The
Importance of the Atonement
In a coming day, you will present yourself before the Savior. You will be overwhelmed to the point of tears to be in His holy presence. You will struggle to find words to thank Him for paying for your sins, for forgiving you of any unkindness toward others, for healing you from the injuries and injustices of this life.
You will thank Him for strengthening you to do the
impossible, for turning your weaknesses into strengths, and for making it
possible for you to live with Him and your family forever. His identity, His
Atonement, and His attributes will become personal and real to you.
But you don’t have to wait until then. Choose to be one of
His true disciples now. Be one who truly loves Him, who truly wants to serve
and lead as He did. I promise you that if you will study His words, your
ability to be more like Him will increase. I know this is true.
President Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 14
“In Gethsemane and on
Calvary, He worked out the infinite and eternal atonement. It was the greatest
single act of love in recorded history. Thus He became our Redeemer—redeeming
all of us from physical death, & redeeming those of us from spiritual death
who will obey the laws and ordinances of the gospel.”
Bruce R. McConkie, “The Purifying Power of
Gethsemane,” Ensign, May
1985
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. I am one of his
witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in
his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears.
But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God’s
Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer.
Russell M. Nelson,
“The Atonement,”
Ensign,
Nov. 1996
Let us now
ponder the deep meaning of the word atonement. In the
English language, the components are at-one-ment, suggesting that a
person is at one with another. Other languages employ words that connote either
expiation or reconciliation. Expiation means “to atone for.” Reconciliation
comes from Latin roots re, meaning “again”; con, meaning “with”;
and sella, meaning “seat.” Reconciliation, therefore, literally
means “to sit again with.”
Rich
meaning is found in study of the word atonement in the
Semitic languages of Old Testament times. In Hebrew, the basic word for atonement
is kaphar, a verb that means “to cover” or “to forgive.” Closely related is the Aramaic and Arabic word
kafat, meaning “a close embrace.” References to that embrace are evident
in the Book of Mormon. “I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about
eternally in the arms of his love.” I weep for joy when I contemplate the
significance of it all. To be redeemed is to be atoned—received in the close
embrace of God with an expression not only of His forgiveness, but of our
oneness of heart and mind. What a privilege!
D. Todd
Christofferson, “Why We Share the Gospel,” Ensign, Aug 2014
Our invitation to
the world is to come unto Christ. Coming unto Christ is an abbreviation, a way
of describing in three words the plan of salvation. It means to obtain the
fruits of His Atonement and Resurrection—ultimately eternal life. Eternal life
depends on the exercise of our moral agency, but it is possible only through
the grace of Jesus Christ. To come unto
Him means to do what is required to lay hold upon that grace—the pardoning,
sanctifying, transforming, redeeming power of His infinite, atoning sacrifice.
What
the Atonement Meant for the Savior
Bruce R. McConkie, “The Purifying Power of
Gethsemane,” Ensign, May
1985
We do not know, we cannot
tell, no mortal mind can conceive the full import of what Christ did in
Gethsemane. We know he sweat great gouts of blood from every pore as he drained
the dregs of that bitter cup his Father had given him. We know that in some way,
incomprehensible to us, his suffering satisfied the demands of justice,
ransomed penitent souls from the pains and penalties of sin, and made mercy
available to those who believe in his holy name.
We know that he lay prostrate upon the ground as the pains and agonies of an infinite burden caused him to tremble and would that he might not drink the bitter cup. We know that an angel came from the courts of glory to strengthen him in his ordeal, and we suppose it was mighty Michael, who foremost fell that mortal man might be. As near as we can judge, these infinite agonies—this suffering beyond compare—continued for some three or four hours.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell, “Willing to Submit,” Ensign, May 1985
The more we study, pray, and ponder the
awesome Atonement, the more we are willing to acknowledge that we are in His
and the Father’s hands. Let us ponder, therefore, these final things.
When the unimaginable burden began to
weigh upon Christ, it confirmed His long-held and intellectually clear
understanding as to what He must now do. His working through began, and Jesus
declared: “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from
this hour.” Later, in Gethsemane, the suffering Jesus began to be “sore amazed”
(Mark 14:33), or, in the Greek, “awestruck” and
“astonished.”
Imagine, Jehovah, the Creator of this and
other worlds, “astonished”! Jesus knew cognitively what He must do, but
not experientially. He had never personally known the exquisite and
exacting process of an atonement before. Thus, when the agony came in its
fulness, it was so much, much worse than even He with his unique intellect had
ever imagined! No wonder an angel appeared to strengthen him! (See Luke 22:43.)
The cumulative weight of all mortal
sins—past, present, and future—pressed upon that perfect, sinless, and
sensitive Soul! All our infirmities and sicknesses were somehow, too, a part of
the awful arithmetic of the Atonement. (See Alma 7:11–12; Isa. 53:3–5; Matt. 8:17.) The anguished Jesus not only pled with the
Father that the hour and cup might pass from Him, but with this relevant
citation. “And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take
away this cup from me.” (Mark 14:35–36.)
Jesus’ request was not theater!
In this extremity, did He, perchance, hope
for a rescuing ram in the thicket? I do not know. His suffering—as it were, enormity multiplied by infinity—evoked His later soul-cry on the cross, and it
was a cry of forsakenness. (See Matt. 27:46.) Even so, Jesus maintained this sublime
submissiveness, as He had in Gethsemane: “Nevertheless not as I will, but as
thou wilt.” (Matt. 26:39.)
