The Atonement of Jesus Christ Study Schedule (March 3rd to March 31st, 2013)March 3 The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles (Ensign, April 2000) 4 5 6 7 8 9 The Grandeur of God Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (October 2003 General Conference) The Atonement of Jesus Christ Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope President James E. Faust (Ensign November 2001) Page 2 4 7 11 15 21 29 35 43 52 60

The Atonement Elder Russell M. Nelson (Mission Presidents Seminar 2002) The Need of a Redeemer Elder James E. Talmage (Jesus the Christ, chapter 3) Testifying of the Great and Glorious Atonement Elder Neal A. Maxwell (October Ensign 2001)

10 Justification and Sanctification Elder D. Todd Christofferson (Ensign, June 2001) 11 The Atonement and Salvation Elder James E. Talmage (Articles of Faith, chapter 4) 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 The Atonement Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (Mission Presidents Seminar) Atonement of Christ Elder Bruce R. McConkie (Mormon Doctrine) 2 Nephi 2 2 Nephi 9 2 Nephi 31 Mosiah 3 Mosiah 14-16 Alma 34 D&C 19 D&C 76 Finish D&C 76

23 The Atonement and the Value of One Soul Elder M. Russell Ballard (April Conference 2004) 24 A Testimony of the Son of God Elder Gordon B. Hinckley (December 2002) 25 The Purifying Power of Gethsemane Elder Bruce R. McConkie (May 1985) 26 Apply the Atoning Blood of Christ Elder Neal A. Maxwell (November 1997 Ensign) 27 The Mediator President Boyd K. Packer (April 1997 General Confrence) 28 Our Acceptance of Christ 29 Messages on the Atonement Elder Neal A. Maxwell (Ensign November 1985) President Thomas S. Monson (From Several Talks) Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (April Conference 2009) Elder David A. Bednar (October 2001 BYU Devotional)

65 69 72 76 80 86 97 100 104

30 None Were With Him 31 In the Strength of the Lord

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"The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it. Joseph Smith

The Living ChristThe Testimony of the ApostlesThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ensign, Apr. 2000, 2

As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ two millennia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and the infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice. None other has had so profound an influence upon all who have lived and will yet live upon the earth. He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament, the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father, He was the creator of the earth. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (John 1:3). Though sinless, He was baptized to fulfill all righteousness. He went about doing good (Acts 10:38), yet was despised for it. His gospel was a message of peace and goodwill. He entreated all to follow His example. He walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead. He taught the truths of eternity, the reality of our premortal existence, the purpose of our life on earth, and the potential for the sons and daughters of God in the life to come. He instituted the sacrament as a reminder of His great atoning sacrifice. He was arrested and condemned on spurious charges, convicted to satisfy a mob, and sentenced to die on Calvarys cross. He gave His life to atone for the sins of all mankind. His was a great vicarious gift in behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth. We solemnly testify that His life, which is central to all human history, neither began in Bethlehem nor concluded on Calvary. He was the Firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten Son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world. He rose from the grave to become the first fruits of them that slept (1 Cor. 15:20). As Risen Lord, He visited among those He had loved in life. He also ministered among His other sheep (John 10:16) in ancient America. In the modern world, He and His Father appeared to the boy Joseph Smith, ushering in the long-promised dispensation of the fulness of times (Eph. 1:10). Of the Living Christ, the Prophet Joseph wrote: His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying: I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father (D&C 110:3-4). Of Him the Prophet also declared: And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

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For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God (D&C 76:22-24). We declare in words of solemnity that His priesthood and His Church have been restored upon the earthbuilt upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone (Eph. 2:20). We testify that He will someday return to earth. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together (Isa. 40:5). He will rule as King of Kings and reign as Lord of Lords, and every knee shall bend and every tongue shall speak in worship before Him. Each of us will stand to be judged of Him according to our works and the desires of our hearts. We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostlesthat Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son. The First Presidency Gordon B. Hinckley Thomas S. Monson James E. Faust The Quorum of the Twelve Boyd K. Packer L. Tom Perry David B. Haight Neal A. Maxwell Russell M. Nelson Dallin H. Oaks M. Russell Ballard Joseph B. Wirthlin Richard G. Scott Robert D. Hales Jeffrey R. Holland Henry B. Eyring

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The Grandeur of GodJeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles(October 2003 General Conference)

Of the many magnificent purposes served in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, one great aspect of that mission often goes uncelebrated. His followers did not understand it fully at the time, and many in modern Christianity do not grasp it now, but the Savior Himself spoke of it repeatedly and emphatically. It is the grand truth that in all that Jesus came to say and do, including and especially in His atoning suffering and sacrifice, He was showing us who and what God our Eternal Father is like, how completely devoted He is to His children in every age and nation. In word and in deed Jesus was trying to reveal and make personal to us the true nature of His Father, our Father in Heaven. He did this at least in part because then and now all of us need to know God more fully in order to love Him more deeply and obey Him more completely. As both Old and New Testaments declare, The first of all the commandments is thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first [and great] commandment.1 Little wonder then that the Prophet Joseph Smith taught: It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God. I want you all to know Him, he said, and to be familiar with Him.2 We must have a correct idea of his perfections, and attributes, an admiration for the excellency of [His] character.3 Thus the first phrase we utter in the declaration of our faith is, We believe in God, the Eternal Father.4 So, emphatically, did Jesus. Even as He acknowledged His own singular role in the divine plan, the Savior nevertheless insisted on this prayerful preamble: And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God.5 After generations of prophets had tried to teach the family of man the will and the way of the Father, usually with little success, God in His ultimate effort to have us know Him, sent to earth His Only Begotten and perfect Son, created in His very likeness and image, to live and serve among mortals in the everyday rigors of life. To come to earth with such a responsibility, to stand in place of Elohimspeaking as He would speak, judging and serving, loving and warning, forbearing and forgiving as He would dothis is a duty of such staggering proportions that you and I cannot comprehend such a thing. But in the loyalty and determination that would be characteristic of a divine child, Jesus could comprehend it and He did it. Then, when the praise and honor began to come, He humbly directed all adulation to the Father. The Father doeth the works, He said in earnest. The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever [the Father] doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.6 On another occasion He said: I speak that which I have seen with my Father. I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me. I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.7 I make my own heartfelt declaration of God our Eternal Father this morning because some in the contemporary world suffer from a distressing misconception of Him. Among these there is a tendency to feel distant from the Father, even estranged from Him, if they believe in Him at all. And if they do believe, many moderns say they might feel comfortable in the arms of Jesus, but they are uneasy contemplating the stern encounter of God.8 Through a misreading (and surely, in some cases, a mistranslation) of the Bible, these see God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son as operating very differently, this in spite of the fact that in both the Old Testament and the New, the

