Lesson 5:
The Infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ
The word atonement
appears only once in the New Testament, 55 times in the Book of Mormon, 11
times in the D&C and 3 times in the Pearl of Great Price.
David A. Bednar, " Bear Up Their Burdens with Ease" CR, Apr, 2014; Neil L. Maxwell, "Willing to
Submit, CR, Apr. 1985)
"Gethsemane, Golgotha,
and the Garden Tomb, the Sacrifice of the Exalted Son of God" Ed J.
Pinegar
The Atonement of Jesus Christ—the
greatest event to ever take place—makes it possible for all people to be
forgiven from sin and to dwell with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ throughout
eternity. Through the Atonement, all will be resurrected and return to the
presence of God to be judged. Because the Atonement required Jesus Christ to
suffer in an infinite number of ways, He has perfect empathy for each of us.
“The Atonement is the most transcendent doctrine of the
Gospel. It is the most important single thing that has ever occurred in the
history of the world, or ever will occur. It is the foundation upon which all
other things rest. If it weren’t for the Atonement, we could write the Gospel
off as a myth and the whole purpose of the creation would be frustrated. (BRM,
“The Atonement”, BYU Speeches, May 6, 1953 p. 1)
(NAMawell,) "The more
we study, pray, and ponder the awesome Atonement, the more we are willing to
acknowledge that we are in His and the Father’s hands. Let us ponder,
therefore, these final things.
When the unimaginable
burden began to weigh upon Christ, it confirmed His long-held and
intellectually clear understanding as to what He must now do. His working
through began, and Jesus declared: “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I
say? Father, save me from this hour.” Then, whether in spiritual soliloquy or
by way of instruction to those about Him, He observed, “But for this cause came
I unto this hour.” Later, in Gethsemane,
the suffering Jesus began to be “sore amazed” or, in the Greek, “awestruck” and “astonished.”
Imagine, Jehovah, the
Creator of this and other worlds, “astonished”! Jesus knew cognitively what He
must do, but not experientially. He had never personally known the exquisite
and exacting process of an atonement before. Thus, when the agony came in its
fulness, it was so much, much worse than even He with his unique intellect had
ever imagined! No wonder an angel appeared to strengthen him!
The cumulative weight of
all mortal sins—past, present, and future—pressed upon that perfect, sinless,
and sensitive Soul! All our infirmities and sicknesses were somehow, too, a
part of the awful arithmetic of the Atonement. The anguished Jesus not
only pled with the Father that the hour and cup might pass from Him, but with
this relevant citation. “And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible
unto thee; take away this cup from me.” Had not Jesus, as
Jehovah, said to Abraham, “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” Had not
His angel told a perplexed Mary, “For with God nothing shall be
impossible”? Jesus’ request was not theater!
In this extremity, did He,
perchance, hope for a rescuing ram in the thicket? I do not know. His
suffering—as it were, enormity multiplied by infinity—evoked
His later soul-cry on the cross, and it was a cry of forsakenness.
The wondrous and glorious
Atonement was the central act in all of human history. It was the hinge on
which all else that finally matters turned. But it turned upon Jesus’ spiritual
submissiveness!
Have you ever
thought that there was no way that Jesus could know the suffering which we
undergo as a result of our stupidity and sin (because he was sinless) except he
bear those sins of ours? Jesus now knows, according to the flesh, how to succor
us and how to help us as a result of that suffering, which knowledge could have
come in no other way” (NAMaxwell, CES Symposium, Aug. 1979)
(David A. Bednar) I pray for the
assistance of the Holy Ghost as I emphasize vital lessons that can be learned
from this story about my friend, the truck, and the wood. It was the load. It
was the load of wood that provided the traction necessary for him to get out of
the snow, to get back on the road, and to move forward. It was the load that
enabled him to return to his family and his home.
