What to Pray For

Who do we suppose are the end-time people of the Lord of whom he says, “I was available to those who did not inquire of me; I was accessible to those who did not seek me. I said, Here am I; I am here, to a people that did not invoke my name” (Isaiah 65:1)? Or those of whom Isaiah says, “None calls upon your name, or rouses himself to take hold of you” (Isaiah 64:7)? If the fulness of the gospel was restored the better part of two centuries ago, are we today living its fulness as exemplified by the role of spiritual kings and queens to the house of Israel?

If some are ordained as kings and queens, what is their understanding or “knowledge” of their calling according to the terms of God’s covenant with Israel’s kings and queens? Are its laws not delineated in the Davidic Covenant—the covenant God made with King David and his heirs? How can persons who are ordained to this calling assume to be kings and queens without ever having performed the spiritual function of kings and queens as God has defined it? A calling as kings and queens could, in fact, turn to its recipients’ condemnation if they failed to fulfill it.

A classic example of the Davidic Covenant in action occurs at Assyria’s siege of Jerusalem in Isaiah’s day. When King Hezekiah entreats the Lord to deliver his people from a threat too great for them, the Lord responds by sending his angel to destroy the Assyrian host (Isaiah 37:14–36). But that didn’t happen until the Lord required Hezekiah’s sacrifice of his life if necessary (Isaiah 38:1–6). Letting Hezekiah believe he would die from an illness—and seeing that he humbly offered himself—the Lord instead slew their enemies and saved Hezekiah and his people alive.

The same goes for his servant’s “knowledge” of how the Davidic Covenant works. If he willingly answers for their iniquities, God spares the people: “He shall see the toil of his soul and be satisfied; because of his knowledge, and by bearing their iniquities, shall my servant, the righteous one, vindicate many. I will assign him an inheritance among the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because he poured out his soul unto death, and was numbered with criminals—he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:11–12).

As in this case, Hezekiah not only typified God’s end-time servant but all servants who prepare the way for the coming of the Lord to reign among his people. Saving the Jews, Ten Tribes, and Lamanites from life-threatening calamities coming upon the world, spiritual kings and queens of the Ephraimite Gentiles intercede with God on their behalf. Empowered by God as seraphs or translated beings—after he “sees the toil of their souls”—they exercise power over the elements and the forces of evil as they bring Israel’s elect remnants to safety in Zion (Isaiah 49:22–23).

Who else is Mormon referring to when he speaks of end-time “Gentiles who have care for the house of Israel, that realize and know from whence their blessings come” (Mormon 5:10)? Who else are those whom Isaiah addresses when he says, “You who call upon the Lord, let not up nor give him respite till he reestablishes Jerusalem and makes it renowned in the earth” (Isaiah 62:6–7)? If Nephi—in the act of serving his people “as a king or a protector, and on whom ye depend for safety” (2 Nephi 6:2)—prayed for them day and night (2 Nephi 33:34), shall we not?

So long as a king keeps God’s law, and those in his charge keep the king’s law, God is bound by the terms of his covenant to deliver king and people from a mortal threat. Such are the terms of the Davidic Covenant, the “knowledge” of whose principles we see acted out in all scriptures. Therein also operates the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether implemented anciently by Hezekiah or in the end-time by Ephraimite Gentile seraphs, it is the same. The restoration of the house of Israel cannot occur, and the Lord cannot come, only under these principles.