#9 "God will Provide Himself a Lamb"

Abraham 1; Genesis 15-17; 21-22
Do you remember your parents telling you bedtime stories? Do you remember what they were about? Do you remember being immersed in the story so deeply that you almost forgot that the story wasn’t about you? Or do you remember reading stories to your children? What stories do you read? When I thought about this lesson I pictured Isaac as a child being told stories by Abraham of things that happened in his life. I imagine one of his favorites was the one found in Abraham 1 when Abraham was being sacrificed by the idol god Elkenah.
Can’t you picture a little boy sitting by the fire watching the intensity of Abraham’s face as he tells his son this horrific story?
*While we are reading this story think about some of the life lessons that Abraham will be teaching Isaac.
Once upon a time there was a time when v.5 my fathers, having turned from their righteousness, and from the holy commandments which the Lord their God had given unto them, unto the worshipping of the gods of the heathen, utterly refused to hearken to my voice;v.6 for their hearts were set to do evil, and were wholly turned to the god of Elkenah, and the god of Libnah, and the god of Mahmackrah, and the god of Korash, and the god of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; v.7 Therefore they turned their hearts to the sacrifice of the heathen in offering up their children unto these dumb idols, and hearkened not unto my voice, but endeavored to take away my life by the hand of the priest of Elkenah. V.8 Now at this time it was the custom of the priest of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to offer up upon the altar which was built in the land of chaldea,…v.10 Even the thank-offering of a child did the priest of Pharaoh offer upon the altar…v.12 Now it came to pass that the priests laid violence upon me, that they might slay me also, as they did the 3 virgins; v15 As they lifted up their hands upon me, that they might offer me up and take away my life, behold, I lifted up my voice unto the Lord my God, and the Lord hearkened and heard, and he filled me with the vision of the Almighty, and the angel of his presence stood by me, and immediately unloosed my bands; v.16 and his voice was unto me: Abraham, Abraham, behold, my name is Jehovah, and I have heard thee, and have come down to deliver thee, and to take thee away from thy father’s house, and from all thy kinsfolk, into a strange land which thou knowest not of;…v17 therefore I have come down to visit them and to destroy him who hath lifted up his hand against thee, Abraham, my son, to take away thy life. And he did and I lived happily ever after.

From this bedtime story I imagine Abraham teaching his son many life lessons. What do you think he might have taught him?
Men will do evil acts and stray very far when they do not have the spirit of God with them.
Only the God of Israel has the power to destroy as well as save.
When we put our trust in God calling on him throughout our lives, He will save us.
That God did not approve of the human sacrifices that were going on. Nor did He approve of the false Gods that were being worshipped.

As with all of us as we go through life and have experiences and trials we learn from them and we can keep learning from them the more we ponder them and apply them to our current situations.

Between that sacrificial moment and the time Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac he had offered many of his own sacrifices. It is told that he offered animal sacrifices; in Chapter 21:12 it is told by the Lord that he should send away the son he bore with Hagar (Sarah’s handmaid) he was also a prophet and man of God what kind of sacrifices do you think he made that may be similar to the sacrifices that we make today?
Time to share the gospel and serve the members, Sacrificed time with His family to serve the Lord, sacrificed talents to serve in the many capacities that he would be called upon to do, in our last lesson we learned how he was willing to sacrifice his substance to go after and fight for Lot’s family and perhaps others.

I imagine that throughout Abraham’s life we sacrificed all things for the Lord. I would think that along the way He learned a few things about Sacrifice.
What do we know about Sacrifice by living the gospel? Mormon Doct. P 663 says, “Sacrifice is the crowning test of the gospel. Men are tried and tested in this mortal probation to see if they will put first in their lives the things of the kingdom of God. To gain eternal life, they must be willing, if called upon, to sacrifice all things for the gospel.”
Joseph Smith taught, “For a man to lay down his all, his character and reputation, his honor, and applause, his good name among men, his houses, his lands, his brothers and sisters, his wife and children, and even his own life-counting all things but filth and dross of the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ—requires more than mere belief or supposition that he is doing the will of God; but actual knowledge, realizing that, when these sufferings are ended, he will enter into eternal rest; and be a partaker of the glory of God…”
“A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary to lead unto life and salvation;…it is through the medium of the sacrifice of all earthly things that men do actually know that they are doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God. When a man has offered in sacrifice all that he has had for the truth’s sake, not even withholding his life, and believing before God that he has been called to make this sacrifice because he seeks to do his will, he does know, most assuredly, that God does and will accept his sacrifice and offering…under these circumstances, then, he can obtain the faith necessary for him to lay hold on eternal life.” (lectures on faith p 58-60)
*now we know what sacrifice does and why we do it, why must we be doing it now, all along?
God has most wisely designed, in my humble view and opinion, that, as a people, we should be called upon from time to time to make sacrifices in order that we may be weaned from the love of the things of this life, that our love may be concentrated upon Him and upon the salvation of our fellow men, for the mission that is entrusted to us is to save the inhabitants of the earth. George Q. Cannon Oct. 1873

With knowledge that we as God’s people should be willing to sacrifice all things for the Lord including what and who we love the most, we go to the time in Abraham’s life when he was faced with another opportunity to prove his obedience and Love to the Lord.
Hugh B. Brown in (The Highest in Us 1978,p 49) said, “God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac because “Abraham needed to learn something about Abraham” “ I thought about this phase a lot this week and wondered what Abraham had to learn about himself, the way God works by teaching us things certain ways, and what requirements the Lord asks of us as people who want to dwell with him.

