The New and Everlasting Covenant
The master covenant containing all covenants — the Abrahamic foundation, the sealing power, and the oath of the priesthood.
“For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world.”
I. The Master Covenant
The "new and everlasting covenant" is not one covenant among many — it is the covenant that contains all the others. It is the complete framework of the gospel in this dispensation: every ordinance, every sealing, every oath. The word "new" does not mean newly invented — it means freshly restored. The word "everlasting" means it was always the covenant, in every dispensation. It is the same gospel given to Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and the Apostles — each time restored after apostasy broke the chain (D&C 1:22; 22:1).
“Verily I say unto you, blessed are you for receiving mine everlasting covenant, even the fulness of my gospel, sent forth unto the children of men.”
II. The Abrahamic Foundation
The new and everlasting covenant in its scriptural fullness has its most complete expression in the Abrahamic Covenant. God made four specific promises to Abraham (Abraham 2:9–11): his name would be great; he would be a blessing to all nations; his seed would carry the priesthood; and through his seed and his priesthood all families of the earth would receive the blessings of the gospel, even life eternal. Every person who enters the new and everlasting covenant is grafted into this covenant and inherits these four promises along with Abraham's obligations.
“And I will bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father.”
III. The Sealing Power — Binding Heaven to Earth
The capstone of the new and everlasting covenant is the sealing power — the authority to bind on earth what is bound in heaven (Matthew 16:19). This power was committed to Elijah, who held it across all dispensations, and restored by him in the Kirtland Temple on April 3, 1836 (D&C 110:13–16). The sealing power governs celestial marriage — the covenant that extends the family relationship into eternity.
“And again, verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant… they shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths.”
The continuation of the seeds — the eternal increase promised to the exalted — is only possible through this sealing. Without it, all relationships terminate at death. With it, the family is welded into an eternal unit that persists, grows, and participates in divine creation throughout the ages.
IV. The Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood
Within the new and everlasting covenant is a specific mutual oath made between God and those who receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. D&C 84:33–40 defines it: the recipient swears to receive God's servants, magnify their callings, and live by every word that proceeds from God. God, in turn, swears "by myself" — the most binding oath possible (Hebrews 6:13) — to sanctify them by the Spirit, renew their bodies, and give them all that the Father has.
The new and everlasting covenant is not merely a promise from God to man. It is a mutual oath. God binds Himself by His own name; the recipient binds themselves by the covenant. It cuts both ways — the blessings for faithfulness are as real as the withdrawal of protection for covenant breach. "If ye are not one ye are not mine" (D&C 38:27). The covenant requires everything, and it returns everything.
| D&C 132:4–7 | The new and everlasting covenant — all must receive it or it profits nothing |
|---|---|
| D&C 132:19 | Celestial marriage sealed into thrones, kingdoms, and eternal increase |
| Abraham 2:9–11 | The Abrahamic Covenant — seed, priesthood, land, gospel blessing to all nations |
| D&C 84:33–40 | The oath and covenant of the priesthood — what God swears; what man swears |
| D&C 110:13–16 | Elijah restores the sealing keys in the Kirtland Temple |
| Genesis 17:1–8 | The Abrahamic Covenant ratified — seed, land, and an everlasting covenant |
| Isaiah 54–55 | The covenant with the Servant's seed — its Millennial expression |
