In
the scriptures we sometimes encounter the terms “milk” and “meat,” relative to
how challenging certain doctrines of the Gospel are. I would like to talk about something that I
feel is “meat.” We do not use this topic to introduce people to the Restored
Gospel of Jesus Christ; it comes later as people “grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18; John 17:3). That said, I will not digress
into speculation; I will hold to the words of revealed scripture.
In
the region that we labor, Abraham is honored and revered. He is the common
heritage shared by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. From a Latter-Day
perspective, I would like to address how God prepared Abraham to be a god
himself. We cannot apologize for this doctrine of eternal progression; it is at the root of all that we
believe. Many misunderstand this doctrine, thinking that we demean God. In response
to one such misunderstanding concerning the divinity of Christ, I replied: “The
LDS Church does not seek to bring Christ down to our level; it only declares
that God is able to bring us up to his. With God, all things are possible. We
will never be equal with God; he is eternally progressing just as we are. Yet,
we do not believe that we will remain at the same level for eternity; we will
progress because of the merciful Atonement of Jesus Christ.” Indeed, through
the lineage of Abraham would come the Redeemer of all mankind, to relieve
suffering and deliver us from the sins of this world.
Suffering
is part of this mortal existence, and it prepares us to be like God. Isaiah
referred to Christ, our advocate with the Father, as a “man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). When Adam and Eve were cast out of the
Garden of Eden, they were told that they would bear children and labor for
bread “in sorrow” (Genesis 3:16-17). Abraham was no stranger to sorrow and
suffering. After marrying Sarai, there was a famine in the land that drove him
to Egypt, where he almost lost Sarai to the Pharaoh because of her beauty. God
promised Abraham numberless posterity, yet Sarai was barren. How many decades
passed while this promise remained a distant hope? Abram was 75 when God
commanded him to leave Haran and go to the land of Canaan. He was 86 years old
when Ishmael was born of Hagar. He was 100 years old when Isaac was born of
Sarah. It is likely that at least four decades passed while Abraham and Sarah
waited for children of their own. (Could this be why Lot, his nephew, lived
with Abraham and Sarah, to ease the pain of their childless state?)
After
decades of waiting, Isaac was born to Sarah, fulfilling the promise of God.
What joy this must have brought to their home! Now that he had come, would Abraham
be willing to offer him as a sacrifice, to be obedient to God’s commandment?
How this must have tormented Abraham! How could he give up his only son (of
Sarah)? Was he willing to be like God, to give up his only son, the son of the
promise? Abraham’s response revealed that he was. In Abraham’s willingness, God
provided redemption. For Abraham, there was a ram in the thicket, and his son
lived, fulfilling the promise of endless posterity. For God, his Son was
resurrected and now lives forever, offering eternal salvation to all of God’s
endless posterity.
In
the Bible Dictionary, we read that Abram means “exalted father.” Insert “ha,”
and his name becomes, “Father of a multitude.” This may be simply coincidental,
but in Dari, one of the primary languages of Afghanistan, the sound ha, when added to a word, makes it plural. The Hebrew word, El, denotes “might, strength…the divine being.” Elohim is “a plural form signifying the ‘almighty’ or ‘omnipotent,’ a name
applied to the Father” (LDS Bible Dictionary,
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bd/el.p1?lang=eng&letter=e). God is plural,
having numberless posterity, and his name denotes such. In Abram becoming
Abraham, we see the pattern of godhood carried out.
In
our mortal state we are confined to knowing only our own heart and mind. Yet as
we draw closer to God, “we have the mind of Christ” and through
the atonement will one day become omnipotent, knowing the hearts and minds of
all our children (1 Corinthians 2:16, John 17:3). We will, in essence,
transcend the self, as referred to by Victor Frankl in his book, Man’s
Search for Meaning and
“be gods, because [we] have no end” (Doctrine and
Covenants 132:20). Abraham transcended the self to receive exaltation. In this
journey, Abraham experienced war, famine, waiting, and anguish. Through it all
he displayed great faith, and thus it was “counted to him for righteousness”
(Romans 4:3). “Abraham received all things, whatsoever he received, by
revelation and commandment, by my word, saith the Lord, and hath entered into
his exaltation and sitteth upon his throne” (Doctrine and Covenants 132:29). To
be clear, we do not and will never worship Abraham; we will only worship God.
Yet, we can look to Abraham as an example of one who “overcame…by the blood of
the Lamb” and received all that the Father hath (Revelation 12:11; Doctrine and
Covenants 84:38). The fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is thus to do as
Abraham did, to become like God through the Atonement of his Son. Indeed, it is
into the covenant that God made with Abraham that we must enter to gain eternal
life as God has. That we may do this is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ,
amen.