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Son of God is one and the same, acting as He always does under the direction of the Father, who is Himself the same yesterday, today, and forever.9 In reflecting on these misconceptions we realize that one of the remarkable contributions of the Book of Mormon is its seamless, perfectly consistent view of divinity throughout that majestic book. Here there is no Malachi-to-Matthew gap, no pause while we shift theological gears, no misreading the God who is urgently, lovingly, faithfully at work on every page of that record from its Old Testament beginning to its New Testament end. Yes, in an effort to give the world back its Bible and a correct view of Deity with it, what we have in the Book of Mormon is a uniform view of God in all His glory and goodness, all His richness and complexityincluding and especially as again demonstrated through a personal appearance of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. How grateful we are for all the scriptures, especially the scriptures of the Restoration, that teach us the majesty of each member of the Godhead. How we would thrill, for example, if all the world would receive and embrace the view of the Father so movingly described in the Pearl of Great Price. There, in the midst of a grand vision of humankind which heaven opened to his view, Enoch, observing both the blessings and challenges of mortality, turns his gaze toward the Father and is stunned to see Him weeping. He says in wonder and amazement to this most powerful Being in the universe: How is it that thou canst weep? Thou art just [and] merciful and kind forever; Peace is the habitation of thy throne; and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it thou canst weep? Looking out on the events of almost any day, God replies: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands. I gave unto them [a] commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood. Wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?10 That single, riveting scene does more to teach the true nature of God than any theological treatise could ever convey. It also helps us understand much more emphatically that vivid moment in the Book of Mormon allegory of the olive tree, when after digging and dunging, watering and weeding, trimming, pruning, transplanting, and grafting, the great Lord of the vineyard throws down his spade and his pruning shears and weeps, crying out to any who would listen, What could I have done more for my vineyard?11 What an indelible image of Gods engagement in our lives! What anguish in a parent when His children do not choose Him nor the gospel of God He sent!12 How easy to love someone who so singularly loves us! Of course the centuries-long drift away from belief in such a perfect and caring Father hasnt been helped any by the man-made creeds of erring generations which describe God variously as unknown and unknowableformless, passionless, elusive, ethereal, simultaneously everywhere and nowhere at all. Certainly that does not describe the Being we behold through the eyes of these prophets. Nor does it match the living, breathing, embodied Jesus of Nazareth who was and is in the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his [Father].13 In that sense Jesus did not come to improve Gods view of man nearly so much as He came to improve mans view of God and to plead with them to love their Heavenly Father as He has always and will always love them. The plan of God, the power of God, the holiness of God, yes, even the anger and the judgment of God they had occasion to understand. But the love of God, the profound depth of His devotion to His children, they still did not fully knowuntil Christ came.

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So feeding the hungry, healing the sick, rebuking hypocrisy, pleading for faiththis was Christ showing us the way of the Father, He who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, long-suffering and full of goodness.14 In His life and especially in His death, Christ was declaring, This is Gods compassion I am showing you, as well as that of my own. In the perfect Sons manifestation of the perfect Fathers care, in Their mutual suffering and shared sorrow for the sins and heartaches of the rest of us, we see ultimate meaning in the declaration: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.15 I bear personal witness this day of a personal, living God, who knows our names, hears and answers prayers, and cherishes us eternally as children of His spirit. I testify that amidst the wondrously complex tasks inherent in the universe, He seeks our individual happiness and safety above all other godly concerns. We are created in His very image and likeness,16 and Jesus of Nazareth, His Only Begotten Son in the flesh, came to earth as the perfect mortal manifestation of His grandeur. In addition to the witness of the ancients we also have the modern miracle of Palmyra, the appearance of God the Father and His Beloved Son, the Savior of the world, to the boy prophet Joseph Smith. I testify of that appearance, and in the words of that prophet I, too, declare: Our heavenly Father is more liberal in His views, and boundless in His mercies and blessings, than we are ready to believe or receive. God does not look on sin with [the least degree of] allowance, but the nearer we get to our heavenly Father, the more we are disposed to look with compassion on perishing souls; we feel that we want to take them upon our shoulders, and cast their sins behind our backs.17 I bear witness of a God who has such shoulders. And in the spirit of the holy apostleship, I say as did one who held this office anciently: Herein [then] is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another18and to love Him forever, I pray. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.1. Mark 12:2930; see also Matt. 22:3738; Deut. 6:5. 2. History of the Church, 6:305. 3. Lectures on Faith (1985), 38, 42. 4. A of F 1:1. 5. John 17:3. 6. John 14:10; John 5:19. 7. John 8:38, 28; John 6:38. 8. See William Barclay, The Mind of Jesus (1961), especially the chapter Looking at the Cross for a discussion of this modern tendency. 9. For example, 1 Ne. 10:18; 2 Ne. 27:23; Moro. 10:19; D&C 20:12. 10. Moses 7:2933, 37. 11. Jacob 5:41; see also Jacob 5:47, 49. 12. Rom. 1:1. 13. Heb. 1:3; see also 2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15. 14. Lectures on Faith, 42. 15. John 3:1617. 16. See Gen. 1:2627; Moses 2:2627. 17. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith (1976), 257, 24041. 18. 1 Jn. 4:1011.

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The Atonement of Jesus ChristAn article from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism by Jeffrey R. HollandThe atonement of Jesus Christ is the foreordained but voluntary act of the Only Begotten Son of God. He offered his life, including his innocent body, blood, and spiritual anguish as a redeeming ransom (1) for the effect of the Fall of Adam upon all mankind and (2) for the personal sins of all who repent, from Adam to the end of the world. Latter-day Saints believe this is the central fact, the crucial foundation, the chief doctrine, and the greatest expression of divine love in the Plan of Salvation. The Prophet Joseph Smith declared that all things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to the atonement of Christ (TPJS, 121). The literal meaning of the word atonement is self-evident: at-one-ment, the act of unifying or bringing together what has been separated and estranged. The atonement of Jesus Christ was indispensable because of the separating transgression, or fall, of Adam, which brought death into the world when Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9; 3:1-24). Latter-day Saints readily acknowledge both the physical and the spiritual death that Adam and Eve brought upon themselves and all of their posterity, physical death bringing the temporary separation of the spirit from the body, and spiritual death bringing the estrangement of both the spirit and the body from God. But they also believe that the Fall was part of a divine, foreordained plan without which mortal children would not have been born to Adam and Eve. Had not these first parents freely chosen to leave the Garden of Eden via their transgression, there would have been on this earth no human family to experience opposition and growth, moral agency and choice, and the joy of resurrection, redemption, and eternal life (2 Nephi 2:23; Moses 5:11). The need for a future atonement was explained in a premortal Council in Heaven at which the spirits of the entire human family were in attendance and over which God the Father presided. The two principal associates of God in that council were the premortal Jesus (also known as Jehovah; see Jesus Christ, Jehovah) and the premortal Adam (also known as Michael). It was in this premortal setting that Christ voluntarily entered into a covenant with the Father, agreeing to enhance the moral agency of humankind even as he atoned for their sins, and he returned to the Father all honor and glory for such selflessness. This preordained role of Christ as mediator explains why the book of Revelation describes Christ as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8) and why Old Testament prophets, priests, and kings, including Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15, 17-19), Job (19:25-27), the Psalmist (Psalms 2, 22), Zechariah (9:9; 12:10; 13:6), Isaiah (7:14; 9:6-7; 53), and Micah (5:2), could speak of the Messiah and his divine role many centuries before his physical birth. A Book of Mormon prophet wrote, I say unto you that none of the prophets have written, nor prophesied, save they have spoken concerning this Christ (Jacob 4:4; 7:11). To the brother of Jared who lived some two thousand years before the Redeemers birth, the premortal Christ declared, Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people (Ether 3:14). Such scriptural foreshadowings are reflected in the conversation Christ had with two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus: Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself (Luke 24:27; cf. also 24:44). For Latter-day Saints, it is crucially important to see the agreed-upon and understood fall of man only in the context of the equally agreed-upon and understood redemption of man-redemption provided through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Thus, one of the most important and oft-quoted lines of Latter-day Saint scripture says, Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy. And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall (2 Nephi 2:25-26). LDS scripture teaches that the mission of Christ as Redeemer and the commandment to offer animal sacrifice as an anticipatory reminder and symbol of that divine atonement to come were first taught to Adam and Eve soon after they had been expelled from the Garden of Eden

