What Everlasting Kindness Looks Like
- Laureen Simper
- Oct 18, 2024
- 5 min read
Come Follow Me (3 Nephi 20-26)
I had one of those rare days this week when the 3D picture came into view, and I more fully understood what Isaiah was saying.
Jesus was quoting Isaiah 54 to Lehi's family in 3 Nephi 22. Sometimes when you squint, you get a hint of what he's saying, but twice this week, reading that short chapter, I wept cathartically at what the Holy Ghost gave me in those verses.
"And then shall that which is written come to pass: Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child..." (3 Nephi 22:1)
Maybe it was because I wanted many more children than came to our house, that there was a miscarriage in the mix. Maybe it's because I'm still mourning the loss of two babies just this past year, born too soon to a beloved family member. Maybe it's because I've mourned for and with infertile friends. Maybe it's because my own arms are empty right now because of faraway grown-up children.
All I know is that as I read that first verse, I heard God comforting women who ache to hold a child and for whatever reason, their arms remain empty.
Except then, I saw the woman Christ was describing as a symbol for His covenant family, Israel. Because of millennia of disobedience and scattering, the patriarch of that family is portrayed as the empty-armed mother, wondering how he could have better taught eternal promises to his family to make them understand to better stay faithful. The ache of emptiness at no fruit for all the effort of planting is felt by the father as much as the mother in this metaphor.
Even as Isaiah paints word images of barren women mourning the emptiness of their arms, the desolate lack of fruit for their planting, the voice of Jesus Christ encourages them to sing and rejoice, because these are the women who bear the most children! As the wiping of tears began in the story (Revelation 21:4), mine began as I read:
"Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes;
"For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited." (3 Nephi 2-3)
How can this be? How can my empty arms be so filled that I must spare no effort to make room for more than I can count - enough to fill cities?
"...for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord." (3 Nephi 22:1)
The Father of the entire race has called one family to serve all the others, and knowing the fickle folly of the race, has made provisions for their folly. Even the folly of the servant family.
A Savior to rescue, redeem, reclaim, and restore.
A gathering - ironically - which will start with the children of the woman not under covenant!
The fickle family will leave a record for their Gentile brothers and sisters, and thanks to the beautiful doctrine of adoption, these children will also make covenants, and call their wandering covenant brothers and sisters home.
Which is more tender and intimate - the covenant between a parent and child, or that between a husband and wife? One of the loveliest images used to describe our relationship with our God is that of Bridegroom - one who keeps covenant in spite of the unfruitful or unfaithful wife.
"For thy maker, thy husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel - the God of the whole earth shall be called.
For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God." (3 Nephi 22:5-6)
When we read of generations of covenant Israel being unfruitful in their disobedience, wandering from their covenants, it can be easy to focus on the barrenness - the lack of fruit - the broken covenant. That's us; that's the side of the covenant we can relate to.
It's easy to forget the One on the other side of the covenant who set the terms - the One whose very character and nature forbid Him to abandon us. Our God doesn't keep covenants the way we do, and praise Him forever because of it:
"For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.
"In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord they Redeemer.
"...for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be wrath with thee.
"For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." (3 Nephi 22:7-10)
In the October 2022 Liahona, President Nelson wrote:
"Once we make a covenant with God, we leave neutral ground forever. God will not abandon His relationship with those who have forged such a bond with Him." (Russell M. Nelson, "The Everlasting Covenant," Liahona, October 2022)
Everlasting kindness is only part of what God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ bring to covenant making. Their eternal mercy and kindness will allow a nearly infinite number of second chances.
This is their nature, even in generations of barren unfruitfulness: "For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." (Isaiah 9:21)
"For all this..." - for all the disobedience - the wandering - the years of empty arms - and no fruit in spite of the planting. They're also talking about their empty arms - without us!
For all the millennia of separation and broken covenants, His anger is not turned away because it must not be turned away - eternal natural and divine law forbid it. Consequences must be meted according to our choices.
But... His hand will be stretched out still. The Savior's mercy will be offered as long as is eternally possible. The invitation to come home will never be rescinded until that final harvest when all accounts must be settled.
Everlasting kindness looks like that.
"God's intent is to bring you home." (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2024/04/45kearon?lang=eng)
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