The second problem raised by the claim that Isaac’s sacrifice was the ultimate atonement is that the shedding of blood did not cease with it: “If Isaac’s self-offering on Mount Moriah atoned for the sins of Israel,” asks Vermes, “why should animal victims be offered daily for the same purpose in the sanctuary on Mount Zion?”
Circumcision no less than the Akedah “remains a never-ceasing atonement for Israel,” being performed by Abraham himself and on “the Date of Atonement, and upon the spot on which the altar was later to be erected in the Temple,”63 but for all that, no one claims that all the law is fulfilled in it. “Students of Christian origins have come increasingly to realize,” writes Rosenberg, a Jew, “that the sacrifice of Isaac was to be reenacted by the ‘new Isaac,’ who, like the old, was a ‘son of God.'” The early Christian teaching was that, as he was about to sacrifice his son on the mountain, Abraham “saw Christ’s day and yearned for it. There he saw the Redemption of Adam and rejoiced, and it was revealed to him, that the Messiah would suffer in the place of Adam.” But the old Isaac, called in the Targum “the Lamb of Abraham,”66 neither suffered sacrificial death nor put an end to the shedding of blood.
His act was an earnest of things to come, and that puts it on the same level as the sacrifice of Abraham.
This explains, we believe, the absence of the story of Abraham on the altar from the pages of the Old Testament.
Light of the World; Before Abraham Was, I Am
In the temple at Tabernacles Jesus declares himself the light of the world, the truth that makes men free, and the great I AM (“Before Abraham was, I am”), and his hearers, unable to bear it, take up stones.
Note. Only John records this discourse.
? How to read this edition
The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
12Then spoke Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. 13The Pharisees therefore said unto him, You bear record of yourself, your record is not true. 14Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true, for I know from where I came and to where I go, but you cannot tell from where I come and to where I go. 15You judge after the flesh. I judge no man. 16And yet if I judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. 17It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. 18I am one that bears witness of myself, and the Father that sent me bears witness of me. 19Then said they unto him, Where is your Father? Jesus answered, You neither know me nor my Father. If you had known me, you should have known my Father also. 20Jesus spoke these words in the treasury as he taught in the temple. And no man laid hands on him, for his hour had not yet come.
21Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and you shall seek me and shall die in your sins. Where I go, you cannot come. 22Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? — because he says, Where I go, you cannot come. 23And he said unto them, You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. 24I said therefore unto you that you shall die in your sins, for if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. 25Then said they unto him, Who are you? And Jesus says unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. 26I have many things to say and to judge of you, but he that sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. 27They understood not that he spoke to them of the Father. 28Then said Jesus unto them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself. But as my Father has taught me, I speak these things. 29And he that sent me is with me; the Father has not left me alone, for I do always those things that please him. 30As he spoke these words, many believed on him.
31Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. 32And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33They answered him, We are Abraham’s seed and were never in bondage to any man. How can you say, You shall be made free? 34Jesus answered them, Truly, truly I say unto you, whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. 35And the servant abides not in the house for ever, but the Son abides ever. 36If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.
37I know that you are Abraham’s seed, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. 38I speak that which I have seen with my Father, and you do that which you have seen with your father. 39They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said unto them, If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40But now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham. 41You do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We are not born of fornication. We have one Father, even God. 42Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear bear my word. 44You are of your father the Devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and stood not in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. 45And because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. 46Which of you convicts me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? 47He that is of God heareth God’s words receives God’s word. You therefore hear receive them not because you are not of God.
48Then answered the Jews and said unto him, Do we not say well that you are a Samaritan and have a devil? 49Jesus answered, I have not a devil, but I honor my Father, and you do dishonor me. 50And I seek not my own glory. There is one that seeks and judges. 51Truly, truly I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. 52Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that you have a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets. And you say, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. 53Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom do you make yourself? 54Jesus answered, If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my Father that honors me, of whom you say that he is your God, 55yet you have not known him; but I know him. And if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you. But I know him and keep his saying. 56Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. 57Then said the Jews unto him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? 58Jesus said unto them, Truly, truly I say unto you, before Abraham was, I Am. 59Then took they up stones to cast at him, but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
Abraham Had the Gospel: And Rejoiced to See Christ’s Day
Joseph Smith did not preach on this discourse, but he cited its climax once (in his teaching that the ancient ordinance of sacrifice was given to point the mind forward to Christ) as evidence that Abraham had the gospel and looked ahead in faith to the Savior.
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 60 (on sacrifice and the gospel preached to the ancients) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗But we will recollect that Abraham offered sacrifice, and notwithstanding this, had the Gospel preached to him. That the offering of sacrifice was only to point the mind forward to Christ, we infer from these remarkable words of Jesus to the Jews: “Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56).
So, then, because the ancients offered sacrifice it did not hinder their hearing the Gospel; but served, as we said before, to open their eyes, and enable them to look forward to the time of the coming of the Savior, and rejoice in His redemption.
Abraham Saw Christ’s Day
At the binding of Isaac, the early Christians taught, Abraham beheld the day of the Messiah he longed for: the foreknowledge Jesus claims when he says, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day.”
The Light of the World; the Name; Abraham’s Vision
Barker reads the three claims of this discourse through the first temple: the light of the world is the menorah lit at Tabernacles; “Before Abraham was, I am” is Jesus naming himself the LORD; and the LORD who appeared to Abraham had been a pre-incarnation appearance of Jesus.