8 (Moses 5:4-8). The atonement of Christ was taught to the parents of the family of man with the intent that they and their posterity would observe the sacrificial ordinances down through their generations, remembering as they did so the mission and mercy of Christ who was to come. Latter-day Saints emphatically teach that the extent of this atonement is universal, opening the way for the redemption of all mankind non-Christians as well as Christians, the godless as well as the god-fearing, the untaught infant as well as the fully converted and knowledgeable adult. It is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice, said Amulek in the Book of Mormon, an infinite and eternal sacrifice . . .. There can be nothing which is short of an infinite atonement which will suffice for the sins of the world (Alma 34:10, 12). This infinite atonement of Christ and of Christ only was possible because (1) he was the only sinless man ever to live on this earth and therefore was not subject to the spiritual death that comes as a result of sin; (2) he was the Only Begotten of the Father and therefore possessed the attributes of Godhood, which gave him power over physical death (see 2 Nephi 9:5-9; Alma 34:9-12); and (3) he was the only one sufficiently humble and willing in the premortal council to be foreordained there to that service (Jesus the Christ, 21-62). The universal, infinite, and unconditional aspects of the atonement of Jesus Christ are several. They include his ransom for Adams original transgression so that no member of the human family is held responsible for that sin (Article of Faith 2). Another universal gift is the resurrection from the dead of every man, woman, and child who lives, has ever lived, or ever will live, on the earth. Thus, the atonement is not only universal in the sense that it saves the entire human family from physical death, but it is also infinite in the sense that its impact and efficacy in making redemption possible for all reach back in one direction to the beginning of time and forward in the other direction throughout all eternity. In short, the atonement has universal, infinite, and unconditional consequences for all mankind throughout the duration of all eternity. Emphasizing these unconditional gifts arising out of Christs atoning sacrifice, Latter-day Saints believe that other aspects of Christs gift are conditional upon obedience and diligence in keeping Gods commandments. For example, while members of the human family are freely and universally given a reprieve from Adams sin through no effort or action of their own, they are not freely and universally given a reprieve of their own sins unless they pledge faith in Christ, repent of those sins, are baptized in his name, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and confirmation into Christs Church, and press forward with a brightness of hope and faithful endurance for the remainder of lifes journey. Of this personal challenge, Christ said, For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; but if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit-and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink (D&C 19:16-18). Furthermore, although the breaking of the bonds of mortal death by the resurrection of the body is a free and universal gift from Christ, a product of his victory over death and the grave, the kind or nature of the body (or degree of glory of the body), as well as the time of ones resurrection, is affected very directly by the extent of ones faithfulness in this life. The apostle Paul made clear, for example, that those most fully committed to Christ will rise first in the resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Paul also speaks of different orders of resurrected bodies (1 Corinthians 15:40). The bodies of the highest orders or degrees of glory in the resurrection are promised to those who faithfully adhere to the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ; they will not only enjoy immortality (a universal gift to everyone) but also eternal lives in the Celestial Kingdom of glory (D&C 88:4; 132:24). Latter-day Saints stress that neither the unconditional nor the conditional blessings of the atonement would be available to mankind except through the grace and goodness of Christ. Obviously the unconditional blessings of the atonement are unearned, but the conditional ones are also not fully merited. By living faithfully and keeping the commandments of God, one can receive

9 additional privileges; but they are still given freely, not fully earned. They are always and ever a product of Gods grace. Latter-day Saint scripture is emphatic in its declaration that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah (2 Nephi 2:8). The Church is also emphatic about the salvation of little children, the mentally impaired, those who lived without ever hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and so forth: these are redeemed by the universal power of the atonement of Christ and will have the opportunity to receive the fulness of the gospel in the spirit world. To meet the demands of the atonement, the sinless Christ went first into the Garden of Gethsemane, there to bear the spiritual agony of soul only he could bear. He began to be sorrowful and very heavy, saying to his three chief disciples, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, unto death (Mark 14:34). Leaving them to keep watch, he went further into the garden, where he would suffer the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam (2 Nephi 9:21). There he struggled and groaned under a burden such as no other being who has lived on earth might even conceive as possible (Jesus the Christ, 613). Christs atonement satisfied the demands of justice and thereby ransomed and redeemed the souls of all men, women, and children that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities (Alma 7:12). Thus, Latter-day Saints teach that Christ descended below all things including every kind of sickness, infirmity, and dark despair experienced by every mortal being-in order that he might comprehend all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth (D&C 88:6). This spiritual anguish of plumbing the depths of human suffering and sorrow was experienced primarily in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was there that he was in an agony and prayed more earnestly. It was there that his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground (Luke 22:44) for he bled at every pore (D&C 19:18). It was there that he began the final March to Calvary. The majesty and triumph of the atonement reached its zenith when, after unspeakable abuse at the hands of the Roman soldiers and others, Christ appealed from the cross, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34). Forgiveness was the key to the meaning of all the suffering he had come to endure. Such an utterly lonely and excruciating mission is piercingly expressed in that near-final and most agonizing cry of all, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46.) In the depths of that anguish, even nature itself convulsed, and there was a darkness over all the earth . . .. The sun was darkened . . .. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent (Luke 23:43-45; Matthew 27:51-52). Finally, even the seemingly unbearable had been borne and Jesus said, It is finished (John 19:30). And then, saying Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, he gave up the ghost (Luke 23:46). Latter-day Saints believe that every tongue will someday, somewhere confess as did a Roman centurion at the crucifixion, Truly this was the Son of God (Matthew 27:54). The Savior thus becomes master of the situation the debt is paid, the redemption made, the covenant fulfilled, justice satisfied, the will of God done, and all power is now given into the hands of the Son of God the power of the resurrection, the power of the redemption, the power of salvation . . .. He becomes the author of eternal life and exaltation. He is the Redeemer, the Resurrector, the Savior of man and the world (John Taylor, The Mediation and Atonement, [Salt Lake City, 1882], 171). Furthermore, his atonement extends to all life beasts, fish, fowl, and the earth itself. To the thoughtful woman and man, it is a matter of surpassing wonder (Articles of Faith, 77) that the voluntary and merciful sacrifice of a single being could satisfy the infinite and eternal demands

10 of justice, atone for every human transgression and misdeed, and thereby sweep all mankind into the encompassing arms of his merciful embrace. President John Taylor, writing on this subject said: In some mysterious, incomprehensible way, Jesus assumed the responsibility which naturally would have devolved upon Adam; but which could only be accomplished through the mediation of himself, and by taking upon himself their sorrows, assuming their responsibilities, and bearing their transgressions or sins. In a manner to us incomprehensible and inexplicable, he bore the weight of the sins of the whole world, not only of Adam, but of his posterity; and in doing that opened the kingdom of heaven, not only to all believers and all who obeyed the law of God, but to more than one-half of the human family who die before they come to years of maturity as well as to the heathen, who having died without law, will, through his mediation, be resurrected without law, and be judged without law, and thus participate . . . in the blessings of his atonement (The Mediation and Atonement, [Salt Lake City, 1882], 148-49]. Latter-day Saints sing a favorite hymn, written by Charles H. Gabriel, that expresses their deepest feelings regarding this greatest of all gifts: I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me. I tremble to know that for me he was crucified, That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died. Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me Enough to die for me! Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me! (Hymns, 193.

