The Atonement

"31 And he spake unto me again, saying: Look! And I looked, and I beheld the Lamb of God going forth among the children of men. And I beheld multitudes of people who were sick, and who were afflicted with all manner of diseases, and with devils and unclean spirits; and the angel spake and showed all these things unto me. And they were healed by the power of the Lamb of God; and the devils and the unclean spirits were cast out. 32 And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me again, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he was taken by the people; yea, the Son of the everlasting God was judged of the world; and I saw and bear record. 33 And I, Nephi, saw that he was lifted up upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world." 1 Nephi 11: 31-33 The Atonement as we know it from the scriptures means to suffer the penalty for sins, remove the effects of sin and allowing a cleansing so that we can live for eternity with Heavenly Father. As mortals, we inherited the effects of the Fall of Adam and Eve. We are subject to temptation and deception. When we give in and sin, we distance ourselves from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and lose the influence of the Holy Ghost. We bring this upon ourselves because of the choices we make. If the sinning continues, we experience a spiritual death and are left alone in the world. A darkness as described in Lehi's Dream overcomes us and we wander without a course. Later when occasions come that we are influenced by the light of the Lord through conversations, reading, watching, listening or remembering and longing for the peace that we once had, we begin to question our course or lack thereof and look around to see where we are. We acknowledge the darkness surrounding us and we seek out the light. We are drawn to the light when we see it and as we get closer, we begin to see the error in our ways and we begin to correct them and ask for forgiveness and mercy that we can return to the strait and narrow path. We reach out and take hold of the iron rod and if we do not let go and we continue to move forward, we again reach the happiness and peace that we once had. We all know this process as repentance. Through repentance we are cleansed by the Atonement. How this works we don't know, but we are told in Helaman 5:11; "11 And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls." Christ also tells us in Doctrine and Covenants 19: 16-18; "16 For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; 17 But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; 18 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— " Let's take a look at what the atonement does. The Atonement cleanses us of our sins. In Doctrine and Covenants 58: 42 it says "42 Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more." I have always been intrigued by the fact the Lord does not tell us that we will not remember our sins. This becomes a great deterrent for us as we continue on and forsake those sins to remember the suffering and pain that those sins caused. Eventually we forgive ourselves for the sins and we let them become a part of our past, not forgotten, but out of mind, not needing to be dealt with anymore. The Atonement allows us to forgive. In Doctrine and Covenants 64: 9-10 it tells us " 9 Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. 10 I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men." Notice how the Lord requires us to forgive others for us to be forgiven. And a key point at the end of verse 10, "it is required to forgive all men". He doesn't say other men but all men, that includes us. We must forgive ourselves also. Forgiveness is a key part in the Atonement! President Wilford Woodruff said "let us not spend too much time confessing the other fellows sins. Ours is the responsibility to find our own need for repentance." The Atonement strengthens us. In Mathew 11: 28-30 we read " 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you crest. 29 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. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. " When we have burdens placed upon us, do we look down in despair, or as so many around us have shown us by example, do we look up and ask for strength to overcome those burdens. With Heavenly Father's help, with the blessings pronounced on us in the temple ordinances and by our righteousness, we can accomplish anything. The Atonement makes the temple ordinances possible for each of us to be eligible for eternal life with Heavenly Father and our families. The Atonement creates Hope. We can look forward to the promise of the eternities so that we are not trapped by the bindings of our mortal existence and we can release ourselves from both spiritual and physical deaths. The Atonement comforts us. In Alma 7: 11-12 we read "11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. 12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, 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." The Savior experienced all of the pain and suffering that each one of us will experience in our lives. Not only the suffering of our sins, but just as important all of the suffering that we will experience as the result of other's sins, ours and other's illnesses and afflictions, emotional and physical suffering and hurts and all of the depression and despair that we will feel. He knows what each and every one of us will face in our lives and He lifts and strengthens us to be able to withstand and endure all of these things when we ask worthily for that strength. He will not make us endure anything that we are not capable of withstanding on our own. But it is our humble duty to ask for help. The Atonement ties all of the ordinances and teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ together. When we are born, we are freed from the original transgressions of Adam and Eve. When we are baptized, we are washed clean of our sins and we take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ and become members of His Church. When we receive the Holy Ghost, we are given a companion to help us through our journey in life if we remain worthy. When we take the Sacrament, we renew our covenants and promises to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and by doing so we are allowed to have the Spirit with us as we are told in the Sacrament prayers. Often