the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast
lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for
the scape-goat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's
lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the
lot fell to be the scape-goat, shall be presented alive before the
Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scape-goat
into the wilderness" (Lev. xvi:7-10).]
[Footnote B: Smith "Dictionary," Vol. IV, p. 2774.]
_6. The Paschal Sacrifice or Passover:_ In some respects the
Paschal Sacrifice more perfectly than any other, perhaps, foreshadowed
the future sacrifice of the Son of God for the deliverance of his
people--those who would trust the sign of deliverance in his blood. The
institution of the sacrifice and feast was as follows. When all other
judgments upon Pharaoh failed to persuade him to let God's people go,
then said the Lord to Moses:
"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."[A]
[Footnote A: Exodus xi:4-7.]
When this terrible judgment was about to be executed the Lord provided
the following means of deliverance for his people: Each family in
Israel were commanded at a given time to take a lamb without blemish,
a male of the first year, for a Passover Offering, and it was to be
killed in the evening.
"And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side-posts,
and on the upper doorpost 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. * * * 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 forever."[A]
[Footnote A: Exodus xii.]
Thus was the Passover established. Of it the late President Taylor said:
"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 doorpost; 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]
[Footnote A: "Mediation and Atonement," p. 106.]
Of course it cannot be doubted that this festival of the Passover
was instituted as a great memorial of the deliverance from Egyptian
bondage, and the birth of the nation of Israel; and there are not
wanting those who maintain that this was its primary significance.
But the leading feature in the festival, the Paschal Lamb, "a male,
without blemish;" the killing of it; the blood sprinkled upon the door
post, the sign of safety to God's people; the eating of the lamb in
preparation of the journey; the subsequent honoring of this feast by
the Christ with his disciples; the substitution of the Sacrament of
the Lord's Supper for the Passover festival at the very time and on
the very occasion of celebrating the feast of the passover among the
Jews;[A] together with the subsequent inspired reference to Christ
as the Paschal Lamb of the Christians,[B] are circumstances too
numerous and too nearly related to doubt of the significance of the
Passover festival having reference to the great sacrifice to be made
by the Son of God through the shedding of his blood in atonement for
the deliverance of his people. Of the Passover being a symbol of the
sacrifice of the Son of God, the writer upon that theme in Smith's
"Bible Dictionary" says:
[Footnote A: Matt. xxvi and Luke xxii.]
[Footnote B: I Cor. v:7.]
"No other 'shadow of good things to come' contained in the law
can vie with the festival of the passover in expressiveness and
completeness. Hence we are so often reminded of it, more or less
distinctly, in the ritual and language of the Church. Its outline,
considered in reference to the great deliverance of the Israelites
which it commemorated, and many of its minute details, have been
appropriated as current expressions of the truths which God has
revealed to us in the fullness of times in sending his Son upon
earth."[A]
[Footnote A: Smith's "Dictionary of the Bible" (Hackett's edition),
Vol. IV, p. 2355.]
_7. The Testimony of Some "Christian Fathers:_" Certain of the
socalled Christian Fathers agree with this view of the Old Testament
sacrifices figuring forth the sacrifice to be made by the Christ, both
as to sacrifices in the early patriarchal times and under the law of
Moses. Of these, first, is
(a) _Eusebius of Caesarea:_ Born 264 A. D. (about); died 349 (about).
"Eusebius of Caesarea, in a passage too long for quotation, alleges,
that animal sacrifice was first of all practiced by the ancient lovers
of God (the patriarchs) and that not by accident, but through a certain
divine contrivance, under which, as taught by the divine spirit, it
became their duty thus to shadow forth the great and venerable victim,
really acceptable to God, which was, in time then future, destined to
be offered in behalf of the whole human race ("Demonst. Evang." i:8,
pp. 24,25)."[A]
[Footnote A: Kitto, Vol. II, p. 661.]
(b) _Athanasius:_ Born 296 A. D.; died 373.
