“Your Sacrifices and Your Burnt Offerings Shall Be Done Away”

Brant Gardner

Perhaps the “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” statement belongs with this verse. If we recut the verses (remembering that the versification was arbitrarily created after the fact, as indeed were paragraphs) then we have:

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings.

Christ as the personification of beginning and end can be seen as the justification statement for the ending of Mosaic sacrifices. Christ is the creator and the ultimate giver of Law, and therefore he can end or fulfill the Law. This statement is remarkably direct. When Paul tries to explain how it is that the Savior has removed the necessity of the annual sacrifice for atonement, he requires nearly two chapters (see Hebrews 9 and 10:1-14).

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

References