REASONS FOR THE ATONEMENT
Brockbank - Stake Priesthood Meeting – January 25, 2004
The atonement of Christ accomplishes three primary outcomes that are of divine and eternal import for us in this life and into the eternities.
Perfect Forgiveness
Perfect Influence
Perfect Resurrection
Let me spend a few moments on each of these.
I have had many folks enter my office bearing the enormous weight of sins in their lives. To receive full and complete forgiveness, Jesus has given us both the principles and power that lead to full forgiveness.
First he has given us the principles that we must follow for us to be cleansed of our transgressions. The most important principle I believe that he has provided us on our pathway to repentance is godly sorrow. Godly sorrow is different from other kinds of sorrow in three ways:
First, Godly sorrow is grounded in recognition that our lives are not consistent with gods’ desire for us. This is especially true if we have injured others in the process of our sinning.
Second, Godly sorrow entails that we are willing to pay ANY price for forgiveness – to be pure before God. Social standing, public humiliation, losing loved ones, forgoing careers. The individual with godly sorrow will forego any of these to be repentant.
Third, Godless sorrow is patient and implicitly trusts worthy Priesthood leaders as part of the confession and judgment processes. I hope that my members understand the full cleansing power of the atonement. I hope that they take the Lord at his word.
Isaiah: 1:17
Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord; thought you sins be a scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; thought they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. And even more powerful
Hebrews 10:16-17
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws in to their hearts, and in their minds will I write them. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. In the mind of the Lord, the sin never occurred. People are not only forgiven. The sin never occurred. He does not wipe the slate clean; he creates a new slate.
As I have given sacred blessings at the end of sometimes even extended periods of repentance, it has been my stunning and humbling opportunity to pronounce cleanliness. It is a remarkable blessing to be the giver and receiver of Priesthood Blessings in the context of repentance. In addition to providing Perfect Forgiveness, the Atonement of Christ also brought about Perfect and Eternal Influence of Love in and through the person of the Savior.
The primary problem with life is that it is sometimes extraordinarily difficult. We can see in our selves and in others whom we love enormous obstacles to achieving full righteousness. People frequently see themselves fall far short of self and divine expectations. People feel lonely, alienated and depressed. They are involved in unrequited love, self-destructive addictions, and entrapped relationships. They may see themselves hopeless caught in the web of pornography, inappropriate behaviors and deceit. Bad grades, insecure jobs, unemployment, and untrue friends can all be enormous sources of pain.
How doe the Atonement of Christ help us through these problems?
In III Nephi 27:15 Jesus said that through the process of the Atonement (especially through the crucifixion), He gained the perfect ability to “draw all men (and women) unto Him” (III Nephi 27:18). Through the infinite suffering on the cross and Gethsemane, Jesus refined and infinitely expanded his ability to draw us unto with through the influence of His love. The implication of this fact is something that I want the members of my Ward to understand.
First, the first implication is that in the nature cadence of life, sometime things are great and sometimes they are not so great. We have highs and we have lows. That is just the way life is set up to be. The problem is that sometimes the lows seem too low and too long and the highs sometimes can feel few and far between. That’s the bad news. The good news is, I believe, that the overwhelming majority of our spiritual progression occurs at the valleys and not at the peaks. Thus I am always a bit suspect when the members of my ward become too preoccupied with happiness as their outcome. I assume that happiness is the ultimate outcomes but I remain suspicious when happiness receives too much attention.
There is ample scriptural support for the fact that much of spiritual progress occurs when the going is most difficult. One dramatic expression of this brings us to holy ground. On the day when the most righteous person in the history of the universe had the overwhelmingly worst day of his entire eternal existence when he experienced the greatest loneliness, despair and pain was the exact same time when he did the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people infinitely and eternally.
This may be the greatest irony of this universe.
Most of the Quorum of the 12 have cited Mosiah 3:19 in the last five years of General Conference.
[Become] a saint trough the atonement of Christ the Lord, and [become] as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
Given that Jesus perfectly loves us and is concerned about our eternal growth and strength, he inflicts things on us to help us to become more like Him and His Father. Growth occurs most at the valleys; not at the peaks.
A second implication of the infinite drawing power of Jesus love is the ability Jesus has to draw us through valleys and on to new and higher peaks. In D&C 84:88, Jesus said, “I will go before your face. I will be on your right and on your left and my spirit shall be in your hearts.”
Then he adds additional help as He continues. “And mine angels round about you to bear you up”.
He will not leave us alone. He has promised in Isaiah 40:
Hast thou not heard that the everlasting God …. Giveth power to the faint and to them that have not might, He increaseth strength. They that wait upon the Lord shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary and shall walk and not faint.
He will steadily and surely draw us unto him and His exhalation – and ours. It may not be easy at the time but the outcomes (at least, in retrospect) are exalting. He will always be there. But we must learn to accept His love even in the midst of our afflictions that he allows to for our eternal well-being.
The primary thing that he asks of us is that we never NEVER give up. Never give up. Then the Savior will eventually draw us unto his exalted state.
The third implication of the drawing power of Jesus for us is in the strength and pervasiveness of Jesus’ influence. The drawing power of the Jesus love is more powerful than any force in this universe. Keep in mind the might that was required to create the universe was done before the completion of the atonement. Yet after the Atonement Jesus’ power was greater than before. “As one noted philosopher noted, ‘ strike me down and I shall become more powerful than you could even imagine” That has happened and that infinitely loving and eternally expansive influence is available to help us ALL return to the presence of the Father. A breathtaking quote from President Joseph F. Smith,
Jesus will only finish his work when he has redeemed and saved EVERY son and daughter of our father Adam that ever has been or ever will be born on the earth to the end of time – except for the sons of perdition.
