A FAMILY COVENANT

 

The scriptures often refer to Jehovah as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exodus 3:6; 4:5; 1 Nephi 6:4; Acts 3:13; 7:32). The Saviour referred to these men  separately and with a reason.

To be an inheritor of something is one thing but to be an inheritor with the responsibility of that inheritance is another. For this reason, the Lord renewed the Abrahamic covenant with both Isaac and Jacob and personalized to them not only the covenant but also himself as their God. That renewal came at a difficult crossroads for each of these men.

When Isaac was facing a famine in Canaan, the Lord appeared to him and told him not to go to Egypt but to remain in the land which He has sworn by oath to give to Abraham (Genesis 26:2-4). Isaac moved around the land digging wells until he came to Beersheeba where the Lord appeared to him again, introduced himself as the God of Abraham, his father, and repeated the promises of the covenant (Genesis 26:23-25).

When Jacob was fleeing to his mother’s family to escape the wrath of his brother Esau, he met Jehovah in a dream one night who introduced himself as the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and recited the promises and then he reiterated the responsibility of the covenant, that in his seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed (Genesis 28:12-14).

The Saviour’s appearance to both men went beyond the renewal of the covenant.  He gave them both tender assurances such as: I am with thee….I will not leave thee….I will be with thee, and will bless thee….(Genesis 26:3; 28:15). In other words, I am not just Abraham’s God, I am your God too.

In both instances God affirmed that they had Abraham to thank for the blessings of the covenant, because “Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws…..and I will multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake (Genesis 26:5,24).

And here is a clear picture of family loyalty. Both Isaac and Jacob understood the need to honour Abraham’s covenant with God and that the fulfilment of such would come through them. Neither of them backed down and said, “no, this is not my responsibility, I didn’t enter into any covenant”. I imagine that neither of these men would ever even think of dishonouring their father and grandfather.

This kind of commitment is a family tie that cannot be broken. This is family unity at its finest.

I know some families in the Church who are sealed together and claim how essential temple attendance is to them yet they are not on speaking terms with each other.  I don’t know how valid those sealings will be in the absence of some needed forgiveness that never happened or absence of honour some children needed to pay to their parents or missing amends that some parents needed to make to their children for damaging mistreatment.

The signs of the times are upon us. Friends have come to be cherished more than family units. The adversary is creating division in many families to the point of devastating detriment. Joseph Smith saw a horrifying vision of the last days involving families: “I saw men hunting the lives of their own sons, and brother murdering brother, women killing their own daughters, and daughters seeking the lives of their mother…..” (History of the Church, 3:391). This is happening in our day. We can see it on our televisions.

The Saviour gave us His Gospel to unite us as families. Is there a greater example than He who has honoured His Father through the life of obedience and submission? Each Sunday, as we sit in our family pews, we partake of the emblems that remind us to be like Him and to remind us of the covenant ties that bind us. Let us remember we are ‘a family Church’…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN