Sacrifice and the Temple

In ancient Israel, the opportunity to participate in physical sacrifices was often what brought people to the temple in Jerusalem. Biblical passages describe a calendar of daily, weekly, and annual offerings in the temple, as well as specific offerings for certain life events (see Leviticus 1–7; Numbers 28–29). These sacrifices called attention to different aspects of people’s relationship with God. For example:

• Sin offerings and trespass offerings reminded people to be reconciled with God and honor His commandments.

• Peace offerings celebrated God’s covenant relationship with His people and showed gratitude for blessings.

• Burnt offerings and meal offerings acknowledged God’s presence and showed people’s devotion to Him.

Whether a person offered a small measure of grain, a pair of birds, or a healthy herd animal, sacrifices involved giving up something of value. In addition, to sacrifice something was to share it with God and others. During many sacrifices, this sharing was literal. The blood and fat of an animal sacrifice might be offered on the altar while the priests received the skin for future use and the giver received meat to eat. Through temple sacrifices, the children of Israel could symbolically share a meal with their Heavenly Father and King.

Families in Jerusalem could watch trails of smoke ascend from the temple altars toward the heavens and recognize the “sweet savour” of meats, produce, and drinks being offered to the Lord (see Leviticus 1:9, 13, 17). These offerings connected their own animals, crops, land, and labor with God. Righteous kings welcomed pilgrims from across the promised land to events like the temple Passover celebrations, where each family offered a lamb as a sacrifice (see 2 Chronicles 29–30; 35). Participating in sacrifices and sharing feasts alongside other worshippers served as a powerful reminder of shared spiritual heritage and destiny. Israelites could leave the temple more prepared to make everyday sacrifices for God and each other.

The temple atmosphere of sharing and fellowship through sacrifice appears prominently in the New Testament. When Jesus was young, His family traveled to the temple to offer sacrifices and met people like Anna, Simeon, and religious teachers (see Luke 2). The culmination of Jesus’s mission and ministry came when He journeyed for the last time to the temple, then laid down His life as a sacrifice for others. After Jesus’s death, the Apostles frequently visited the temple and taught people who had gathered from many nations to be there. Some of the New Testament authors described Jesus’s Atonement through comparisons to temple sacrifices.

Sacrifice in the Restoration

By the time Latter-day Saints were building temples, their understanding of sacrifice had been refined. The Book of Mormon explains that the central purpose of ancient sacrifices was to prepare people’s minds for the coming sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The sacrifice He requires from us is “a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:20). In latter-day temple worship, physical reminders of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice prepare us to love, serve, and sacrifice as Jesus did.

Latter-day Saints offered their time, talents, and possessions to help build early temples. Lucy Mack Smith recognized that work on the Kirtland Temple brought people together. “There was but one mainspring to all our thoughts,” she said, “and that was building the Lord’s house.” Jesus Christ appeared in the completed temple and promised that the Saints could enter His presence there: “I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:7).

In Nauvoo, many men sacrificed their time by working on temple construction every 10th day. The Relief Society was organized after a seamstress, Margaret Cook, approached her employer, Sarah Granger Kimball, about a plan for women to contribute by making shirts for temple construction workers. These efforts meant that Nauvoo Temple construction workers were often clothed through the sacrifices of their fellow Saints. In pioneer temples in Kirtland, Nauvoo, and Utah, shared sacrifices of materials and labor helped connect temples forever to the families of those who contributed.

The contributions of everyday Latter-day Saints, like that of the widow who gave what she had to the temple treasury in Jesus’s day, continue to make temple building possible (see Mark 12:41–44). In many cases, Saints have also sacrificed to reach the temple. For example, after temple ceremonies were fully translated into Spanish in 1945, Saints from Mexico, the United States, and later Central America joined annual caravans to visit the Mesa Arizona Temple. Members along the route and in Mesa offered travelers meals, places to stay, and powerful shared experiences.

Whether Saints today charter buses for a similar caravan, keep up a regular ward temple night, or arrange youth visits to the temple, shared temple traditions can help us draw near to God and each other as we remember Jesus Christ’s sacrifice.

In the temple, we covenant to obey the law of sacrifice, which includes adopting a spirit of sacrifice and sharing as we return to do the Lord’s work in the outside world. Our willingness to give up worldly desires and live in a higher and holier way shows the Lord that we are willing to offer Him “a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:20).

Just as ancient Israelites often received a portion of their sacrifices back to eat physically, we often find that our own sacrifices nourish us spiritually. As we enter the Lord’s house, we can remember that the time we offer to participate in temple work is more than something we give up—it’s time we can share with the Lord and a precious chance to stand together in His presence.