The Gentiles and the Abrahamic Covenant

As we rejoice in the goodness of a gracious God to the Gentiles; as we marvel to see him give the blessings of the chosen people to the aliens; as we realize that the gospel blessings are for all men, Jew and Gentile alike—we must yet keep in proper perspective the favored status of blessed Israel. It was to Abraham that the promises came; it was Isaac who inherited all things from Abraham; and it was Jacob upon whom the fulness fell in his day. It is the God of Israel who, having first blessed the chosen seed, became the God of the whole earth and offered his gospel unto all who would believe and obey.

How glorious is the word that the Lord Jehovah chose Abraham, his friend, above all the inhabitants of the earth, to be the father of the faithful for all generations—not the father of the faithful in the house of Israel only, but the father of the faithful in all nations. "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" was the divine decree. (Gen. 22:18.)

How glorious is the word, given to Abraham, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." (Gen. 21:12.) 'In this Sarah's son shall the promises be fulfilled. He shall inherit the blessings given to thee, Abraham, his father. Through him shall come the chosen and favored seed who shall believe the gospel and worship the true God and be saved in his kingdom.'

How glorious is the word that the God of Israel chose Jacob, who is Israel, to inherit the blessings of his fathers—the blessings of life and salvation through the atonement of the Son of God.

And how glorious is the word that the Gentiles may be adopted into the family of Abraham and receive, inherit, and possess equally with the literal seed. "As many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name," the Lord Jehovah promised Abraham, "and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father." And further: "In thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal." (Abr. 2:10-11.)

Thus, salvation comes because of the covenant God made with Abraham. It was Jesus himself who said, "Salvation is of the Jews." (John 4:22.) It must go from Israel to others. If the Gentiles are to gain such a blessed boon, they must become Israelites; they must be adopted into the fold of Abraham; they must rise up and bless him as their father. It was to the natural seed of Jacob that Isaiah said these words of the Lord, and they are equally true with reference to the adopted seed: "Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him." (Isa. 51:1-2.) Abraham alone is the father of us all, speaking after the manner of the flesh, and all who receive the blessings of the gospel are either natural or adopted sons in his everlasting family.

Thus, also, Nephi says: "As many of the Gentiles as will repent are the covenant people of the Lord; and as many of the Jews as will not repent shall be cast off; for the Lord covenanteth with none save it be with them that repent and believe in his Son, who is the Holy One of Israel." (2 Ne. 30:2.) The covenant here involved is the Abrahamic covenant. It is, Nephi says, the "covenant the Lord made to our father Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." And it shall "be fulfilled in the latter days." (1 Ne. 15:18.)

And thus Jesus, ministering among the Nephite portion of Israel, tells them of their favored status. "Ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel," he says. They were the natural seed of the ancient patriarch, and so he says: "Ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." Because of this favored status, because they were heirs of promise, because they were the literal seed and the blood of Israel flowed in their veins, they had preference over the aliens. Thus Jesus said to them: "The Father having raised me up unto you first, and sent me to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities; and this because ye are the children of the covenant—And after that ye were blessed then fulfilleth the Father the covenant which he made with Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed—unto the pouring out of the Holy Ghost through me upon the Gentiles, which blessing upon the Gentiles shall make them mighty above all, unto the scattering of my people, O house of Israel." (3 Ne. 20:25-27.)

It is Israel first and the Gentiles second. It is the chosen seed ahead of the alien nations. The natural sons are already in the family when the adopted sons take upon themselves the name of him whom they choose as their father. But all men, in or out of the house of Israel, are freed from their iniquities in the same way. If they "walk in the light," as God "is in the light," if they have "fellowship one with another," as becometh true saints, then "the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth [them] from all sin." (1 Jn. 1:7.) There is no other way. All are alike unto God.

Israel's Millennial Gathering and Glory

Knowing that Israel and the aliens shall join in one fold and have one Shepherd, we are prepared to pick up again, as he himself did, the threads of Jesus' preaching to the Nephites about the chosen seed and those who join with them. In 3 Nephi 16, Jesus spoke of the gospel coming to the Gentiles in the latter days; of the gathering of Israel from the four quarters of the earth; of the Gentiles, drenched in wickedness and abominations, sinning against the gospel; and then of the gospel going to others of the house of Israel. He spoke of the triumph of Israel as the Millennium was ushered in, and said that in that millennial day the words in Isaiah 52:8-10 would be fulfilled. All this we considered in chapter 20.

