"God Will Provide Himself a Lamb”

“God Will Provide Himself a Lamb”
Lesson 9
Compiled by Maren Hale, Pleasant View 1st Ward Gospel Doctrine Class, March 7, 2010

Readings: Abraham 1; Genesis 15-17; 21-22
Board: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

INTRODUCTION

The life of Abraham is an exemplary pattern of spiritual growth. From his early youth, he was schooled by experiences of adversity and oppression…The lessons of obedience and valor he learned carried him through life on the wings of divine support and blessing.

“Never losing the vision of his destined calling, he set an unequaled example of one willing to do everything asked of him by God, without hesitation and without question.” (Teachings and Commentary on the Old Testament, Ed J. Pinegar and Richard J. Allen, pp. 315-16)

BODY

Abraham is nearly sacrificed by the false priests of Pharaoh.

All these things shall give thee experience

In Abraham, Chapter 1, we learn that Abraham spent his early years in Ur of Chaldea. His fathers had turned from righteousness and did not keep the commandments. They worshiped the false gods of the heathen. “Their hearts were set to do evil.” They even offered up their men, women, and children as human sacrifices to these idols.

Pharaoh’s false priests tried to offer him as a sacrifice to their false gods.

SCRIPTURE: Abraham 1:15

“And 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.”

Abraham had within his heart a desire to serve God in the future. He had to depend on the Lord and his faith to preserve and deliver him.

How was Abraham saved from these false priests – what happened?
● Abraham called upon the Lord and an angel loosed the bands with which he
was tied – Abraham 1:15-16
● The Lord broke down the altar of Elkenah and smote the priest -- Abraham 1:20

Abraham’s experience on the altar of the false priests helped him prepare for future trials:
● It strengthened his faith in the Lord.
● He also knew what fear Isaac might face and he could prepare Isaac.

How can our trials prepare us for future difficulties? [They give us experience. We learn that we can be comforted, guided, and strengthened by the Lord through His Spirit]

I love this advice by the writer Harriet Beecher Stowe: “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”

EXPERIENCE: Student at Berkeley

During High School, There were times when I was singled out by teachers in a negative fashion because I was a Mormon. I remember the promptings I received to respond and stand firm in the faith. One teacher taught one day that all Mormon boys serve missions for 5 years and all Mormon girls become nurses. I raised my hand and incurred her ire as I tried to gently correct her. She ended with, “You’re wrong!”

I recall the time when I was a student in a Race and Ethnic Relations class at Berkeley. It was a smaller class and we would sit around a large, rectangular oak table. We got to know each other fairly well as the professor called upon each of us often in class.

One day we were discussing prejudice and its effects in America. The teacher suddenly turned to me and said, “Miss Hale, because you were born in Utah, I assume you are a Mormon.” I acknowledged that I was. He continued, “Then you, Miss Hale, are the prime example in America of prejudice against blacks.”

I felt my neck and face flush and my heart started to pound wildly (I began a pleading prayer for help from the Lord). The teacher went on to explain to the class that Mormons withhold their priesthood from blacks. He turned to me and said, “Isn’t that so, Miss Hale?”

I answered that indeed blacks were restricted from holding the priesthood. I explained that there have been times when the priesthood was restricted to a certain group or withheld from certain groups throughout history.

I told the class that I was very uncomfortable having the priesthood withheld from blacks, but that I had faith that one day a revelation would be given to our prophet that the priesthood would be extended to them, and that I was praying for that day.

I mentioned my esteem and affection for many blacks I had been acquainted with growing up in Washington, D.C., and that I regarded all people as equal. As I sat down my heart was heavy because I knew that my explanation fell short of my teacher’s scrutiny.

To my surprise the black student seated next to me raised his hand and said, “There is something wrong here. I don’t understand how you can single Miss Hale out for being prejudice when she has explained to us that she is not. I think perhaps she is the one feeling the prejudice, not me.”

As I walked out of that class, I felt my prayer had been answered – that the Spirit had strengthened me and had touched the student sitting beside me.

“I [had] lifted up my voice unto the Lord my God, and the Lord hearkened and heard.” Abraham 1:15

Abraham has children through Hagar and Sarah.

Abraham was concerned about being childless.

SCRIPTURE: Genesis 15:5-6

5. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

This must have been amazing to Abraham. He was an older man and did not have children, but “he believed in the Lord.”

SCRIPTURE: Genesis 16:3

“And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.”

Sarah had not born Abraham any children, so she sent Abraham to Hagar so that she could “obtain children by her.” (Genesis 16:1-2)

Let’s read an explanation from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism on why that happened.