"Next we come to Athanasius, who, speaking of the consent of the Old
Testament to the fundamental doctrines of the New, says: 'What Moses
taught, these things his predecessor Abraham had preserved; and what
Abraham had preserved, with those things Enoch and Noah were well
acquainted; for they made a distinction between the clean and the
unclean [animals], and were acceptable to God. Thus also in like manner
Abel bore testimony; for he knew what he had learned from Adam, and
Adam himself taught only what he had previously learned from the Lord"
(Synod. Nicen. contr. Haer, Arian, Decret., Opp. i, 403).[A]
[Footnote A: Ibid.]
(c) _Augustine_: Bp. of Hippo. Born 354 A. D.; died 430.
"Augustine, after expressly referring the origin of sacrifice to the
divine command, more distinctly evolves his meaning by saying: 'The
prophetic immolation of blood, testifying from the very commencement of
the human race the future passion of the Mediator, is a matter of deep
antiquity inasmuch as Abel is found in Holy Scripture to have been the
first who offered up his prophetic immolation (Cont. Faust. Manich.
Onp. vi:145). These testimonies certainly vindicate the opinion of the
divine origin of primitive sacrifice from the charge of being a modern
innovation, with no voice of antiquity in its favor."[A]
[Footnote A: Kitto, Vol. II, p. 661.]
LESSON X.
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
THE FACT OF THE ATONEMENT IN NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES.[A]
ANALYSIS.
I. The Atonement Considered as a Fact.
II. The Testimony to the Fact.
1. Gabriel;
2. John the Baptist;
3. The Christ;
4. The Judean Apostles:
(a) Paul,
(b) Peter,
(c) John.
REFERENCES.
St. Luke, Ch. i; also Heb. ix and x, and all the New Testament
citations in the text of this lesson--the context of these passages
should also be considered.
Richard-Little Compendium, Art. "Atonement," pp. 8-13, and all its
references.
Mediation and Atonement (Taylor), Chs. iii, iv, v and vi.
The Gospel (Roberts), Ch. ii (3rd Edition).
_SPECIAL TEXT: "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood
and without shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb. ix:22.)_
[Footnote A: "New Testament Scriptures," as here used means more than
the New Testament of the Bible. It means that New Testament of course,
but that plus the Book of Mormon books written after the birth of
Messiah, beginning with III Nephi, and also the immediate scriptures of
the New Dispensation, viz., the Doctrine and Covenants.]
DISCUSSION.
_1. The Fact of the Atonement:_ The important thing to be
established in the mind of man concerning the atonement is the fact
of it. While it is not the intention of this treatise to avoid the
discussion of the philosophy of the Atonement[A]--by which is meant
only a discussion of the reasonableness of it--and rest in the mere
fact of it as proved from the Scriptures, still I repeat that the fact
of it and man's acceptance of it as a fact, is of first importance.[B]
This and the following lesson of Part II, therefore, are devoted to
grouping the scriptural texts for the fact of the Atonement from "New
Testament Scriptures."
[Footnote A: Part III is wholly devoted to that division of the
subject.]
[Footnote B: Elsewhere on this theme I have said: How is it that
through the sacrifice of one who is innocent salvation may be purchased
for those under the dominion of death? I will observe, in passing, that
what should most concern us is, not so much how it is that such is the
case, but is it a fact? Is it true that God has established such a
scheme of redemption, is what should concern us most.
To that question the blood sprinkled upon a thousand Jewish altars,
and the smoke that darkened the heavens for ages from burnt offerings,
answer yes. For those sacrifices, and that sprinkled blood were but
typical of the great sacrifice to be made by the Messiah.
Even the mythology of the heathen nations retains the idea of an
Atonement that either has been, or is to be made for mankind.
Fantastic, distorted, confused; buried under the rubbish of savage
superstition it may be, but it nevertheless exists. So easily traced,
so distinct is this feature of heathen mythology, that some writers
have endeavored to prove that the gospel plan of redemption was derived
from heathen mythology. Whereas the fact is that the gospel was
understood and extensively preached in the earliest ages; men retained
in their tradition a knowledge of those principles or parts of them,
and however much they may have been distorted, traces of them may still
be found in nearly all the mythologies of the world.