While bearing our sins, our infirmities,
our sicknesses, and bringing to pass the Atonement (see Alma 7:11–12), Jesus became the perfect Shepherd,
making these lines of Paul’s especially relevant and reassuring: “Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Rom. 8:35.)
Indeed, we are in His hands, and what
hallowed hands!
What
the Atonement Means For Me
Russell M. Nelson,
“The Atonement,”
Ensign,
Nov. 1996:
Eternal life, made possible by the Atonement, is the
supreme purpose of the Creation. Ordinances of the temple symbolize our
reconciliation with the Lord and seal families together forever. This is the
great latter-day work of which we are a part. That is why we have missionaries;
that is why we have temples—to bring the fullest blessings of the Atonement
to faithful children of God. That is why
we respond to our own calls from the Lord. When we comprehend His voluntary Atonement,
any sense of sacrifice on our part becomes completely overshadowed by a
profound sense of gratitude for the privilege of serving Him.
Joseph Fielding Smith, The
Restoration of All Things
Whenever we sin, we show our ingratitude and
disregard of the suffering of the Son of God. If we really understood and could
feel even to a small degree, the love and gracious willingness on the part of
Jesus Christ to suffer for our sins we
would be willing to repent of all our transgressions and serve him.
M.
Russell Ballard, “The Atonement and the Value of One Soul,” Ensign, May 2004
I believe
that if we could truly understand the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, we would realize how precious
is one son or daughter of God. If we truly understood the Atonement and the
eternal value of each soul, we would seek out the wayward boy and girl and
every other wayward child of God. We would help them to know of the love
Christ has for them.
Elder Jeffery R. Holland, October 2013
In striving for some peace
and understanding in these difficult matters, it is crucial to remember that we
are living in a fallen world where for divine purposes our pursuit of godliness
will be tested and tried again and again. Of greatest assurance in God’s plan
is that a Savior was promised, a Redeemer, who through our faith in Him would
lift us triumphantly over those tests and trials, even though the cost to do so
would be unfathomable for both the Father who sent Him and the Son who came. It
is only an appreciation of this divine love that will make our own lesser
suffering first bearable, then understandable, and finally redemptive.
Blessings of the Atonement
1.
The Savior saved everyone
on earth from physical death
“It took the atonement of Jesus Christ to reunite the
bodies and spirits of men in the resurrection. And so all the world,
believers and non-believers, are indebted to the Redeemer for their certain
resurrection, because the resurrection will be as wide as was the fall, which
brought death to every man.” --Elder Marion
G. Romney, Conference Report, Oct. 1953
2.
He
Took upon Him our Pains, Sicknesses and Infirmities- Alma 7:11-13
Jesus' daily mortal experiences and His ministry, to be sure,
acquainted Him by observation with a sample of human sicknesses, grief, pains,
sorrows, and infirmities which are "common to man". But the agonies
of the Atonement were infinite and first-hand! Since not all human sorrow and pain is connected to sin, the full
intensiveness of the Atonement involved bearing
our pains, infirmities, and sicknesses, as well as our sins. Whatever our
sufferings, we can safely cast our care upon him." Elder Neal A. Maxwell,
"Not My Will, But Thine"
3.
He Suffered for our sins - The Redeeming
Power of the Atonement
“When we commit sin, we are estranged from
God and rendered unfit to enter into his presence. No unclean thing can enter
into his presence. We cannot of ourselves, no matter how we may try, rid
ourselves of the stain which is upon us as a result of our own transgressions.
That stain must be washed away by the blood of the Redeemer, and he has set up
the way by which that stain may be removed.”
--Elder Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, Oct. 1953
4.
The Strengthening Power of the Atonement
I suspect that you and I are much more familiar with the nature of the
redeeming power of the atonement than we are with the enabling power of the
atonement. I think most of us know that
when we do things wrong, when we need help to overcome the effects of sin in
our lives, the Savior has paid the price and made it possible for us to be made
clean through His redeeming power.
Most of us clearly understand that the atonement is for sinners. I am
not so sure, however, that we know and understand that the atonement is also
for saints--for good men and women who are obedient and worthy and
conscientious and who are striving to become better and serve more faithfully.
I frankly do not think many of us "get it" concerning this enabling
and strengthening aspect of the atonement, and I wonder if we mistakenly
believe we must make the journey from good to better and become a saint all by
ourselves, through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline, and with our
obviously limited capacities.
In the Bible Dictionary in our scriptures, we learn
that the word "grace" frequently is used in the scriptures to connote
"enabling power." On page 697, under the word "grace," we
read:
A word that occurs frequently in the New Testament,
especially in the writings of Paul. The main idea of the word is divine
means of help or strength, given through the bounteous mercy and love of
Jesus Christ.
Now, please note these next sentences:
It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that
individuals, through faith in the
atonement of Jesus Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength and
assistance to do good works that they otherwise would not be able to maintain
if left to their own means. This grace is an enabling power that allows men
and women to lay hold on eternal life and exaltation after they have expended
their own best efforts.
That is, grace represents that divine assistance or heavenly
help each of us will desperately need to qualify for the celestial kingdom.
Thus, the enabling power of the atonement strengthens us to do and be good and
serve beyond our own individual desire and natural capacity. In my personal scripture study, I often insert
the term "enabling power" whenever I encounter the word grace. Elder David R. Bednar, “In the Strength of
the Lord”
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