followHIM - Doctrine & Covenants 27-28 : Dr. Kerry Muhlestein Part I

Episode Date: March 14, 2021

In the Church’s infancy,  Joseph receives the Vision of Moses as he begins what he calls the “new translation” of the Bible. Join Dr. Kerry Muhlestein, Hank, and John as we learn what happens when Joseph, Emma, Oliver, or others ask questions. We discover how the early Saints learn about the ordinance of the sacrament (do the emblems matter?), the power of the Abrahamic Covenant and how the Lord has much more in store for the entire human family via covenants via Elijah. Learn about our place in the Kingdom of God, why President Nelson constantly mentions the Gathering of Israel, and what great things the Lord has in store for His people.Shownotes: followhim.coInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcast/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcast

Welcome to Follow Him, a weekly podcast dedicated to helping individuals and families with their Come Follow Me study. I'm Hank Smith. And I'm John, by the way. We love to learn. We love to laugh. We want to learn and laugh with you. As together, we follow Him. My friends, welcome to another episode of Follow Him, a podcast designed to help individuals and families with their Come Follow Me studies. I'm here with the greatest co-host on the planet, John, by the way. Welcome, John. I've never been introduced that way. Thanks. You are. Of all the co-hosts I've had on podcasts, John. I'm one of them. You are my favorite podcast host.

I'm very excited to introduce Kerry Muehlstein. And I'm reading this bio and just going, I don't want to do any talking today. I just want to listen. Let me read. And I can't even read the whole thing. There's so much here. But Kerry received his bachelor's degree from byu in psychology with a hebrew minor as an undergraduate he spent time in the byu jerusalem center for near eastern studies in

the intensive hebrew program he received an ma master's of arts in ancient near eastern studies from byu and his phd from ucla in hebrew no egyptology. So Hebrew and Egyptology, where in his final year, he was named UCLA Affiliates Graduate Student of the Year. He's taught courses in Hebrew and religion part-time at BYU and UVSC Extension Center, which is now UVU, as well as in history at Cal Poly Panoma and UCLA. He also taught early morning seminary at the Westwood UCLA Institute of Religion, early morning seminary from an Egyptologist.

Sounds awesome. He's the director of the BYU Egypt Excavation Project. And I thought if that was an acronym, that'd be BEEP, which I think would be a cool acronym. If you go there twice, it's BEEP BEEP. He was selected by the Princeton Review in 2012

as one of the three best 300 professors in the nation. My goodness. He's published six books, over 55 peer-reviewed articles, done over 80 academic presentations. He and his wife, Julianne, are the parents of six children, and together they have lived in Jerusalem. He's the co-chair for the Egyptian Archaeology Session of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Well, thank you. Thanks. It's good to be with you guys. I think we should add to the end of that bio that I took a course on how to pad a bio. So that's the only A I ever got, but I got an A in that class. All right, Kerry, let's jump in. We are going to be in sections 27 and 28 of the Doctrine and Covenants. The date that I see here

in the section heading is August of 1830. Our church is now just four and a half months old. I tease my students when I teach this. I'll say, it was just a little baby church. Picture a little four and a half month old, right? It's just a brand new church. What leads up? Can you tell us what leads up to this revelation? What's life like for Joseph Smith and his friends?

There are, I think, a number of important things that are happening just before this. So as you said, I mean, the Book of Mormon has just come forth. They've just organized the church. They're getting close to, so that organization is at the first conference of the church. That's in April, right? And this comes in August. In September, they're going to have the second conference of the church. So they're getting close to that. And another couple of significant things that have happened that will affect a little bit section 27, but even more section 28, when we get there sometime in June. So, you know, midway between April and, and, uh, when the church is organized and this happens, uh, Joseph Smith has, uh, a revelation that, uh, he calls the visions of Moses.

We now call it Moses chapter one, but that has just come to him. And sometime in between there, we know sometime in between July and the end of September, most likely towards the end of September. And again, this may coincide with the reception of section 28. He gets a second as he's working now on the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible. He calls it the new translation. So that's a project he's starting right as these things are happening. Moses 2 and 3. That also happens. All we know is sometime between July and October for sure, but evidence places it most likely towards the end of August or probably towards the end of September. But that's the setting that's leading up to these things. So he's getting revelations that we put in the Doctrine and Covenants, but he's also getting revelations that we later put in the Book of Moses. For them right now, they're just a whole bunch of revelations coming from all sorts of sources, including working on the translation of the Bible.

So that's some of the background. I'll mention this. One thing that I don't think I understood before looking into it was the role of the Joseph Smith Translation Project of going through the Bible and the restoration. I don't think I understood that early on, but I think it's pretty instrumental for our listeners to understand. This was part of the process of the Lord saying, you're going to go through the Bible, and in going through the Bible, you're going to start asking questions, and those questions are going to enable me to continue to restore the gospel. Is that, would you say I, you can say it better than me. That's absolutely true. Well, I think a lot of the revelations we have in the

Doctrine and Covenants are the result of questions that happen as they do the translation. So this is something you can discuss in your next week's podcast, because for example, it looks like, we can't tell for sure, but it looks like there's a pretty good chance that Moses 2 and 3 are received right at about the same time that section 29 is received. And section 29 is about the fall, 2 and 3 is the creation. And then the next thing he's going to do is the Joseph Smith translation. So, I mean, all of this is interconnected. He's learning about creation and fall in a number of different ways, but all revelation from heaven. So they're absolutely interconnected. Very good. Yeah, I think I would have thought early on, oh, the Joseph Smith translation, I'm getting a correct version of the Bible.