The prophets of the Jewish scriptures answer the foregoing question
in the affirmative. The writers of the New Testament make Christ's
Atonement the principal theme of their discourses and epistles. The
Book of Mormon, speaking as the voice of an entire continent of people,
whose prophets and righteous men sought and found God, testifies to
the same great fact, and the revelations of God as given through the
Prophet Joseph Smith are replete with passages confirming this doctrine.
* * * The evidence here indicated is more than sufficient, it seems to
me, to establish the _fact_ of the Atonement beyond the possibility of
a doubt: and if there are some things in it not yet within the scope
of our comprehension, still there is sufficient foundation for our
glorious hope and faith of eternal life through its power: for the
evidence proving the fact of that Atonement is sufficient, wanting
nothing, either in quality or quantity" "(The Gospel," Ch. ii.)]
_2. The Angel's Testimony to the Atonement of Christ:_ "Joseph,
thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: * * * She
shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he
shall save his people from their sins."[A]
[Footnote A: Matt. i:18, 23.]
Such were the words of the angel to Joseph, the betrothed husband of
Mary, the Mother of Christ.
_3. John the Baptist's Testimony:_ "Behold, the Lamb of God, that
taketh away the sins of the world * * * and I saw and bear record that
this is the Son of God."[A]
[Footnote A: St. John, Ch. i:29, 34.]
Such John's testimony concerning Jesus of Nazareth, as he saw that more
than Prophet coming to his baptism.
_4. The Christ's Testimony to the Atonement:_ "And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted
up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but
that the world through him might be saved."[A]
[Footnote A: St. John iii:15-17.]
Such the Christ's testimony of himself. And again the Christ:
"When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am
he[A] [i. e., the one that taketh away the sins of men]."[B] "And I, if
I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me." This he
said signifying by what death he should die."[C]
[Footnote A: Ibid viii:28.]
[Footnote B: Ibid, verse 24.]
[Footnote C: St. John xii:32, 33.]
When instituting the sacrament, at the passover supper, celebrated upon
the night of his betrayal, as the disciples were eating, "Jesus took
bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples,
and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave
thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my
blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission
of sins."[A] Mark and Luke practically give the same account of the
incident.
[Footnote A: Matt. xxvi:26-28.]
After the resurrection, Jesus, overtaking two of the disciples on their
way to Emmaus, engaged them in conversation respecting the crucifixion
of Jesus. And in course of their narrative of the missing body of the
Christ, the resurrected Messiah interrupted them, saying:
"O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have
spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to
enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets
he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself."[A]
[Footnote A: St. Luke xxiv:25-27.]
Subsequently, he was known of these two disciples by the breaking of
bread. And after these two astonished disciples returned to Jerusalem
and were detailing their experience to the eleven Apostles, and those
that were with them, Jesus entered the room where they were gathered:
"And he said unto them: These are the words which I spake unto
you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and
in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus
it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise
from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of
sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem."[A]
[Footnote A: St. Luke xxiv:44-47.]
_5. Testimony of the Judean Apostles:_ Turning now to the
disciples after the departure of the resurrected Christ from their
midst, and the endowment of the apostles with the Holy Ghost, they
teach: "Neither is there salvation in any other [name than the
Christ's]: for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved."[A] "Feed the church of God which he hath
purchased with his own blood."[B] "For all have sinned, and come short
of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a
propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of
God."[C]
[Footnote A: Acts iv:10-12.]
[Footnote B: Acts xx:28.]
[Footnote C: Rom. iii:23-25.]
"If we believe on him that raiseth up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our
justification."[A]
[Footnote A: Rom. iv:24, 25.]
_6. Paul's Testimony to the Atonement:_ An extended passage in
his letter to the Romans, Paul reasons upon the atonement made by the
Christ in the following manner:
"For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for
the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet
peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God
commandeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his
blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,
much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not
only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom we have now received the Atonement. Wherefore, as by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned. But not as the offense, so
also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many be
dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is
by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many."[A]
[Footnote A: Romans v:6-12, 15. See also Ch. vii.]