QUOTE #1

Encyclopedia of Mormonism: “In her old age, Sarah gave Hagar, her maid, to Abraham. Modern revelation indicates that Sarah thereby ‘administered unto Abraham according to the law’ (D&C 132:65), and more recent scholarship has confirmed the widespread legal obligation of the childless wife in the ancient Near East to provide her husband with a second wife.” (p. 1260)

SCRIPTURE D&C 132:34-35

34. God commanded Abraham, and Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham to wife. And why did she do it? Because this was the law; and from Hagar sprang many people. This, therefore, was fulfilling, among other things, the promises.
35. Was Abraham, therefore, under condemnation? Verily I say unto you, Nay; for I, the Lord, commanded it.

Abraham was 86 years old when Hagar bore him a son, Ishmael (Genesis 16:34-35).

QUESTION: Prior to the birth of Ishmael did Sarah and Hagar get along? [They had a falling out, Hagar fled, was stopped by an angel and told that she would bear a child and that her seed would be multiplied “exceedingly.”]

Elder Bruce R. McConkie tells us that “The son’s of Ishamel peopled the north and west of the Arabian peninsula and supposedly formed the chief element of the Arab nation, the wandering Bedouin tribes. They are now mostly [Muslims].” (Mormon Doctrine, p. 389)

In Genesis 17 the Lord appeared to Abraham when he was 99 years old and renewed the covenant.

SCRIPTURE: Genesis 17:15-17

15. “And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
16. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
17. Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? And shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

The Joseph Smith Translation reads:

“Then Abraham fell upon his face and rejoiced...”

In the Genesis version Abraham “laughed” at the Lord’s promises.
In the Joseph Smith Translation, Abraham is a man of tremendous faith.

SCRIPTURE: Genesis 17:20-21

20. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
21. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

When we think about the yearning over the years of Abraham and Sarah to have a child, we understand that the Lord always fulfills his promises. His blessings may not come when we think they will come, but they will come. Sometimes we must have our faith tested over a period of time.

in Genesis 18:14 we read: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?...”

QUOTE #2

George Q. Cannon: “It is time, with the experience we have had now as a Church, that we should be a people of unbounded faith, willing to believe that all things are possible with God and that when He commands us to do anything, we should go to with our might and with unyielding determination to accomplish that end according to the mind and will of God. (Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, p. 115)

God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.

SCRIPTURE: Genesis 22:1-2

1. And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt (test or prove) Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
2. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

QUESTION: Did Abraham question the Lord? [Abraham was a man of great faith and absolute obedience]

Still, he may have had some of these thoughts about this terribly difficult request:
● This is my only son with Sarah.
● I have been promised that Isaac was the covenant child.
● Sarah and I are a little old to start over having children.
● It is wrong to kill another human being.
● As a young man I was nearly sacrificed by the priests of Pharaoh.

But Abraham was obedient.

SCRIPTURE: Genesis 22:7-13

7. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and 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?
8. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
9. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
10. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said Here am I.
12. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

Isaac was obedient to his father, Abraham, and trusted him completely.

QUOTE #3

Elder Dallin H. Oaks: “…The bible says, ‘Abraham…bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood’ (Genesis22:9). What did Isaac think when Abraham did such a strange thing? The Bible mentions no struggle or objection. Isaac’s silence can be explained only in terms of his trust in and obedience to his father.” (Conference Report, October 1992, p. 51).

I love this insight from Truman Madsen as he questioned President Hugh B. Brown about Abraham:

QUOTE: Handout front, bottom right

Truman G. Madsen: “Modern revelation indicates at least three times that each of us who seek eternal life must one day be tried, even as Abraham. I put the question once to President Hugh B. Brown, when we were in Israel: Why was Abraham commanded to go up on that mountain (traditionally Mount Moriah in Jerusalem) and offer as a sacrifice his only hope for the promised posterity? President Brown wisely replied, ‘Abraham needed to learn something about Abraham.’ By being tested, all of us will one day know how much our hearts are really set on the kingdom of God.” (Joseph Smith the Prophet, p. 92)

Trials and Sacrifice are blessings in our lives.

EXPERIENCE: A story of trial – President Allen

I am reminded of a fast and testimony meeting when our family was stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. A member of our stake presidency who resided in our ward stood up to bear his testimony.

He had been diagnosed with terminal cancer 6 months earlier. He had received a priesthood blessing telling him to search and that the Lord would bless him. He had been drawn to a book in an airport shop that gave him some important health information. He researched and found a clinic in Texas where he underwent treatments. He was now standing before us cured.

