“According
to John Taylor, the Melchizedek Priesthood conferred upon Abraham “would be the
means of introducing him into the presence of God” and “some of the greatest
and most sublime truths that ever were made known to man……
“Since John
Taylor’s day, a number of ancient sources have emerged that describe in
striking detail an occasion when Abraham was indeed introduced into the
presence of God in heaven, who taught him and showed him his posterity as they
would exist through the ages.” (E. Douglas Clark, “The Blessings of Abraham” 143)
This
ascension to God’s throne is not recorded in Genesis and Abraham does not
mention it in his book in the Pearl of Great Price, but I have often wondered
if this was the occasion when he was shown the stars of heaven and the
pre-mortal life of man he speaks of therein.
The account
of this ascension is amazing and too long to expound here but this is the
tenderness of Christ I gleaned from the account of this event in Abraham’s life:
“Rising from his throne, the Lord “revealed Himself to Abraham, and took him in
His bosom” and “kissed him on his head, and He called him, Abraham my beloved”!
(Sefer Yetzira 6:7 in Kaplan; see also Ginzberg, “Legends of the Jews”, 5:210
n.13)
“Jewish
tradition insists that Abraham was the epitome of the love of God, and that
Abraham summoned mankind to believe in God out of his own great love for Him”
and served Him out of love by showing loving-kindness” (hesed) to
mankind and thus ‘doing the same work as God – a pattern that would be followed
by Joseph Smith, who “because of his love for his fellowmen, never missed an
opportunity to preach the gospel” (Joseph B. Wirthlin, “The Example of Joseph
Smith” in “The Prophet and His Work”, 92) – (E. Douglas Clark, “The Blessings
of Abraham”, 100)
“The divine
attribute of love “was incarnate in Abraham. Not by control or compulsion would
Abraham change the world or win the hearts of mankind, but rather by the
principles of righteousness and love upon which the rights of the priesthood
are always based (see D&C 121:41-42)”
(ibid, p 101)
This love,
this “hesed”, is what made Abraham the greatest patriarch of all time. It is
because of this love that he was chosen to bless the nations of the earth
through his posterity.
The Hebrew word
“hesed” is difficult to render in English. It is usually translated as
‘steadfast love’. It is a covenant word that refers to the faithfulness or
loyal love that binds two people together in covenant.
This love
is motivated by an inner loyalty which arises out of the relationship itself
and not by legal obligation. Such covenant love has the quality of constancy,
firmness and steadfastness. It is a love you have for another that you would
never break because of deep loyalty you feel towards them.
This is the
love that Abraham had for Jehovah and Jehovah in turn had for him. I am rather
certain that this love began when Abraham stood in the midst of the noble and
great ones and was chosen before he was born, when ‘the morning stars sang together and all the
sons of God shouted for joy’ (Job 38:7).
This
is when the covenant of ‘hesed’ was born for all of us. We covenanted to come
to earth, to be proven, to be used as instruments of God to spread the truth
and the love of God to all mankind. This is ‘hesed’, the eternal and undying
love of God who had covenanted with us that we will have eternal life.
How
can I contain You
In
the chambers of my overflowing heart?
Your
greatness, Your mercy, Your love,
Are
far too vast.
All
that I am, I give to you:
My
heart, my soul, my all,
I
lay at your feet forever more.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Eternal Love for You by B. Laura Wilson)