Whereas that was maybe a side issue was, hey, we're going to correct some things that have been lost out of the Bible. But more importantly, we're going to be asking questions that are going to lead to the restoration of certain principles and doctrines. Yeah. Yeah. The Lord, he's going to soon read about Enoch, right? That's right. And he's going to start asking questions about Zion, and that's going to become a huge part of their lives. Yeah. In fact, I think the revelations about Zion and Enoch also coincide. And we're going to see

that this, I think Moses chapter one casts light on section 28. So we'll talk about that when we get to section 28. But I think all of these things interact with each other in ways that we, because we compartmentalize them, we put them in little boxes. That's a DNC box. That's a Book of Moses box. We sometimes don't recognize how well they interacted for as far as the saints just receiving a flow of revelation that restored truth. Yeah. It was when I – I think if I remember, it was when I met Bob Matthews. And I thought, who's Bob Matthews? And then all of a sudden, this Joseph Smith Translation Project took on a new role. John, anything about Joseph Smith Translation before we jump in?

Oh, I'm so glad you mentioned that. I know that Joseph McConkie used to tell us, he said that for Joseph Smith, translating the Book of Mormon was Gospel 101. It's so strong on first principles, faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost. And when he went to the JST, it was graduate school. That's the way Joseph McConkie put it. And I think that's a wonderful thing for people to see. It reminds me of the line in the Spirit of God, like a fire is burning.

The Lord is extending the saints' understanding. And I feel like it's almost like the funny metaphor of trying to drink from a fire hydrant, where it's all coming at once. And now we've had years to go over and pour over these things, but imagine the volume of it coming all at once and trying to, as Kerry said, we're putting it in boxes, but they were getting it all at once. That's a really cool idea, right? The moment they just get one, here comes another one out of the pipeline. In fact, to tie that together with your Book of Mormon thing, sometimes we forget this time. So they translated the Book of Mormon. It took them a little while to get it published. But for the saints receiving it, the Book of Mormon comes in

spring of 1830. Book of Moses starts in summer of 1830, right? It's just the Lord doesn't, he's not giving them a break. He has given them plenty to try and digest. Yeah, we've had decades, you know, decades, centuries to look at these things while they're getting them hot off the press, literally off the press. Anything else before we get into section 27, Kerry, that you'd say, hey, you need to understand this as background? Yeah, and I think some of this you can get – I even brought my picture to see, but some of this you can get from the Come Follow Me manual. So at the time, Joseph and Emma, just before Section 27 is received, they've visited the Knight family. The Knight family were some of his earliest supporters. They were in New York. They were involved with the translation of the Book of

Mormon as a support and so on. So just before this, Emma and Sally Knight, that's Newell Knight's wife, had been baptized, and they were going to confirm them and give them the gift of the Holy Ghost when there were some threats from mobs and they kind of had to stop and break up at that point. So they weren't confirmed for a period of time. So now Joseph and Emma are in harmony and the knights are going to visit them and they decide, let's confirm Emma and Sally. Let's give them a gift of the Holy Ghost and get this done. And so they're going to do that at a meeting. It's kind of like we did recently. They're going to have a sacrament meeting in their home, but they want some wine to do that. And so Joseph is on his way to get that wine. And it's as he's doing that, that this revelation comes to him.

A messenger, he says, a heavenly messenger meets him and delivers this information. It's almost, I hate to say this, but it's almost old hat to say this now. Joseph Smith talked to a heavenly messenger, right? Like at this point. I was on my way to the forum and to get some wine and an angel came, right? So that's just how it goes. Nothing to do with the office. It's just Joseph's life. Just Joseph's life, interacting with divine beings. You know, I think that it's significant too that I like to tell my students, and almost all of the sections of the Doctrine and Covenants came as a result of a question. There are some exceptions, John Taylor announcing the martyrdom, and this one, I think, because it

wasn't, it was just, I'm going to get some wine, and he's interrupted in that process, which makes this kind of unique, would you say? Yeah, oh yeah. Well, let's jump into the section itself and maybe give us a big picture. What is the message to Joseph and the church, and why is this important for us to have today? So I think there are a couple of different messages. They're intertwined, but we'll miss some of them if we don't look carefully for them. So, I mean, the first message is really about the symbolism of the sacrament and that it doesn't always have to be the exact same thing that will convey that symbolism, right? So he's on his way

to get wine. And if we look at verse two, well, verse one is worthwhile. We've had this a couple of times. We've got it in this verse. We're going to get a whole string of sections in the Doctrine and Covenants where the first verse is always Christ introducing himself and telling us something about his nature or who he is, right? So in this one, he says, he's your Lord, your God, and your Redeemer, whose word is quick and powerful. So all of those are things that tell you something about who he is. And he just does that in section after section to make sure we know who he really is.

And I think that's worth looking at. That word quick, if one of my children said, what does he mean that his word is quick? Is that the same quick as you see in both the quick and the dead, that idea? For many people think of that way. I mean, he doesn't give us a definition, right? So typically, scripturally, when we talk about quick or being quickened, it means life, right? It means that you've got some kind of a power and life to it. And so there's probably something to that here, but it may also be because often this quick and powerful word is associated with the sword that cuts through things. And there

may be something to the fact, you know, I think that word can play a double purpose here because it is a live power, but it also is something that, you know, a sword that's going to cut through joint and marrow, that's the kind of thing that's associated with his word frequently. That's moving quickly, right? So I would guess that there's more than one meaning intended here. And that's a Book of Mormon idea, right? Mormon loved that idea of the word is like a sword. Yeah.

