The following comes from Russell M. Nelson, "The Everlasting Covenant," Liahona (October 2022):
A Special
Love and Mercy
Once
we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not
abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him. In
fact, all those who have made a covenant with God have access to a special kind
of love and mercy. In the Hebrew language, that covenantal love is called hesed (חֶסֶד). (A
comprehensive discussion regarding hesed and the everlasting covenant is found in Kerry
Muhlestein, God Will Prevail: Ancient
Covenants, Modern Blessings, and the Gathering of Israel (2021).)
Hesed has
no adequate English equivalent. Translators of the King James Version of the
Bible must have struggled with how to render hesed in
English. They often chose “lovingkindness.” This captures much but not all the
meaning of hesed. Other translations were also
rendered, such as “mercy” and “goodness.” Hesed is a
unique term describing a covenant relationship in which both parties are bound
to be loyal and faithful to each other.
A
celestial marriage is such a covenant relationship. A husband and wife make a
covenant with God and with each other to be loyal and faithful to each other.
Hesed is
a special kind of love and mercy that God feels for and extends to those who
have made a covenant with Him. And we reciprocate with hesed for Him.
Because God has hesed for those who have covenanted with Him, He
will love them. He will continue to work with them and offer them opportunities
to change. He will forgive them when they repent. And should they stray, He
will help them find their way back to Him.
Once you and I have made a covenant with God, our relationship
with Him becomes much closer than before our covenant. Now we are bound
together. Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts
to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us. Each of us
has a special place in God’s heart. He has high hopes for us.
You know of the historic declaration the Lord gave to the Prophet
Joseph Smith. It came by revelation. The Lord said to Joseph, “This promise is
yours also, because ye are of Abraham, and the promise was made unto Abraham” (Doctrine and Covenants 132:31).
Thereby, this everlasting covenant was restored as part of the
great Restoration of the gospel in its fulness. Think of it! A marriage
covenant made in the temple is tied directly to that Abrahamic covenant. In the
temple a couple is introduced to all the
blessings reserved for the faithful posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
As did Adam, you and I personally entered the covenant path at
baptism. Then we enter it more completely in the temple. The blessings of the
Abrahamic covenant are conferred in holy temples. These blessings allow us,
upon being resurrected, to “inherit thrones, kingdoms, powers, principalities,
and dominions, to our ‘exaltation and glory in all things’ [Doctrine and Covenants 132:19].” (Russell M.
Nelson, in “Special Witnesses of Christ,” Liahona, Apr. 2001, 7.)
In the closing text of the Old Testament, we read of Malachi’s promise
that Elijah will “turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart
of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:6). In ancient
Israel, such reference to the fathers would have included fathers Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. This promise is clarified when we read the different version
of this verse Moroni quoted to the Prophet Joseph Smith: “He [Elijah] shall
plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the
hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers” (Joseph Smith—History 1:39).
Those fathers surely include Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (See Doctrine and Covenants 27:9–10.)