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The Atonement: Our Greatest HopePresident James E. Faust Second Counselor in the First Presidency(Ensign, Nov. 2001)

My beloved brothers and sisters and friends, I come humbly to this pulpit this morning because I wish to speak about the greatest event in all history. That singular event was the incomparable Atonement of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. This was the most transcendent act that has ever taken place, yet it is the most difficult to understand. My reason for wanting to learn all I can about the Atonement is partly selfish: Our salvation depends on believing in and accepting the Atonement. 1 Such acceptance requires a continual effort to understand it more fully. The Atonement advances our mortal course of learning by making it possible for our natures to become perfect. 2 All of us have sinned and need to repent to fully pay our part of the debt. When we sincerely repent, the Saviors magnificent Atonement pays the rest of that debt. 3 Paul gave a simple explanation for the need of the Atonement: For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 4 Jesus Christ was appointed and foreordained to be our Redeemer before the world was formed. With His divine sonship, His sinless life, the shedding of His blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, His excruciating death on the cross and subsequent bodily Resurrection from the grave, He became the author of our salvation and made a perfect Atonement for all mankind. 5 Understanding what we can of the Atonement and the Resurrection of Christ helps us to obtain a knowledge of Him and of His mission. 6 Any increase in our understanding of His atoning sacrifice draws us closer to Him. Literally, the Atonement means to be at one with Him. The nature of the Atonement and its effects is so infinite, so unfathomable, and so profound that it lies beyond the knowledge and comprehension of mortal man. I am profoundly grateful for the principle of saving grace. Many people think they need only confess that Jesus is the Christ and then they are saved by grace alone. We cannot be saved by grace alone, for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. 7 Some years ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley told something of a parable about a one room school house in the mountains of Virginia where the boys were so rough no teacher had been able to handle them. Then one day an inexperienced young teacher applied. He was told that every teacher had received an awful beating, but the teacher accepted the risk. The first day of school the teacher asked the boys to establish their own rules and the penalty for breaking the rules. The class came up with 10 rules, which were written on the blackboard. Then the teacher asked, What shall we do with one who breaks the rules? Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on, came the response. A day or so later, the lunch of a big student, named Tom, was stolen. The thief was locateda little hungry fellow, about ten years old. As Little Jim came up to take his licking, he pleaded to keep his coat on. Take your coat off, the teacher said. You helped make the rules! The boy took off the coat. He had no shirt and revealed a bony little crippled body. As the teacher hesitated with the rod, Big Tom jumped to his feet and volunteered to take the boys licking.

12 Very well, there is a certain law that one can become a substitute for another. Are you all agreed? the teacher asked. After five strokes across Toms back, the rod broke. The class was sobbing. Little Jim had reached up and caught Tom with both arms around his neck. Tom, Im sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was awful hungry. Tom, I will love you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever! 8 President Hinckley then quoted Isaiah: Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 9 No man knows the full weight of what our Savior bore, but by the power of the Holy Ghost we can know something of the supernal gift He gave us. 10 In the words of our sacrament hymn: We may not know, we cannot tell, What pains he had to bear, But we believe it was for us He hung and suffered there. 11 He suffered so much pain, indescribable anguish, and overpowering torture 12 for our sake. His profound suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He took upon Himself all the sins of all other mortals, caused Him to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit. 13 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly, 14 saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. 15 He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot and denied by Peter. He was mocked by the chief priests and officers; He was stripped, smitten, spat upon, and scourged in the judgment hall. 16 He was led to Golgotha, where nails were driven into His hands and feet. He hung in agony for hours on a wooden cross bearing the title written by Pilate: JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. 17 Darkness came, and about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 18 No one could help Him; He was treading the winepress alone. 19 Then Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 20 And one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. 21 The earth did quake and when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. 22 In the words of the hymn, Let me not forget, O Savior, / Thou didst bleed and die for me. 23 I wonder how many drops were shed for me. What He did could only be done by Deity. As the Only Begotten Son of the Father in the flesh, Jesus inherited divine attributes. He was the only person ever born into mortality who could perform this most significant and supernal act. As the only sinless Man who ever lived on this earth, He was not subject to spiritual death. Because of His godhood, He also possessed power over physical death. Thus He did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He broke the cold grasp of death. He also made it possible for us to have the supreme and serene comfort of the gift of the Holy Ghost. 24 The Atonement and the Resurrection accomplish many things. The Atonement cleanses us of sin on condition of our repentance. Repentance is the condition on which mercy is extended. 25 After all

13 we can do to pay to the uttermost farthing and make right our wrongs, the Saviors grace is activated in our lives through the Atonement, which purifies us and can perfect us. 26 Christs Resurrection overcame death and gave us the assurance of life after death. Said He: I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. 27 The Resurrection is unconditional and applies to all who have ever lived and ever will live. 28 It is a free gift. President John Taylor described this well when he said: The tombs will be opened and the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and they shall come forth, they who have done good to the resurrection of the just, and they who have done evil to the resurrection of the unjust. 29 With reference to our mortal acts and the Atonement, President J. Reuben Clark Jr. contributed this valuable insight when he said: I feel that [the Savior] will give that punishment which is the very least that our transgression will justify. I believe that he will bring into his justice all of the infinite love and blessing and mercy and kindness and understanding which he has. And on the other hand, I believe that when it comes to making the rewards for our good conduct, he will give us the maximum that it is possible to give, having in mind the offense which we have committed. 30 As Isaiah wrote, if we will return unto the Lord, he will abundantly pardon. 31 We are commanded to remember the singular events of the mediation, Crucifixion, and the Atonement by partaking of the sacrament weekly. In the spirit of the sacramental prayers, we partake of the bread and water in remembrance of the body and the blood sacrificed for us, and we are to remember Him and keep His commandments so that we may always have His Spirit to be with us. Our Redeemer took upon Himself all the sins, pains, infirmities, and sicknesses of all who have ever lived and will ever live. 32 No one has ever suffered in any degree what He did. He knows our mortal trials by firsthand experience. It is a bit like us trying to climb Mount Everest and only getting up the first few feet. But He has climbed all 29,000 feet to the top of the mountain. He suffered more than any other mortal could. The Atonement not only benefits the sinner but also benefits those sinned againstthat is, the victims. By forgiving those who trespass against us (JST, Matt. 6:13) the Atonement brings a measure of peace and comfort to those who have been innocently victimized by the sins of others. The basic source for the healing of the soul is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This is true whether it be from the pain of a personal tragedy or a terrible national calamity such as we have recently experienced in New York and Washington, D.C., and near Pittsburgh. A sister who had been through a painful divorce wrote of her experience in drawing from the Atonement. She said: Our divorce did not release me from the obligation to forgive. I truly wanted to do it, but it was as if I had been commanded to do something of which I was simply incapable. Her bishop gave her some sound advice: Keep a place in your heart for forgiveness, and when it comes, welcome it in. Many months passed as this struggle to forgive continued. She recalled: During those long, prayerful moments I tapped into a life-giving source of comfort from my loving Heavenly Father. I sense that he was not standing by glaring at me for not having accomplished forgiveness yet; rather he was sorrowing with me as I wept. In the final analysis, what happened in my heart is for me an amazing and miraculous evidence of the Atonement of Christ. I had always viewed the Atonement as a means of making repentance work for the sinner. I had not realized that it also makes it possible for the one sinned against to receive into his or her heart the sweet peace of forgiving. 33

14 The injured should do what they can to work through their trials, and the Savior will succor his people according to their infirmities. 34 He will help us carry our burdens. Some injuries are so hurtful and deep that they cannot be healed without help from a higher power and hope for perfect justice and restitution in the next life. Since the Savior has suffered anything and everything that we could ever feel or experience, 35 He can help the weak to become stronger. He has personally experienced all of it. He understands our pain and will walk with us even in our darkest hours. We long for the ultimate blessing of the Atonementto become one with Him, to be in His divine presence, to be called individually by name as He warmly welcomes us home with a radiant smile, beckoning us with open arms to be enfolded in His boundless love. 36 How gloriously sublime this experience will be if we can feel worthy enough to be in His presence! The free gift of His great atoning sacrifice for each of us is the only way we can be exalted enough to stand before Him and see Him face-to-face. The overwhelming message of the Atonement is the perfect love the Savior has for each and all of us. It is a love which is full of mercy, patience, grace, equity, long-suffering, and, above all, forgiving. The evil influence of Satan would destroy any hope we have in overcoming our mistakes. He would have us feel that we are lost and that there is no hope. In contrast, Jesus reaches down to us to lift us up. Through our repentance and the gift of the Atonement, we can prepare to be worthy to stand in His presence. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. NOTES1. See Mosiah 4:67. 2. See Moro. 10:32. 3. See 2 Ne. 25:23. 4. 1 Cor. 15:22. 5. See Bible Dictionary, "Atonement," 617. 6. See Jacob 4:12. 7. 2 Ne. 25:23; emphasis added. 8. "Pres. Hinckley: Christmas a Result of Redeeming Christ," Church News, 10 Dec. 1994, 4. 9. Isa. 53:45. 10. See 1 Cor. 12:3. 11. "There Is a Green Hill Far Away," Hymns, no. 194. 12. John Taylor, Mediation and Atonement (1882), 150. 13. D&C 19:18. 14. Luke 22:44. 15. Matt. 26:42. 16. See Matt. 26:4775; 27:2831. 17. John 19:19. 18. Matt. 27:46. 19. See D&C 133:50. 20. Matt. 27:50. 21. John 19:34. 22. Matt. 27:51, 54. 23. "In Humility, Our Savior," Hymns, no. 172. 24. See John 15:26. 25. See Alma 42:2225. 26. See 2 Ne. 25:23; Alma 34:1516; 42:2224; Moro. 10:3233. 27. John 11:25. 28. See Acts 24:15. 29. The Gospel Kingdom, sel. G. Homer Durham (1943), 118. See also John 5:2829. 30. "As Ye Sow . . . ," Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year (3 May 1955), 7. 31. Isa. 55:7. 32. See Alma 7:1112. 33. Name Withheld, "My Journey to Forgiving," Ensign, Feb. 1997, 4243. 34. Alma 7:12. 35. See Alma 7:11. 36. See Alma 26:15; Morm. 5:11; 6:17; Moses 7