It will pierce you to the soul. But the next verse is when he's really going to move into talking about the sacrament. And I love this phrase. We actually get this phrase a number of times in the Doctrine and Covenants as well, where he says, it mattereth not. And then sometimes it's mattereth not to me whether you go by land or by sea or whatever else. It just gives you this idea that some things matter and some things don't matter, right? So for him, it doesn't matter exactly what we're going to drink if it so be that you do it with an eye single to my glory, remembering unto the Father my body which was laid down for you and my blood which was shed for the remission of your sins. So those – here we have Christ telling us what the key elements of the sacrament are, that we have to do it in remembrance of what he's done for us and with an eye single to the glory of God.

Whether it is wheat bread or like we've just started using gluten-free bread in my ward, whether it's wine or grape juice or water is not the issue. Now, there's symbolism actually in all of those things, and it's worth looking into the symbolism. I love the symbolism of the water, and I love the symbolism of wine. They're both great. I don't want us to stop taking the symbols seriously because there's a power in symbolism and I think we don't address that enough. The actual thing we're taking, he's telling us, is less important than our intent as we take it. And I think that's one of the key elements of this revelation. I like that. I like that a lot because it helps me in my own home to try to say, okay, what's the most crucial point here?

Some things are important. Some things are crucial. To me, that's, yes, the symbols are important, but why we do it is crucial. I've read in war-torn Europe, World War II, there was no bread to be found. So they had to use potato peelings. Yeah. And I think the Lord would say, it mattereth not, right? That's right.

It mattereth not. It's okay. It's okay. I think I've, you know, to some soldiers, all they could find was a candy bar. And my kids would love that if it was candy bar. And if I remember correctly, sometimes they use shell casings to put the water in to partake of the sacrament, right? That's okay. Whatever works.

Right. I love it. I mean, the actual items themselves are important, but they're not the most important. I really like that. Yeah. I'm intrigued with things that the Lord has us repeat. And the sacrament is a weekly thing. And the word remembering, I just had to remember in there, and I love quoting this. I think it'll change the way my you look in the dictionary for the most important word, do you know what it is? He said it could be remember, because all of us have made covenants to remember.

And we think of Nephi saying, how could you have forgotten three times in a row to his brothers? We think of Helaman saying, oh, remember, remember. And how quickly that pride cycle goes up and down. And here's a weekly remembrance, and keep your eyes single to the Savior, what's important. And there's a hierarchy, like you said, yes, the symbols are beautiful, and we can draw meaning from them, but it's all about remembering Christ. Yeah, and I think as you say that, you hit on a really key element we often don't recognize that helps us see a theme that I think often is under-recognized in this chapter. And it's kind of fun that you talked about how often the Book of Mormon says remembering, because I have not quantified this for sure, so one day maybe I'll sit down and count and say, but I tell my students, at least my impression is, if you're just going to talk about the themes in the Book of Mormon that are talked about most often, it would be number one, Christ and his atoning sacrifice. It would be number two, promises made to the house of Israel, and three, remembering.

But two and three are actually intertwined because one of the covenantal obligations for Israel is to remember what God has done for them. And I find that really interesting because here we're talking about the sacrament, which is when we renew the covenant, right? And that's interesting because Emma and Sally are about to renew the baptismal covenant so they can do the confirmation, but we're renewing the covenant. So this is the covenant, and this is another thing that I find members of the church are sometimes a little confused on. We talk about the new and everlasting covenant, and this is another thing that I find members of the church are sometimes a little confused on. We talk about the new and everlasting covenant, the Abrahamic covenant, our baptismal covenant, and we don't know how they relate. They're all the same thing, right? So new and

everlasting covenant and Abrahamic covenant are two different names for the same thing. I mean, Abrahamic covenant has some connotations of a specific time and place that the new and everlasting covenant is renewed and so on. And baptism is the way we enter into that, right? So it's not a surprise that right after we get him talking about renewing this covenant and remembering, and then he goes on to tell them that you shouldn't purchase wine from your enemies, right? So we have him still addressing this specific thing. And that's always a good idea. Don't get drinks from your enemies. All right.

I'm just going to throw that out as general advice. And then he says that at some point he will come and partake of this with them. I think that's what he means when he says he'll drink of the fruit of the vine. And then he goes through this list of people who he will do that with. So he will go through this covenant renewal ceremony with, and he starts with Moroni and tying it in with the Book of Mormon, but immediately he says the stick of Ephraim. So immediately he's tying that in with Israel. And then he's going to talk about Elias. Now, Elias here is a title that's getting used for a number of people. So this is the part that can also be confusing to people. Elias is the Greek version of the name Elijah. So sometimes Elias means Elijah, but often it's a title for a forerunner, which Elijah is a forerunner, but so is John, so is Gabriel, actually so Zacharias, and they're all going to be mentioned here, right? So he talks about the forerunner for

John, which is Gabriel, who comes, he's going to talk about John being a forerunner. And then John, of course, is the one who was sent to Oliver, Calvary, and Joseph Smith to give them the priesthood, you know, the baptismal covenant when they partake of the sacrament, that ability was given to them by John the Baptist, right? And then he immediately takes that into Elijah, and Elijah is an Elias who will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. Now, this is an important thing to stop and think about as well, because we typically, as members of the church, think of that as temple work, right? Or family history work, turning the hearts of the children to the fathers and the fathers to the children. And it is that, but I think that we're getting a smaller

piece of the puzzle if that's all we think of. So I think, and maybe, you know, right now, President Nelson has told us to look at the blessings promised to Israel and study that. And I've just written a book on that. And so, and people are asking about that a lot right now because they're trying to figure this out. So maybe I'm just like super covenant focused right now and I'm seeing it everywhere. And you'll have to tell me if I'm seeing it where it's not, but. I think being super covenant focused is probably a good thing. I'm just going to throw that out there as a good, a general piece of advice.

