The Atonement of Jesus Christ

I have been reading in Alma 34 and there was one verse that I kept being drawn back to.

“And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal.” (Alma 34:14)

Everything past, present, and future boils down to the single greatest event in human history: the Atonement of Jesus Christ. So much has been written throughout history about the Atonement because of the eternal nature and importance of this magnificent event. Tad R. Callister says this about the importance of the Atonement.

“The Atonement of Jesus Christ outweighs, surpasses, and transcends every other mortal event, every new discovery, and every acquisition of knowledge, for without the Atonement all else in life is meaningless.” (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 4)

Bruce R. McConkie said the following,

“Now, the atonement of Christ is the most basic and fundamental doctrine of the gospel, and it is the least understood of all our revealed truths.

Many of us have a superficial knowledge and rely upon the Lord and his goodness to see us through the trials and perils of life.

But if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived.

May I invite you to join with me in gaining a sound and sure knowledge of the Atonement.

We must cast aside the philosophies of men and the wisdom of the wise and hearken to that Spirit which is given to us to guide us into all truth.

We must search the scriptures, accepting them as the mind and will and voice of the Lord and the very power of God unto salvation.” (link to talk)

We can learn more about the Atonement by studying the words of the Lord’s prophets and apostles. We can also read the scriptures, specifically the Book of Mormon. But we will gain a greater understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ as we learn to apply it in our individual lives.

The intent of Jesus Christ is to bring salvation to those who believe on his name. His mercy overpowers the demands of justice allowing men to have faith unto repentance. As we act on our faith we can access the Savior’s mercy. Once we come unto Him we are encircled in the arms of His safety. He has paid the price for our sins and weaknesses, therefore justice can have no claim on him. Those who do not have the faith to act will be left to themselves to feel the “whole” weight of justice (see Alma 34:15-16). And for those who are just beginning to plant the seed of faith, and are hoping for repentance, I think they will also be encircled in the arms of safety.

The ability to truly change comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and his Atonement. Through Him we can be changed, even when the power of our frailties and weaknesses seem to be so unalterable. At times we may need to rely solely on our faith, and believe that we can be forgiven of our sins, in order to change.

This morning was a little frustrating to me. I felt a little grumpy. I didn’t know what caused it, but I didn’t like feeling that way. I prayed and asked the Lord that somehow, through the Atonement of his Son, the grumpy feeling could be taken away. Slowly I felt the negative feelings lift, and a peace took it’s place. For me, the hard part is not getting so caught up in my day-to-day challenges of life that I forget to ask the Lord for his help. Whenever I have petitioned him He has always been there.

When it comes to change, I think that the Lord is much more concerned about where we are going than where we have been. He knows who we are, and who we can become. Each day we can try a little harder to be a little better, and if we slip up one day, we can try again the next. I am truly grateful for the chance I have to try again (and again…and again…).

Overcoming the natural man–our habits and tendencies–can be very difficult. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can learn how to overcome. He can teach us how to overcome, because he has experienced everything we have (or ever will) experience. Jesus "suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent." (Doctrine & Covenants 19:16, emphasis added). "These things" that he suffered covers more than just our sins, as Elder David A. Bednar explains.

“Not only does the Atonement of Jesus Christ overcome the effects of the Fall of Adam and make possible the remission of our individual sins and transgressions, but His Atonement also enables us to do good and become better in ways that stretch far beyond our mortal capacities. Most of us know that when we do things wrong and need help to overcome the effects of sin in our lives, the Savior has made it possible for us to become clean through His redeeming power. But do we also 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.” (link to talk)

As we seek to be obedient, and to listen to (and obey) the promptings of the Holy Ghost our nature can be changed. The Lord allows us to choose who we want to become, but if we choose to become who He wants us to become it will take some effort, but will be well worth it in the end.

“...as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9)

When we ask the Lord for help to change he is there–waiting. He understands (more fully than we can comprehend) our weaknesses, heartaches, struggles and frustrations. As we come to Him, in humility, it is only through the Atonement that we can fully overcome. I love the way C.S. Lewis explains it.

“It is no good trying to ‘be myself’ without Him. The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. In fact what I so proudly call ‘Myself’ becomes merely the meeting place for trains of events which I never started and which I cannot stop. What I call ‘My wishes’ become merely the desires thrown up by my physical organism or pumped into me by other men’s thoughts or even suggested to me by devils….

“[M]ost of what I call ‘me’ can be very easily explained. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own….

“Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.” (C.S. Lewis, The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics: Mere Christianity, 176-7)

Faith in Jesus Christ can give us the power to change. Obtaining that faith does not come easy, but it is something that all of us can do...with some effort.

Tad R. Callister states, “The scriptures. The prophets. Personal revelation. These are the principal tools by which we build our house of faith” (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, xi). 

Enoch, Elijah, and many others, strengthened their faith in such a way that they were ready to act without question, whatever the Lord asked. Alma and the sons of Mosiah were men of great faith–we can see this by the spirit and power that accompanied them. We can also learn from their examples how we too can gain that faith.

In Alma we read,

“...they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.

 "But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting;” (Alma 17:2-3)

To build faith takes time. It doesn’t come in an instant. It comes little by little, drop by drop. As we act in faith, our faith can grow. Study the scriptures diligently (for me, I’ve learned it helps to have a purpose). Learn the word of God so you can live it. But this is not all: kneel in humble prayer to petition the Lord for His help and strengthen your faith through the spirit of fasting.