Now, after an interval of teaching on other matters, the Risen Lord returns to his prior theme—the part Israel and the Gentiles are to play in his strange act in the dispensation of the fulness of times. "Ye remember that I spake unto you, and said that when the words of Isaiah should be fulfilled—behold they are written, ye have them before you, therefore search them—And verily, verily, I say unto you, that when they shall be fulfilled then is the fulfilling of the covenant which the Father hath made unto his people, O house of Israel."

With this introduction we are back to the general subject of the latter-day gathering of Israel and to the specific passage in Isaiah that is to find fulfillment in the Millennium. This is Isaiah 52:8-10, which Jesus will soon quote again. But first, in this setting among the Nephites, our Lord says: "And then"—that is, in the millennial day—"shall the remnants, which shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, be gathered in from the east and from the west, and from the south and from the north; and they shall be brought to the knowledge of the Lord their God, who hath redeemed them."

Israel shall be gathered in part before the Millennium, and that gathering is now going forward apace, with particular reference to Ephraim, the firstborn, and Manasseh, his twin. But Israel shall be gathered in full after the Millennium commences, and that gathering will include the Jews and, as we are about to see, the Ten Tribes. What Jesus now says is not all intended to be chronological. He will make interpretive comments as he goes forward, but there is ample explanation to enable us to conclude with some certainty much of what is to precede and what is to follow his millennial return.

"And I say unto you, that if the Gentiles do not repent after the blessing, which they shall receive, after they have scattered my people"—our Lord announces by way of introduction to what is to follow. He is saying that if the Gentiles—the non-Jews—to whom the gospel has been restored in the last days do not accept that gospel, then, after they have scattered the Lamanites, as they have now done, certain things will happen. These are:

"Then"—in the day of our Lord's return—"Then shall ye, who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, go forth among them; and ye shall be in the midst of them who shall be many; and ye shall be among them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goeth through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. The hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off."

These words of our Lord to the Nephites are quoted from Micah 5:8-9 and have reference to the desolations and ultimate burning that shall destroy the wicked at the Second Coming. Except for a few who are the humble followers of Christ, the Gentiles will not repent. They will revel in their abominations and sin against the restored gospel, and they will be burned by the brightness of our Lord's coming while the righteous—here called the remnant of Jacob—shall abide the day. And then, in the prophetic imagery, it will be as though the remnant of Israel overthrew their enemies as a young lion among the flocks of sheep.

It is in this setting, a setting that has ushered in the Millennium, that the promise is made: "And I will gather my people together as a man gathereth his sheaves into the floor." This is the great gathering destined to occur after our Lord's return. By way of further explanation of the triumphant events involved, Jesus now says: "For I will make my people with whom the Father hath covenanted, yea, I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass. And thou shalt beat in pieces many people; and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. And behold, I am he who doeth it." Again the prophetic imagery comes from the Old Testament. It is taken from Micah 4:13.

"And it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that the sword of my justice shall hang over them at that day; and except they repent it shall fall upon them, saith the Father, yea, even upon all the nations of the Gentiles." Again Jesus is speaking of the complete separation of the righteous and the wicked that will take place when he comes. "And it shall come to pass," in that millennial day, "that I will establish my people, O house of Israel." The Millennium is Israel's day.

"And behold, this people"—the Nephites, the Lamanites, the descendants of Lehi—"will I establish in this land [America], unto the fulfilling of the covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be a New Jerusalem. And the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of this people; yea, even I will be in the midst of you." Christ will reign personally upon the earth in that millennial day when the remnant of Lehi becomes a mighty people in America and when the New Jerusalem is the capital of the kingdom of God on earth.

A little later Jesus speaks of the Gentiles and the Jews and places the Jewish gathering after his Second Coming. Of the Gentiles he says: "When they shall have received the fulness of my gospel, then if they shall harden their hearts against me I will return their iniquities upon their own heads, saith the Father." They will suffer for their own sins; the Lord's blood will not cleanse them because they do not repent. And we repeat, most of the Gentiles will reject the truth and be bundled with the tares to be burned at that great day.

