These things were revealed to the Prophet Joseph, and they throw a perfect flood of light upon the scriptures which refer to Christ as the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,"[C] From that expression we see that Jesus was chosen to make the atonement from the foundation of the world, and that the gospel was understood from the beginning. The Prophet Joseph Smith said that "at the first organization in heaven we were all present, and saw the Savior chosen and appointed and the plan of salvation made, and we sanctioned it."
[Footnote C: Rev. xiii: 8.]
Coming to the time when the gospel was introduced among men on this earth, we find it began by a commandment to Adam to worship the Lord his God, and to offer the firstlings of his flock for an offering unto the Lord. Many days after this commandment had been given, an angel of the Lord visited Adam and asked him why he offered up sacrifices. To which Adam replied: "I know not, save the Lord commanded me." "And the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father. * * * Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore. And in that day the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying, I am the Only Begotten of the Father from the beginning, henceforth and forever, that as thou hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed; and all mankind, even as many as will."[D]
[Footnote D: Pearl of Great Price, p. 12.]
Enoch, several centuries after this, in describing these events that occurred in the early experience of Adam, said: "He [the Lord] called upon our father Adam by his own voice, saying, I am God: I made the world, and men before they were in the flesh. * * * If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, * * * which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." * * * And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water. And thus he was baptized; and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man. And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying, "Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever; and thou art after the order of him who was without the beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity. Behold, thou art one in me, a Son of God; and thus may all become my sons."[E]
[Footnote E: Pearl of Great Price, p. 17.]
The reader will here observe that the same principles and ordinances were taught to Adam, as the means of salvation, as have been set forth in these pages as the First Principles of the Gospel of Christ. They continued on through the generations of the patriarchs to the days of Noah; and from Noah through the fathers to Abraham, and from Abraham to Moses. At least in one of the revelations of the Lord contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, we have the continuance of the Melchisedek Priesthood traced out through the line of the fathers from Moses to Abraham, from Abraham to Noah, and from Noah to Adam,[F] and I see not how this priesthood can exist among men and not the gospel: for that is what this priesthood is for— to administer in the ordinances of the gospel, and it is obtained through obedience to the gospel.
[Footnote F: Doc. and Cov. sec. lxxxiv.]
That the gospel was taught to Abraham and to ancient Israel is also evident from the Jewish scriptures. Paul, in writing to the saints in Galatia explained to them that, "The scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed,"[G] From this then it is clear that the Gospel was taught to Abraham.
[Footnote G: Gal. iii: 8.]