Taking his 11 remaining apostles, the Savior of the world left the upper room, crossed the Kidron brook, and walked over to a small grove of olive trees known as the garden of Gethsemane. With Peter, James, and John at his side, the Lord entered the garden. An eternity of preparation had led him to this moment in time, and the Father’s Great Plan of Happiness depended entirely on what was about to happen in this sacred place.
Turning to Peter, James, and John the Lord said: “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.”[2]“And he went forward a little and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”[3]
“And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”[4]
In a way that is not comprehensible to us, the Lord then took upon himself the entire weight of the world’s sins, and faced alone all of the terrors that Satan could inflict.
He suffered “pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; [and], blood [came] from every pore, so great [was] his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.”[5]
Later that next day, after an illegal trial and much physical abuse and torment, the Savior of the World was lifted up and crucified on a hill outside Jerusalem. He finished his mortal mission and died an ignominious death, having been slain for the sins of the world.
Three days later, as the Jews measure time, Christ rose from the dead with a perfect and glorified physical body.
These three sacred events, Christ’s suffering in Gethsemane, his death on the cross, and his triumphant resurrection from the tomb, are what constitute the atonement. It is the most glorious event that ever has or ever will occur in all of eternity, and it is the central doctrine of our faith. It is important for us to understand the atonement, what it is, what it cost, what it provides for us, and how we can access it. It is a sacred subject that we treat with reverence.
The story of the Atonement of Jesus Christ starts in the pre-mortal council with our Father in Heaven. It was there that our Father’s Plan of Salvation was presented to all of His children, and it was there that Christ’s pivotal role in this Plan was explained for the first time.
An earth would be created for us where we could experience mortality and come to know for ourselves, through our own experiences, the differences between good and evil. In Abraham we read about the purposes of this mortal life:
And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; …and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.[6]
For this plan to work, a Savior was needed. This chosen Son of God would take upon Himself all of the consequences of man’s mortality, allowing us an opportunity to grow from our own experiences without being permanently shut out of God’s presence. Our Father asked:
…Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.[7]
Lucifer, the second individual who spoke up, had a different plan for us to follow. If God would give him all of His authority, glory and power, there wouldn’t need to be an atonement because we wouldn’t be allowed to sin. In Lucifer’s plan of salvation all of us would surrender our agency so we could receive a form of salvation that was far short of what our Father in Heaven intended. Indeed, this salvation was a form of compulsory damnation that would be universal for all of God’s children. We wouldn’t achieve much, but we wouldn’t risk anything so Lucifer argued that this was a fair exchange. Because he was sure that he could do this, Lucifer demanded that God give him his honor.[8]
It was here, at this moment in eternity, where we all witnessed the tremendous love that our Father in Heaven has for each one of us. He knew that the only way for us to achieve our highest potential was to experience complete moral agency during our mortality. We would all sin and be separated from God here on Earth. And although we would have a way back to Him, He knew that some of us would not take advantage of this great gift and wouldn’t return home to His presence. He loved us so much that he was willing to risk losing some of us so that all of us could have the opportunity to return to live with Him and become exalted. We had to have the freedom to choose to succeed or to fail. It is only through the experiences we would have by struggling against temptation and choosing righteousness that we would learn to become like our Heavenly Father. He knew that Lucifer’s plan would not work because it did not give us these opportunities, and so he rejected it. Tragically, fully 1/3 of our brothers and sisters rejected our Heavenly Father and chose the mediocrity and damnation of Lucifer’s plan instead. They were cast out of Heaven for their rebellion, and lost everything!
Our Savior understood that the Father’s plan was the only one that could work and humbly said:“Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.”[9]
It was at this point in our spiritual development where we first exercised faith in our elder brother, Jesus Christ. We chose to remain loyal to our Heavenly Father because we loved Him and because we had faith and confidence that Jesus would come to Earth and open the pathway back for us to return home. We accepted God’s Plan of Salvation and sustained Jesus as our Father’s Chosen Son, the Savior and Redeemer of the world.
Adam and Eve, two of our Father’s noblest children were the first to come to Earth and receive physical bodies. The bodies that our Heavenly Father created for them were perfect and immortal and while they lived in the Garden of Eden, they lived in a childlike state of innocence. This type of creation, now unknown to us, was the only way to provide for the fall.[10] They were given their agency and two commandments: Not to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and to have children. They were told that if they ate the forbidden fruit they would surely die.[11]
Satan, who didn’t understand God’s plan and sought to destroy the world, tempted Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit. She succumbed to this temptation and got Adam to partake of the fruit also.[12] This event is known as the Fall of Adam, and is an indispensable part of our Heavenly Father’s plan. It is impossible to fully understand the Atonement without understanding the fall.
When Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit several changes came upon them immediately. First, their bodies became mortal, which means that they could experience all of the challenges of pain, hunger, thirst, sickness, and fatigue. As mortals they could also begin having children, and these children would inherit all of the effects of mortality. As a result of this mortality Adam, Eve and all of their children would eventually die.
The other significant effect of the fall was that, because he had broken a divine law, Adam was shut out from God’s presence. Sin had entered the world, and now Adam and all of his posterity could learn from their own experiences to choose good or evil.
Once the fall had occurred, the Atonement became absolutely necessary. The prophet Jacob taught us what would have happened without the Atonement when he said:
“For as death hath passed upon all men to fulfill the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen they were cut off from the presence of the Lord.”
“Wherefore, it 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 needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.”
“O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise 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 of lies, in misery, like unto himself;”[13]
These are terrible consequences, but our Heavenly Father had anticipated the fall, and made provisions for it by including a Savior in his plan. Lehi taught his family that:
“…behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.”
“Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”
“And the Messiah cometh in the fullness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall.”[14]
As Lehi prophesied our Savior was born into this world a little over two thousand years ago.
He came with special divine attributes that were necessary for him to be able to work out the Atonement.First, He was the Only Begotten Son of the Father. He inherited power over death from his Father. From his mother he inherited the ability to die and to suffer pain, but he had to voluntarily die. Nobody could take his life from him without his consent.The second attribute he had to develop and prove throughout his life. He lived a perfectly sinless life.By not sinning and being the Only Begotten of the Father, Jesus was the only person who has ever lived that was not fully subject to the effects of the fall. It had to be this way so that he could meet the demands of justice during the atonement.
While he was here among us, he lived as a mortal and had all of the experiences that come to mortal beings. He was tempted; he felt hunger, thirst, and fatigue. He felt the sting of ingratitude and the loneliness of abandonment.He spent his time doing good, teaching the way back to our Father in Heaven and blessing the sick and the afflicted. He showed compassion on the widow and the fatherless, and organized his church so that the work of salvation could continue once his mission on earth was completed.
And, when the time fully came, he suffered for our sins during the awful agony of the atonement.
And what was it that he suffered?
Brother Stephen E. Robinson described it this way:
“All the negative aspects of human existence brought about by the Fall, Jesus Christ absorbed into himself. He experienced vicariously in Gethsemane all the private griefs and heartaches, all the physical pains and handicaps, all the emotional burdens and depressions of the human family. He knows the loneliness of those who don’t fit in or who aren’t handsome or pretty. He knows what it is like to choose up teams and be the last one chosen. He knows the anguish of parents whose children go wrong. He knows the private hell of the abused child or spouse. He knows all these things personally and intimately because he lived them in the Gethsemane experience. Having personally lived a perfect life, he then chose to experience our imperfect lives. In that infinite Gethsemane experience, the meridian of time, the center of eternity, he lived a billion billion lifetimes of sin, pain, disease, and sorrow.”[15]
In a way that we do not fully understand, this suffering beyond compare satisfies the demands of justice and allows Christ to show us mercy when what we really deserve is justice for our sins. By taking upon himself the consequences of our wickedness, he opens up the way for us to repent.
As his suffering in Gethsemane came to an end events were set in motion that would culminate in his death on the cross the following day. Judas and the evil denizens of an apostate High Priest came to take him prisoner and lead him away to be “judged of the world.”[16]
There, in quiet dignity, the great giver of the law experienced its most vile perversion as false witnesses testified against him. Every aspect of that mock trial was illegal, but it did not stop these evil men from abusing their offices in an attempt to destroy the Son of God. As the Lord had said earlier that night in Gethsemane: “this [was their] hour and the power of darkness.”[17]
Christ was sent to Annas, to Caiphas, to Pilate, to Herod, and back to Pilate. He was insulted and beaten, mocked and spit upon.
Following his examination by Pilate the Lord was scourged with a multi-thonged whip of braided leather that contained bones and shards of metal. It was an instrument of the most inhuman cruelty that was designed to inflict the most severe pain in its subjects. And our Lord endured it.
In solemn mockery the Roman soldiers platted a crown of thorns for His head and beat him with a reed.
Finally, when Pilate asked the crowd what they should do with Jesus, the crowd cried out “Crucify Him”.