Of the Jews he says: "And I will remember the covenant which I have made with my people; and I have covenanted with them that I would gather them together in mine own due time, that I would give unto them again the land of their fathers for their inheritance, which is the land of Jerusalem, which is the promised land unto them forever, saith the Father." The Jews shall dwell again in Jerusalem of old, and in all Judea, and in all Palestine. "And it shall come to pass that the time cometh, when the fulness of my gospel shall be preached unto them; And they shall believe in me, that I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and shall pray unto the Father in my name.

At this point he returns again to Isaiah 52:8-10—which we have heretofore quoted and which we have seen is a passage reserved for millennial fulfillment—quoting it this time as the word of the Father, for "the Father and I are one," he says. "And then"—the time, be it remembered, is millennial—"shall be brought to pass that which is written," Jesus says, quoting three passages, all from this same 52nd chapter of Isaiah, and all relative to the gathering, rejoicing, and triumph of his people. These are Isaiah 52:1-3, 6; Isaiah 52:7; and Isaiah 52:11-15, which the astute student will desire to read and ponder in the setting here given. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, all these things"—those things Jesus has just said and those he has quoted from Isaiah—"shall surely come, even as the Father hath commanded me," Jesus says. "Then shall this covenant which the Father hath covenanted with his people be fulfilled; and then shall Jerusalem be inhabited again with my people, and it shall be the land of their inheritance." (3 Ne. 20:10-46.)

Jesus then gives a sign whereby all men "may know the time" when all these things he has told them about Israel and the Gentiles "shall be about to take place." The sign is the establishment of a free people in the United States of America; it is the restoration of the gospel in the last days; it is the carrying of the gospel to the Lamanites; it is the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his eternal triumph in the kingdom above. After this sign has been given, "it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ," he says, "which the Father shall cause him [the latter-day seer] to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among the people who are of the covenant."

Then Jesus quotes again Micah's words about the remnant of Jacob being among the Gentiles as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, equating such with the wicked being cut off from among the people as Moses said. But this time he continues the Old Testament quotation to include Micah 5:10-15, which deals with the social and religious changes that will occur at the Second Coming. To the imagery and doctrine of Micah he adds: "It shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day"—the day of our Lord's return—"whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel; And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard." This is the great day of burning when the wicked shall be as stubble.

Jesus' next statements seem to be commentary and explanation relative to events that will happen both before and after his coming. It is not always possible for us in our present state of spiritual enlightenment to put every event into an exact category or time frame. We are left to ponder and wonder about many things, perhaps to keep us alert and attentive to the commandments should the Lord come in our day. And some of the prophetic utterances apply to both pre- and post-millennial events; some have an initial and partial fulfillment in our day and shall have a second and grander completion in the days ahead.

And so we now hear Jesus say of the Gentiles: "If they will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob." There follows an announcement of the building of a New Jerusalem in America and the gathering of the elect into its sacred walls. "And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also will be in the midst." This, of course, is millennial. (3 Ne. 21:1-25.)

Jesus now speaks of the work among all the dispersed of Israel, with particular reference to the Ten Tribes. We are left to wonder whether he means they shall return before or after his own coming in the clouds of glory. The inference is that they will return during the Millennium, which is also the apparent meaning of the recitations in D&C 133:22-35, which we shall hereafter consider. In any event we know that the great day of gathering and glory for Israel and for the believing Gentiles lies ahead. It is reserved for the millennial day when the Lord Jesus dwells and reigns among his covenant people.

The Fulness of the Gentiles

Oh, that the Jews, the Lord's ancient covenant people, had received their Messiah when he came unto his own!

Oh, that they had believed his words and obeyed his law when he taught in their streets and preached in their synagogues!

Oh, that they had believed and obeyed in the day appointed for their salvation, in the day which was the times of the Jews!

Glory and honor and blessing, peace and joy and salvation—for them and for their children—was offered to them, offered without money and without price. They were invited to feast on the good word of God and to drink of the waters of life. But they would not.

They rejected the gospel, gave no heed to the Divine Voice, and crucified their King—all because their deeds were evil. And so God sent upon them sore destructions. Their house—both the temple and the city—was left unto them desolate; they were scourged and slaughtered and slain; they were condemned and cursed and crucified. And a remnant, a few captives of a once great nation, was scattered upon all the face of the earth and among every people.

