Beginning Again

One of my treasured Christmas ornaments is a small lead eight-petaled flower. It was made by an artist who helped create the windows for the Fort Collins Temple, and she added a hook to this leftover rosette for me. The eight-petaled flower is a motif in that temple, evoking Colorado’s wildflowers. For me, it also references the eight-pointed star that is a symbol of Christ.

The number eight is associated with the Atonement of Jesus Christ throughout the Bible.[1] In Exodus and Leviticus, among the Lord’s detailed instructions for his tabernacle, the rituals performed there, and the conduct of his people, the eighth day is consistently important. In the Bible, the number seven often symbolizes completeness or fullness.[2] In Genesis, for example, God completed the work of creation and rested on the seventh day. An eighth day, then, is something extra—unexpected, even. If seven days make a whole week, then Day #8 is not simply the first day of the second week, but also a new first day. It is not just a beginning, but a beginning again.

Israelite ritual practice in the Old Testament points to this kind of new beginning in Christ. The sweeping saga of Israelite foundations, captivity, and escape ends triumphantly in Exodus with the setting up of the tabernacle. Christ instructed Moses that this ultimate emblem of God’s covenant with and abiding presence among Israel should be set up “on the first day of the first month” (Exodus 40:2). In other words, at the start of the second year of their wanderings—not just the first day of the year but the first day of a new year.[3] Setting up the tabernacle on this day symbolized the new life redeemed Israel could find in Christ.

Scriptures in Leviticus, too, point to the necessity of new beginnings, as sin and uncleanness are presented as inevitabilities of human life. But, as is spelled out in remarkable detail, this restoration—or new life—comes at a cost. It requires purification, sacrifice and atonement, and obedience. This was true in the days of Moses, and it is true today.

First, purification. Among the ancient Israelites, purification occurred on the eighth day. Individuals recovering from bodily afflictions, for instance, went through seven days of cleansing before being restored to new life in the community on the eighth day (Leviticus 14:8-10; 15:13-14, 28-29). Similarly, Aaron and his sons began their new life as priests in the tabernacle on the eighth day, after a seven-day consecration ritual (Leviticus 8:35, 9:1). The process included washing, anointing, and dressing in sacred clothing (Exodus 40:12-13). Followers of Christ’s restored gospel today are also symbolically purified in His holy temple, with washing, anointing, and sacred clothing. Undertaking these steps expresses our desire for a new, holier life in Christ. As God told Moses, he wants to make us into “a kingdom of priests” and priestesses, “and an holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).”

Second, sacrifice and atonement. Leviticus contains an exhaustive description of ritual sacrifice, including how to sprinkle blood, cleave offerings, and burn animal flesh. Sacrifice in the ancient tabernacle was a hands-on, messy business. In a very real way, it pointed to the incredible sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son, who was the “great and last sacrifice” and “an infinite and eternal sacrifice” (Alma 34:10). On the annual Day of Atonement, the Israelite priest made a special sacrifice so that all the people might “be clean from all [their] sins before the Lord” (Leviticus 16:30). Today, we are called to a different kind of sacrifice. The resurrected Jesus Christ declared to the Nephites, “Your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away…. And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:19-20). When we have a broken heart and a contrite spirit, we want to be something different. We recognize our sin and weakness, and we long for repentance. Wanting to sacrifice our old life and begin again, we turn to Christ.

Third, obedience. Leviticus details the laws and regulations for maintaining the Abrahamic covenant. For example, male babies were circumcised on their eighth day of life, initiating a new life as a member of God’s covenant people (Leviticus 12:3). With exactness in their ritual, conduct, and diet, the Israelites showed their desire for God’s presence to remain with them. For us, too, obedience means committing to a new way of living in the world that allows us to find God in ordinary, everyday things. Obedience to the laws of purification and sacrifice didn’t take the Israelites out of the world. Just the opposite: obedience to these laws highlighted their embodied existence in the material world. And it helped them find God right there in the wilderness with them. In both the Old Testament tabernacle and in the Lord’s temples today, the faithful make covenants with God and promise obedience. Making and keeping covenants manifests our desire to enter the presence of God.

Finally, rebirth is possible. Jesus Christ was resurrected on “the first day of the week” (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1)—the morning of the eighth day. Christ’s Atonement and resurrection make rebirth possible for each of us. Speaking of Jesus’s mortal ministry, Elder Patrick Kearon recently taught, “Everything He said and did provided a new beginning for each of those He healed, blessed, taught and relieved of sin…. All of us can have a new beginning through, and because of, Jesus Christ. Even you. New beginnings are at the heart of the Father’s plan for His children.”[4] This Jesus that went about doing good is the same Lord that appeared in the Old Testament, offering new beginnings there too. And he offers them still today.

My eight-petaled flower ornament is meaningful to me at Christmas, when it reminds me of the new life, light, and hope ushered into the world by the birth of Jesus. But Christ offers us new beginnings every day of the year. His Atonement, death, and resurrection, which we celebrate during Easter and springtime, provide the ultimate new beginning. Things can be different from what they have been. I can be different from who I have been. “Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). At this verdant and abundant time of year, the earth itself reminds us of the miracle of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which gives each of us the possibility of fresh starts, healing, and new life.

Notes