In his testimony he told us how he had felt the Lord’s guidance and love. He had learned many things about himself and found that he was able to endure more than he ever thought he could. He told us how he loved feeling so close to the Spirit during the past physically and emotionally agonizing months. He ended his testimony with this statement. ‘I pray that the Lord will find me worthy to try again so that I might prove myself, learn and grow, and feel His close presence again in my life.’” He had learned about himself and desired that closeness engendered through trial and sacrifice.

EXPERIENCE: A story of sacrifice – Elder Buck Bailey, Munich/Austria Mission

I read in this week’s Mormon Times about Elder Buck Bailey who is serving in the Munich/Austria Mission. This Park City native has skied since he was 2 years old and was a shoe-in for the U.S. Olympic Ski Jumping Team in Vancouver.

A year ago, he had experienced a chance meeting with Elder Uchtdorf and told him about his dilemma of joining the team or serving a mission. “Elder Uchdorf’s reply surprised Bailey. ‘It was not a straightforward answer, ‘Yes, you should serve now,’ or ‘No, you should serve later,’ which [he] was looking for at the time….It was, ‘You’ll know when to serve when you pray about it.’”

Buck prayed about it for the next three months. He said, ‘When I was ready to accept the Lord’s answer and act on it, I got my answer, which is why I am in Germany today…[My] coaches were shocked and not pleased [at all].’ But the future missionary stood firm on his decision.

Elder Bailey said, ‘I am constantly reminded of what I love to do [in Germany]. Between the billboards and media…I see ski jumping everywhere,…But I have work to do…There is nothing better than helping people come close to our Heavenly Father.’

“When investigators find out [he] loves ski jumping, they offer to drive him to the nearest venue. They are confused when he declines the invitation. [He said] ‘My ward mission leader gave me a newspaper with the [Olympic]ski jumping schedule…I will use it to schedule appointments with investigators when jumping is on and when a member calls and invites me over, I can say we already have an appointment… Everyone has to give up something to go on a mission, but it’s worth it because the Lord gives you a lot more back.’”

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. (Deseret News, Mormon Times, March 4, 2010, p. M4)

SCRIPTURE: D&C 101:4-5

4. Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son.
5. For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified.”

QUOTE #4

President Ezra Taft Benson:

“To press on in noble endeavors, even while surrounded by a cloud of depression, will eventually bring you out on top into the sunshine. Even our master, Jesus the Christ, while facing that supreme test of being temporarily left alone by our Father during the Crucifixion, continued performing His labors for the children of men, and then shortly thereafter He was glorified and received a fullness of joy.

“While you are going through your trial, you can recall your past victories and count the blessings that you do have with a sure hope of greater ones to follow if you are faithful. And you can have that certain knowledge that in due time God will wipe away all tears (Revelations 7:17) and that ‘eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9) (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 396)

Let’s read the council Joseph Smith on why sacrifice is necessary for our salvation.

QUOTE #5

Joseph Smith: “A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation; for, from the first existence of man, the faith necessary unto the enjoyment of life and salvation never could be obtained without the sacrifice of all earthly things. It was through this sacrifice, and this only, that God has ordained that men should enjoy eternal life (Lectures of Faith, 6:7)

As the Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith regarding his trials, “…Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.” (D&C 122:7) Listen to Joseph’s words.

QUOTE #6

Joseph Smith: “I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force…all hell knocking off a corner here and a corner there. Thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 304)

President Eyring said in our last General Conference, “The message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is that we can and must expect to become better as long as we live…None of us is perfect yet. But we can have frequent assurance that we are following along the way. He leads us, and He beckons for us to follow Him.”(Ensign, November 2010, pp 70-72)

Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac was a similitude of Heavenly Father’s willingness to sacrifice his son (Jacob 4:5).

QUOTE #7

Elder Dallin H. Oaks: “The story…shows the goodness of God in protecting Isaac and in providing a substitute so he would not have to die. Because of our sins and our mortality, we, like Isaac, are condemned to death. When all other hope is gone, our Father in Heaven provides the Lamb of God, and we are saved by his sacrifice.” (Conference Report, October 1992, p 51)

Abraham was commanded to offer up the thing most dear to his heart – his own son. Only through a commitment to sacrifice all that we have, if required to do so, can we manifest to the Lord that our love for Him and His divine cause is perfect.