15

The AtonementElder Russell M. Nelson Of the Quorum of the Twelve ApostlesTuesday, 25 June 2002 (SEMINAR FOR NEW MISSION PRESIDENTS2002)

My beloved brethren and sisters, as we share this precious time together today, we may resonate with the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob, who asked, Why not speak of the atonement of Christ?1 This we do when we recite our third Article of Faith: We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. The Prophet Joseph Smith declared that, The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, . . . rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; . . . all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.2 Before we can comprehend the Atonement of Christ, however, we must first understand the Fall of Adam. And before we can understand the Fall of Adam, we must first understand the Creation. These three crucial components of the plan of salvation relate to each other.3 The Creation The Creation culminated with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were created in the image of God. With bodies of flesh and bone, they were amortal beingswithout mortalityand not subject to aging and death.4 And they would have had no children,5 nor experience lifes trials. (Please forgive me for mentioning children and the trials of life in the same breath.) The creation of Adam and Eve was a paradisiacal creation, one that required a significant change before they could fulfill the commandment to have children6 and thus provide earthly bodies for the premortal spirit sons and daughters of God. The Fall That brings us to the Fall. We know that Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.7 We know that the fall was necessary. We should also remember that God forgave Adam and Eve of their transgression.8 The Fall of Adam (and Eve) constituted the mortal creation and brought about the required changes in their bodies, including the circulation of blood and other modifications. They were now able to have children. They and their posterity also became subject to disease and death. And a loving Creator blessed them with healing power by which the life and function of precious physical bodies could be preserved. For example, bones, if broken, could become solid again. Lacerations of the flesh could heal themselves. And miraculously, leaks in the circulation could be sealed off by components activated from the very blood being lost.9 Think of the wonder of that power to heal! If you could create anything that could repair itself, you would have created life in perpetuity. For example, if you could create a chair that could repair its own broken leg, there would be no limit to the life of that chair. Many of you walk on legs that were once broken and do so because of your remarkable gift of healing. Even though our Creator endowed us with this incredible power, he consigned a counterbalancing condition to our bodies. It is the process of aging, complete with visible reminders that we are

16 mortal beings destined one day to leave this frail existence.10 Our bodies change every day. As we grow older, our broad chests and narrow waists have a tendency to trade places. We get wrinkles, lose color in our haireven the hair itselfto remind us that we are mortal children of God, with a manufacturers guarantee that we shall not be stranded upon planet Earth forever. Were it not for the Fall, our physicians, beauticians, and morticians would all be unemployed. Adam and Eveas mortal beingswere instructed to worship the Lord their God, and . . . offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord.11 They were further instructed that the life of the flesh is in the blood.12 The circulation of blood is essential for the health of organs of the body. For example, if blood flow to a leg is interrupted, gangrene may result. If blood flow to the brain is stopped, a stroke may result. If blood flow to a segment of the heart ceases, a heart attack may result. The advent of mortality, with its peculiarities of probation, procreation and circulation, enabled the plan of God to go forward. Eagerly awaiting premortal spirit sons and daughters of God could now obtain physical bodies. Those bodies were to be nourished by blood, protected by natural defense mechanisms, and blessed with healing power. Yet the aging process and the eventuality of death were essential to Gods great plan of happiness.13 We should always remember that mortal life, glorious as it is, was never the ultimate objective of Gods plan. Life and death here on planet Earth were merely means to an endnot the end for which we were sent. The Atonement That brings us to the Atonement. Paul said, As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.14 The Atonement of Jesus Christ became the immortal creation. He volunteered to answer the ends of a law previously transgressed.15 And by the shedding of His blood, His16 and our physical bodies could become perfected. They could again function without blood, just as Adams and Eves did in their paradisiacal form. Paul taught that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; . . . this mortal must put on immortality.17 This bodily change to a perfected state is requisite for us to dwell in the presence of God. Meaning of Atonement With this background in mind, let us ponder the special meaning of the word atonement. In the English language, the components are at-one-ment, suggesting that a person is at one with another. Other languages18 may employ words that connote either expiation or reconciliation. Expiation means to atone for. Reconciliation comes from Latin roots re, meaning again; con, meaning with; and sella, meaning seat. Reconciliation, therefore, literally means to sit again with. Additional enrichment is found in the study of the word atonement in the Semitic languages of Old Testament times. The Hebrew word now used for atonement is kippur, derived from kaphar, a verb that means to cover or to forgive.19 Closely related is the Arabic word kafat, meaning a close embraceno doubt related to the Egyptian ritual embrace. References to that embrace are evident in the Book of Mormon. One in Second Nephi states that the Lord hath redeemed my soul; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love.20 Another proffers the glorious hope of our being clasped in the arms of Jesus.21 I weep for joy when I contemplate the significance of it all. To be redeemedto be atonedis to be received in the close embrace of our Redeemer. What a privilege! In His embrace we can

17 receive His forgiveness. We can really be one with Him. What a comfort to those of us with loved ones who have already passed from our family circle through the doors of death! They are safe in His loving arms. Scriptures teach us much more about the word atonement. The Old Testament has many references to atonement, which called for the sacrifice of animals. Not just any animal would do. Special requirements included: The animal selected was the firstling of the flock, without blemish.22 The animals life was sacrificed by the shedding of its blood.23 The death of the animal must come without breaking a bone.24 And one animal could be sacrificed as a vicarious act for another.25 Note how the Atonement of Jesus Christ fulfilled each of these requisite patterns of the Old Testament. He was the firstborn Lamb of God, without blemish. He was sacrificed by the shedding of His blood. No bones of His body were brokenespecially noteworthy in that the two malefactors crucified with the Lord both had their legs broken.26 And His was a vicarious sacrifice for others. While the words atone or atonement, in any of their forms, appear only once in the King James translation of the New Testament,27 they appear 35 times in the Book of Mormon.28 As another testament of Jesus Christ, it sheds precious light on His Atonement, as do the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. Latter-day revelation has added much to our biblical base of understanding. Infinite Atonement We often speak of the Lords Atonement as infinite. But in the preparatory times of the Old Testament, the practice of atonement was finitemeaning it had an end. The practice was to be terminated by the definitive Atonement of Jesus Christ. His Atonement is truly infinitewithout an end.29 It was infinite in that all humankind would be saved from never-ending death. It was infinite in terms of His immense suffering. It was infinite in time, putting an end to the preceding prototype of animal sacrifice. It was infinite in scopeit was to be done once for all.30 And the mercy of the Atonement extends not only to an infinite number of people, but also to an infinite number of worlds created by Him.31 It was infinite beyond any human scale of measurement or mortal comprehension. Jesus was the only one who could offer such an infinite Atonement, since He was born of a mortal mother and an immortal Father. Because of that unique birthright, Jesus was an infinite Being. The Atonement Is the Gospel Jesus equated His Atonement with the gospel. While many of us use the word gospel rather broadly, Jesus was very specific. He said: Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto youthat I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me. And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross.32 Elsewhere He said, For this cause came I into the world.33 Have you ever wondered why the Lord declared that the Book of Mormon contains the fulness of the gospel?34 Because it explains the Atonementthe gospelmore fully.