Like you said, don't, we have two now, don't buy drinks from your enemies. And super covenant focused is okay. All right. So we'll keep a list of good general advice. Yeah, good general advice. So this is talking about Elijah, but it's talking about Malachi's prophecy to Elijah, right? And if you were to go back to Malachi's original audience, the Israelites, and you say the fathers, turn your heart to the fathers, the fathers they think of are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which by're really doing is you're talking about the covenant God made with them.

And that would have been clear to the original audience, Malachi's original audience, the Israelites. I think when Christ comes and quotes Malachi to the Nephites, who are Israelites and are very conscious of being Israelites, that it's clear to them. In our day, we're not quite as covenant conscious. Well, President Nelson's getting us there, but we haven't always been quite as covenant consciousness. And especially in Joseph Smith's day, that idea of a covenant had really been lost. And so it's interesting that when Moroni quotes this to Joseph Smith, he quotes it differently than it is in the Book of Mormon or in the Bible. And he says, he will turn your hearts to the promises made to the fathers.

Now, that's very clearly about the covenant in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And it seems to me that he's just, I mean, I don't know, but I would guess he's changing it a little bit because his current audience needs that change to know what they're talking about. The earlier audiences got it, needed a little help at that point. And again, in case we're missing it, when we read verse 9, where it says, Elijah, unto whom I have committed the keys of the power of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers, that the whole earth may not be smitten with the curse. In case we're going to miss that, he immediately goes to verse 10,

and also with Joseph and Jacob and Isaac and Abraham, your fathers, by whom the promises remain. You cannot get more clear than this, I think. He is telling them, you are part of the Abrahamic covenant. This is essential for you, and it's tied to the sacrament in this section. That's the covenant you entered into a baptism. So when you're taking the sacrament and renewing it, it's the same covenant. And so he's just walked them through how at some point he will renew that covenant with all of these key covenant players, including verse 11. Also with Michael or Adam, the father of all the prince of all the ancient days, which is is, again, crucial because when Abraham receives the covenant in Abraham chapter one, he's very, very specific that what he's looking for is the same covenant that Adam, the first of all, had. Right.

And so Christ is making that same connection here. This is a crucial point that we call it the Abrahamic covenant, but really it was started all the way back to Adam. And like you said, it's all the way through till today. It might come by different names, but it's the same idea of I'll make you certain promises, right? If you will live up to these certain obligations that you've been given. And I think one of the kind of fun things about the book of Abraham is when it begins, Abraham is saying, I sought for the blessings of the fathers and you're like wait a minute you're one of the fathers you're the fathers you're abraham isaac

and jacob and so i think you're right it's uh god made the same covenant with with michael with enoch adam with enoch and others and so uh we've called it the abrahamic covenant um because he he kept it so well model it so so well. Maybe it's similar to why we call the Melchizedek priesthood after Melchizedek, because he was such a great high priest. And we call this the Abrahamic covenant because he wanted the same thing that his fathers had received. Is that a fair way to put it, Kerry? Yeah, I think so. I think there's another element as well, but I think that's absolutely correct. That's one of the reasons. But additionally, there is a change that comes with Abraham, and that is that after Abraham, anyone who will become

part of the covenant will be Abraham's seed, right? And so I think that's also part of the reason why we'll refer to it as the Abrahamic covenant, because that's now the next source. We'll also talk about it as, and this is what President Nelson did in General Conference, as the blessings promised to Israel, because additionally, anyone who becomes part of this covenant will become part of the house of Israel. So the names Abraham and Israel get continually associated with this covenant from here on out, because that's the family that you will now belong to. And I think this is important to understand that salvation is a family affair. God is saving families. And so what he's done

is he's tasked a family with getting everyone else to become part of the covenant or become part of that family. And this ties into what I was talking about with turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers. And we think of that as family history. Well, it is, but we need to think of it as not just a great-grandma Joanne, who we should think of, but also great-great-great-grandma Rachel and Rebecca and Sarah and Asenov and so on, right? We need to think of this as a huge family history that ties us back to Abraham and then to Adam. And the idea is that God wants us all to become part of this family so that we're connected. The covenant connects us vertically to God, but it connects us horizontally to each other in a family.

I think that's fantastic. We talk about the human family, but he's wanting us to become on another level, the human family, to be sealed together through that covenant to each other and to him, which is beautiful. And again, I think as people, I mean, this has become such a big thing right now where people are trying to understand the blessings promised to the house of Israel. And sometimes they're struggling to find those blessings. Well, when you recognize what's going on here, you see this whole section actually is about blessings promised to Israel. And one of them is you can renew your covenant by partaking of the sacrament and you'd be connected to everyone, right? So this section is absolutely about blessings promised to Israel. Yeah, this is fantastic stuff. And when I explain this to my students, you'll see the

light bulb go on. Oh, I didn't know that. Oh, those are connected. Those stories are connected. For example, we use the name Israel, but a lot of people wouldn't know where that comes from. So let's do a little Gospel 101 here, Kerry. Where does the name Israel even come from? You use them interchangeably, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then you talk about the Israelites or Israel. Where does that come from? And that's a great question. Again, the same talk President Nelson kind of highlighted that, right? That when Jacob wrestles, and man, we could go on.