Each of us also carries a load. Two guiding questions can
be helpful as we periodically and prayerfully assess our load: “Is the load I
am carrying producing the spiritual traction that will enable me to press
forward with faith in Christ on the strait and narrow path and avoid getting
stuck? Is the load I am carrying creating sufficient spiritual traction so I
ultimately can return home to Heavenly Father?”
Sometimes we mistakenly may believe that happiness is the
absence of a load. But bearing a load is a necessary and essential part of the
plan of happiness.
The Savior said: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. “For
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”
Consider the Lord’s uniquely individual invitation to
“take my yoke upon you.” Making and keeping sacred covenants yokes us to and
with the Lord Jesus Christ. In essence, the Savior is beckoning us to rely upon
and pull together with Him, even though our best efforts are not equal to and
cannot be compared with His. As we trust in and pull our load with Him during
the journey of mortality, truly His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
We are not and never need be alone. As the Lord declared,
“Therefore, continue your journey and let your hearts rejoice; for behold, and
lo, I am with you even unto the end”
Consider the example in the Book of Mormon as Amulon
persecuted Alma and his people. (Alma 24)
Do we understand that the Atonement is for faithful men
and women who are obedient, worthy, and conscientious and who are striving to
become better and serve more faithfully? I wonder if we fail to fully
acknowledge this strengthening aspect of the Atonement in our lives and
mistakenly believe we must carry our load all alone—through sheer grit,
willpower, and discipline and with our obviously limited capacities. It is one
thing to know that Jesus Christ came to the earth to die for
us. But we also need to appreciate that the Lord desires, through His Atonement
and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to enliven us—not only to
guide but also to strengthen and heal us.
Alma explains why and how the Savior can enable us: Alma
7:11-12
Thus, the Savior has suffered not just for our sins and
iniquities—but also for our physical pains and anguish, our weaknesses and
shortcomings, our fears and frustrations, our disappointments and
discouragement, our regrets and remorse, our despair and desperation, the
injustices and inequities we experience, and the emotional distresses that
beset us.
There is no physical pain, no spiritual wound, no anguish
of soul or heartache, no infirmity or weakness you or I ever confront in
mortality that the Savior did not experience first. In a moment of weakness we
may cry out, “No one knows what it is like. No one understands.” But the Son of
God perfectly knows and understands, for He has felt and borne our individual
burdens.
I invite you to study, pray, ponder, and strive to learn
more about the Savior’s Atonement as you assess your individual load. Many
things about the Atonement we simply cannot comprehend with our mortal minds.
But many aspects of the Atonement we can and need to understand.
The unique burdens in each of our lives help us to rely
upon the merits, mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah (see 2 Nephi
2:8 I testify and promise the Savior will help us to bear up
our burdens with ease (see Mosiah 24:15 As we are yoked with Him
through sacred covenants and receive the enabling power of His Atonement in our
lives, we increasingly will seek to understand and live according to His will.
We also will pray for the strength to learn from, change, or accept our
circumstances rather than praying relentlessly for God to change our
circumstances according to our will. We will become agents who act rather than
objects that are acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:14 We will be blessed with
spiritual traction.)
D. Todd
Christofferson-While the most important aspects of redemption
have to do with repentance and forgiveness, there is a very significant
temporal aspect as well. Jesus is said to have gone about doing good (see Acts 10:38),
which included healing the sick and infirm, supplying food to hungry
multitudes, and teaching a more excellent way. “The Son of man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).
So may we, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, go about doing good in the
redemptive pattern of the Master.
This kind of redemptive work means helping
people with their problems. It means befriending the poor and the weak,
alleviating suffering, righting wrongs, defending truth, strengthening the
rising generation, and achieving security and happiness at home. Much of our
redemptive work on earth is to help others grow and achieve their just hopes
and aspirations.
An example from Victor Hugo’s novel Les
Misérables, though fictional, has always touched and inspired me. Near
the beginning of the story, Bishop Bienvenu gives food and overnight shelter to
the homeless Jean Valjean, who has just been released from 19 years in prison
for having stolen a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving children.
