Gospel Essentials Class Notes

May 20, 2001

Click Here to Listen to this class:  Part 1 of 1 (58 minutes)

Ether 6.  Remember how the 5^th chapter began, describing Ether with his overwhelming Gift of the Holy Ghost, so much that he could not be restrained from preaching.  (When the H.G., the most powerful force of Good that a person can possess, indwells in man, this person must needs seek good things to do).

Nevertheless, when that same spirit is absent in man, those hearing reject (Like Samuel on the wall—he had so much that he would stand on the wall, others would shoot arrows at him).

Ether 6:2 they rejected all the words of Ether.  What were some of the things Ether (a Jaredite prophet) informed his people of?

 Why this talk of Zion? (Why was it promised) (Deut. 30)

2 Nephi 5:29 Nevertheless, the Lord will be merciful unto them, that when they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer, they shall be gathered together again to the lands of their inheritance.

2 Nephi 6:3 When they shall be gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise.

  Who was the covenant with? More than one covenant:…

Covenant with Jacob

·         3 Nephi 9:58 And behold, this people will I establish in this land, unto the fulfilling of the covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be a new Jerusalem.

·         1 Nephi 5:132 Behold, he loved our fathers; and he covenanted with them, yea, even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and he remembered the covenants which he had made;

·         3 Nephi 2:108 And as he hath covenanted with all the house of Jacob, even so shall the covenant wherewith he hath covenanted with the house of Jacob, be fulfilled in his own due time, unto the restoring all the house of Jacob unto the knowledge of the covenant that he hath covenanted with them;

·         3 Nephi 10:1 But 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, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance, and they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob;

·        Mormon 3:32 And ye will also know that ye are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; therefore ye are numbered among the people of the first covenant;

Covenant with Enoch (Gen 9:21)

The point is that more than one covenant was made and yet to be fulfilled in the last days:

•  Zion can't be until Israel is gathered (covenant to Abraham). 
• Gathering doesn't occur until they receive the word again (Isaiah's words in 3 N 7 and 3 N 9). 
• New Jerusalem to be built on this land was a covenant with Jacob.
• New Jerusalem coming down from heaven (Enoch's city) was a covenant with Enoch. 

The covenant with Jacob (New Jerusalem to be built) must be fulfilled before the covenant with Abraham (regathering of all Israel) can or will be fulfilled.  Jesus promises to be in our midst (3 Nephi 9:58-60, 3 Nephi 10: 1-6) at this point.  It is then when we will learn to keep all the commandments so that the covenant with Enoch can be fulfilled and Enoch's city return from heaven.

What was the type of Joseph?

·         3 Nephi 9:58 And behold, this people will I establish in this land, unto the fulfilling of the covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be a new Jerusalem.

·         2 Nephi 12:85 And it shall come to pass that the Jews which are scattered, also shall begin to believe in Christ: and they shall begin to gather in upon the face of the land;

Psalms 102:16 When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.

The Re-gathering

·         1 Nephi 7:56 And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth;

·         3 Nephi 9:67 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;

·         Jeremiah 3:13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord. 14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you; and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion;

·         Isaiah 11:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth

·         1 Nephi 7:56 And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth;

·         2 Nephi 5:29 Nevertheless, the Lord will be merciful unto them, that when they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer, they shall be gathered together again to the lands of their inheritance.

·         2 Nephi 6:3 When they shall be gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise.

·         1 Nephi 3:18 And after the house of Israel should be scattered, they should be gathered together again;

·         2 Nephi 12:82 And the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them; wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had among their fathers.

·         2 Nephi 7:13 And it shall come to pass that they shall be gathered in from their long dispersion from the isles of the sea, and from the four parts of the earth;

·         3 Nephi 9:86 And verily, I say unto you, I give unto you a sign, that ye may know the time when these things shall be about to take place, that I shall gather in from their long dispersion, my people, O house of Israel, and shall establish again among them my Zion.

·         3 Nephi 9: 88 That they may know concerning this people who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, and concerning this my people who shall be scattered by them; …93 And when these things come to pass, that thy seed shall begin to know these things, it shall be a sign unto them, that they may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel.

·         3 Nephi 13:54 And now behold, I say unto you, that when the Lord shall see fit, in his wisdom, that these sayings shall come unto the Gentiles, according to his word, then ye may know that the covenant which the Father hath made with the children of Israel, concerning their restoration to the lands of their inheritance, is already beginning to be fulfilled;

‘New Jerusalem Scriptures’

Genesis 7:70 And righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine own elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare; an holy city, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion; a New Jerusalem.

Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, this is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God; and I will write upon him my new name.

Revelation 21:Intro A new heaven and a new earth -- The New Jerusalem.

Revelation 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 Nephi 10:2 And also, as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem;

3 Nephi 10:3 And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem.

Ether 6:3 Wherefore the Lord would have that all men should serve him, who dwell upon the face thereof; and that it was the place of the New Jerusalem, which should come down out of heaven, and the holy sanctuary of the Lord.

Ether 6:4 Behold, Ether saw the days of Christ, and he spake concerning a New Jerusalem upon this land; and he spake also concerning the house of Israel, and the Jerusalem from whence Lehi should come; after it should be destroyed, it should be built up again a holy city unto the Lord;

Ether 6:5 Wherefore it could not be a New Jerusalem, for it had been in a time of old, but it should be built up again, and become a holy city of the Lord: and it should be built up unto the house of Israel;

Ether 6:6 And that a New Jerusalem should be built up upon this land, unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph, for which things there has been a type; for as Joseph brought his father down into the land of Egypt, even so he died there;

Ether 6:10 And then cometh the New Jerusalem; and blessed are they who dwell therein, for it is they whose garments are white through the blood of the lamb; and they are they who are numbered among the remnant of the seed of Joseph, who were of the house of Israel.