I could get into this wrestling with the angel story for an hour. I think it's so fantastic. When Jacob is there, but he's coming back into the land of Canaan because God asked him to, and he is afraid his brother is going to kill him and his entire family. So much so that he's sending gifts to his brother. He's divided his family in half so that if maybe half of them get killed, half can survive. I mean, it's a real concern for him that his brother might kill them all. But he's going anyway, not because he wants to, not because he's hoping his family will get killed, but because God asked him to. So he's making an Abrahamic sacrifice, right? He's willing to sacrifice his entire family if that's what God is asking him to do. But then he prays. Once he's

done everything he can think of doing, he prays and he asks God, save me and save my family. And that's when he starts to wrestle with an angel. And again, that's that symbolism, right? And the text seems to make it clear it's a real wrestle because his thigh gets thrown out of joint. But it's also a spiritual wrestle, right? And because he wrestles and the angel tries to leave and he will not let go, he's hanging on. He is not going to let go until he gets the blessing he wants. Then God says, as a prince, you have prevailed.

And so I'll change your name to Israel, which you can translate that a couple of ways. One is that he has prevailed with God. So that sar, part of that is wrestler, prevail, persevere. And the el is God, right? So he will prevail with God is one way of translating it. And another is that God will prevail, right? And I think both are intended. I think it's a name that's intentionally just vague enough to mean both.

And so that's part of what President Nelson has been talking about, that God will prevail, right? Or let God prevail and so on. And frankly, it's why the book I just wrote on the Abrahamic covenant I called God will prevail because this idea is that when you make this covenant with God, you are allowing him to prevail in your life. And as a result, he will cause you to prevail. And that's what Jacob's name is changed to. And so inherent with the name change, which denotes a change in nature, he's a higher, holier being and so on, is the idea that he's leveling up in the covenant. If we're going toel, but here at Peniel, he levels up further into the covenant, kind of like we do when we enter into baptism, but we level up as we go to the temple, level up in temple marriage. He's demonstrated that God fully and completely prevails in his

life. And as a result, God is promising him, now you're going to prevail. And that is available to us because we make the same covenant and we renew the same covenant in the way that it's being talked about here in section 27. Oh, I love that. That's excellent. And oftentimes, you know, someone might say, why did the Lord change Jacob's name to Israel? And I'll say it happens in our life all the time. The Lord gives us a new covenant and he changes our name. When we were baptized, we took upon us the name of Christ.

When you go to the temple, you get a new name. And I've had students say, is that the name I was known by in the premortal life? And I'll say, no, not at all. That's the name that it's a symbol. Just like you said, it's a symbol because you're a new person, right? You're a new person. I hate to burst their bubble, but you're a new person. It's a symbol that you're brand new. You know, Kerry, I've noticed in the Book of Mormon, the parts that talk about the Abrahamic covenant are the ones that everybody skips. Second Nephi, right? With all the Isaiah chapters, people are like, well, I don't really understand that. I'll just keep going. Then they get to Jacob five.

Those are like completely about the Abrahamic covenant, but anyway, you're absolutely right. Yeah. Yeah. Then you get to Jacob five and you're going, I don't, that's a lot of pruning. There's a lot of dunging going on. I don't know what's happening. I'll skip that. And I don't like dunging anyway on. I don't know what's happening. I'll skip that. And I don't like dunking anyway. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Move on. And then you've got the Savior's second day with the Nephites, which whenever I ask my students about the Savior's visit, they talk about him putting, you know, letting them come up and

touch his hands, his feet. He blesses the children, which are all incredible events, but they never talk about the second visit the next day, which is all house of Israel. So you could, if you read the Book of Mormon and skip 2 Nephi, Jacob 5, and the Savior's second day at the Nephites, you're going to miss what we're talking about here. Yeah. You're going to miss the whole thing. That's exactly right. And I'll say it's dangerous to get me going on this topic

because I'll go for forever. Keep going. But I do see an interesting parallel. So I've actually, I have gone through and counted how many times something about the covenant is mentioned in the Book of Mormon and which prophets are doing it the most. So you get covenant mentioned a ton, as you said, first Nephi, second Nephi, and Jacob, those are the places you find it the most. Then it really kind of starts to drop off. It's still pretty good in Enos and Jerem, but it really drops off. So by the time you get

to Helaman, it's barely mentioned at all. And the first part of 3 Nephi is barely mentioned. Where it comes back is 3 Nephi 10 with the voice of the Savior. And then like you say, chapters 15 through 20 are all Abrahamic covenant, 29 and 30 are all Abrahamic covenant. I mean, it's a ton. It really feels like that Christ issues a little bit of a corrective to them and says, you haven't been thinking of the covenant as much, so I'm going to talk about it. And again, Christ talks about the covenant more than any other theme when he's with the Nephites, by far. It dwarfs every other theme. It always makes me laugh in 3 Nephi, on the Savior's first day, he starts to quote Isaiah to them. And then he says,

I notice you're getting a little sleepy. Why don't you go home and we'll talk about this tomorrow? And we do the same thing in our classes, right? I know. I was going to say, those of you who are listening to this going, I'm kind of lost. I don't understand it. Don't worry. Don't worry. It happens to everyone, including record right in the Book of Mormon from Jesus himself. So keep going, Kerry. I almost feel like, and this is just my opinion. This isn't doctrine or anything, but I almost feel like we're seeing the same thing in modern church history.

