In the October 2014 General Conference I was struck by something in President Boyd K. Packer’s talk. He spoke of one subject in the Topical Guide, “18 pages, very fine print, single-spaced, listing references to the subject of ‘Jesus Christ.’ It is one of the most comprehensive compilations of scriptural references on the subject of the Savior that has ever been assembled in the history of the world” (link to talk). This year we are studying the New Testament in Sunday School. I also have a personal goal to read the book Jesus the Christ, by James E. Talmage (something I have started several times, but never completed). For my blog this year I would like to draw upon all of these (and other) resources and delve more into the life of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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Prior to the creation of this world we (all individuals past, present, and future to live on this earth) lived with our Father in Heaven. Jesus Christ progressed in this pre mortal realm to a state of godhood. Abraham recorded, “And there stood one among them that was like unto God” (Abraham 3:24). Thinking of the many billions of spirit children that were in the pre mortal world, it is possible that there was one, and seems to be only one, that attained godhood through completely perfect obedience from the beginning.
All of us had the same laws to follow, and each of us had our own agency to choose our path. Tad R. Callister stated,
“Alma described a pre mortal spirit as ‘being left to choose good or evil’, and thus possessing the power to sin….One-third of the pre mortal spirits committed such a serious sin in giving allegiance to Lucifer that they were cast out from the presence of God….This third part of the heavenly hosts chose Satan over God ‘because of their agency’. The two-thirds that remained were not all equal in their allegiance and obedience to God. At their spiritual birth they were ‘on the same standing with their brethren’, but through the laws of agency each spirit advanced at his own rate so that only some became ‘noble and great ones’.
“All premortal spirits commenced their spirit sojourn innocent (i.e., meaning free from sin), but all such spirits lost their innocence through individual sin….
“Such concepts as agency, expulsion, and foreordination, all of which were present in the pre mortal life, imply a choice and opportunity to obey or to sin” (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, p76-77).
Jesus Christ was the only perfect one in this pre mortal state, and was “chosen and ordained [as] the one and only Savior and Redeemer of the human race” (James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p6). In Moses we read that Jesus Christ was and is “the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men” (Moses 6:52).
There is and was no other way.
Our Savior reached godhood through His unwavering obedience to the laws of God. Tad R. Callister shed a little insight into the concept of laws which I found quite interesting.
“The scriptures frequently refer to ‘justice’ and the demand for its satisfaction. What, then, is justice, and who requires it?…[W]ho determines what justice is?...
“There are certain laws of the universe that are immutable, that are without beginning of days or end of years. They are not created by an intelligent being, nor are they the product of moral thought, rather they are eternal, co-existent realities with the intelligences of the universe. These laws are immutable in that they cannot be altered or modified in any form….
“Certain of these immutable laws affect the physical or natural world….
“In and of themselves, the laws of the physical or natural world seem to have no moral implications. They do not affect our spiritual growth. we cannot sin by breaking these laws, because it is not possible to break them. We would not drop a ball from a tower and deduce, ‘This ball will always fall in this way, because the laws of gravity are just.’ Justice and mercy have no meaning in these circumstances; fairness or rightness are not issues when it comes to the physical, natural laws; they do not allow for obedience by choice, but rather require uncompromising, involuntary compliance” (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, p300-301).
There are laws that we do not have a choice in obeying, as he indicated above. But, there are other laws that we have within us the full control to obey or disobey. He continues,
“There appear to be other immutable laws in the universe, however, that offer both a choice and a consequence, and hence, in this sense, they are spiritual laws. These spiritual laws governs all intelligent beings in the universe—and also govern their progress. For these purposes, progress means an increase in eternal power….
“The Savior observed every spiritual law with undeviating exactness. Apparently because of his complacence with each one, he received power upon power until he acquired the attributes of God, even in pre mortal times….His godhood thus seemed to result not from a creation of these laws, but rather from compliance with them. But what of the rest of us, who do not comply with each and every immutable law? Could we not just try and try and try again until we finally got it right, and then become gods, even though it might be on a delayed timetable? The answer is no. Evidently these immutable spiritual laws offer no leniency or mercy or second chances. If we do not comply, we have lost forever that opportunity for increased power that naturally flows from compliance” (ibid., p 301-302).
There must have come a time in His pre-mortal life when the Savior realized that none of His myriad spirit siblings would be able to progress to godhood with Him—for we had all sinned. I wonder if this was the beginning of the inception of the Plan in His mind. Out of His love for us He must have felt a desire to do something to help—He must have wanted to find a way to help us progress.
Through his perfect obedience he was not subject to the demands of justice, and therefore “having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; [and at a later day breaking] the bands of death, [taking] upon himself [our] iniquity and [our] transgressions, having redeemed [us], and satisfied the demands of justice” (Mosiah 15:9) He would give His life to save ours.
Through His never-ending obedience He is able to stand between us and the demands of justice. He then becomes our lawgiver, and can extend His arms of mercy if we will comply with the laws and demands He sets.
“And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles [us] in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption” (Alma 34:16).
Bruce R. McConkie taught,
“We know that the plan of salvation is always and everlastingly the same; that obedience to the same laws always brings the same reward; that the gospel laws have not changed from the day of Adam to the present; and that always and everlastingly all things pertaining to salvation center in Christ” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah, p 4-5).
Everyone who has ever lived, or ever will live, on this earth must comply with these laws if they want to return to live with our Fatehr in Heaven again. Elder McConkie continued, “and we…know that these same laws and doctrines will guide us, as they guided the saints of old, to that eternal life which we and they so devoutly desire” (ibid., p5).
As we continue on our journey of life we can comply with the eternal laws of God, and reap eternal blessings, or we can choose our own path, and receive the consequences of our choices. The only sure way to find peace and happiness in the eternities, is to follow the plan outlined by the Savior.
“But learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come” (Doctrine & Covenants 59:23).
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. expressed his sentiments this way,
“The mystery of it all is beyond me. I can only take the record as it stands, and that record tells me that if I obey his commandments, if I live as he would have me live, then I shall fulfill and reach the destiny which he prescribed for me, a destiny of eternal progression, a destiny of a life in his presence, so far as my work there will permit, a destiny that knows no limit to the power which I may receive if I live for it” (J. Reuben Clark, Jr, Behold the Lamb of God, as quoted in “The Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles”, p13)
Somehow by living the laws of God, in this ever increasingly wicked world, we will be blessed in the eternities. And it is only through the Atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ that this is possible. Tad R. Callister said,
“There are a number of spiritual truths that must seem like irreconcilable ironies to the secular world—humility breeds strength, faith nurtures vision, and obedience brings freedom. There is a simple test, however, by which we can learn the veracity of those spiritual precepts for ourselves. The Lord revealed it. ‘If any many will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself’ (John 7:17). Simply put, if we are obedient to God’s will, we will experience newfound freedoms in our life; if we are disobedient, freedom will be the star we can never reach” (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, p259).
Perhaps it would be well for all of us, at the beginning of this new year, to try again to be obedient to His laws; to try a little hard to repent a little sooner; to try to be kinder and more Christlike; to try to remember Him more often. There is no limit to His mercy. There is no limit to the love He extends to each of us. As we turn our lives over to Him and choose obedience to His laws, we will find no limit to our eternal joy.
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