Taking his cross, our Savior made his way through the streets of Jerusalem,towards the hill of Calvary. There the soldiers stripped him of his garments and drove great spikes through his hands, wrists and feet. And then they lifted him up, for all to see.
The elders of the Jews, not content with their evil deeds, came to mock Jesus as he hung in agony on the cross. This they did, as inspired by Satan, in a last ditch attempt to get Christ to forsake his divinely appointed mission.
While on the cross, all of the pains and terrors of Gethsemane recurred, and our Lord paid the utmost farthing of our debts. He cried out in agony “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”[18] It appears that our Father in Heaven left Jesus alone for the final three hours of his torment so that he could win the victory alone.
At the end of those three hours, Jesus knew that he had done what he had been sent to do. In a cry of holy triumph that echoed his speech in the great council in Heaven, he said: “Father, it is finished, thy will is done.” And he voluntarily yielded up the Ghost.[19]
Christ then went to the Spirit World where he was greeted by all of the faithful saints since Adam. There they rejoiced in the hour of their deliverance and worshipped Christ as their Savior and Redeemer.[20]While he was there he organized these righteous saints to go and preach his gospel to the spirits of the disobedient and those who had died without a knowledge of his gospel.[21]
At the end of three days, Jesus’ spirit returned to his tomb and took up his body again. He resurrected with a perfect and glorious body, and broke the bands of death. Again, in a way that we do not fully understand, the effects of his resurrection will be passed to all of us, and we too will return to life with a perfect and immortal body.
These wonderful things, these glorious truths, are known to us by the account of eyewitnesses. Shortly before his death the apostle Peter wrote saying: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”[22]
These things are essential to our salvation. They provide the way for us to return back to our Heavenly Father on conditions of repentance. And they do so much more.
Because of what our Savior suffered, his heart is filled with love and mercy towards us. Amulek testified that: “…he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which ovepowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance. And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety…”[23]
Salvation from physical death is a free gift given to us by our Savior. Death did not come to us by choice, so we are freely given a pass back to immortality.Sin, however, comes because of choices we make. Forgiveness requires an effort on our part. It requires that we have complete confidence in the saving powers of Jesus Christ and that we repent.
To repent we recognize that we have done something which has offended God. We feel remorse for this action and confess our sin to our Heavenly Father and, when needed to the appropriate priesthood leader. We make restitution for our actions and change our lives so that we stop sinning. The true essence of repentance is change. It is leaving the imperfections of our lives so we can become more godlike.Repentance is returning to who we really are – leaving false hopes and counterfeit promises to receive that “more sure word of prophecy”[24] – the promises that we were given before the foundations of this world were laid – when all the sons of God shouted for joy.[25] It is the process by which we leave the old man or woman of sin behind and become a new creature in Christ.
If we fully repent, then we have the promise that “…though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”[26]
The fruit of repentance is joy, a clean conscience and a greater measure of faith and love for our Savior. It will eventually lead to exaltation in our Heavenly Father’s presence together with our family members who qualify.
But there is so much more. The power of the Atonement of Christ provides us with hope for a better world. Last week Sister Anita Quinn said it beautifully when she said that she loves to speak about the atonement “because it gives me something wonderful to look forward to.”This hope can be a means to cope with the challenges of mortality. Because our Savior has suffered all of our feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt, he is in the best possible position to succor us. He knows and feels after us.
Even when we have difficulty believing, Christ can help us. He has sent prophets and apostles, men with a sure knowledge who can help us in our unbelief.[27] Bishops and Stake Presidents, teachers and friends are all there to guide us. We have the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon, where we can turn to hear the word of the Lord. We have the Holy Ghost which will guide us to all truth and remind us what the scriptures have said.[28]
Christ lives and he loves us! We do not need to go through life unnecessarily holding on to our guilt. We can be free!
We must each cling steadfastly to our Savior, and he will take our burdens from us.In the end he will make everything all right. Not only does he atone for our sins and transgressions, He bears our infirmities and the sorrows we experience because of the choices made by those around us.
In God’s mind we are all worth the price. When we don’t choose Him, he grieves. He is not an angry father that constantly seethes with rage because of our sins, he sorrows for us. He knows that our choices that lead us away from Him lead us towards heartache and suffering. He is anxious to prevent that.
We do not need to carry our burdens alone. He has already carried the whole load for us. He invites us to allow him to carry us through our trials.