as part of the repentance process a Bishop will ask a member not to partake of the sacrament until the Bishop and that person feel it is appropriate to do so again. Having been in a couple of Bishoprics, I have seen the change in people when they are told they may begin to take the sacrament again. I have watched a change take place in them that is visually noticeable as they partake of the bread and water! I can testify to you the importance of taking the sacrament worthily so that the Holy Spirit can be with us! Temple Ordinances allow us to learn what we need to do to enter into the presence of Heavenly Father if we live worthily. They also teach us and strengthen us in our progression through life. For those that have gone on before us, their acceptance of the Atonement allows us to act as proxies for them in the temple and this allows them to receive and accept those same ordinances that we receive in the temple so that they will also be prepared to enter in to the presence of the Lord. This family history and temple work matters. One night about eleven months ago while we were at the temple with members of our ward doing sealings for the dead, I had the wonderful opportunity of being taught the importance of these ordinances to those who we act as proxy for. I was shown the joy and celebration of those that accept it and then immediately behind that the sadness and embarrassment as they are accepted and someone else does not have that opportunity. This greatly troubled me and I was trying to understand how there would not be joy by all. Then it came to me that someone had been missed. There was sorrow because all of the family was not receiving their ordinances. I asked after the ordinance was completed the name on the card so I could remember it. Later I told Sister Homer the name and asked her to check it again, that maybe someone had been missed. The next morning in just a couple of hours, she was able to find over 23 additional names of a brother of this couple that had not had their work done. This work matters to them also. And finally when we die, we are able to receive the ordinance of resurrection so that we may live for eternity with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. The Atonement is like a binding matter that connects all of these aspects of the Gospel together. Pres. David O. McKay said that "the purpose of the gospel was to turn bad men, good and to turn good men, better." What better way to do this than through the Atonement? There is one other aspect of the Atonement that I would like to discuss. The Atonement is a process of progression in the Gospel. In 3Nephi 12 & 13 we are told about the Sermon at the Temple which is nearly identical to the Sermon on the Mount. This is a matter of great importance to the Lord. He taught the same principles to both groups of disciples. If we study this sermon, we see that it is a map for the Atonement in our lives that leads us through a progression that takes us back to Heavenly Father, where we can continue to learn how to be like Him. Because of the amount of time it would take to read the sermon, I will summarize the content in the steps of the progression. We start by realizing we lack spirituality. Then we begin to mourn for our transgressions. We are then comforted and we realize a new light in our lives. As we are filled with this light of the Gospel, we begin to turn more outward and also we become more merciful towards others. Our progression takes us beyond the ugliness of the world that surrounds us and we cling more to the gospel for comfort. Contention becomes something that we avoid and we look for peace in those that we associate with. We become persecuted for our ways as we grow in the gospel. We either fall because we look to the large and spacious building as in Lehi's dream or we turn towards the light and cling tighter to the gospel. We are admonished more than ever at this point to stay true to our covenants lest we fall. It is told to us that it is important for us to endure to the end. Finally we come to the God-like attributes towards the end of the sermon. These attributes require patience, pure love, and for us to take total control over our emotions. We read in 3Nephi 12: 44-48 " 44 But behold I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good. 46 Therefore those things which were of old time, which were under the law, in me are all fulfilled. 47 Old things are done away, and all things have become new. 48 Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect." At this point we have used the power of the Atonement and are ready to live with God as He is. We come to the point of the Great Judgment Day when our progression in the kingdoms stops and we have either earned a position of no more progression for eternity in a lower kingdom or we have shown our worthiness to exist with Heavenly Father and have eternal progression through the full acceptance of the Gospel and the Atonement in exaltation. If we make it to this point in our progression we will stand before the judgment bar ready. I have thought what it would be like to get to this point and I have imagined that it will be something like this if I have been faithful and lived worthily. The Savior will greet me by name, for He truly knows each one of us individually, I will put my own name here but imagine this is your own name and He is speaking on your behalf. This is Howard, one of my disciples. He took upon him my name and accepted the Atonement. I accept his offering of service, love and charity. I accept his willingness to take on higher laws and responsibilities and that he has made covenants in doing so and has brought his family with him so they can be together as one. In his darkest hours I gave him strength when he asked for it and when he didn't, I lifted him up. I felt all of the pain and suffering that he experienced in life, even when it was not his fault. I gave comfort to him as needed for I know his strengths and weaknesses. I was with him when he shed tears of a parent for his children and when he shed tears as a child while caring for aging parents. Because of his willingness to do better, I accept him and call him one of mine. Let him enter. Through the Hope of the Atonement, this opportunity awaits all of us through our righteousness and our Savior Jesus Christ's love for us. In His name, Jesus Christ Who lives, Amen.