Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—Sacrifices Offered by Them—Abraham and the Gospel Covenant—Extracts from the Book of Abraham and the Writings of Paul.
We will now return to Abraham, who is denominated the Father of the Faithful, and who, as we have before seen, was a contemporary of Melchizedek. The testimony in the Bible is direct and explicit that Abraham fulfilled the law requiring the offering of sacrifices, and furthermore was in possession of the principles of the Gospel and understood the saving value of the atonement.
In the historical narrative of the Book of Genesis, we have numerous testimonies that Abraham offered up sacrifices, in connection with his worship of the Almighty. For instance, it is written:
"And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land; and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him. And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord."—Gen., xii, 6-8.
In the next chapter we are told that Abraham "went on his journeys from the south even to Beth-el, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Beth-el and Hai; unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord."—Gen., xiii, 3, 4.
And afterwards he removed his "tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord."—Gen., xiii, 18.
The Book of Abraham gives some further details on these matters. The
Patriarch therein states:
"Now I, Abraham, built an altar in the land of Jershon, and made an offering unto the Lord, and prayed that the famine might be turned away from my father's house, that they might not perish; and then we passed from Jershon through the land, unto the place of Sechem. It was situated in the plains of Moreh, and we had already come into the borders of the land of the Canaanites, and I offered sacrifice there in the plains of Moreh, and called on the Lord devoutly, because we had already come into the land of this idolatrous nation. And the Lord appeared unto me in answer to my prayers, and said unto me, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And I, Abraham, arose from the place of the altar which I had built unto the Lord, and removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched my tent there, Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there I built another altar unto the Lord, and called again upon the name of the Lord."—Pearl of Great Price.
Although full details are not given of the mode of sacrifice in those ancient times, nor of all the creatures that were acceptable unto the Lord, in the performance of this rite, yet the narrative of the contemplated sacrifice of Isaac by his father is indicative of the principle being well understood. We are told that the young man said: "My Father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering."—Gen., xxii, 7, 8.
It is evident from other scriptures that Abraham offered up these sacrifices in token of the great expiatory sacrifice of the Son of God. Indeed the Redeemer himself told the Jews, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad."—John, viii, 56.