Faith and Emulation according to Abraham and Isaac

In the Joseph Smith Translation of Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 1, the apostle Paul defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for.” An assurance is a promise. Importantly, one cannot make an assurance, or promise, to themselves and expect the thing hoped for to come to pass. In other words, we cannot generate our own faith in our mind or our heart. Rather, Elder Bednar taught that “faith is not a personal trait to be developed”.[1] Thus, the assurance of which Paul is writing about comes from someone other than the individual expressing the thing hoped for. In Galatians 5:22, the apostle Paul identifies the Spirit as that personage. Elder James E. Talmage likewise taught that “faith is … a divine gift, and can be obtained only from God.”[2]

In his eleventh letter to the Hebrews, the apostle Paul then recounts significant events from the lives of various Old Testament saints, beginning with Abel and concluding with a reference to Isaiah, who was sawn asunder. He recounts the things that each of these individuals “hoped for”, and how, by assurances given to them from God and their supporting works, they were able to have those promises fulfilled and obtain the things hoped for. For example, Paul taught that Sara, whose womb was dead, “received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age.” Why did this happen? Paul says it was “because she judged him faithful who had made the promise that she would, in fact, have a son.” In Romans 4, the apostle Paul notes how Abraham “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, … And [was] fully persuaded that, what [God] had promised, he was able also to perform.”

Something that is often overlooked in all of these examples that Paul recounts is the hidden similitude of Jesus Christ. In each instance, the individual named in the verse can be replaced with Jesus Christ and, with few alterations, the event of that individual’s life emulates an event from the Savior’s life. To illustrate, Paul notes in verse 23 that “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.” Replacing Moses with Jesus Christ suggests that the same events happened in the life of Jesus Christ—that “by faith Jesus Christ, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the herod’s commandment.” Indeed, the emulation exists. In the verse that follows, Paul writes: “By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter”. In other words, Moses emulated the Christ child who, when He came of age, taught in the temple and when questioned as to His whereabouts, refused to be called the son of Joseph and reminded Mary that He was about His Father’s business. As a final example, in verse 7, Paul writes concerning Noah: “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not yet seen as yet . . . prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith”. Do you see the emulation? Noah perfectly emulated Christ who, being warned of God of the end results of sin, offered an atonement for sin (i.e., the ark of redemption) through which His house is saved and through which He becomes heir to the righteous (who come by faith in His name) and condemns the wicked.

My first invitation to you is to work through all of the verses of Hebrews 11 and identify how each of the individuals and events recounted therein emulate Jesus Christ.

Continuing, “perfect worship is emulation,” Elder McConkie taught. “We honor those whom we imitate. The most perfect way of worship is to be holy as Jehovah is holy. It is to be pure as Christ is pure. It is to do the things that enable us to become like the Father.”[3] Thus, another fundamental point that the apostle Paul is driving home is that faith must be accompanied by an emulation of Jesus Christ, or worship, if the assurances are to mature into, and produce, the thing hoped for. In short, faith must be the prompting motive and cause of our worship.

This pattern of emulation, or worship, connected to faith, is illustrated best by Abraham in offering up his son Isaac. Jacob wrote:

Behold, they believed in Christ (i.e., FAITH) and worshipped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto us for righteousness, even as it was accounted unto Abraham in the wilderness to be obedient unto the commands of God in offering up his son Isaac, which is a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son (Jacob 4:5).

Abraham increased in faith until he received the assurance that he would be the father of many nations. He received the added assurance “that in Isaac shall thy seed be called” (Genesis 21:12). These were the certain eventualities that surely would come to pass—provided the faith given was exercised. Throughout his life, Abraham was tried until, having shown obedience in all things, he was given a commandment that would stretch his faith in God to its eternal limits—he was to take his son Isaac, through whom the promises were to come, and offer him up as a complete sacrifice—a burnt offering unto the Lord. The lot now fell upon Abraham to either exercise his faith in God by keeping the commandment or to walk away from the awful challenge. If obedient, he would perfectly emulate the Father who offered up His Only Begotten Son. Trusting that God, who cannot not lie, would yet bring about the promised blessings through Isaac, Abraham offered him up on the premise that “God was able to raise him up, even from the dead”. So taught the apostle Paul.

Now, turn to Hebrews, chapter 11, reread verses 17 through 19 in the context that Abraham’s offering of Isaac is a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son. What questions arise when, in these verses, Elohim is substituted for Abraham and Isaac for Christ:

By faith Elohim, when he was tried, offered up Jesus Christ: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
Of whom it was said, That in Jesus Christ shall thy seed be called:
Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

Now, I invite you to ponder the following questions:

1. Is the entire plan of redemption a plan premised on faith, or the assurances made to God, the Father?
2. From whom did Elohim receive the assurance?
3. What were the assurances that were given to Him? Are they the same assurances that God, the Father, gave to Abraham?
4. Was God, the Father “tried” when He offered up his Only Begotten Son?
5. What does it mean to be “tried”?
6. Was God, the Father, present in the offering of His Son? Consider the story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22. Who was the active participant and who was the passive participant in Abraham’s offering of Isaac? To find out the answer to this question, answer each of the following from the facts of the story:

Who ROSE UP EARLY in the morning, and SADDLED HIS ASS?
Who TOOK TWO OF HIS YOUNG MEN with him, AND ISAAC his son?
Who CLAVE THE WOOD for the burnt offering?
Who ROSE UP, and WENT UNTO THE PLACE of which God had told him?
Who LIFTED UP HIS EYES, and SAW THE PLACE afar off?
Who said unto his young men, ABIDE YE HERE with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you?
Who TOOK THE WOOD of the burnt offering, and LAID IT UPON ISAAC his son?
Who TOOK THE FIRE IN HIS HAND, AND A KNIFE; and WENT WITH his son?
Who REPLIED “Here am I, my son” and SAID, “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”
Who BUILT THE ALTAR there?
Who LAID THE WOOD IN ORDER?
Who BOUND ISAAC his son?
Who LAID HIM ON THE ALTAR upon the wood?
Who STRETCHED FORTH HIS HAND, and TOOK THE KNIFE to slay his son?
DO YOU GET THE POINT that “the shedding of the blood of Christ…is in the covenant of the Father” (Moroni 10:33)? 

7. Was God, the Father’s faith, or assurances made to Him, perfected in the offering of His Son, Jesus Christ? Consider what James writes in James 2:20-24.
8. Are all of the Father’s children called in the name of Jesus Christ?
9. Was Jesus Christ the first of those whom God, the Father, raised up from the dead to eternal life?
10. Does the fact that God, the Father, had received promises and that these promises were made perfect in the offering of His Son prove out what Joseph Smith taught in his King Follett discourse—that “God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! . . . . that He was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ Himself did”? (see King Follet discourse conclusion).

ENDNOTES

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[1] Bednar, “BYU-Idaho, A Disciple Preparation Center (DPC),” BYU-Idaho Devotional Speeches, Rexburg, ID: Brigham Young University-Idaho, 31 August 2004.

[2] Talmage, A Study of the Articles of Faith, 97.

[3] McConkie, Bruce R., The Promised Messiah, 568-569.