The following verse in Isaiah 24 is another profound witness that the Marvelous Work takes place in the third watch, not the second watch;
"The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men left."
We have already discussed how Christ visited the Nephites shortly after his crucifixion and revealed that all of the words of Isaiah "have been and will be"
All of the prophecies in Isaiah were to have a dual fulfillment. Once prior to his visit to the Nephites, once after.
Although the Jews rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified him and broke the everlasting covenant, we know that the same scenario happened again in the latter days.
We know this because Isaiah informs us that after the covenant is broken, the inhabitants of the earth are burned and few men left.
Clearly the earth was not burned at the time of Christ or even during the dark ages that followed. The literal fulfillment of this prophecy clearly begins to take place in the latter days, in the Second Watch when the fulness of the gospel was rejected.
When the first laborers return in the 3rd watch to gather the elect prior to the second coming, the earth will be burned..
Jesus Christ sent his messenger Joseph Smith in the 2nd watch to deliver the fulness of the Gospel and allow the Saints to enter in the everlasting covenant... again. But the gospel was rejected, the messenger was killed and the covenant was broken.
Remember post #2 when I mentioned the parable in Matt 21 with special emphasis on JS Matt 21:47-56? It reveals the sobering fact that the Gentiles brought forth the same evil fruits that the Jews brought forth when Christ delivered the everlasting covenant to them.
Remember....we know that the everlasting covenant is the covenant between God and his children by which they are redeemed from this telestial world and brought into the highest glory they are capable of receiving. The everlasting covenant begins as a baptismal covenant between the individual disciple and God, following that there is a second endowment called the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost that the elect receive. Additionally, the collective church is commanded to become one and consecrate... the individual covenant merges into a group covenant.
The individual that believes, enters into covenant with God and consummates the everlasting covenant by being baptized by water and then by fire and the holy spirit. At this point the person is born again and has given up their mortal name by taking upon them the name of Christ. This is the ultimate act of consecration!
Frankly, it is the second endowment that enables the saints to successfully consecration.
Their failure to consecrate in the second watch was caused by the fact that very few received the second endowment.
In essence the gospel requires the Saints to give up their independent state and become one in Christ as he is one in the Father. The law of consecration is an extension of the individual covenant which unites the individual with all of the other individual disciples who have also taken up the the same name.
Any time the true church is on the earth with the fulness of the gospel, the church will immediately be commanded to live the everlasting law of consecration because it is an extension of the baptismal covenant. If they consecrate, they progress, if they refuse or fail in their attempt, they digress.
The New Testament reveals that the Meridian Church of Christ was striving to live the law of consecration and were striving to have all things in common within just a few years after Christ brought the fulness of the Gospel to them.
The same thing happened to the Nephites very shortly after Christ visited and taught them and appointed the 12 disciples to minister to them, they were living the law of Consecration.
Additionally, within one year after the Lord restored the Church through the prophet Joseph Smith, he gave them the commandment to leave New York and gather to the Ohio where he would give them the law which they were obliged to live having received the first endowment of the Gospel and having made an open declaration that they had consecrated themselves unto Christ by taking upon them the name of Christ.
Section 42 contains that law of the Gospel. It is the law that enables the Saints to enter into the holy order of the priesthood and receive the fulness of the priesthood just like Enoch and Melchizedek and their people did.
The fulness of the Gospel and the Everlasting Covenant that grows out if it is the higher law of the Gospel that Moses was originally bringing to the Children of Israel from the Lord when he broke the tablets they were on because of the idolatry of the Children of Israel.
In post #24 we briefly reviewed how the term "everlasting covenant" refers not only to the covenant by which Gods people become redeemed through gospel law, but it also refers to the messenger that is sent from God to deliver the covenant.
In the first watch God the Father sent his Son Jesus Christ to deliver the everlasting covenant and thus he was in essence the covenant.
In the send watch, Jesus Christ sent his messenger Joseph Smith to re-establish the covenant hence he also became the covenant (messenger of the covenant) as well.
To refresh your memory, Christ has informed us that He gave the law to Moses. This reveals that Jesus Christ is the God of the Old Testament. He is Jehovah. Any time you see the word LORD in caps in the King James version of the bible, it comes from the word Jehovah, which is the Old Testament word for Jesus Christ. ( This is according to the mystical definition of God which also includes the Father since the Father is in Christ and Christ is in the Father... the book of Moses provides a different spin... showing that the Father is the one dealing with Moses... both spins are correct... more on this later)
With this understanding we know that the literal fulfullment of Isaish 42 must be referring to a messenger that was sent from Christ in the latter days:
“I, the LORD [Jesus Christ], have called thee [my messenger Joseph Smith] in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house” (Isa 42:6)
Ok... I have suggested that the gentiles in the 2nd watch bring for the same evil fruits that the Jews brought forth after entering into the everlasting covenant and that is a strong reason why the broken covenant needs to be re-established in the 3rd Watch.
I have used the JS Translation to show this but now I want to show you an interesting statement in modern revelation that proves that the everlasting covenant was broken again, in the 2nd watch AFTER the fulness of the Gospel and the everlasting covenant was given to the gentiles.
Notice the words in Red that reveal that the breaking of the everlasting covenant was going to be taking place in the future, sometime after that revelation was given:
"Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh; And the anger of the Lord is kindled, and his sword is bathed in heaven, and it shall fall upon the inhabitants of the earth. And the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people; For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant; "
Well meaning people will often quote the last verse which sounds like the breaking of the everlasting covenant is being spoken of in the past tense.
For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant; "
That is essentially what I was trying to tell preacher Allen before I understood about the latter day apostasy of the restored church...
The everlasting covenant was broken by the stiff necked Jews in the meridian of time.... but he wasn't having any of it. He knew that the literal fulfillment had to be at a future time.. and he was absolutely correct.
It is true that the Church needed to be restored through Joseph Smith because the covenant had been broken in the meridian time by the Jews... however, Isaiah 24 and section one of the D&C show that the everlasting covenant was going to be broken again, in the latter days, by the gentiles.
Hence, the need for the Marvelous Work to come forth to re-establish the covenant in the 3rd Watch.
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