Yesterday in the temple, I was falling asleep in the first small segments of the endowment session, when I noticed something about Adam and Eve’s sacrifice of lambs in anticipation of the Lamb of God’s sacrifice.
When a righteous man of God in history would need or want to make a sacrifice, they had to obtain a lamb, those cute little lambs, and bring it to the alter. Surely that lamb would have bleated adorably at least once. Surely the sacrificer and sacrificee’s eyes met at least once. Surely the consideration of sacrificing a lamb would have hit the individual as to the difficulty of sacrificing an animal so innocent, so pure, so gentle.
The experience of sacrificing a lamb would have been enough for the sacrificer to feel humbled, thankful, lowly in heart, meek, especially in the anticipation of One who would come, one who was worthy, innocent, gentle, most loving, and self-giving in every good way. One who would free us from the bondages of sin and death.
I believe this is a major difference between the sacrifices of Cain and Abel – one had an emotional, spiritual connection, the other did not.
I believe this is a major difference between one who truly keeps the Sabbath day holy and one who does not. Those who play the wrong games on the Sabbath, who watch the wrong shows on the Sabbath, who engage in pursuits that don't bring themselves closer to God on the Sabbath are merely indicating that they lack that spiritual, emotional connection that God longs to share with them. Harshly speaking, I believe they are offering up their fruits of the field as did Cain if they claim that they are keeping His Sabbath. They are living beneath their privileges.
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