At the beginning of this dispensation, Joseph Smith, Parley P. Pratt, John Taylor, these guys are talking about Brigham Young. They're talking about the covenant a ton. And they're tying us in with Abraham, with Isaac and Jacob all over the place. And it's really strong at the beginning. And then it slowly kind of starts to go down. And President Nelson is bringing us right back up. Just like that same curve we saw in the Book of Mormon, President Nelson is serious about us understanding the Abrahamic covenant and what it has to do with our lives. And he tells us this is the greatest cause on the earth today.

And he says that two or three times, right? And yet I'm finding that a lot of saints, they catch the enthusiasm he has for it, but they're not quite sure what to do about it. So that's kind of become one of my little missions of late is to, like I've created websites with this, written a book, written articles. I'm just trying to help people understand what President Nelson is doing with all of this. When I teach Book of Mormon, I love to just joke about, hey, if you're going to write a book or give a talk, here's a formula, tell them what you're going to tell them and then tell them and then tell them what you've told them. And I'll put the title page of the Book of Mormon next to the last page. And on the title page, it says, which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel, the great things the Lord has done for their fathers,

that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they're not cast off forever. And then convincing Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ. And the last line, ye may be found spotless at his judgment seat. And then I show him the last page. And in verse, the Book of Mormon ends with Moroni 1034, Moroni 1031, that the covenants of the eternal father, which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled. And then come unto Christ, be perfected in him. And then end of verse 33, that ye may become holy without spot. Christ, covenants, and you can become spotless through the atonement. Title page, last page, and every page in between. I think it was Elder Bednar that said the central recurring theme of the Book of Mormon

is the invitation to come unto Christ. But covenants are in there constantly. And I tell them the same thing with Isaiah. Watch the Isaiah chapters. Watch unto Christ. But covenants are in there constantly. And I tell them the same thing with Isaiah. Watch the Isaiah chapters. Watch for Christ. Watch for covenants. Yeah. And Moroni actually twice equates the covenant with Israel with the glory of God. And then we have in Moses where he says his work and his glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Well, the covenant is where we're promised eternal life, right? I mean, it's all intertwined here, but sometimes we miss a part of it. So it's fun stuff.

It is. And I didn't think we'd be talking Book of Mormon, but that's fun because I think that, can I say this? In the modern day, we talk more about I'm a child of God. And I like to say we are, and so is everybody, but we have another level of understanding. We are also Abraham's seed. And what does that mean? And that's when we can talk about the covenant and the last part, that all the families of the world can be blessed. I mean, I just love that part, as you've talked about so beautifully, Kerry.

That's what it's about. We're going to unite this family and bless all of the families of the world because of the Abrahamic covenant. Right. And I think one part that is missed on us is that we don't understand the, quote, gathering of Israel because we probably don't understand the scattering of Israel. And if you go back, if you do a little bit of your history and you look at what happened when Israel decided they wanted a King, right? They come into the promised land with Joshua centuries later, they want a King. And, uh, Samuel says, this is a bad idea, but they go for it anyway. And they choose Saul, David, and Solomon.

It just kind of, you know, I told you it was a bad idea. There's a lot of, I told you so's along the way. And then it divides into two separate kingdoms. You have the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom is called Israel. The Southern Kingdom is called Judah. And they eventually both are taken. And what we don't recognize is that Lehi, Nephi, Jacob, they're all part of the scattering

of Israel. That's why they talk about the gathering so much. They love Isaiah because he talked about the future gathering. I got to read, I got to, I do this with my, with my students. This is from Elder, Elder Bednar from Enzyme, from the general conference of 2005. He said, I give them this part of the quote and see if they can finish it. We were foreordained in the premortal existence and born into mortality too. And I'll stop it right there. Why were we born? And the typical answer is to get a body, right? To get a body and to be tested. And that's not what he says. I'll show them the end. We were foreordained in the premortal existence and born

into mortality to fulfill the covenant and promise God made to Abraham. I have two nine-year-old twin boys. It'd be funny if their primary teacher said, why did we come to earth? And they say, to fulfill the covenant and promise God made to Abraham. Because we've forgotten it, Kerry. You're exactly right. We've forgotten it. And some of us have missed it in the Book of Mormon entirely that we're not just here to do that. We are here to bring to pass the promised gathering made by Isaiah, right? And I want to ask you, Kerry, about this verse, and we've already read it, but, and please fill in any thoughts that you just had come to you. Section 27, verse 9, about Malachi, the prophecy of Malachi about Elijah. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is probably one of

the most, if not the most quoted verse. It's in all of our standard works. It keeps coming up over and over again. And yet when I see it, I don't know if I quite understand it. Moroni quoted it as Joseph Smith. Jesus quotes it to the Nephites. This verse isn't going away. This is the second time it's in the Doctrine and Covenants. Right. So how would you understand it? And then one other thing is why does he list of all the tribes, but why does he list, he lists Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but you also see Joseph there. Yeah. One of the 12 tribes. And I'll ask my students, I'll say, who saved the family from the famine? And they all know it was Joseph. And I'll say, who's going to save them from the spiritual famine?