Now we know the story of Abraham and Isaac so we won’t repeat the whole thing but I want to set up a couple of things then go through several verses that will teach us about sacrificing everything, even the things we love the most.
1-In the Old testament manual it states that Isaac was most likely an adult, “Immediately following the account of the sacrifice on Mount Moriah is recorded the statement that Sarah died at the age of 127 (Gen. 23:1) Thus, Isaac would have been 37 at the time of her death. Even if the journey to Moriah had happened several years before Sarah’s death, Isaac would have been in his thirties, as was the Savior at the time of his crucifixion…What is significant is that Abraham was well over a hundred years old and Isaac was most likely a strong young man who could have put up a fierce resistance had he chosen to do so. In fact, Isaac submitted willingly to what his father intended, just as the Savior would do.” (Did do)
2-This story parallels the sacrifice of the Savior for us, up to a point; paralleling these two teaches Abraham about the Lord’s purposes to help His seed (us). Think about this parallel as we go.
3-Remember the Lord promised Abraham that is was through Isaac that His seed would proceed. Now the Lord is asking Him to sacrifice him on the altar. What would that do to you? I know it would confuse me I wonder if I would doubt the Lord’s integrity wondering if He was not a God that keeps His promises. Abraham was righteous and I’m sure that the phrase of “I just need to have faith” ran through his mind through the entire process.

Let’s go to the scriptures chapter 22:3 Abraham rose up early which tells me that Abraham wasn’t a procrastinator. He did what he was asked to do by the Lord, immediately He didn’t wait and say, “perhaps I will ponder this a little more, maybe I’m supposed to learn something here and I’m missing it. He just went”
v.5 He asked his servants to stay while they went off, Abraham didn’t seek the fanfare or the attention of this act. So he was a humble servant.
v.6 He put the wood for the altar on Isaacs back (think again of the Savior carrying his own cross)
v.8 Isaac I’m sure had this bedtime story coming to his mind and had an idea of what was happening, I’m sure the same life experience was also going through Abrahams mind.
v.7 So when Isaac asks where is the lamb for an offering? I imagine he is trying to piece things together as well as say remember the Lord delivered Abraham surely He will deliver me. Do we ever ponder what we are supposed to be learning from our trials?
v. 8 in this verse when it says they both went together, tells me that they both were being obedient, but both were trying to have faith that things would turn out just as they did for Abraham.
v.9 So Abraham built the altar because it was to be His sacrifice. He bound Isaac so that he couldn’t just let him go and can’t you just picture Isaac saying I’m not sure I have enough faith, you’d better tie me up so I don’t want to fight and run.
Can’t you just picture the whole time Abraham and Isaac looking around for the Lord to provide a miracle.
Well the miracle hasn’t come yet so I can picture Abraham thinking I know exactly how Isaac is feeling, how can I put him through this, how can I do what I myself thought was so wrong.
**Lorenzo Snow tells us the only way a person could get past this issue. “No mortal man could have done what Abraham did-except he were inspired and had a divinity within him to receive that inspiration. (April 1898 p 64)
v. 10 Abraham submits his whole heart and will to the Lord and raises the Knife. I’m sure the Lord was just waiting for the perfect time in which He knew that Abraham had made up his mind that Faith can only take me so far, if I am to trust the Lord then I need to do what he asks and stop waiting for Him to step in.
v.11-12 The Lord tells him don’t sacrifice him, what a relief this had to have been to both Isaac and Abraham, but notice what the Lord says “now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou has not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”
So what does Abraham find out about himself? That He truly loves the Lord more than even His son, that he was strong enough to follow through with what to me would be the hardest thing the Lord had ever asked of him.
He finds out that His faith becomes greater when he submits his whole heart and will to the Lord. No fear, No Doubts!
He finds out how badly he wants to be with the Lord eternally.
In the next verses He finds out how the Lord works and what kinds of things He is capable of.
v. 13 He finds a Ram caught in a thicket. This is a miracle, don’t you think that they had already looked around for any animal that could take Isaacs place, and now it is there all of a sudden? God does provide all things, even if it takes a miracle, if it is his will.
Why a Ram? A Ram was the animal used in a trespass or guilt offerings. Which is when someone tries to take from God His rites as God upon themselves (I think that is what I understood from the Bible Dict. Under Sacrifice). So God is saying it is only the right of Eloheim to make the Sacrifice of His Son to and for the World, not Abraham. This teaches Abraham a lot about How loving our Heavenly Father is, that He will be the one to allow such a sacrifice of His son, but it won’t be asked of any other father to sacrifice their son’s in that same way. Now this doesn’t mean that He’s promising that we wouldn’t lose our sons and daughters to death, after all that is what the plan of salvation is about, but he is asking, just as He asked Abraham to love Him more than He and We love our sons and daughters, enough that we will still live and continue on serving as He will ask us to.
v. 16 By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou has done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: that in blessing I will bless thee…v.18 and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou has obeyed my voice.

Do we have the Faith and Obedience of Abraham? What bedtime stories do we have that can teach our life lessons? As we go through our experiences, and trials, are we sacrificing everything we are being asked to sacrifice for the Lord. Do we Love the Lord more than our comfort of sitting in the back row at church and not participating in every aspect of the gospel? Do we love the Lord enough to do unpleasant things that may be difficult for us so we can achieve the Lord’s will for our lives?
Are we obedient enough live life through feelings and impressions we receive daily, or is it easier just not to ask? If it’s easier not to ask is that what sacrificing is about?

Will the Lord be able to say “now I know thou fearest me” (lovest me) more than thy comfort zones, more than your loved ones, more than your own agenda, more than even your life? I’m not sure what sacrifices each person is asked to make in this life, they are all different, but I do know that if we want to live an eternal life in the presence of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ then we must make sacrifices that may try our faith and basic beliefs just as Abraham’s were, as well as all past and present prophets, and God’s People have been; in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.