Finally the atonement also has brought about the perfect resurrection. What I say next I must say carefully. For a long time I did not even come close to comprehending the importance of the physical resurrection. Here is the issue. When McKell died, the primary issue was not did he have a body. The critical issue is did he continue to exist. As the family looked into the coffin one last time, tears began to well up in my throat. Nancy squeezed my hand and said, “He is not here.” His body was but his spirit was not. At that point, it felt like his body was irrelevant. The key issue was the continued existence of his spirit. Over the weeks and months that followed, mind-to-mind was much more important than hand-to-hand.
Plus we are eternal beings; we are coeternal with God. As soon as we physically die, our spirits simply transition to another phase until the physical resurrection and even in that transitory state we will associate with loved ones, friends and family.
So what is the big deal about the physical resurrection? We say to become like God. I accept that but the “why” question continued to hover around my thinking.
Clearly the scriptures emphasize over and over the importance of the physical resurrection.
Every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame (Alma 40:23) If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain. (I Cor. 15:13-14)
The Prophet Joseph stated. “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.” (History of the Church 3:30)
That the resurrection is important is clear, the question is do we any clearer indications as to why:
First, at the resurrection, the glory that our spirits attain in this life through obedience, repentance, faith and diligence (never giving up) is sealed into our immortalized physical beings. In summarizing D&C 89, Marion G. Romney stated: “Men will be judged in the spirit world and rewarded according to their works. In the resurrection, their bodies will be quickened by the glory of the kingdom, the laws which they have obeyed during this temporal, mortal life”.
This gets us closer to reason for the necessity of a physical resurrection.
Another reason to have a resurrected body is that we cannot stand in the presence of God with out a physical body in tact and ready to face the judgment. Alma 42:14, 15. But why
Second, an even more telling a powerful reason is hinted out in a statement by the Prophet Joseph:
We can to this earth that we might have a body and present it pure before God in the celestial kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists in having a body. The devil has no body and therein is his punishment. (Teachings p. 297)
Third, in II Nephi 9:7,9, Jacob explains:
Wherefore (there) 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 need have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have lain down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise to 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 lies, in misery like unto himself. That is pretty strong wording. Without our physical bodies we would become like or as Satan. But “Why?”
To further examine the question, I went to one of the best Gospel thinkers whom I know – Nancy. When I went through with her the above logic, she looked at me like I had missed something obvious (I hate it when she does that – which is somewhat frequently).
She said the following.
The great punishment of Satan is not having a body because without a body he have cannot have children – posterity - anytime in the eternities. So a major reason for the fall, the atonement and the resurrection is that they make possible eternal families and eternal parenthood. This brings the Atonement right to the center of the central nature of God and our eternal purpose. Thus one key out come of the resurrection – maybe the primary outcome – is that it facilitates our being joint co creators of families into eternity.
We get a glimpse of this in the recent testimony of Dallen Oaks (Conference 2000)
Many, including some of my own extended family, have seen a departed loved one in vision or personal appearances and have witnesses their restoration ‘proper and perfect’ frame, in the prime of life. Whether these were manifestations of persons already resurrected or of righteous spirits awaiting an assured resurrection, the reality and nature of the resurrection of mortals is evident.
Finally, the thinness of veil and the reality of the close associations is explained my President Wilford Woodruff (Journal. Vol. 23:216)
If the veil could be taken from our eyes …….. we would see the Prophet Joseph Smith, Brigham Young , and John Taylor are associating with mortals …. I have associated with them and others in the spirit world. Joseph clasped my hand and drew me in ….. I felt his hand just as tangible as I ever felt the hand of man.
So “Why did they do that to Jesus?” And “What do I want our members to know about the Atonement of Christ?”
First I want them to know that as we have godly sorrow and fully repent, Jesus promises us perfect forgiveness and He remembers them no more.
Second, I want them to know that through his Atonement Jesus has perfect love that is infinite and eternal in its power and reach. There is no problem that he cannot help us to overcome – if we never give up.
Third, I want them to know the marvelous power of the resurrection and that this central act moves us along our path to eternal parenthood and to the eternal blessing of our posterity.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
Supporting quotes -
President Packer stated in General Conference 1995,
Restoring what you cannot restore, healing the wound you cannot heal, fixing that which you broke and cannot fix is the very purpose of the atonement of Christ. When your desire is firm and you are willing pay the uttermost farthing, the law of restitution is suspended; your obligation is transferred to the Lord. He will settle your account. I repeat, save for the exception of the very few who defect to perdition, there is no habit, no transgression, no apostasy, no crime exempted from the promise of competed forgiveness. This is the promise of the atonement of Christ.
From Joseph Smith
When the Lord has thoroughly proved him and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, the man will find his calling and election made sure.
And having one’s calling and election made sure is defined by Elder McConkie to mean that one is sealed up unto eternal life; to have the unconditional guarantee of exaltation and receive the assurance of godhood. This is the promise that is fulfilled by the drawing influence of Jesus through the atonement. This is the promise that I hope is written on the hearts of the members of my ward.