All will remember Paul's passage in the first letter to the
Corinthians: "Since by man [Adam] came death, by man [the man Christ
Jesus] came also the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam all
die; even so in Christ shall all be made alive."[A]
[Footnote A: I Cor. xv:21, 22.]
"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that
he was buried, and that he arose again the third day according to the
scriptures."[A]
[Footnote A: I. Cor. xv:3-4.]
"To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us
accepted in the beloved: in whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace."[A]
[Footnote A: Eph. i:6,7.]
"Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from
the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of
his dear Son: in whom we have redemption through his blood; even the
forgiveness of sins."[A]
[Footnote A: Col. i:12-14.]
"For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified of in
due time."[A]
[Footnote A: I Tim. ii:5, 6.]
"We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels[A] for the
suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that by the grace
of God should taste death for every man."[B] "Who needeth not daily
as those high priests [i. e., of the Mosaic law] to offer sacrifices,
first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he [the
Christ] did once, when he offered up himself."[C]
[Footnote A: "A little while inferior to" is the marginal rendering of
the passage. See also "Mormon Doctrine of Deity," p. 163--Note--for a
discussion of the passage.]
[Footnote B: Heb. ii:8-10.]
[Footnote C: Hebrews vii.]
"But Christ * * * by his own blood * * * entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood
of the bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the
unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh: _how much more shall
the blood of Christ_ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God. * * * And almost all things are by the law purged with
blood; _and without shedding of blood is no remission_."[A]
[Footnote A: Heb. ix:12-14. 22.]
_7. The Testimony of the Apostle Peter to the Atonement:_ The
Apostle Peter is equally emphatic with Paul in testifying of the virtue
of the Atonement of Christ in bringing to pass the redemption of man
through his death, as witness the following:
"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through
sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. * * *
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers; _but with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:_ who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was
manifest in these last times for you."[A]
[Footnote A: I Peter i:2, 18-20.]
Again: "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit: by which also he went and preached unto
the spirits in prison."[A]
[Footnote A: I Peter iii:18-19.]
_8. The Testimony of John, the Beloved Disciple, to the
Atonement:_ So also John, the beloved disciple, testifies to the
same effect: "If we walk in the light as he [God] is in the light, we
have fellowships one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his
Son cleanseth us from all sin."[A]
[Footnote A: I John i:5-7.]
"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin
not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and
not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."[A]
"And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the
book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people and nation: and hast made us unto our God kings and
priests; and we shall reign on the earth."[B]
"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the
dragon--Satan], whose names are not written in the book of life of
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."[C]
[Footnote A: I John ii:1.2.]
[Footnote B: Rev. v:9, 10.]
[Footnote C: Rev. xiii:8.]
LESSON XI.
(Scripture Reading Exercise.)
THE FACT OF THE ATONEMENT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES--(Continued).
ANALYSIS.
III. The Testimony to the fact of the Atonement (Continued).
5. The Book of Mormon as a Witness:
(a) The Testimony of the Christ to the Nephites.
(b) The Testimony of Christian Institutions.
(1) The Ordinance of Baptism.
(2) The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper.
IV. Testimony of the New Dispensation Scriptures--Doctrine and
Covenants.
V. The Only Adequate Gospel Sermon--Jesus Christ.
REFERENCES.
References same as those in Lesson X, with the citations in the body
of this Lesson, and the contexts of the texts, which should be fully
considered.
_SPECIAL TEXT: "Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. * * * I have
come into the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the
world from sin." (The Christ to the Nephites: III Nephi ix:15, 21.)_
DISCUSSION.
_1. The Testimony of the Book of Mormon to the Atonement:_ The
third book of Nephi, in the Book of Mormon, may well be called the
"Fifth Gospel,"[A] the beginning of the New Testament of the Nephite
scriptures. In it is detailed the account of the Christ's visit to
the western hemisphere and the circumstances attendant upon the
establishment of his Church among the Nephites. The voice of God, which
was heard after the great destruction which swept over the land during
the entombment of the Christ, said:
[Footnote A: The term was first used by Dr. Paden of Salt Lake. See
"Defense of the Faith and the Saints," Vol. 1, pp. 371-399, for full
treatment of the subject.]