Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 13:11-13

11 And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee,

12 That thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the Lord’s.

13 And every firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the firstborn of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.

Obviously Israel departing Egypt and marching to Canaan was a fulfillment the promise God made to Abraham. But as verse 11 points out, it was not only a promise to Abraham. Moses told the Israelites “the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware UNTO THEE and to thy fathers. God had promised the land of Canaan anew to all of the people of Israel that lived in that day. In fact, if anything, the promise was more to them than to Abraham, as Abraham would only receive it through them.

And in return for God giving this gift to His people, the people were again reminded of how they must consecrate their firstborn to the Lord. “All that openeth the matrix” means the first child that breaches the walls of its mother’s womb. Though again, it was specifically to be the firstborn male. It is unclear to me if the firstborn was a female, whether the first male born thereafter would still be taken and consecrated to the Lord, or if there would be no consecration from that family unit, since the first male would not have “opened the matrix.”

Also, note that it was only clean beasts that were meant to be given as an offering, which is why the firstling donkeys were not eligible. A clean lamb could be given in its place, presumably a lamb that was not already owed to the Lord by being a firstborn, or if the person refused to give a lamb or had none to give, the donkey would be put to death, as then no one would have a claim on it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Sacrifice and Consecration- 2 Nephi 9:39, 3 Nephi 27:7

But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.

Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name; therefore ye shall call the church in my name; and ye shall call upon the Father in my name that he will bless the church for my sake.

COMMENTARY

Ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee
Therefore, whatsoever ye shall do, ye shall do it in my name
Another way to understand consecration is that it is still your performance, but it is being rendered in the name of Christ. Examples of this would be giving a sermon in church, donating to a charity, or being a friend to someone in need. We do these things, and then we give God the glory for them, attesting that they were performed for the purpose of building up His name, and not our own.
That act of ascribing these works to God is what “sets them apart” from other good works that one might do. The question naturally arises: “Does God actually deserve the credit for what I did? Am I being falsely modest by ascribing it to His name?”
It’s an understandable query, but the answer to it is “no.” Once we recognize that God is the one behind our every good act, then giving Him the credit for them is only natural. Quite simply, no one does any good without the idea and desire for it having first been put in them by God, regardless of whether they realized it at the time or not.
Or as Jesus, himself, said: “Why call you me good? there is none good but one, that is, God…the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do.”
So let us do good actions, and let us be pleased with ourselves for so doing! But also let us remember to give to God the credit that He is rightfully due.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Sacrifice and Consecration- Genesis 17:7, 18:19; Matthew 16:25

And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

COMMENTARY

And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee
For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord
God viewed the children of Abraham as set apart. God made a special covenant with them, and He expected Abraham to raise them in a particular manner. These covenant children were to be taught to follow the Lord, to maintain covenant marriages, and to be circumcised. The Bible carefully notes that Abraham faithfully adhered to each of these details with his own son. Even though Abraham did not end up sacrificing Isaac, by this obedience he consecrated Isaac to God.
Consecrated means to set apart for a holy purpose.
And if Abraham hadn’t consecrated Isaac to the Lord, then he would have lost his promise and eventually his son. Sooner or later death would have separated them and they would have no assurances in the afterlife. That is the way of the world. Each of us is given family relationships, but without some divine intervention all of them would be taken away by the grave.
The promise of heaven, though, is that we can forever dwell with those we love. The power of the grave is therefore defeated in the resurrection…but only if we are willing to turn ourselves and those we love over to the Lord.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
This, I believe, is the central lesson that the Lord was teaching Abraham when he asked him to sacrifice Isaac. Because Abraham did not try to withhold Isaac from God, God would preserve Isaac and return him to his father. Not just in that one moment, but in eternity.
I am a father myself, and right now my wife and I are the most important people in my young son’s life. I want to be with my son forever, though, and that means I need to raise him so that he will move from my embrace and into God’s. It will hurt when he matures and comes to rely upon God more than me, but that is how it has to be.
If we love something, our natural tendency is to keep it for ourselves. But if we do this we will literally love it to death, and then we will have it no more. We have to surrender that which we love to God. When we do, it is not lost, it is found in the hands of the only one who can preserve it to us forever.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Sacrifice and Consecration- Question

In my last study I shared about a concern I used to have. I used to think that God would ask me to sacrifice all of the good things that I love. From the example of the scriptures I felt that there were three things that God asks people to sacrifice.

  1. Their sins. Such as when Jesus told the woman taken in adultery to “go and sin no more.”
  2. Their pleasures. Such as when Jesus told the rich ruler to sell his possessions and give to the poor.
  3. Their loves. Such as when Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac.

I was always at peace with the first two. I was excited to sacrifice my sins, and while I may not have been so “excited” to give up my worldly luxuries, I was resolved to the importance of it.

But when it came to that third, giving up the things that were good in my life, I felt a strong resistance. It frankly seemed wrong to me. God has since worked with me and helped to resolve my spiritual confusion. I now understand what things He asks us to sacrifice, what things He asks us to consecrate, and what the differences between them are.

I’ll share what I have learned, and also include all of the supporting scriptural passages. I would very much appreciate hearing any other perspectives on this in the meantime. Have you ever dreaded the sacrifices that God might ask of you? How have you resolved such fears? What was the outcome when you finally did?