One of Satan’s most insidious falsehoods is that somehow we have sinned to the point that we are beyond Christ’s power to save. This is a diabolical lie!
Brother Truman Madsen spoke of this when he said: “Men have stood at pulpits and elsewhere - great men – and have testified that their knees have never buckled, that as one said of another, ‘He had nothing to hide.’ We have had monumental men who did not need redemption as much as they needed power, and who never fell very far from the communing light of which I have spoken. I cannot bear that kind of testimony. But if there are some of you who have been tricked into the fiction that you have gone too far, that you have been weighted down with doubts on which you alone have a monopoly, that you have had the poison of sin which makes it impossible ever again to be what you could have been – then hear me.I bear testimony that you cannot sink farther than the light and sweeping intelligence of Jesus Christ can reach. I bear testimony that as long as there is one spark of the will to repent and to reach, he is there. He did not just descend to your condition; he descended below it, ‘that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth’ (D&C 88:6)”[29]
As this world sinks deeper into sin, the teachings and mission of the Savior will prove to be our only refuge and the one sure foundation on which we can build.[30] We must make sure that we receive Him to receive the tremendous protection that he provides for all of us.
We must each learn to rely on our Savior. Our time is now. We are here experiencing all of the blessings and challenges of mortality. Our test is running, but while it is running we can correct all of our mistakes. We have been given the answers, and the Master Teacher is there to guide us through. He is anxious that we pass this test and take full advantage of his great gift.
In a coming day each of us will stand before our Heavenly Father to be judged of our deeds in this life. On our own we will never be able to return to Him clean and spotless, but if we have become one with Christ we will have Him at our side and we will hear these wonderful words:
“Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.”[31]
In the past several weeks I have personally felt my Savior’s interest in my happiness and well being. I have felt his sweet comfort as I have sorrowed for the loss of a much loved brother. I rejoice in the promise that Christ has indeed broken the bands of death, and that this separation from Timmy is only temporary. I have also come to rely more on Him for forgiveness from my own sins and imperfections. I want to go home to Him so badly, and I know that only He can help me.
I am so grateful for the knowledge I have about my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the testimonies of prophets and apostles, parents and teachers, leaders and friends, who have helped me learn about the Plan of Salvation and the Savior’s role in that plan. I am thankful for the Holy Spirit of Promise that gives me hope and confirms that what I read in the scriptures and what I hear in Church is true. I am thankful for the opportunities I have had to grow as I have preached the Gospel to others and helped them learn about the way home.
Let’s each of us strive to gain greater faith in and a testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ. Let’s take advantage of all of the blessings of His atonement. Let’s live with greater peace and love in our lives because of the magnificent gift of God’s Son. Let’s learn of Him and walk in the meekness of his Spirit so that we may have peace in Him.[32]
Let us follow the admonition of Moroni to: “…come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.”[33]
Brothers and Sisters, for oh so many reasons there is sweet joy in the comfort this sentence gives. “I know that my Redeemer lives!”[34]That we may each come to feel that sweet joy and precious comfort daily is my prayer in the holy name of Jesus the Christ, Amen.
[1] D&C 50:22[2] Matthew 26:38[3] Mark 14:35-36[4] Luke 22:43-44[5] Mosiah 3:7[6] Abraham 3:24-26[7] Abraham 3:27[8] Moses 4:1[9] Moses 4:2[10] Bruce R. McConkie – The Purifying Power of Gethsemane (
http://www.lds.org/)[11] Moses 3:15-17[12] Moses 4:6-13[13] 2 Nephi 9:6-9[14] 2 Nephi 2:24-26[15] Stephen E. Robinson, Believing Christ: The Parable of the Bicycle and Other Good News (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1992), 121-23[16] 1 Nephi 11:32[17] Luke 22:53[18] Matthew 27:46[19] JST Matthew 27:50[20] See D&C 138:11-19 See also 1 Peter 3:18-20 and 1 Peter 4:6[21] D&C 138:30-35[22] 2 Peter 1:16[23] Alma 34:15-16[24] 2 Peter 1:19[25] Job 38:4-7[26] Isaiah 1:18[27] Mark 9:17-24[28] John 14:26[29] Madsen, Christ and the Inner Life, 12; emphasis added. As quoted by Tad R. Callister in The Infinite Atonement (Salt Lake City: Deseret book Co., 2000), 100-101[30] Helaman 5:12[31] D&C 45:3-5[32] D&C 19:23[33] Moroni 10:32-33[34] Samuel Medley, I Know That My Redeemer Lives, Hymns (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985), 136