Faith is trusting in the Lord when “[all our] powers of reason have been exhausted” and we have nothing left to go on but the feeling we have inside. (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 111). 

I love the way that Elder Callister describes the faith of Moses.

“Do not all men, at some time in their lives, face that dilemma—the reason of the world versus faith in Jesus Christ?

"Moses experienced it. He had just freed the children of Israel. He now led them on a seemingly suicidal course direct for the Red Sea. The Egyptian armies were in hot pursuit. The powers of reason no doubt cried out: ‘Veer to the left or to the right. To proceed straight ahead is a death trap—pinned against the wall of the Red Sea on the one side, the fast-approaching Egyptian army on the other.’ But Moses was steadfast in his course. March they would, directly toward the Red Sea. The Israelites, seeing their fate, fearfully cried out, ‘It had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.' Moses was alone. The power of reason and the power of the people combined against him with a raging fury. But deep within his soul was a power that far exceeded the powers known to man, a power that drove him on against the world, against all seeming odds, against all that was rational and reasonable in life. It was the power of faith. It proved to be his—and his people’s—temporal and spiritual salvation.” (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 109)

Moses trusted in the feeling that he had learned to recognize was the Spirit of the Lord. Abraham must have trusted in that same feeling when he was asked to sacrifice Isaac. They both had faith, and their faith and trust in the Lord gave them the strength and courage to move forward despite their difficulties.

President Thomas S. Monson is a wonderful example of faith, and action; but it is something that didn’t happen quickly. It took time for him to recognize the quiet whisperings of the spirit, and to know when to act quickly. 

In the book, “To The Rescue: the Biography of Thomas S. Monson”, it shared an example of his learning to heed the promptings of the Spirit. It helps me understand why he is so insistent in counseling us to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. I don’t have the book with me, so I’ll paraphrase it. A brother in his ward was sick, and he felt he should visit him at the hospital, but had a meeting to go to. He went to the meeting, but kept looking at the clock and continually being distracted by the feeling that he should visit his friend. He waited until the meeting was over and rushed to the hospital. He was met in the hallway by a nurse who asked if he was Tom Monson. He responded in the affirmative and said he was looking for his friend. He was then told that his friend had been calling his name right before he died. I can only imagine the regret he felt (and may still feel now) for not following the feeling. 

President Monson teaches us,

“We watch. We wait. We listen for that still, small voice. When it speaks, wise men and women obey. Promptings of the Spirit are not to be postponed.” (link to article)

But how does listening to the promptings of the Spirit apply to using the Atonement in our lives?

I once worked with a man who told me of an experience he had with the Atonement. He had a lot of serious changes that he needed to make in his life. When he prayed about it he received very specific instructions in his mind of the step-by-step things he needed to do to overcome his challenges. Hearing this experience also helped me better understand the personal nature of the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

I have found that in my own life I tend to struggle with the same things over and over again. It seems really hard to overcome certain habits or tendencies that I have. It’s frustrating at times not to see instant (or even quick) progress when I am trying really hard, but it is in the process of overcoming that we become stronger. I like how C.S. Lewis explains it.

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means…” (C.S. Lewis, Inspirational Writings of C.S. Lewis, p337-8, emphasis added).

I know everyone deals with trials and troubles, and many problems large and small. When I was praying to know the main point to share today I felt the impression to speak of the unfathomable love our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have for us. We know God loves us. We know Jesus loves us. We can read about it in the scriptures over and over again,

“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.” (John 3:16)

I sometimes have a problem of forgetting the love our Savior has for me. I know the Lord loves me despite what I do, but I feel I may be too hard on myself when it comes to forgiving my weaknesses. I have found, however, that the more I study about the life of Christ, the more I learn of his constancy and the infinite nature of his love. I am gaining a greater understanding of His amazing ability to forgive.

In our Stake Conference a couple of years ago Elder Richard G. Scott, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, came and spoke to us. I remember he spoke a lot about studying the life of our Savior. He said to study it as families, individuals, couples, or in whatever way we can, but to take “considerable” time to do it. Two books he recommended reading, to do this,  were “Jesus the Christ” by James E. Talmage, and “The Infinite Atonement” by Tad R. Callister. I have found amazing insight into the Savior's life and love for us from what I have read in these books. I want to quote from Elder Callister’s book about something that gave me a little bit more of an understanding of the depth of the Savior’s love.

“That night [when Jesus was born], god the Son traded his heavenly home with all its celestial adornments for a mortal abode with all its primitive trappings. He, the King of heaven, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, left a throne to inherit a manger. He exchanged the dominion of a god for the dependence of a babe. He gave up wealth, power, dominion, and the fullness of his glory—for what?—for taunting, mocking, humiliation, and subjection. It was a trade of unparalleled dimension, a condescension of incredible proportions, a descent of incalculable depth. And so, the great Jehovah, creator of worlds without number, infinite in virtue and power, made his entry into this world in swaddling clothes and a manger” (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 64).

And he did it for you and me, so we could have a chance to return back home to Him.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said,

 

“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.” (link to talk)

In his talk, Elder Holland continues on and quotes from Joseph Smith:

“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...” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith (1976), 257, 240-41).

I think the more we can realize the love God has for us, His forgiving and merciful nature, and the power that can come from using the Atonement in our lives, we will want to become more like Him. As we turn to him, we can change. Through our efforts we can come to know our Savior more and more, and feel of His love in even greater proportions. What a truly magnificent blessing from our loving Father in Heaven.