I had the privilege of speaking in my ward today, and on one of my favorite topics too! Enjoy :)
I was assigned to speak on one of my favorite topics: the
Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is my favorite topic because
it touches every single aspect of the Gospel. I just love pondering and
studying this topic because it really reaches far beyond my understanding. It
is hard to comprehend what our world would be like if the Atonement did not
take place simply because, it wouldn’t exist. The Atonement was a KEY part of
Heavenly Father’s plan from the very beginning and without it; there would be
no plan.
I wish I could just read an entire chapter in “Jesus the Christ”
because it says so perfectly what I want to speak of today about how necessary
the Atonement really is. Our Heavenly Father wanted us, His spirit children, to
progress and return to Him but he knew the only way that could happen is if we
were subjected to good and evil and exercised our ability to choose for
ourselves. He knew that some would not progress and choose evil and that His
commandments would be broken. This line says perfectly what had to happen, “It
was necessary that a means of redemption be provided, whereby erring man might
make amends… 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."
An essential piece of the plan is that the sacrifice had to
be made by one who was completely without sin. Heavenly Father knew that
because we would be born of mortals, we would inevitably succumb to sin.
However, while Christ was born of a mortal, He had an immortal father that
chose Him to complete the Atonement. Christ lived a sinless life and because of
that, He was worthy to make the sacrifice on behalf of all mankind.
The first important part of the Atonement is when Christ
suffered in Gethsemane. He had the burdens of all mankind on His shoulders. He
felt every drop of pain and sorrow that we would ever feel, and that alone
would be too much for any mortal. Once this sacred part was complete, He was
taken and walked through the streets carrying the cross on which He would be
crucified.
The Atonement was a voluntary sacrifice, but this assignment
was accepted with love. Our perfect Savior knew what was expected of Him and
that if He completed it, mankind, although rebellious and sinful, could accept
it as a means of deliverance. How beautiful! But what I find most beautiful in
the doctrine of the Atonement is that our Savior, on the cross and suffering
beyond comprehension, chose to stay and complete the Atonement even though at
any moment He could have given up. He was born of an immortal Father and could
have escaped death easily, but He did not because He knew if he did not
complete the Atonement one hundred percent of the way, we would be lost. So
when He says, “It is finished,” the Atonement for all mankind is truly
finished. That is a true sacrifice of love and because of it we can break the
chains of death that bind us as mortals.
Then, because Christ suffered and died, He could be
resurrected. While we are promised abundantly in the scriptures that we will be
resurrected someday with perfect bodies, Christ still bears the marks of the
cross that we may know with a surety that it is Him who atoned for us. By
walking the path of death and resurrection, the Savior provided the same way
for us and it is the only way we could return to live with our Heavenly Father.
The Resurrection is just as important to our eternal progression as the
Atonement, “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" (2 Nephi 9).
That states clearly that, without Christ’s death and
resurrection, when we would finally die, we would not rise anymore. Mankind
would simply be trapped in a fallen state and our eternal progression would be
lost. Without the help of a divine Savior, no soul could ever find the way back
to Heavenly Father. The simple fact that Christ died and then returned to us
provides that we will all be resurrected regardless of how we spend our lives.
Although we cannot live perfect lives, Christ did, and His Atonement covers our
imperfections so we can still be worthy to receive the promised blessings of
eternal life.
The Atonement is a tremendous blessing and our Heavenly
Father evidently loves us so much that he would sacrifice His Son in the most
heartbreaking way so that all of His children might have a path to return to
Him. The best part about this is that every human being that has ever lived or
will live has access to the blessings of the Atonement. Our God is a just God
and would never deny His children all the blessings of His kingdom, but we must
choose righteously in order to receive the highest blessings that He has
promised to us.
Because of the Atonement, we are promised beautiful
blessings such as eternal families. Because we can be resurrected, we can be
with our families forever and ever in the presence of Christ and our Heavenly
parents. If Christ had not died on the cross and then been resurrected, we
would not have that promise. We would not be able to access the blessings of
eternity.
That being said, there are millions of people that go about
their lives every day not knowing anything about Christ and their eternal
potential. In the pre-MTC training videos there was a man from China who said
he was literally taught that after this life there is nothing. What would be
the point of living here, building relationships and lifestyles if when we
eventually die… there is nothing. Are we here by random chance just to live a short
time and then disappear never to rise again? Thankfully the answer is NO. We
know that, but people all over the world do not. They do not know of life after
death, about resurrection or the beautiful place waiting for us when our time
comes to leave this earth.
We don’t realize how blessed we are to have this knowledge.
We live every day taking for granted what we have, let alone sharing it with
others! If we know this to be true, what do we have to fear? We have good news
and promised blessings for all the children of God, and that is worth sharing.
I’m excited to be able to teach this sweet doctrine to all
those I meet as a missionary and also throughout my life. The Church is so
true. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live and love us so much. The Atonement
is real and because of it we can return to our Heavenly parents to live with
them and our families for all eternity.