And again, I think the Lord has called on the tribe of Joseph or his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh to save the children. All right, I'm going to turn it over to you. What else, what are you thinking? So there are some really important elements in there. So let's, first of all, we'll do the first part of the question, then the second. So with the promise, and note how he says the keys of the power of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children. These are keys that were bestowed. And we know in the Kirtland Temple that Elijah and Moses come to restore keys. And they're both associated with the covenant and the gathering of Israel. Both of their keys are. We usually think of it as just sealing keys to perform temple marriage,

but it's more than that. Again, temple marriage is specifically about sealing us together as a family with Abraham. It's entering or leveling up more in the Abrahamic covenant, right? So this idea is really, I mean, so let's take the way Moroni quoted it to Joseph Smith. It is that our hearts are turned to the promises made to the Father. We have to become more covenant conscious. Family history is absolutely part of that. And doing temple work is absolutely part of that. Crucial parts, let's not forget that.

I'm not dissing that, right? But we lose some of the power in doing it if we don't recognize that it's part of this great overarching covenant that God wants us to turn our hearts to. So that again, I hope people read Genesis and Exodus as family history every bit as much as they read their grandma's journal, right? I hope we think of Sarah as much as we think of our pioneer ancestors or ancestors that joined the church in Zimbabwe or wherever else, right? I hope that we understand that what we're trying to do is have our family be part of this covenant and participate in the blessings promised to Israel. That's what I think those keys are about. And then it's interesting that you mentioned Joseph. Joseph

is mentioned in there along with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, right? He's that next line in. And then as you said, the next line down is Ephraim and Manasseh. So what happens is, and if we're going to talk about this, I think we need to have a little bit of a larger discussion and make sure we understand it correctly because the world doesn't want us to understand this correctly. And it's been trying to get us to misunderstand this. All right. Joseph receives the birthright blessing. Now, Judah kind of does too. That's another story, but Judah kind of does too. And he's going to have kings come through him, most especially Christ, right? So let's not ignore that. That's a pretty important thing, right?

But Joseph receives the birthright blessing. That's a pretty important thing, right? But Joseph receives the birthright blessing. And when we hear birthright, we think power, privilege, prestige, right? It's a call to leadership. It's for sure a call to leadership. But when we hear leadership, same thing, the world has conditioned us to think power and prestige, right? It's conditioned us so much that Joseph Smith later, so you'll do this in a podcast at the end of the year, where it says, as soon as you get a little authority, you use it for your vain ambition, right? Unrighteous dominion. That's exactly right. That is not what authority or that's not what leadership is about.

Leadership is a call to service. So Christ explains this well when he talks to James and John who come to him and they say, let us sit on your right and your left hand. And he says to them, and I think this is an exact quote, he says, you guys don't get it. You're not getting this. That's an exact quote. Yeah, that's the exact quote. That's in my version. It was lost in translation.

The King James translators put it a different way. But I think it originally said in English, you don't get it. And then he says, the princes of the Gentiles want to exercise authority over them, but that's not how it should be with you. Whoever would be greatest should be least. Whoever's going to be, I can't remember now exactly, but you have to be the servant of all is what he says. That's what, according to Christ, leadership really is. It's not authority or prestige. It's you serve. You're the lowest, you're the least, you serve everyone else. So when Joseph is given a call to leadership, it's not to say you're better than everyone else. And when he's given blessings of great

posterity and all sorts of other things, it's not so he can be more cool. It's so that he has enough people to do what he's being asked to do. And what he's being asked to do is to gather all of Israel. And then as Israel is gathered, they need to gather all the world. And that's part of the benefit. They're scattered because they're wicked and they need to be humbled. But the side benefit, and I think it's an intended side benefit, is that once you're scattered to all the world, when you're gathered, you can bring the whole world with you. And that's exactly what they're supposed to do. And Ephraim and Manasseh as well. And Ephraim will be the lead of those two, but they both received this charge and this blessing. And President Nelson's been specific. They both have

this charge to lead out in gathering Israel. And if you compare their blessings, they're given the same blessings and Ephraim is told he'll be given more of it, but the more seems to be like literally more people, more descendants numerically so that you can do what I'm asking you to do. And that's what the birthright always was. The birthright child was given a lot of things he was supposed to do to take care of the family. So he's also given an extra inheritance or portion of the inheritance so that he was given the tools to do what he needed to do. And so that's exactly what this birthright or leadership call is for Joseph and his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, is that they are given a task and God is giving them enough people and ability to go out and do that task. And that task is get the whole world to be part of this family, get them all sealed to

me and to each other so that we can be exalted together and have the kind of relationship that we should have with each other. And God promised Abraham he would do that. And he's using the latter day, Ephraim and Manasseh and others, those who can be adopted in, to go out and be the net. I like what you said there. The scattering is like a big net. I'm going to throw you all over. So when I gather you, grab on to people because I'm going to bring you home. And I think it's Nephi who says they carry them on their shoulders, right?

They carry them in their arms as if they're these service-oriented people. Same in the Gospel of John, the Savior washes their feet. This is how we lead in this church, in my kingdom. I like to tell my students, being chosen doesn't mean to sit on a throne and be admired. It's more like being chosen to mow the lawn. And then we talk about to bear the ministry is one of the phrases in the Abrahamic covenant. So it's obviously a blessing because we have the blessings of the priesthood and the gift of the Holy Ghost and everything that comes with it, but it's a burden as well. And so they're calling it now a lot of times, President Nelson, the work of salvation. And anytime you do anything that

helps anyone to come closer to Christ, make a covenant with him in the temple, you're helping to gather Israel. You're doing the greatest work in the world. So I'm excited to, I want to get your book, Kerry. I want to read it. I hope you do. And it may put you to sleep, but I hope not. John, I'm just going to have to say this, that I was reading up on my timeline of world history,

and August of 1830, which is when we're receiving this exact section of the Doctrine and Covenants, is when the lawnmower was patented by Edwin Beard Budding the exact same time. So I think you're inspired to talk about Chosen to Mow the La're inspired to talk about chosen to mow the lawn. You're being chosen to mow the lawn. Kerry, let's get back into the section. We did do a little tangent there off into the house of Israel, but I think it was an important tangent for people to understand. Actually the central part of the section, but yeah. Yeah. You just can't, the Lord's just not saying, hey, we're going to have a big sacrament meeting

and look who's going to be there. It's going to be star studded. Right. He names these people on purpose because this is the covenant of Abraham. And it goes with the next verse as well. Right. Peter, James and John, who are apostles. But again, those are people who restore the keys of the covenant. So anyway, sorry, keep going.

