Revelation, Submission, Sacrifice

by Autumn Dickson

For this week, we get to read more about Adam and Eve and their posterity. While reading about this posterity, we find a really beautiful summary of how to live. It is so simple and yet so profound.

Moses 6:3 And God revealed himself unto Seth, and he rebelled not, but offered an acceptable sacrifice, like unto his brother Abel. And to him also was born a son, and he called his name Enos.

I want to take it one phrase at a time. God revealed Himself to Seth. Seth didn’t rebel. Seth offered an acceptable sacrifice like his brother did. Though this is about the personal life of Seth, there is a pattern that all of us can follow.

First, God revealed Himself.

It is not enough to try and interpret the bible perfectly. You can’t. It’s not possible for man to interpret it correctly even if it had been translated perfectly. God has to reveal Himself and the truth concerning why we are here and how we get back. You can’t go to school and have other people teach you about God because they have studied a ton. No matter how hard you think or how long you ponder, it is insufficient unless God chooses to reveal Himself.

He does this through a variety of ways. He reveals Himself through His prophets. He teaches us as we’re reading the bible. He teaches us as we listen to other people, but we have to remember that He is the one who gives us the information.

Then comes the next part. We decide what to do with it. Seth rebelled not.

Honestly, it reminds me of something that I read about the Tower of Babel. One of the reasons that God was so frustrated with the people in relation to the Tower of Babel was because He had told them how to reach Him. These people were descendants of Noah’s sons after the flood. Noah walked with God, and so it’s easy to assume that these descendants had been given a knowledge of how to form a relationship with God.

We do not know exactly what this looked like. We know that after Moses, there were more extensive ordinances contained in the Law of Moses that helped the people reach for God. In our day, we likewise make covenants and perform ordinances in order to reach Him and develop a relationship with Him.

I’m not sure what it looked like in Noah’s day, but these people had a prophet and it was likely that they had oral traditions to lead them along.

Unfortunately, they rebelled. They didn’t want to reach God in that way. They wanted to do it how they wanted to do it, and they ended up with chaos and confusion.

Through modern-day prophets, God has revealed how we can draw closer to Him. These avenues are not exclusive; they’re available to everyone who wants them. Some have had incredible experiences with the gospel but have chosen to only accept some avenues of closeness. Some believe they don’t need these extra things in order to draw closer to Christ rather than gratefully receiving any options He gives us to think of Him and follow Him.

I think of Cain and Abel. Cain was mad that God didn’t accept his crops even though God had asked him for a lamb originally. Cain only wanted to give what Cain wanted to give. And when God didn’t accept it, he was angry. Interestingly enough, God didn’t ask for a lamb for fun. It was very specific and meant to help Cain understand Christ. Cain missed the memo.

If you’ve had good experiences with the gospel, I can promise that accepting all of the gospel will only bring more goodness. Don’t rebel against it. Give it a chance, soften your own heart and s