Book of Mormon, D & C, Pearl of Great Price

Nephi was the second prophet of the Book of Mormon. While Nephi served as prophet, he chose his two younger brothers to teach his people. Jacob taught, at Nephi’s request, from Isaiah, a prophet Nephi loved. Nephi lived about 100 years after Isaiah’s time, so in general, he was a somewhat modern prophet to Nephi.

Jacob quoted extensively from Isaiah’s teachings on the scattering and gathering of Israel. In 2 Nephi 9:1, he explains one reason for selecting the passages he read:

“And now, my beloved brethren, I have read these things that ye might know concerning the acovenants of the Lord that he has covenanted with all the house of Israel—“

What is a covenant? Since we are inheritors of some of the covenants God made with the Israelites, or can become inheritors, it’s important for us to understand the meaning of the term.

A covenant, according to LDS.org, is:

A covenant is a sacred agreement between God and a person or group of people. God sets specific conditions, and He promises to bless us as we obey those conditions. When we choose not to keep covenants, we cannot receive the blessings, and in some instances we suffer a penalty as a consequence of our disobedience.

One important aspect of covenants to note is that it’s God who sets the terms. Sometimes people are tempted to try to barter with God: Get me out of this situation and I’ll never be bad again.” Needless to say, once the person gets what he wants, he nearly always forgets all about God. A true covenant is planned by God. Our part is to agree to the terms—not to negotiate them—and then to treat our part of the agreement as sacred.

Throughout the scriptures, we see the consequences of choosing to violate sacred covenants. If we do our part, God always does His. He can be trusted. However, if we don’t fulfill our part of the agreement, God is under no obligation to continue the covenant.

Keeping our sacred covenants brings powerful blessings. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often known as the Mormons, offers its members several opportunities to make sacred covenants with God. The first covenants are made at baptism, which is performed at age eight for children born into the church, and at any age after that a person chooses to convert to the religion. Children receive many years of training in preparation for their very first covenants, and understand that although they are young, they are old enough to know right from wrong. They are held accountable for their actions within their ability to obey. God, knowing our hearts, knows what each individual child is able to do and to control.

At baptism, the covenants are very simple to explain, but require constant effort on our parts to keep. The children, and all others who are baptized, promise God they will keep His commandments. In return, God promises that if we do these things, He will forgive us when we repent, give us the Gift of the Holy Ghost to help us through our earthly lives, and to let us live with Him forever. Given the size of God’s part of the promise, our part shouldn’t seem hard at all. What a wonderful motivation!

It is a privilege to enter into a covenant with God. To learn more about covenants, please visit LDS.org and read The Lord’s Covenant People.