Sacrifices in the Days of Moses--The Institution of the Passover and
the Exodus--The Symbolism of the Paschal Lamb--The Covenant of the
Atonement between Christ and His Father--The Redeemed--Tokens of
Covenants--The Rainbow--The Name of Jesus the Only Name--The
Levites.
In regard to the offering of sacrifices, it is very evident that in
the days of Moses the children of Israel were quite familiar with this
rite, as also were the Egyptians. For one great request which Moses
and Aaron made of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, was, "Let us go, we pray
thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord
our God;" and as a reason why they should thus go into the wilderness
it was urged by them, when the Egyptian monarch said, "Go ye,
sacrifice to your God in the land," that "it is not meet so to do; for
we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our
God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before
their eyes, and will they not stone us? We will go three days' journey
into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he shall
command us."--Ex., viii, 26, 27.
It is further stated, that after a time, when all other judgments had
failed to bring about the desired effect with Pharaoh, that "Moses
said, Thus saith the Lord, About midnight will I go out into the midst
of Egypt: and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from
the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the
first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the
first-born of beasts. And there shall be a great cry throughout all
the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like
it any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog
move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the
Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel."--Ex.,
xi, 4-7.
The next chapter gives the history of the fulfilment of this
threatened judgment and the results that flowed therefrom. It is
recorded:
"And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the
first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of
Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them
every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for
an house: and if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and
his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of
the souls: every man according to his eating shall make your count for
the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first
year: ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats: and ye
shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the
whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two
side-posts, and on the upper door-post of the houses, wherein they
shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with
fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat
it."--Ex., xii, 1-8.
"And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded your shoes on your
feet, and your staff in your hand: and ye shall eat it in haste; it is
the Lord's passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt this
night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both
man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute
judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token
upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass
over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I
smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a
memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your
generations: ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever."--
Ex., xii, 11-14.
"Then Moses called for all the Elders of Israel, and said unto them,
Draw out, and take you a lamb, according to your families, and kill
the passover. And ye 'shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the
blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two
side-posts with the blood that is in the basin: and none of you shall
go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will
pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon
the lintel, and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the
door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to
smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee
and to thy sons for ever."--Ex., xii, 21-24.
"And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had
commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. And it came to pass, that at
midnight the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from
the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the first-born
of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of
cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants,
and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt: for there
was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses
and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my
people, both ye and the children of Israel: and go, serve the Lord, as
ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said,
and be gone: and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the
people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they
said, We be all dead men."--Ex., xii, 28-33.
It is further said: "And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time
to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By
strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of
bondage; and it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go,
that the Lord slew all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both the
first-born of man, and the first-born of beasts; therefore I sacrifice
to the Lord all that openeth the matrix, being males; but all the
first-born of my children I redeem."--Ex., xiii, 14, 15.
From the above quotations, amongst other important matters, it
appears, that when the destroying angel passed by the houses of the
children of Israel he found the blood of a lamb sprinkled on the door
post; which was a type of the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God. The
angel who was the executor of justice could not touch those who were
protected by that sacred symbol; because that prefigured the sacrifice
of the Son of God, which was provided at the beginning of creation for
the redemption of the human family, and which was strictly in
accordance with provisions then made by the Almighty for that
purpose--"the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world"--and
accepted in full as an atonement for the transgressions of mankind,
according to the requirements of eternal justice and agreed to by the
Savior and His Father. A proposition is made to meet the requirements
of justice, which proposal is accepted by the contracting parties, all
these contracting parties being satisfied with the arrangement thus
made. Hence it is said by one of the prophets: "Then he is gracious
unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have
found a ransom."--Job, xxxiii, 24.
And further: "Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and
come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their
head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning
shall flee away."--Isaiah, li, 11.
Who are the redeemed, except those who have accepted the terms of the
ransom thus provided? The ransom being provided and accepted, the
requirements of justice are met, for those contracts are provided and
sanctioned by the highest contracting parties that can be found in the
heavens, and the strongest, most indubitable and infinite assurances
are given for the fulfilment of that contract, and until the contract
is fulfilled the sacrifices are offered as a token and remembrance of
the engagements and covenants entered into God gave a token to Noah,
of a rainbow, which should be a sign between Him and mankind that He
would nevermore destroy the earth by water; He accepted these
sacrifices as a token of the covenant that the Messiah should come to
take away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, and thus fulfil the
covenant, pertaining to this matter, made before the world was.
And again there was another token, which was given to Adam by an
angel. This holy messenger said to our great father, "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 for evermore." (Pearl of Great
Price.) For, as expressed in the New Testament, "there is none other
name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts
iv, 12.) Or, to quote from the Book of Mormon, "There shall be no
other name given, nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can
come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ,
the Lord Omnipotent." And furthermore, that name, or token, will
continue to be given until the Scripture is fulfilled which saith:
"Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name
which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee shall
bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father."--Phil., ii, 9-11.
Again, the Lord, through the sprinkling of the blood of a lamb on the
door-posts of the Israelites, having saved the lives of all the
first-born of Israel, made a claim upon them for their services in His
cause. It is written:
"And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of
Israel instead of all the first-born that openeth the matrix among the
children of Israel; therefore the Levites shall be mine; because all
the first-born are mine; for on the day that I smote all the
first-born in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the first-born
in Israel, both man and beast; mine they shall be: I am the
Lord."--Num., iii, 12, 13.
But the first-born of the Egyptians, for whom no lamb as a token of
the propitiation was offered, were destroyed. It was through the
propitiation and atonement alone that the Israelites were saved, and,
under the circumstances they must have perished with the Egyptians,
who were doomed, had it not been for the contemplated atonement and
propitiation of Christ, of which this was a figure.
Hence the Lord claimed those that He saved as righteously belonging to
Him, and claiming them as His He demanded their services; but
afterwards, as shown in the above quotation, He accepted the tribe of
Levi in lieu of the first-born of Israel; and as there were more of
the first-born than there were of the Levites, the balance had to be
redeemed with money, which was given to Aaron, as the great High
Priest and representative of the Aaronic Priesthood, he being also a
Levite. (See Numbers, iii, 50, 51.)