QUOTE #8

President Thomas S. Monson: “Remember the qualifying statement of the Master: “Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind” (D&C 64:34). A latter-day minister advised: ‘until willingness overflows obligation, men fight as conscripts rather than following the flag as patriots. Duty is never worthily performed until it is performed by one who would gladly do more if only he could’.” (Be Your Best Self, p. 59)

QUOTE #9

Joseph Smith: “Remember that all your hopes of deliverance from danger and from death, will rest upon your faithfulness to God; in His cause, you must necessarily serve Him with a perfect heart and a willing mind.” (History of the Church 2:192-93)

Listen to the experience of those in Chile “serving Him with a perfect heart and willing mind.”

EXPERIENCE: Chile East Mission and the Feb. 2010 Earthquake

When they were set apart for their calling, Elder Richard G. Scott told Santiago Chile East Mission President Larry Laycock and his wife, Lisa, to record promptings they receive during the night telling them that “He will speak to you then because that is when you are still enough to hear,” and to keep a notebook by their bed to record those precious promptings.

Sister Laycock writes, “Nearly two-and-one-half weeks ago, I was awakened at around 4:00 a.m. by just such a prompting. I did not hear a voice, but the thought was as clear as if it had been in the form of spoken words: ‘There is going to be an earthquake. Prepare your missionaries.’ I sat up in bed and immediately remembered Elder Scott's counsel. That morning I told Larry what had happened. He immediately set to work organizing our missionaries to prepare for an earthquake.

“In talking with our office missionaries to arrange for them to put together a list of everything we would need to prepare...in both Spanish and English...we discovered that the Lord had also let two of our office missionaries know of the possibility of an earthquake (in the form of dreams) and the need to prepare our mission.

“We set a goal and arranged our schedule so that we could visit every apartment in the mission to check for safety and to review with our missionaries what to do in case of an earth quake. [We] brought specific instructions on what to do, supplied water purification bottles for the missionaries, told them how to create a 36-hour kit for emergencies and how to stay in communication should an earthquake
strike. What a wonderful experience we have had as we have met with them and shared scriptures with them about being spiritually and physically prepared.

“When the earthquake came, we were prepared. We did not experience the panic that many felt. We knew we were prepared. Because of the words of the Lord's chosen Apostle, Elder Scott, we had listened and heeded the quiet, but clear promptings of the Holy Ghost. We were blessed with peace in the midst of chaos.

“We learned an important lesson: our preparation helped us to avoid panic and fear, but the Lord, in His wisdom, allowed us to experience enough discomfort to know that He has all power. He is in charge. We are nothing without Him. We are
dependent upon Him for every breath we take. Only He can save us from death and destruction. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our perfect example. If we follow Him, we will be saved through obedience to the laws and ordinances of His Gospel.” (Meridian Magazine, March 4, 2010)

All 171 proselyting missionaries are safe and only one member of the Church died in the earthquake. Again from Joseph Smith: “All your hope of deliverance from danger and death, will rest upon your faithfulness to God.”

President Monson tells us that if we are to pass the tests in life, we must not fear.

Quote #10, President Thomas S. Monson: “Such knowledge will dispel that hidden and insidious enemy who lurks within and limits our capacity, destroys our initiative, and strangles our effectiveness. This enemy of whom I speak is fear: a fear to wholeheartedly accept a calling; a fear to provide direction to others; a fear to lead, to motivate, to inspire. In His wisdom, the Lord provided a formula whereby we might overcome the archvillain of fear. He instructed: ‘If ye are prepared ye shall not fear’ (D&C 38:30).” (Be Your Best Self, pp. 195-96)

CONCLUSION

“[One lesson we can] gain from the story of Abraham is that we need to learn to sacrifice at whatever level of spirituality we are at. To sacrifice one’s son is near the ultimate sacrifice, yet daily there are opportunities to sacrifice and, like Abraham, we need to be willing to do what we know we should. It may be as simple as a kind word to a family member…this is what living by the Spirit means. We will be prompted when opportunities arise and we need to be willing to respond as did Abraham.” (Bob Beardall, Gospel Doctrine Lesson 9, p. 5)

I am grateful for Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice all.

I have a testimony that it is through the sacrifices we make, that we learn about ourselves and our relationship to the Savior.

References:
Gospel Doctrine Class, Old Testament Lesson 9, Bob Beardall,
Maren Hardy Hale, personal experiences
Meridian Magazine, Chile Earthquake, Sister Lisa Laycock, March 4, 2010
Mormon Times, Deseret News, Elder Buck Bailey’s experience, March 4, 2010, p. M4
Scripture References: Abraham 1; Genesis 15-17; 21-22; Doctrine and Covenants 132; 101
Teachings and Commentary on the Old Testament, Ed J. Pinegar and Richard J. Allen, pp. 315-24
Ten Quote references as noted in body of lesson