18 The Ordeal of the Atonement The ordeal of the Atonement centered about the city of Jerusalem. There the greatest single act of love of all recorded history took place.35 Leaving the upper room, Jesus and His friends crossed the deep ravine east of the city and came to a garden of olive trees on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives. There in the garden bearing the Hebrew name of Gethsemanemeaning oil-press olives had been beaten and pressed to provide oil and food. There at Gethsemane, the Lord suffered the pain of all men, that all . . . might repent and come unto him.36 There He took upon himself the weight of the sins of all mankind, bearing its massive load that caused Him to bleed from every pore.37 Later, He was beaten and scourged. A crown of sharp thorns was thrust upon His head as an additional form of torture.38 He was mocked and jeered. He suffered every indignity at the hands of His own people. I came unto my own, He said, and my own received me not.39 Instead of their warm embrace, He received their cold and cruel rejection. Then He was required to carry His own cross to the hill of Calvary, where He was nailed to that cross and made to suffer excruciating pain. There He said, I thirst.40 To a doctor of medicine, that expression is especially meaningful. Doctors know that when a patient loses a great deal of blood, invariably that patientif still consciouswith parched and shriveled lipscries out for water. Jesus declaration of thirst also fulfilled a prophecy from The Old TestamentPsalm 22, verse 15: My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. Even though the Father and the Son knew well in advance what was to be experienced, the actuality of it brought indescribable agony. [Jesus] said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.41 At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?42 Then with the true manifestation of love from the Father to His Son, God withdrew His Spirit and allowed Jesus to complete His mission and win the victory of the Atonement alone. Jesus so complied with and completed the will of His Father. Three days laterprecisely as prophesiedHe rose from the grave. He became the first fruits of the Resurrection. He had accomplished the Atonement, which could give immortality and eternal life to all obedient human beings. All that the Fall allowed to go awry, the Atonement allowed to go aright. Centuries later, the risen Lord shared innermost recollections of this excruciating experience with the Prophet Joseph Smith, the record of which we read in the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 19. The entire passage deserves your private pondering. I will merely quote from this plaintive expression of the Savior, beginning at verse 16: I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spiritand would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrinkNevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.43

19 Please note that the Saviors great gift of immortality is unconditional. It comes to all who have ever lived. But His greater gift of eternal life is conditional. It requires repentance and obedience to specific ordinances and covenants. It is no coincidence that all of the essential ordinances of the Church symbolize the Atonement. Baptism by immersion is symbolic of the death, burial, and Resurrection of the Redeemer. Partaking of the sacrament renews baptismal covenants and also renews our memory of the Saviors broken flesh and of His precious bloodshed for us. The ordinances of the temple symbolize our reconciliation with the Lord and seal families together forever. Obedience to the sacred covenants of the temple qualifies us for eternal life, which is the glory of God.44 Eternal life is the greatest gift of God to man45the object and end of our existence.46 The Atonement Enabled the Purpose of the Creation to Be Accomplished The Creation required the Fall. The Fall required the Atonement. The Atonement enabled the purpose of the Creation to be accomplished. Eternal life, made possible by the Atonement, is the ultimate purpose of the Creation. Or to phrase that statement in its negative form, if families were not sealed in holy temples, the whole earth would be utterly wasted.47 The purposes of the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement all converge on the sacred work done in temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The earth was created and the Church was restored to make possible the sealing of wife to husband, children to parents, families to progenitors, generations without end. This is the great latter-day work of which we are a part. That is why we have missionaries. That is why we have templesto bring the fullest blessings of the Atonement to faithful children of God. That is why we willingly respond to our own callings from the Lord. When we comprehend His voluntary Atonement, any sense of sacrifice on our part becomes completely overshadowed by an overpowering sense of gratitudesimply for the privilege of serving Him. Isaac Watts captured those feelings about our Saviors love when he wrote: Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small; Love, so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all.48 I have committed my life to Him. You have committed your lives to Him. Together we are engaged in His holy work. I love you for it. And more importantly, He loves you for it. And now to each of you precious presidents and partners, I would like to invoke an apostolic blessing, that you may be true disciples of the Lord, feasting upon His words and applying His teachings into your lives. I bless you and your families with safety and health in your service, with success in your sacred responsibilities. I so bless you and bear my testimony as one of the special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world.49 I testify that He is the Son of the living God. Jesus is the Living Christour atoning Savior and Redeemer. This is His Church, restored in these latter days to gather Israel, to bless Gods children and to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord. I so testify in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.Footnotes1. Jacob 4:12. 2. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 121. 3. The relationships of these components are found linked together in several scriptures, such as Alma 18:3439; Morm. 9:12; D&C 20:1724. 4. See Alma 12:2123. 5. 2 Ne. 2:23. 6. See Gen. 1:28; Moses 2:28. 7. 2 Ne. 2:25. 8. See Moses 6:53.

209. Such as platelets and thrombin. 10. Eliza R. Snow, O My Father, Hymns, no. 292. 11. Moses 5:5. 12. Lev. 17:11. 13. Alma 42:8. 14. 1 Cor. 15:22; see also Mosiah 16:78. 15. See 2 Ne. 2:7; also Behold the Great Redeemer Die, Hymns, no. 191. 16. See Luke 13:32. 17. 1 Cor. 15:5053. 18. Such as Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, and German. 19. We might even surmise that if an individual qualifies for the blessings of the Atonement (through obedience to the principles and ordinances of the gospel), Jesus will cover our past transgressions from the Father. 20. 2 Ne. 1:15. 21. Morm. 5:11; additional examples are in Alma 5:33; 34:16. 22. See Lev. 27:26; 5:18. 23. See Lev. 9:18. 24. See Ex. 12:46; Num. 9:12. 25. See Lev. 16:10. 26. See John 19:3133. 27. See Rom. 5:11. 28. Atonement = 24; plus atone, atoning, or atoned = 8; plus atoneth = 3; total 35 times. 29. See 2 Ne. 9:7; 25:16; Alma 34:10, 12, 14. 30. See Heb. 10:10. 31. See D&C 76:24; Moses 1:33. 32. 3 Ne. 27:13. 33. John 18:37. 34. See D&C 27:5; 135:3. 35. See John 3:16. 36. D&C 18:11. 37. See Luke 22:44; D&C 19:18. 38. See Matt. 27:29; Mark 15:17; John 19:2, 5. 39. 3 Ne. 9:16; see also D&C 6:21; 10:57; 11:29; 39:3; 45:8; 133:66. 40. John 19:28. 41. Mark 14:36. The word Abba is significant. Ab means father; Abba is an endearing and tender form of that term. The nearest English equivalent might be Daddy. 42. Mark 15:34. 43. D&C 19:1619. 44. See Moses 1:39. 45. See D&C 14:7. 46. Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah (1978), 568. 47. See D&C 2:3; 138:48. 48. When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Isaac Watts. 49. D&C 107:23.