Hardened and embittered, Valjean rewards Bishop Bienvenu’s kindness by stealing
his silver goods. Later detained by suspicious gendarmes, Valjean falsely
claims the silver was a gift to him. When the gendarmes drag him back to the
bishop’s house, to Valjean’s great surprise, Bishop Bienvenu confirms his story
and for good effect says, “‘But! I gave you the candlesticks also, which are
silver like the rest, and would bring two hundred francs. Why did you not take
them along with your plates?’ …
“The bishop approached him, and said, in a low
voice:
“‘Forget not, never forget that you have
promised me to use this silver to become an honest man.’
“Jean Valjean, who had no recollection of this
promise, stood confounded. The bishop … continued, solemnly:
“‘Jean Valjean, my brother: you belong no
longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I
withdraw it from dark thoughts and from the spirit of perdition, and I give it
to God!’”
Jean Valjean indeed became a new man, an honest
man and a benefactor to many. Throughout his life he kept the two silver
candlesticks to remind him that his life had been redeemed for God.
Some forms of temporal redemption come by
collaborative effort. It is one of the reasons the Savior created a church.
Being organized in quorums and auxiliaries and in stakes, wards, and branches,
we can not only teach and encourage each other in the gospel, but we can also
bring to bear people and resources to deal with the exigencies of life. People
acting alone or in ad hoc groups cannot always provide means on a scale needed
to address larger challenges. As followers of Jesus Christ we are a community
of Saints organized to help redeem the needs of our fellow Saints and as many
others as we can reach across the globe.
Because of our humanitarian efforts, mentioned
by ElderDallin H. Oaks,
specifically this past year, 890,000 people in 36 countries have clean water,
70,000 people in 57 countries have wheelchairs, 75,000 people in 25 countries
have improved vision, and people in 52 countries received aid following natural
disasters. Acting with others, the Church has helped immunize some 8 million
children and has helped Syrians in refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan
with the necessities of life. At the same time, members of the Church in need
received millions of dollars in fast-offering and other welfare assistance
during 2012. Thank you for your generosity.
All of this does not begin to count the
individual acts of kindness and support—gifts of food, clothing, money, care,
and a thousand other forms of comfort and compassion—by which we may
participate in the Christlike work of redemption. As a boy I witnessed my own
mother’s actions to redeem a woman in need. Many years ago when her children
were young, my mother underwent a serious operation that nearly took her life
and left her bedridden much of the time for nearly a year. During this time,
family and ward members helped Mother and our family. For additional help, the
ward Relief Society president, Sister Abraham, recommended that my parents hire
a woman in the ward who desperately needed work. In recounting this story, I
will use the fictional names Sara and Annie for this woman and her daughter.
This is my mother’s account:
“I can see it as plain as if it were only
yesterday. There I lay in bed, and Sister Abraham brought Sara to the bedroom
door. My heart sank. There stood the least attractive person I had ever met—so
thin; scraggly, unkempt hair; round-shouldered; head bowed looking at the
floor. She wore an old housedress four sizes too big. She wouldn’t look up and
spoke so softly I couldn’t hear her. Hiding behind her was a little girl about
three years old. What in the world was I to do with this creature? After they
left the room, I cried and cried. I needed help, not more problems. Sister
Abraham stayed awhile with her, and they soon whipped the house into shape and
prepared some good meals. Sister Abraham asked me to try it for a few days,
[saying] that this girl had had a really hard time and needed help.
“The next morning when Sara came, I finally
got her to come over by the bed where I could hear her. She asked what I wanted
her to do. I told her and then said, ‘But the most important thing is my boys;
spend time with them, read to them—they are more important than the house.’ She
was a good cook and kept the house clean, the washing done, and she was good to
the boys.
“Through the weeks, I learned Sara’s story.
[Because she was hard of hearing, she didn’t do well in school and eventually
dropped out. She married young to a dissolute man. Annie was born and became the
joy of Sara’s life. One winter night her husband came home drunk, forced Sara
and Annie into the car in their bedclothes, and then dropped them off by the
side of the highway. They never saw him again. Barefoot and freezing, Sara and
Annie walked several miles to her mother’s home.] Her mother agreed to let them
stay in exchange for doing all the housework and cooking, and caring for her
sister and brother who were in high school.
