The Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 12, JST14, 17; Abraham 1-2) QUESTIONS

Abraham’s Desire

 READ Abraham 1:2-5

What is Abraham’s greatest desire?

What must Abraham do to find this happiness, peace and rest?

 

 

Receiving Hope

In his ensuing trials, Jehovah visits Abraham twice and gives him a promise that he will receive the Priesthood he is seeking, sometime in the future - this is what is known as receiving a “hope” or promise from God.

READ Abraham 1:18-19 and Abraham 2:8-12

How many times does the Lord promise Abraham using the words “will”, “shall” or “shalt”?

What does this “hope” or promise do for Abraham’s faith?

Abraham must find someone who can confer the Priesthood upon him; who does he find that holds the Priesthood?

 

 

The Holy Order

READ JST Genesis 14:25-36 and D&C 84:39-40

Although Melchizedek confers this Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God upon Abraham, where does Abraham have to go to actually receive this priesthood?

So how does God deliver this priesthood to a person?

If this Priesthood only comes from God Himself, why does Abraham need to find Melchizedek to ordain him?

How did Melchizedek stop the mouths of lions and quench the violence of fire as a child without priesthood?

What does it mean that the Holy Order comes “not by man” neither by “father nor mother” neither by “beginning of days nor end of years”?

What power does the Holy Order have?

Where does this power come from?

Does this priesthood have the power to establish Zion?

 

The Abrahamic Covenant

When Abraham is older and has overcome many trials, the realization of the covenant promises that were given to him years before finally comes to pass.  The Holy Order was given to Abraham to help him overcome the trials but growing in his relationship or association with God (and trust in God, especially in the sacrifice of Isaac) was part of what had to be learned in the ensuing years. 

READ Genesis 21:1-5 and Abraham 2:6, 8-11

What are the promises God made to Abraham in the Abrahamic Covenant?

Who is the “literal” seed of Abraham that will bless all of the families of the earth?

Who will make Abraham a great nation?

Abraham is told that he will be a blessing unto his seed after him, who is “his seed”?

 

READ D&C 84:33-38

How do we become the “seed of Abraham” and inherit the same blessings?

What is the High Priesthood “calling” we must magnify? 

 

READ D&C 132:4-6

What “land” does obtaining this Priesthood and Abrahamic Covenant enable you to enter and have?

 

READ D&C 132:7

What happens if the family bonds and vows we make in this life are not sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise?

 

Melchizedek and his city were translated to join Enoch, leaving Abraham as the new dispensation head.  Abraham is the model or prototype for the modern Saint: he is a convert whose immediate father was an idolater (as opposed to Adam and his family of directly descended “patriarchs” or fathers); he has to forsake his father’s beliefs and society’s culture, fight through religious and familial persecution, and seek for and embrace the living god, like we must do if we would rend the veil of unbelief and actually come unto Christ ourselves.

Is the Abrahamic Covenant unique to Abraham?  Was he the first one to receive it?

Why is it called the “new and everlasting” covenant?

 

Abraham not only held this Priesthood but received the promise that all who received the Gospel after him would become his descendants.  From the time of Abraham to the present, every saved soul has had their heart turned to him, become his son or daughter, and received that same priesthood (see Abraham 2:10-11).

READ 3 Nephi 20:25-27

Who are the children of the prophets or the children of Abraham?

What does “turning the hearts of the children to the fathers” mean?