Jacob 4:5

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5 Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped 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.

“The law of Moses was the type, Jesus the antitype; he was that toward which all creation looked and waited. The law was the symbol, Jesus the ultimate reality toward which it pointed. The law was the means, Jesus the end. These simple but pertinent verities are all but lost in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. Only through the clarifying and illuminating lenses of the Book of Mormon do we come to know that the law was anything more than a schoolmaster or teaching device. The law of Moses-including the intricate system of animal sacrifices-was the prophecy; Jesus was the grand fulfillment of the prophecy.

“’Behold,’ Nephi stated, ‘my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him’ (2 Nephi 11:4). After having explained the need for ‘the great and last sacrifice’ of the Son of God, Amulek said, ‘this is the whole meaning of the law [of Moses], every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal’ (Alma 34:14).” (McConkie and Millet, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 2, p. 34)

Many are familiar with the similarities between the story of Abraham and Isaac and the story of Elohim and Jehovah. What is sometimes underappreciated is how atrocious the practice of human sacrifice must have been to Abraham. Abraham had revolted from his father because of his father’s idolatrous practices. While still in Chaldea, he knew that the idolatrous priest had sacrificed three virgins at one time…these virgins were offered up because of their virtue (Abr 1:11). Abraham himself was laid on the altar of the priest of Elkenah and narrowly escaped becoming a human sacrifice himself. Human sacrifice must have been a repugnant concept to him. It was these atrocities against which Abraham was rebelling when he sought to be a follower of righteousness (Abr 1:1).

Nevertheless, when Abraham receives the commandment from the Lord to offer up his son, Isaac, there is no wavering. He does not question the Lord even though the offering of Isaac was in many ways similar to all the pagan rituals of his father. He did not question. He proceeded with faith saying, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering (Gen 22:8).