The Atonement of Jesus Christ
I am taking a Book of Mormon class this semester and we have
been asked to share some of the things we have learned. It's only four weeks in
and I know that my testimony has grown so much. One of the topics that I have
loved the most is the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
In class, Brother Clark shared something that I have not
really thought about. Often times, when talking about the Atonement, that is
all that we focus on when in reality we need to understand that the Atonement
was made possible because of Jesus Christ. The Atonement is the action and the
Savior is the means by which we receive the power of the Atonement. Once we
realize that the joy and happiness we feel when we repent and the strength we
can receive through the Savior’s Atonement we start to have a relationship with
Him and have a desire to do better and change. Alma said:
“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.
“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.
“Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of
God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of
his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power
of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me (Alma
7:11-13).”
The Savior suffered more than any one on earth ever has, and
He has lived through our darkest days. He took upon Him our sins, our
affections, our shortcomings, and our transgressions so that He might know how
to succor us. Have you ever thought about what it means to succor? It means to
run to. The Savior went through the Atonement so that He would know how to run
to us and help us along the way. He is the only way in which we can return to
Heavenly Father. As we use His Atonement to repent and to find strength we are
made clean.
Whenever I think of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I think
about Him in the garden. Before He performed the Atonement, Jesus asked that if
the bitter cup be removed that He not shrink. He could have said “No, I cannot
do this sorry but I just can’t.” I think that I had I been in that garden I
would have thrown my hands up and said nope not today, but that is why Jesus
was the one that was sent and not me. He knew that there was no other way so He
asked for help to continue so that He could perform what would have killed
anyone else.
How many times do we say I can’t do this, it is too hard. Or,
I just don’t have it in me to continue. I know that on a daily basis I just
want to throw my hands up and stay in bed all day and watch Netflix. Instead of
throwing His hands up the Savior asked “That I might not shrink.” The Savior
did not shrink in the garden and he did not shrink on the cross. Elder Bednar
shared an experience he had with a returned missionary and the missionary’s
wife. Shortly after they got married the RM discovered that he had bone cancer.
As he and his wife were in the hospital for treatment Elder Bednar came and
spoke with them and the RM asked Elder Bednar for a blessing. Before giving him
a blessing, Elder Bednar wanted to ask a question. “I then posed questions I
had not planned to ask and had never previously considered: ‘[John,] do you have
the faith not to be healed? If it is the will of our Heavenly Father that you
are transferred by death in your youth to the spirit world to continue your
ministry, do you have the faith to submit to His will and not be healed?’ I
frankly was surprised by the questions I felt prompted to ask this particular
couple. Frequently in the scriptures, the Savior or His servants exercised the
spiritual gift of healing and perceived that an individual had the faith to be
healed. But as John and Heather and I
counseled together and wrestled with these questions, we increasingly
understood that if God’s will were for this good young man to be healed, then
that blessing could only be received if this valiant couple first had the faith
not to be healed. In other words, John and Heather needed to overcome, through
the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, the “natural man” tendency in all of us
to demand impatiently and insist incessantly on the blessings we want and
believe we deserve. ”
Having the faith not to be healed, or asking as we are going
through life’s challenges “that I might not shrink” is part of using the Atonement.
When we talk of the Atonement we often talk about the redemptive part of the Atonement,
but we often forget that there is an enabling power to the Atonement. The
enabling power the grace that we find the helps us endure to the end. The
enabling power of the Atonement is what allows us to find the faith not to be
healed but to live through our pains and afflictions. The enabling power is
what helps me get through every day.
For the last five years, I have spent almost every day in
some of the worst pain I have ever experienced. It is not how I pictured the
last two years of high school and the start of my college years. But because of
the pain, I have come to know that the Atonement not only covers my sins and
shortcomings but it also helps me get through days I never thought I would be
able to. I have come to know that my Savior is by my side helping me along. He
has come to succor me and to lift me up. Has my illness gone away? No. My
capacity to carryon, however, has increased. I have found joy in my suffering
and I have found peace in my despair. I know that I am not alone and I know
that I will overcome this one day, but until that day I must keep using my
Savior’s Atonement.
“And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the
hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast
into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds
become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements
combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape
open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall
give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.
“The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou
greater than he?
“Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain
with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and
thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for
God shall be with you forever and ever (Doctrine and Covenant 122:7-9).”
The Son of Man has descended below all and has overcome all.
We are going to go through difficult times. This life is not always sunshine
and rainbows, but because of have a loving Heavenly Father who provided a way
to return to Him and provided someone to succor His children we can find light
in the darkness. We are not put through anything we cannot overcome without the
Savior’s help. His is the way, the light, and the life of the world.
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