"These be the days of vengeance," Jesus said. "There shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations." Well might we ask: How long, how long, O Lord, shall the curse rest upon these Jews? When will they return to the ancient standard and be counted again among the sheep of their once-rejected Shepherd? Jesus answers: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (Luke 21:22-24.)

With the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70; with the tearing apart of the temple, stone by stone, as the Romans made its gold and riches their own; with the scattering of the Jews in all nations—the times of the Jews ended. Their day to receive the glad tidings of salvation on a preferential basis was past. At that hour the times of the Gentiles dawned upon the earth. And from that hour the apostles and prophets began to turn to the aliens to find those who would believe in the God of the whole earth, who is Jesus Christ.

For almost two thousand years; for almost two millenniums; for as long a time as from Abraham, who fathered Israel, to Jesus, who came to save the seed of that ancient patriarch—Jerusalem has been and is "trodden down of the Gentiles." In 1917 Field Marshal Edmund Allenby of Great Britain captured the city almost without opposition, and a measure of political freedom thus came to the site where once Melchizedek was king and which David took from the Jebusites. Since then the once holy city, and its environs, and all of Palestine, have been available for the temporal return of the Jews. An initial and preparatory political gathering is now underway. But the city is still a Gentile stronghold, and it is still trodden down by forces alien to those true believers who one day will build anew its walls and erect therein again a holy temple to Jehovah. That many who now gather there are of the loins of Israel is of little moment, "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children," as Paul said. (Rom. 9:6-7.) And also: "Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." (Rom. 11:25.) The true Israelites and the true Jews believe in the true Messiah and worship his Father in spirit and in truth. And so it is that the times of the Gentiles is not yet fulfilled, and so it is that the city where our Lord was crucified shall be trodden down by Gentile unbelievers until that day of fulfillment dawns upon the earth.

Jesus, on the Mount of Olives, alone with the Twelve, as we suppose, as they gazed upon the glittering brilliance of Herod's Temple in the distance, said: "And now ye behold this temple which is in Jerusalem, which ye call the house of God, and your enemies say that this house shall never fall. But, verily I say unto you, that desolation shall come upon this generation as a thief in the night, and this people shall be destroyed and scattered among all nations. And this temple which ye now see shall be thrown down that there shall not be left one stone upon another." This is the destruction and scattering of the Jews in A.D. 70, which ended the times of the Jews and commenced the times of the Gentiles.

"And it shall come to pass, that this generation of Jews"—those then living who had rejected their Messiah and were ripened in iniquity and ready for destruction—"shall not pass away until every desolation which I have told you concerning them shall come to pass." Their fate was to suffer an overflowing scourge and to feel the intolerable weight of the abomination of desolation, all of which was a type of the scourges and desolations that shall yet precede the Second Coming.

What is the relationship of these events, all now part of the hoary records of antiquity, to the yet future Second Coming? Jesus continues to speak: "Ye say that ye know that the end of the world cometh; ye say also that ye know that the heavens and the earth shall pass away; And in this ye say truly, for so it is; but these things which I have told you shall not pass away until all shall be fulfilled. And this I have told you concerning Jerusalem; and when that day shall come, shall a remnant be scattered among all nations; But they shall be gathered again; but they shall remain until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." The true gathering of the Jews to their homeland shall not occur until the day—yet future—when the times of the Gentiles is fulfilled.

"And in that day"—the day when the times of the Gentiles is about to be fulfilled—"shall be heard of wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion, and men's hearts shall fail them, and they shall say Christ delayeth his coming until the end of the earth. And the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound. And when the times of the Gentiles is come in"—when it begins anew, as it were, for this is the second time the true gospel shall go to the Gentiles (the first was in Paul's day, and the second is in our day a day in which the same gospel preached by Paul has been restored), and thus—"when the times of the Gentiles is come in, a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fulness of my gospel; But they"—the Gentiles—"receive it not; for they perceive not the light, and they turn their hearts from me because of the precepts of men. And in that generation shall the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (D&C 45:18-30.)

When Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith in 1823, he "stated that the fulness of the Gentiles was soon to come in." (JS-H 1:41.) Those who love the Lord and believe his gospel await that day with anxious expectation and ponder the words of the Lord Jesus, also spoken on Olivet: "In the generation in which the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled," he said, "there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, like the sea and the waves roaring. The earth also shall be troubled, and the waters of the great deep; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. For the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for the day of your redemption draweth nigh. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory." (JST Luke 21:25-28.)

The Call to the Gentiles

We have now set forth, in weakness and with fumbling phrases, and yet with such clarity and plainness as our weakness permits, the glorious doctrine that the Gentiles also are heirs of the covenant God made with Abraham. Shall we not add to our words a call, coupled with a warning, to the Gentiles everywhere?

We testify that God has in these times, the times of the Gentiles, restored the fulness of his everlasting gospel to prepare a people for the second coming of the Son of Man. The Book of Mormon has now "come unto the Gentiles" as a sign "that the covenant which the Father hath made with the children of Israel . . . is already beginning to be fulfilled."

Therefore, by way of testimony and exhortation, we say to the Gentiles: "Ye may know that the words of the Lord, which have been spoken by the holy prophets, shall all be fulfilled; and ye need not say that the Lord delays his coming unto the children of Israel." Behold, he will come as he hath said, and none can say him nay.

"And ye need not imagine in your hearts that the words which have been spoken are vain, for behold, the Lord will remember his covenant which he hath made unto his people of the house of Israel." And he will also remember all who join with Israel to further his work in this final dispensation. They shall be blessed with the faithful and made heirs of all the promises.

"And when ye shall see these sayings"—the Book of Mormon—"coming forth among you, then ye need not any longer spurn at the doings of the Lord, for the sword of his justice is in his right hand." Truly, the Book of Mormon has come forth in such plainness and perfection that all men are expected to believe its pure truths and to give heed to the wondrous witness it bears. "And behold, at that day"—when the true doctrines of Christ are set forth before men in such a glorious way in the Book of Mormon—"if ye shall spurn at his doings he will cause that it [the sword of his justice] shall soon overtake you."

And so, by way of warning, we say to the Gentiles: "Wo unto him that spurneth at the doings of the Lord; yea, wo unto him that shall deny the Christ and his works!

"Yea, wo unto him that shall deny the revelations of the Lord, and that shall say the Lord no longer worketh by revelation, or by prophecy, or by gifts, or by tongues, or by healings, or by the power of the Holy Ghost!" And oh, how many of the great churches in Christendom, to say nothing of the religious groups who do not even profess to believe in Christ, fall under this condemnation!

"Yea, and wo unto him that shall say at that day"—when, we repeat, all things are so wondrously and clearly set forth, so much so that no person who has arrived at the years of accountability is justified in misunderstanding the terms and conditions of the great plan of redemption that is in Christ—"wo unto him that shall say at that day, to get gain, that there can be no miracle wrought by Jesus Christ; for he that doeth this shall become like unto the son of perdition, for whom there was no mercy, according to the word of Christ!" Those who deny the great miracles of the opening of the heavens, of the appearance of the Great God, of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, of the ministering of angels to men, of the pouring out of the Holy Ghost upon the faithful, and of an endless retinue of accompanying blessings—those who deny these miracles do so at their peril.

"Yea, and ye need not any longer hiss, nor spurn, nor make game of the Jews"—and oh, how common this has been and is among the self-appointed pious ones of a decadent Christendom!—"nor any of the remnant of the house of Israel; for behold the Lord remembereth his covenant unto them, and he will do unto them according to that which he hath sworn. Therefore ye need not suppose that ye can turn the right hand of the Lord unto the left, that he may not execute judgment unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the house of Israel." (3 Ne. 29:1-9.)

By way of commandment we say to the Gentiles: "Hearken, O ye Gentiles, and hear the words of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, which he hath commanded me [Mormon] that I should speak concerning you, for, behold he commandeth me that I should write, saying:

"Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways; and repent of your evil doings, of your lyings and deceivings, and of your whoredoms, and of your secret abominations, and your idolatries, and of your murders, and your priestcrafts, and your envyings, and your strifes, and from all your wickedness and abominations, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, that ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel." (3 Ne. 30:1-2.)

And, finally, by way of invitation and exhortation to the Gentiles and to the house of Israel, we say: "Come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing.

"And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.

"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

"And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot." (Moro. 10:30-33.)