“We took Sara to an ear doctor, and she got a
hearing aid. … We got her to take adult schooling, and she got her high school
diploma. She went to night school and later graduated from college and taught
special education. She bought a little home. Annie was married in the temple
and had two children. Sara eventually had some operations on her ears and was
finally able to hear well. Years later she retired and served a mission. … Sara
thanked us often and said she learned so much from me, especially when I told
her that my sons were more important than the house. She said it taught her to
be that way with Annie. … Sara is a very special woman.”
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we ought to do
all we can to redeem others from suffering and burdens. Even so, our greatest
redemptive service will be to lead them to Christ. Without His Redemption from
death and from sin, we have only a gospel of social justice. That may provide
some help and reconciliation in the present, but it has no power to draw down
from heaven perfect justice and infinite mercy. Ultimate redemption is in Jesus
Christ and in Him alone. I humbly and gratefully acknowledge Him as the Redeemer in the name of Jesus
Christ, amen.
Boyd K. Packer-It was understood from the
beginning that in mortality we would fall short of being perfect. It was not
expected that we would live without transgressing one law or another. Mosiah
3:19
From the Pearl of Great Price, we understand that “no
unclean thing can dwell [in the kingdom of God],” and so a way was
provided for all who sin to repent and become worthy of the presence of our
Father in Heaven once more.
A Mediator, a Redeemer, was chosen, one who would live
His life perfectly, commit no sin, and offer “himself a sacrifice for sin, to
answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a
contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.”
Concerning the importance of the Atonement, in Alma we
learn, “For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; … or else all
mankind must unavoidably perish.”
If you have made no mistakes, then you do not need the
Atonement. If you have made mistakes, and all of us have, whether minor or
serious, then you have an enormous need to find out how they can be erased so
that you are no longer in darkness.
“[Jesus Christ]
is the light and the life of the world.” As we fix our gaze on His
teachings, we will be guided to the harbor of spiritual safety.
The third article of faith states, “We believe that
through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the
laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”
President Joseph F. Smith taught: “Men cannot
forgive their own sins; they cannot cleanse themselves from the consequences of
their sins. Men can stop sinning and can do right in the future, and so far
[as] their acts are acceptable before the Lord [become] worthy of
consideration. But who shall repair the wrongs they have done to themselves and
to others, which it seems impossible for them to repair themselves? By the
atonement of Jesus Christ the sins of the repentant shall be washed away;
though they be crimson they shall be made white as wool. This is the promise
given to you.”
We do not know exactly how the Lord accomplished the Atonement.
But we do know that the cruel torture of crucifixion was only part of the
horrific pain which began in Gethsemane—that sacred site of suffering—and was
completed on Golgotha.
So far as I have been able to tell, there is only one
account in the Savior’s own words that describes what He endured in the Garden
of Gethsemane. D&C 19:16-18
Throughout your life there may be times when you have
gone places you never should have gone and done things you never should have
done. If you will turn away from sin, you will be able one day to know the
peace that comes from following the pathway of complete repentance.
No matter what our transgressions have been, no matter
how much our actions may have hurt others, that guilt can all be wiped out. To
me, perhaps the most beautiful phrase in all scripture is when the Lord said,
“Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the
Lord, remember them no more.”
That is the promise of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the
Atonement: to take anyone who comes, anyone who will join, and put them through
an experience so that at the end of their life, they can go through the veil
having repented of their sins and having been washed clean through the blood of
Christ.
That is what Latter-day Saints do around the world. That
is the Light we offer to those who are in darkness and have lost their way.
Wherever our members and missionaries may go, our message is one of faith and
hope in the Savior Jesus Christ.
What If There Was No Sacrament Bread Because There Was No
Savior?
John 17- The Intercessory Prayer