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The Need of A Redeemer,James E. Talmage Of the Quorum of the Twelve ApostlesJesus the Christ (chapter 3)

We have heretofore shown that the entire human race existed as spirit-beings in the primeval world, and that for the purpose of making possible to them the experiences of mortality this earth was created. They were endowed with the powers of agency, or choice, while yet but spirits; and the divine plan provided that they be free born in the flesh, heirs to the inalienable birthright of liberty to choose and to act for themselves in mortality. It is undeniably essential to the eternal progression of Gods children that they be subjected to the influences of both good and evil, that they be tried and tested and proved withal, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them. Free agency is an indispensable element of such a test. The Eternal Father well understood the diverse natures and varied capacities of his spirit-offspring; and his infinite foreknowledge made plain to him, even in the beginning, that in the school of life some of his children would succeed and others would fail; some would be faithful, others false; some would choose the good, others the evil; some would seek the way of life while others would elect to follow the road to destruction. He further foresaw that death would enter the world, and that the possession of bodies by his children would be of but brief individual duration. He saw that his commandments would be disobeyed and his law violated; and that men, shut out from his presence and left to themselves, would sink rather than rise, would retrogress rather than advance, and would be lost to the heavens. It was necessary that a means of redemption be provided, whereby erring man might make amends, and by compliance with established law achieve salvation and eventual exaltation in the eternal worlds. The power of death was to be overcome, so that, though men would of necessity die, they would live anew, their spirits clothed with immortalized bodies over which death could not again prevail. Let not ignorance and thoughtlessness lead us into the error of assuming that the Fathers foreknowledge as to what would be, under given conditions, determined that such must be. It was not his design that the souls of mankind be lost; on the contrary it was and is his work and glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Nevertheless he saw the evil into which his children would assuredly fall, and with infinite love and mercy did he ordain means of averting the dire effect, provided the transgressor would elect to avail himself thereof. The offer of the firstborn Son to establish through his own ministry among men the gospel of salvation, and to sacrifice himself, through labor, humiliation and suffering even unto death, was accepted and made the foreordained plan of mans redemption from death, of his eventual salvation from the effects of sin, and of his possible exaltation through righteous achievement. In accordance with the plan adopted in the council of the Gods, man was created as an embodied spirit; his tabernacle of flesh was composed of the elements of earth. He was given commandment and law, and was free to obey or disobey with the just and inevitable condition that he should enjoy or suffer the natural results of his choice. Adam, the first man placed upon the earth in pursuance of the established plan, and Eve who was given unto him as companion and associate, indispensable to him in the appointed mission of peopling the earth, disobeyed the express commandment of God and so brought about the fall of man, whereby the mortal state, of which death is an essential element was inaugurated. It is not proposed to consider here at length the doctrine of the fall; for the present argument it is sufficient to establish the fact of the momentous occurrence and its portentous consequences. The woman was deceived, and in direct violation of counsel and commandment partook of the food that had been forbidden, as a result of which act her body became degenerate and subject to death. Adam realized the disparity that had

22 been brought between him and his companion, and with some measure of understanding followed her course, thus becoming her partner in bodily degeneracy. Note in this matter the words of Paul the apostle: Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. The man and the woman had now become mortal; through indulgence in food unsuited to their nature and condition and against which they had been specifically warned, and as the inevitable result of their disobeying the divine law and commandment, they became liable to the physical ailments and bodily frailties to which mankind has since been the natural heir. Those bodies, which before the fall had been perfect in form and function, were now subjects for eventual dissolution or death. The arch-tempter through whose sophistries, half-truths and infamous falsehoods, Eve had been beguiled, was none other than Satan, or Lucifer, that rebellious and fallen son of the morning, whose proposal involving the destruction of mans liberty had been rejected in the council of the heavens, and who had been cast out into the earth, he and all his angels as unembodied spirits, never to be tabernacled in bodies of their own. As an act of diabolic reprisal following his rejection in the council, his defeat by Michael and the heavenly hosts, and his ignominious expulsion from heaven, Satan planned to destroy the bodies in which the faithful spirits those who had kept their first estate would be born; and his beguilement of Eve was but an early stage of that infernal scheme. Death has come to be the universal heritage; it may claim its victim in infancy or youth, in the period of lifes prime, or its summons may be deferred until the snows of age have gathered upon the hoary head; it may befall as the result of accident or disease, by violence, or as we say, through natural causes; but come it must, as Satan well knows; and in this knowledge is his present though but temporary triumph. But the purposes of God, as they ever have been and ever shall be, are infinitely superior to the deepest designs of men or devils; and the Satanic machinations to make death inevitable, perpetual and supreme were provided against even before the first man had been created in the flesh. The atonement to be wrought by Jesus the Christ was ordained to overcome death and to provide a means of ransom from the power of Satan. As the penalty incident to the fall came upon the race through an individual act, it would be manifestly unjust, and therefore impossible as part of the divine purpose, to make all men suffer the results thereof without provision for deliverance. Moreover, since by the transgression of one man sin came into the world and death was entailed upon all, it is consistent with reason that the atonement thus made necessary should be wrought by one. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. . . . Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. So taught the apostle Paul; and, further, For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. The atonement was plainly to be a vicarious sacrifice, voluntary and love-inspired on the Saviors part, universal in its application to mankind so far as men shall accept the means of deliverance thus placed within their reach. For such a mission only one who was without sin could be eligible. Even the altar victims of ancient Israel offered as a provisional propitiation for the offenses of the people under the Mosaic law had to be clean and devoid of spot or blemish; otherwise they were unacceptable and the attempt to offer them was sacrilege. Jesus Christ was the only Being suited to the requirements of the great sacrifice: (1) As the one and only sinless Man; (2) As the Only Begotten of the Father and therefore the only Being born to earth possessing in their fulness the attributes of both Godhood and manhood; (3) As the One who had been chosen in the heavens and foreordained to this service. What other man has been without sin, and therefore wholly exempt from the dominion of Satan, and to whom death, the wage of sin, is not naturally due? Had Jesus Christ met death as

23 other men have done the result of the power that Satan has gained over them through their sins his death would have been but an individual experience, expiatory in no degree of any faults or offenses but his own. Christs absolute sinlessness made him eligible, his humility and willingness rendered him acceptable to the Father, as the atoning sacrifice whereby propitiation could be made for the sins of all men. What other man has lived with power to withstand death, over whom death could not prevail except through his own submission? Yet Jesus Christ could not be slain until his hour had come, and that, the hour in which he voluntarily surrendered his life, and permitted his own decease through an act of will. Born of a mortal mother he inherited the capacity to die; begotten by an immortal Sire he possessed as a heritage the power to withstand death indefinitely. He literally gave up his life; to this effect is his own affirmation: Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. And further: For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. Only such an One could conquer death; in none but Jesus the Christ was realized this requisite condition of a Redeemer of the world. What other man has come to earth with such appointment, clothed with the authority of such foreordination? The atoning mission of Jesus Christ was no self-assumption. True, he had offered himself when the call was made in the heavens; true, he has been accepted, and in due time came to earth to carry into effect the terms of that acceptance; but he was chosen by One greater than himself. The burden of his confession of authority was ever to the effect that he operated under the direction of the Father, as witness these words: I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father which hath sent me. Through the atonement accomplished by Jesus Christ a redeeming service, vicariously rendered in behalf of mankind, all of whom have become estranged from God by the effects of sin both inherited and individually incurred the way is opened for a reconciliation whereby man may come again into communion with God, and be made fit to dwell anew and forever in the presence of his Eternal Father. This basal thought is admirably implied in our English word, atonement, which, as its syllables attest, is at-one-ment, denoting reconciliation, or the bringing into agreement of those who have been estranged. The effect of the atonement may be conveniently considered as twofold: (1) The universal redemption of the human race from death invoked by the fall of our first parents; and, (2) Salvation, whereby means of relief from the results of individual sin are provided. The victory over death was made manifest in the resurrection of the crucified Christ; he was the first to pass from death to immortality and so is justly known as the first fruits of them that slept. That the resurrection of the dead so inaugurated is to be extended to every one who has or shall have lived is proved by an abundance of scriptural evidence. Following our Lords resurrection, others who had slept in the tomb arose and were seen of many, not as spirit-apparitions but as resurrected beings possessing immortalized bodies: And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Those who thus early came forth are spoken of as the saints; and other scriptures confirm the fact that only the righteous shall be brought forth in the earlier stages of the resurrection yet to be consummated; but that all the dead shall in turn resume bodies of flesh and bones is placed beyond doubt by the revealed word. The Saviors direct affirmation ought to be conclusive: Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice

