PROMISES

 

The most endearing story of Father Abraham is the one, according to Jewish tradition, of his death. He was 175 years old. It was the Feast of Weeks celebration and both Isaac and Ishmael had come to Hebron with their families to celebrate the Feast with their father. During the feast, Abraham praised his creator in thanksgiving and among other things asked that God’s mercy and peace be upon the posterity of his sons ‘that they may be a chosen nation and an inheritance from amongst all the nations of the earth’. This was no doubt in reference to the covenant which God had made with him (Genesis 13).

During the feast, Abraham called Jacob, ‘the chosen patriarch heir with the authority to establish Zion over all the earth’ and invoked the blessings of heaven upon him and his seed forever. And this is the tender part of Abraham’s death. Jacob and Abraham laid down together on one bed and ‘Jacob slept in the bosom of Abraham, who kissed him seven times and his heart rejoiced over him and he pronounced another blessing upon his head. He then ‘blessed the God of gods, and he covered his face, and stretched out his feet and slept the sleep of eternity, and was gathered to his fathers’ (Jubilees 22:26-30, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, 2:47; as quoted in The Blessings of Abraham by E. Douglas Clerk, p 232, 233).

It touches me to tears that Abraham died with Jacob in his arms because Jacob would be the fulfilment of God’s promise to Abraham that through him the blessings of the priesthood would be given to all the nations of the earth. Abraham waited 37 years for the promise of Isaac and he didn’t live to see his posterity as numerous as the dust of the earth, as promised (Abraham 2:8-14; Genesis 13:16), but he trusted that through his grandson Jacob this promise would be fulfilled. It’s an incredibly touching story of patience and faithfulness.

Abraham stands as an example of everything we stand to gain if we remain faithful at all odds. From his youth in the land of Chaldeans to his valiant death in Hebron, Abraham held fast to the promise the Lord gave him that through him will all the nations of the earth be blessed (Abraham 2:9-11). I cannot think of anyone that deserved more to be called The Father of The Faithful (D&C 139:41) and the Friend of God (James 2:23; Isaiah 41:8). What kind of a man would you have to be for God to make such a covenant with you? An exceedingly faithful one.

In his great discourse on faith, apostle Paul spoke of valiant saints, such as Abraham, who wandered the earth as strangers and pilgrims and died ‘not having received the promises’ (Hebrews 11:13, 38,39). Very often we want fulfilment of all our dreams and all the Lord has promised us, here and now, and we forget that this life is not a life for fulfilment. May we for now, do the works of Abraham (D&C 132:32) and be patient enough to abide this world of sorrow, disillusionment and imperfection that we, being the posterity of the Father of the Faithful, might one day ‘enter into our exaltation and sit upon our throne’, even as Abraham (D&C 132:29, 32).

The Saviour ALWAYS fulfils His promises. Mormon testified of this throughout the Book of Mormon with phrases such as 'all this was done that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled' and 'God is powerful to the fulfilling of all his words' (Mosiah 21:4; Alma 37:16; 50:19; Mormon 1:19; Helaman 4:21; Ether 15:3; Words of Mormon 1:4; 3 Nephi 1:13,20; Mosiah 21:4; Alma). If a promise is not forthcoming, we need to reflect on our role in its’ fulfilment more than on a God who cannot lie. Sometimes it’s a matter of our worthiness or our fears (D&C 67:1-3), sometimes not in the way we expect, and oftentimes it is simply God’s timing and our necessary growth.

May we be faithful and believe in the God who fulfils all His promises……the Saviour Jesus Christ, the Rock of Our Salvation……

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Rock of Our Salvation by Jay Bryant Ward)