Obedience
Christ Himself taught a key
aspect of the relationship between loving God and fulfilling the covenantal
obligation that is most oft repeated in scriptural teachings about the Abrahamic
covenant. He told His disciples,” if ye love me, keep my commandments” (John
14:15). Moses had also spoken of the connection between these two elements of
the covenant when he said, “Thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy
God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of
the law, and . . . turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with
all thy soul” (Deuteronomy 30:10). When our relationship with God is such that
our burning, overarching, and overwhelming emotion, the yearning of our soul,
is a love for Him, then we naturally seek to do His will. We call this keeping
the commandments.
The idea of “keeping” the
commandments is notable. The word we translated as “keep” in both Hebrew and
Greek has an important range of meaning, all of which seems to be intended when
it comes to what we do with the laws and charges God has given us. “Keep” (shamar
in Hebrew, tereo in Greek) means to guard, watch over, observe, to execute
carefully, to protect, or devote oneself to. “Keeping” isn’t just something we
do, it is something we feel; it is part of the dos and don’ts, but because we
desire with all our heart to please God and to want the same things He wants. Keeping
covenant, or obedience, is a labor of love that happens naturally when our hearts
are truly full of love for God, and we fully make Him our God.
Obedience, or keeping
commandments/covenant, is the obligation that is most often the center of focus
in scriptural texts about the covenant. Israel is told that they must keep the
commandments (Exodus 19:5; Leviticus 18:5, 24-30; 25:18; 26:3; Deuteronomy 5:1,
33; 6:1-2, 17; 7:11; 28:1, 9, 14-15; 3-8, 10, 16, 20). This idea is sometimes
stated in other ways. Abraham was told, “Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore
thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations” (Genesis 17:9). Covenant
holders must be willing to seek and follow instructions from God (Abraham 1:2).
Abraham was told that covenant promises were only efficacious for him and his
descendants “when they hearken to [God’s] voice” (Abraham 2:6). The receiving
of instructions and hearkening to God’s voice seems to reach beyond obeying the
commandments as they are related in the scriptures, though it certainly
includes that. This language seems to also include the need to follow personal
revelation, an idea that President Nelson had tied into the covenant and the
gathering of Israel (See Nelson, “Let
God Prevail,” October 2020 general conference).
Covenantal blessings are clearly tied
to both commandment keeping and loving God, the interrelationship of which we
have just discussed. In a powerful and succinct summary of the covenant, Moses
told Israel, “I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his
ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou
mayest live and multiply; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land
whither thou goest to possess it” (Deuteronomy 30:16). (Kerry Muhlestein, God
Will Prevail: Ancient Covenants, Modern Blessings, and the Gathering of Israel [American
Fork, Utah: Covenant Communications, 2021], 63-64)