The seventy lights of the menorah, the children of the Lady in the wilderness, appear in the story of Jesus sending out 70 to proclaim the kingdom (Luke 10.1 [Luke 8:3], 9). Why 70? They had power over demons, serpents and scorpions, and when they returned to report their success, Jesus said that he had seen Satan fall from heaven (Luke 10.17- 19 [Luke 8:5]). He linked the number 70 to the fall of Satan recorded in Revelation, and Jesus saw his 70 as warriors against the dragon/snake with his 70 horns. They had power to ‘tread on’ serpents and scorpions and the power of Satan. There may have been others who saw themselves as these warriors, but St Luke shows that the followers of Jesus certainly saw themselves that way. They were the beams of light from the menorah, they were children of the light.
They were the light of the world. Jesus claimed this title for himself (John 8.12 [John 6:11-12]), when he was in the temple for the feast of Tabernacles, but he also gave it to all his followers (Matt.5.14 [Matt. 3:16]). The lights should not to be hidden, he said, but put on the lamp stand, luchnia. Had these lights been hidden away? And was this a reference to a particular lampstand, since the same Greek word was used for the menorah? Were the sons of light themselves a part of the menorah light? This would explain why the top lamps of our menorah are depicted as circles, in the same way as the 70 smaller circles that form the rest of the lampstand.
A menorah with 70 ornaments was not the form that Josephus knew in the temple. He came from a priestly family, and so could have entered the temple and seen the actual menorah in his time. His brief account implies that he had been into the temple: ‘the level part of the temple received those passing within…’ He said the menorah had seven lamps that represented the planets, but gave no more detail (War 5.5.5). Philo also said that they represented the stars (Questions on Exodus II.75-76, 104) or that they represented the planets (Life of Moses 2.21.1).
The menorah Josephus knew was depicted on the arch of Titus, one of the spoils of war taken to Rome in 70 CE, but that menorah had only 42 ornaments. Nevertheless, Josephus knew that the original menorah had 70 ornaments, although the accounts in Exodus do not give this number. Further, Josephus’s account does not mention the almond motifs on the Exodus menorah (Exod. 25.33-34; 37.20); he describes only globules and bowls, lilies and pomegranates.
Crucial elements are different in the shorter text: the ’elohim worshipping YHWH, and the children (literally ‘sons’), are missing; the description of atonement is obscured. Yet this text in its longer version was a crucial messianic proof text for the Christians; it is quoted in Hebrews to prove that the One who was to come on the Day of Judgement, the LORD, was Jesus: For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you’? Or again, ‘I will be his Father, and he will be my Son’? And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him’. (Hebrews 1:5-6 [Heb. 1:2])
There is no way of making this link using the present Hebrew text, and until the Qumran text was found, there had been a suspicion that the Christians had expanded the text of Deuteronomy 32:43 to suit their own purposes.
Another example comes with the figure of Melchizedek. The ancient Melchizedek, priest of God Most High (Genesis 14:18-22 [Gen. 7:14-16]), was a key figure for the Christians, since Jesus was declared to be like Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:15-22 [Heb. 1:19-20]). All the ancient versions except the Masoretic Hebrew say that Melchizedek was the priest of God Most High. The Masoretic text, however, has ‘priest of the LORD God Most High’, conflating the LORD and God Most High; it imposes a monotheism, and obscures the true identity of Melchizedek’s God.
Analyses such as these raise a broader question. The earliest acclamation of the first Christians was ‘Jesus is the LORD’
John’s Jesus engaged the Jews on this very point of the second divinity when he was in Jerusalem for an unnamed feast. He distinguished between the Father and himself, and said that the Hebrew Scriptures referred not to the Father but to him. ‘[The Father’s] voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen’- an ironical allusion to the claim of Deuteronomy that the LORD was not seen when the commandments were given. ‘You search the scriptures... and it is they that bear witness to me’ (John 5.37 [John 5:6], 39). Similarly, Jesus said to the Jews in the temple: ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad’ (John 8.56 [John 6:16]); and they replied: ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’. The first Christians understood the story in the same way as Jesus did: when the LORD appeared to Abraham at Mamre, this had been a pre-incarnation appearance of Jesus. Sozomenes, in fifth century Palestine, wrote this in his Church History: ‘It is recorded that [at Mamre] the Son of God appeared to Abraham with two angels... He who for the salvation of mankind was born of a Virgin, there manifested himself to a godly man.’ (History 2.4). This was why Constantine built a great basilica at Mamre. John himself explained that Isaiah had seen the pre-incarnate Jesus in his vision of the LORD enthroned in the temple amidst the seraphim: ‘Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke of him’ (John 12.38-41 [John 8:4]). Isaiah said he had had seen the King, the LORD of Hosts’ (Isa.6.5 [Isa. 2:2]); John said he had seen the One who became incarnate in Jesus. John the Baptist too said he was preparing the way of the LORD, a quotation from Isaiah 40.3 [Isa. 14:1] which says the way of Yahweh. Jesus and his followers believed that he was the Son of God Most High, Yahweh, the LORD, a distinction that was lost after the work of the Deuteronomists. The early church proclaimed ‘Jesus is LORD’, and they meant ‘Jesus is Yahweh’.
Ellipses mark omissions within Barker’s own sentences.