No, I think you're I think you're right on here. This this meeting when you when we said in twenty seven5, when the Lord said, I will drink of the fruit of the vine with you. I thought of my New Testament, Luke 22. This ties in beautifully when the Savior's with his last evening with the apostles. This is Luke 22.18. For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. To me, that's a big verse because the kingdom of God, here we are, the doctrine covenants until the kingdom of God shall come. To me, that's a big verse because the kingdom of God, here we are, the doctrine covenants, the kingdom of God is coming. Yeah. And I think it's a clear illusion. I think when Christ says this in verse five of section

27, he is absolutely alluding to what he told his apostles and he wants us to make that connection. In Luke 22. Yeah. Yeah. I think sometimes I've taught my students, oh, isn't this great? All the sacrifices that were offered pointed to those events of the atonement. And now the sacrament points backwards to those events of the atonement. But now I'm seeing, as I'm reading these, there's also a future sacrament reading that it is pointing to. And I like verse 14. And also with all those whom my father has given me out of the world that, yeah, those people are going to be here. But it sounds like we are too, or maybe have that opportunity that all of us will be there.

Speaking of blessing all of the families of the world. And there's a future sacrament meeting. Let's have Carrie answer that. But John, I really like that. That idea of the sacrament isn't now just about looking backwards to the atonement. It's looking forward to the second coming of the Lord. Here he comes. I think that's a crucial point. That could really change your sacrament experience. Not just looking backwards, but also looking forward to the Lord's coming and having the sacrament again. All right, Kerry, over to you.

Oh, no, that's right. And to the full fulfillment of the covenant, right? Because again, we're renewing the Abrahamic or all of our covenants at the sacrament, and the full culmination of that is exaltation. But this is an important step along the way when we do this with Christ, right? All those whom my father hath given me out of the world, which again, I think is a clear allusion to both John 17 and John 6, where he talks about those whom the father has given him, right? So this section alludes to scriptures all over the place, including the next part, right?

The next part is all in Ephesians 6 allusion. Before we go there, just wanted to mention that the manual has you go to D&C 110. And I thought, yeah, because a lot of these wonderful individuals who have been mentioned showed up personally at the Kirtland Temple to restore keys. And so I thought, hey, I'm looking at the list here. This list sounds familiar. Well, I think this is the prophecy that those keys will come and be restored, right? It's going to be a few years, about six years, but still, they're working towards that. If anybody listening is able to go on a church history tour, hopefully they'll start those up again and open the sites. Make sure you see the painting just inside the door at the Kirtland Visitor Center area.

There's a line of angels coming down one at a time, and Joseph and Oliver there behind the pulpits of the Kirtland Temple. It's beautiful. That's a Walter Rain, right? I don't know if it's a Walter Rain. I wouldn't be surprised. It's beautiful. But it's just when I saw it and I think of 110, I think of that line, the visions and blessings of old are returning and angels are coming to visit the earth. And the look on Joseph's face in that painting, you've got to see it right inside the Kirtland Visitor Center.

That always reminds me of this, sorry. Oftentimes I feel like, you know how you watch a fitness video and there's two really good ones and then there's a modified version. I feel like the modified version sometimes in this podcast because I had never realized that each one of these people

that are listed in this section were part of the restoration. And if you I probably had never realized it just because of the inclusion of Joseph, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham. But now Carrie's taught us this is part of the restoration is the covenant. Then you've got Adam, Peter, James and John, Elijah, John, Elias, right? This is a restoration. We're going to bring everybody back at once and have a big sacrament meeting. You know what? It's elegant and it makes sense. It's symmetrical. I mean, to me, it wasn't just the first vision. That was the beginning of this delegation of all these others with keys, which just makes me go,

I love the symmetry. I love the elegance of that, to use a couple of lofty words. And even in the first vision, in one of the accounts of the first vision, Christ says that the reason he's appearing is because they've broken his everlasting covenant. And then in one of the versions of Moroni's visit, he says that he's there to restore the everlasting covenant. And it's all aiming, I mean, in many ways, the first vision, the Book of Mormon, the building of the temple are aimed at being able to have this covenant fully restored. And that's what all the people here are associated with covenant and keys, all the people listed in here, right? Here they are in Northern Pennsylvania, and Joseph has no idea.

I don't think, maybe, maybe he has some idea at this point that this meeting is going to take place, at least to my knowledge, at a place he's actually going to set foot out in the middle of Missouri. I wonder in his mind if he's going, I wonder where this meeting is going to take place. And the Lord's going, well, funny you should ask about that because we're going to take a long trip. Right. I'll tell you later, but it's going to take a while. Yeah. It's going to be a few years before all of this pans out. And I've noticed that in all of these opening sections, Cary, is that Lord kind of drops little hints here and there of things that are going to come later.

He's always preparing. He's always just getting you ready for the next thing and then ready for the next thing and ready for the next thing, right? Please join us for part two of this podcast.