelations but somewhat obscure in Biblical source.  One of these somewhat obscure references to our pre-Earth life is found in a single verse in Paul's letter to Titus, who was a bishop in the Early Church. In the very first chapter we read:

    Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's             elect, and the acknowledging of truth which is after godliness; 

    In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised the world before the world         began. (Titus: 1: 1-2)  

A promise is a covenant. This small, often overlooked passage, says to me that the covenant has been in existence since before the world was.

Job, an Old Testament writer, had a testimony of these things and of the joy felt in heaven when the Father announced His plan to His children.   If you will remember, Job's friends had been giving him grief about his faith in the Lord.  They had presented arguments that were unfounded for they knew not the ways of God.  Job took the problem to the Lord and the Lord answered Job out of a whirlwind: Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now your loins like a man; for I will demand of you and answer me.

• Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare if you have understanding.
• Who has laid the measure thereof, if you know? or who has stretched the line upon it?
• Whereupon are the foundations there of fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
• When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?    (Job: 38: 1-7)

Finally, God called the Prophet Jeremiah and said to him:

Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou came forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. (Jeremiah 1:5)

The Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was, and among all these there were many noble and great ones; God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them and he said: These I will make my ruler; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast* chosen before thou wast* born. (Abraham 3: 22-23)

The Pathway of the Covenant

 

It began before the Earth was.  God, the Father, called His children into a Heavenly Council to present to them His plan for their further eternal progression. He outlined His plan, explaining what He would do for His children and His expectations of them.

It would later be called the Abrahamic Covenant, but it predated Abraham.  God taught Abraham:

The Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was, and among all these there were many noble and great ones; God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them and he said: These I will make my ruler; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast* chosen before thou wast* born. (Abraham 3: 22-23)

God's plan included:

• The Creation of a world into which we could be born;
• A mortal body which would then be eligible for eternal progression:
• His guidelines for happiness and growth;
• Our agency so that we could choose for ourselves to obey or to disobey; with consequences for our choices;
• A Savior to redeem us from our unwise choices so that, through repentance, we could one day return to live with Him.

This was His part of the covenant.

God also taught Abraham:

 and he said unto those that were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon they may dwell; And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom as those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever. (Abraham 3: 24-26)

We will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them. That is our part of the covenant: we are to do whatsoever the Lord commands.  

He is the Father of our spirits and we are His children.  On earth, He is our God and we are his people.

* [thou wast = you were]

Its a New Year . . .

 ... and I'm hoping to resurrect this blog. I have become so frail that doing things in my apartment - like writing - is about the only thing I can still do. Even that has become cumbersome.  I love to write, but I hate trying to "market" that writing, even for free.  A bishop told me once that most people are through listening to me before I'm through talking to them.  So be it.

I have one project close to done - a daily devotional for the Book of Mormon study.  I'm also thinking of doing something with the study and history of covenants, since this is The Covenant Keepers. Even writing is becoming problematic as I am now 79 years old and in ill health.

Remember me in your prayers.