President Russell M Nelson recently taught: “Labels can be fun and indicate your support for any number of positive things. Many labels will change for you with the passage of time. And not all labels are of equal value. But if any label replaces your most important identifiers, the results can be spiritually suffocating.
“For example, if I were to rank in order of importance the designations that could be applied to me, I would say: First, I am a child of God—a son of God—then a son of the covenant, then a disciple of Jesus Christ and a devoted member of His restored Church.
“Next would come my honored titles as a husband and father, then Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“All other labels that have applied to me—such as a medical doctor, surgeon, researcher, professor, lieutenant, captain, PhD, American, and so forth—would fall somewhere down the list.
“Now, let us turn the question to you. Who are you?
“First and foremost, you are a child of God.
“Second, as a member of the Church, you are a child of the covenant. And third, you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.
“Tonight, I plead with you not to replace these three paramount and unchanging identifiers with any others, because doing so could stymie your progress or pigeonhole you in a stereotype that could potentially thwart your eternal progression.” (Read the message: Choices for Eternity, Pres. Russell M Nelson, May 2022.)
* * * * *
Although eternally relevant, I don’t believe my gender is my most relevant, significant characteristic (i.e. label, identifier, affiliation, degree, etc.)
* * * * *
As a society, we have abdicated the token of the covenant to a lesser cause, or meaning.
The seed (progeny) of Noah includes every subsequent generation of mankind (and creatures, BTW) since the moment the door was sealed on the ark.
Through this global event, the earth received its baptism, on its pathway back to and prior to its return to the presence of God. (Doc & Cov 88 : 25-29)
GENESIS 9
8 ¶ And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. (see Doc & Cov 88: 25)
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
* * * * * *
The prophet Ezekiel recounts the appearance of God, YHWH, equating his presence to a sapphire stone, the color of amber, fire, brightness, and “the bow that is in the cloud” — the symbol of covenant.
EZEKIEL 1
26 ¶ And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
27 And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.
A prism. The color white (not really a color) contains all color.
* * * * *
John the Revelator sees a vision of God, recorded in the Book of Revelation, observing the symbol of the covenant, the diffusion of light eminanting from a glorified being–a rainbow round about his throne.
REVELATION 4
2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
REVELATION 10
1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
* * * * *
Just as Noah, Ezekiel, and John, mere men, had seen beings of light, so, too, did Joseph Smith see angels of light.
JSH 1: 30-32 illustrates one of these encounters with a being of light. Wrote Joseph:
30 While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor.
31 He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant. His hands were naked, and his arms also, a little above the wrist; so, also, were his feet naked, as were his legs, a little above the ankles. His head and neck were also bare. I could discover that he had no other clothing on but this robe, as it was open, so that I could see into his bosom.
32 Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear soon left me.
The covenant of God is light–exaltation. To live in everlasting burnings. The “bow,” or rainbow is God’s sign of the covenant. The token of the covenant, as Noah recorded.
Interestingly enough, a geometric stone or crystal (dispersive prism) separates or diffuses light into every color of the token (symbol) of the covenant–the rainbow. (See also, Joseph and his coat of many colors–a garment of light. Genesis 37:3 – “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.” The symbol: The God of Israel bestowes, or endows, his covenant child with light, or exaltation.)
***Also, the colors of the coat may have represented (a symbol of) branches of Jacob’s (aka Israel’s) progeny, represented by multiple “lanes” of color.
See also, Bible Dictionary, 1979, p. 759, RAINBOW.
At the beginning of this post, I stated that we have adbicated the symbol (token) of the rainbow to an agenda inconsistent with the covenants of God. But, that isn’t really true. The reality is: God is greater than any agenda, than any usurpation of sacred commitment between God and His children. God does not change. His covenants do not change. His desired outcome for each of His faithful children does not change.
“For behold, this is my work and my glory–to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1:39)
Our Heavenly Parents want us to enjoy Eternal Lives!