24 of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. . . . Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. The doctrine of a universal resurrection was taught by the apostles of old, as also by the Nephite prophets; and the same is confirmed by revelation incident to the present dispensation. Even the heathens who have not known God shall be brought forth from their graves; and, inasmuch as they have lived and died in ignorance of the saving law, a means of making the plan of salvation known unto them is provided. And then shall the heathen nations be redeemed, and they that knew no law shall have part in the first resurrection. Jacob, a Nephite prophet, taught the universality of the resurrection, and set forth the absolute need of a Redeemer, without whom the purposes of God in the creation of man would be rendered futile. His words constitute a concise and forceful summary of revealed truth directly bearing upon our present subject: For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord; wherefore it must needs be an infinite atonement; save it should be an infinite atonement, this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man, must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more. O the wisdom of God! his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more, our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more. And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents; who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder, and all manner of secret works of darkness. O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. And because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave. And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel. O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh; save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect. (2 Nephi 9:6-13).

25 The application of the atonement to individual transgression, whereby the sinner may obtain absolution through compliance with the laws and ordinances embodied in the gospel of Jesus Christ, is conclusively attested by scripture. Since forgiveness of sins can be secured in none other way, there being either in heaven or earth no name save that of Jesus Christ whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, every soul stands in need of the Saviors mediation, since all are sinners. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, said Paul of old and John the apostle added his testimony in these words: If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Who shall question the justice of God, which denies salvation to all who will not comply with the prescribed conditions on which alone it is declared obtainable? Christ is the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him, and God will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life: but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil. Such then is the need of a Redeemer, for without him mankind would forever remain in a fallen state, and as to hope of eternal progression would be inevitably lost. The mortal probation is provided as an opportunity for advancement; but so great are the difficulties and the dangers, so strong is the influence of evil in the world, and so weak is man in resistance thereto, that without the aid of a power above that of humanity no soul would find its way back to God from whom it came. The need of a Redeemer lies in the inability of man to raise himself from the temporal to the spiritual plane, from the lower kingdom to the higher. In this conception we are not without analogies in the natural world. We recognize a fundamental distinction between inanimate and living matter, between the inorganic and the organic, between the lifeless mineral on the one hand and the living plant or animal on the other. Within the limitations of its order the dead mineral grows by accretion of substance, and may attain a relatively perfect condition of structure and form as is seen in the crystal. But mineral matter, though acted upon favorably by the forces of nature light, heat, electric energy and others can never become a living organism; nor can the dead elements, through any process of chemical combination dissociated from life, enter into the tissues of the plant as essential parts thereof. But the plant, which is of a higher order, sends its rootlets into the earth, spreads its leaves in the atmosphere, and through these organs absorbs the solutions of the soil, inspires the gases of the air, and front such lifeless materials weaves the tissue of its wondrous structure. No mineral particle, no dead chemical substance has ever been made a constituent of organic tissue except through the agency of life. We may, perhaps with profit, carry the analogy a step farther. The plant is unable to advance its own tissue to the animal plane. Though it be the recognized order of nature that the animal kingdom is dependent upon the vegetable kingdom for its sustenance, the substance of the plant may become part of the animal organism only as the latter reaches down from its higher plane and by its own vital action incorporates the vegetable compounds with itself. In turn, animal matter can never become, even transitorily, part of a human body, except as the living man assimilates it, and by the vital processes of his own existence lifts, for the time being, the substance of the animal that supplied him food to the higher plane of his own existence. The comparison herein employed is admittedly defective if carried beyond reasonable limits of application; for the raising of mineral matter to the plane of the plant, vegetable tissue to the level of the animal, and the elevation of either to the human plane, is but a temporary change; with the dissolution of the higher tissues the material thereof falls again to the level of the inanimate and the dead. But, as a means of illustration the analogy may not be wholly without value.

26 So, for the advancement of man from his present fallen and relatively degenerate state to the higher condition of spiritual life, a power above his own must cooperate. Through the operation of the laws obtaining in the higher kingdom man may be reached and lifted; himself he cannot save by his own unaided effort. A Redeemer and Savior of mankind is beyond all question essential to the realization of the plan of the Eternal Father, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man; and that Redeemer and Savior is Jesus the Christ, beside whom there is and can be none other. Notes To Chapter 3 (1) Gods foreknowledge is not a determining cause. Respecting the foreknowledge of God, let it not be said that divine omniscience is of itself a determining cause whereby events are inevitably brought to pass. A mortal father, who knows the weaknesses and frailties of his son, may by reason of that knowledge sorrowfully predict the calamities and sufferings awaiting his wayward boy. He may foresee in that sons future a forfeiture of blessings that could have been won, loss of position, self-respect, reputation and honor; even the dark shadows of a felons cell and the night of a drunkards grave may appear in the saddening visions of that fond fathers soul; yet, convinced by experience of the impossibility of bringing about that sons reform, he foresees the dread developments of the future, and he finds but sorrow and anguish in his knowledge. Can it be said that the fathers foreknowledge is a cause of the sons sinful life? The son, perchance, has reached his maturity; he is the master of his own destiny; a free agent unto himself. The father is powerless to control by force or to direct by arbitrary command; and, while he would gladly make any effort or sacrifice to save his son from the fate impending, he fears for what seems to be an awful certainty. But surely that thoughtful, prayerful, loving parent does not, because of his knowledge, contribute to the sons waywardness. To reason otherwise would be to say that a neglectful father, who takes not the trouble to study the nature and character of his son, who shuts his eyes to sinful tendencies, and rests in careless indifference as to the probable future, will by his very heartlessness be benefitting his child, because his lack of forethought cannot operate as a contributory cause to dereliction. Our Heavenly Father has a full knowledge of the nature and disposition of each of his children, a knowledge gained by long observation and experience in the past eternity of our primeval childhood; a knowledge compared with which that gained by earthly parents through mortal experience with their children is infinitesimally small. By reason of that surpassing knowledge, God reads the future of child and children, of men individually and of men collectively as communities and nations; he knows what each will do under given conditions, and sees the end from the beginning. His foreknowledge is based on intelligence and reason. He foresees the future as a state which naturally and surely will be; not as one which must be because he has arbitrarily willed that it shall be. James E. Talmage, The Great Apostasy, 19-20. (2) Man is free to choose for himself. The father of souls has endowed his children with the divine birthright of free agency; he does not and will not control them by arbitrary force; he impels no man toward sin; he compels none to righteousness. Unto man has been given freedom to act for himself; and, associated with this independence, is the fact of strict responsibility and the assurance of individual accountability. In the judgment with which we shall be judged, all the conditions and circumstances of our lives shall be considered. The inborn tendencies due to heredity, the effect of environment whether conducive to good or evil, the wholesome teachings of youth, or the absence of good instruction these and all other contributory elements must be taken into account in the rendering of a just verdict as to the souls guilt or innocence. Nevertheless, the divine wisdom makes plain what will be the result with given conditions operating on known natures and dispositions of men, while every individual is free to choose good or evil within the limits of the

27 many conditions existing and operative. The Great Apostasy (21); see also Articles of Faith, (74-75). (3) The fall was a process of physical degeneracy. A modern revelation given to the Church in 1833 (D&C 89), prescribes rules for right living, particularly as regards the uses of stimulants, narcotics, and foods unsuited to the body. Concerning the physical causes by which the fall was brought about, and the close relatio