In
order to understand the purpose and meaning of temples, we must first
thoroughly understand the Plan of Salvation of the Almighty God. The reason we
build temples is to help us in our journey through the plan of salvation, and
also to help us better understand the plan.
Jesus
Christ is central to this plan. It is only through His Atonement that the great
plan of salvation is made possible. Joseph Smith once taught that the Atonement
is the message of the Restored Gospel and all other things are just appendages
to it.
The
atonement and plan of salvation are based on eternal principles that do not
change. Because of this, if we understand these eternal principles the plan of
salvation is easy to understand. It is beautifully simple and logically laid
out from beginning to end.
While there are many
details to the plan of salvation, I will attempt to give a general overview
here from beginning to end.
First
we must understand the concept of eternity. In our mortal sphere we tend to
think of the confines of life. For us there seems to be a beginning and an end
to time. This misconception naturally comes from our limited understanding from
birth to death. To us all things have a beginning and an end.
We
often speak of eternity when it comes to spiritual matters. The traditional
concept of time among the Christian world is a beginning at the creation and
then a never ending eternity. This thought though is incorrect. If eternity has
no end, can it have a beginning? Eternity is similar to a circle in that there
is no end and no beginning, but one continual round.
Mathematicians
when observing a number line also understand this concept. You can count
forward from the now, or zero to an infinite amount of positive numbers. It is
also possible to count backwards from zero to an infinite amount of negative
numbers. There is no beginning or end to the number line (eternity), just a now
in relation to an infinite continuum.
The
next eternal principle to understand is that God is eternal, he has always
existed throughout eternity. Along with this, Joseph Smith taught that, “God
himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man … enthroned in yonder
heaven. This is the great secret.” President Lorenzo Snow also put it this way,
“As man now is, God once was…”
We
learn by revelation that God worked out his own salvation, just as we must
until he was perfected, exalted and glorified. “He was once a man like us; yea…
God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus himself
did,” stated Joseph Smith. God was and is still bound by all eternal laws and
principles by which we are bound.
As
God, He has created world without numbers of which ours is only one. He has done this to fulfill his infinite and
eternal purposes. What is this purpose? God himself tells us in Moses 1:39,
“For behold this is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and
eternal life of man.” His whole purpose in his eternal life is to help us
receive everything that he has. The reason he does this is because by bringing us
happiness and Glory He receives greater happiness and glory himself. It is
interesting that compared to God we are nothing, but to Him we are everything.
This
brings us to the next eternal truth, we as individuals are also eternal beings.
We have always existed and will always exist. We know that we were originally
called intelligences. We do not know what exactly that means, but it was the
state we were in before becoming spirits.
Eventually,
we know that God, our Heavenly Father, created or fathered our spirits. This
literal spiritual birth connotes an organizing of self-existent intelligence
rather than an actual beginning to our existence. Not essential to our
salvation, but interesting to note in the context of the plan of salvation is
the fact that according to the natural order of all things, if we have a
Heavenly Father, we must also have a Heavenly Mother who is an exalted being.
Together they were eternally sealed as companions helping one another gain
exaltation and greater glory.
Just
as any child, we desired to become like our parents. We observed their fullness
of joy in their perfected state, and wanted that same happiness. We knew that
we could never experience that fullness of joy without attaining the exalted
immortal state in which our parents existed. This yields the next great and
eternal principle, also put forward by Lorenzo Snow, “As God is, man may be.”
Again
Joseph Smith taught, “You have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to
be kings and priests to god, the same as all gods have done before you… by
going from one small degree to another… from grace to grace, from exaltation to
exaltation.” Just as families on earth, eternity moves from one generation to
the next. In accordance with this principle, our Heavenly Father put in motion
a plan whereby we could learn and grow step by step until we, his children,
have attained our exaltation.
In
our pre-mortal state we submitted ourselves to the will of our heavenly parents
because they were more intelligent and in an exalted state. We were blessed to
learn and grow under their tutorship. They loved and nurtured us every step of
the way in our progression. According to revelation, there were certain
principles and ordinances there, which we had to abide by in order to become
like God.
Elder
Bruce R. McConkie taught, “The pre-existent life thus was a period… of
probation, progression, and schooling. The spirit hosts were taught an given
experiences in various administrative capacities.” (Mormon Doctrine p.590) Yet
still of all the things we gained, we lacked one important thing in our journey
to become like God, a body.
It
was imperative for us to have a body in order to learn certain principles and
ultimately experience a fullness of joy. We had progressed in the presence of
God as far as we could without a body and were in a sense, damned in our
progression until we received a body.
As
spirits, we had learned in our progression complete obedience to God and his
laws. Abraham taught that, “They who kept their first estate shall be added
upon…” (Abraham 3:26) We had proved by keeping this first estate, or first
level of progression, that we were ready and worthy to enter the next estate by
receiving a mortal body.
Our
Heavenly Father called a Grand Council in heaven for all of those who had kept
their first estate. In this council, He presented a plan to us that would
enable us to attain exaltation, as he had. This plan, the plan of salvation was
based upon the principles of moral agency, justice, and mercy, the same
principles by which God himself abided in order to attain salvation.
This
plan included the opportunity to receive an imperfect, mortal body, but in
doing so we would be required to leave God’s presence for a time. Using this
body, we could more fully learn to abide by the principles required for
exaltation. Heavenly Father surely must have outlined all of the laws,
principles, ordinances, and commandments by which we would need to live if we
were to become like him and ultimately return to live with him.
We
would be expected to live by all of these laws, principles, ordinances and
commandments perfectly if we were to gain exaltation. The prophet Lehi taught,
“Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself.” (2
Nephi 2:16) In other words, God would give us the opportunity to use our moral
agency to choose for ourselves whether or not we would follow these things.
Undoubtedly this sounded easy enough, for every one of us desperately desired
exaltation. But there was a catch.
In
order to reach our fullest potential and learn all the lessons necessary for
salvation, we would not to be able to remember our eternal existence. This
would make mortal life much more difficult. Yet it would also be a blessing to
us. Mortality at times would be the most difficult and miserable thing we had
ever done. By not being able to remember eternity, it would make those
difficult times less miserable than if we could remember the happy times in
God’s presence.
All
of us would make mistakes and fall short of the perfection required of us,
because we would not be able to remember our time with God. Yet He saw fit to
exercise mercy towards us, according to his eternal love. “…He has promised you
that if you would keep his commandments… he [will] bless you and prosper you,”
King Benjamin taught. (Mosiah 2:22) Every time we chose to keep God’s
commandments He would bless us along our journey.
Although
He would be merciful to us, the eternal law of justice deemed that we would
never be able to return to God’s presence. According to justice the price for
exaltation is perfection. If that price is not met in full, then justice
requires that we cannot ever be exalted, but rather be eternally damned in our
progression. Another term of justice was that only perfect beings could
associate with other perfect beings. “The kingdom of God is not filthy,”
the prophet Nephi taught, “and there cannot any unclean thing enter into the
kingdom of God.” (1 Nephi 15:34) Thus
once we made a single mistake we would be unclean and therefore unworthy to
return to the presence of God.
Yet
according to Heavenly Father’s great plan, there was a way for us to gain
exaltation and return to God’s presence. God could not undermine the law of
justice in his mercy and bring us back into his presence or he would cease to be
God. But, President Boyd K. Packer has taught that there is a provision in the
law of justice for just such a circumstance, “There is a way! The law of
justice can be fully satisfied and mercy can be fully extended – but it takes
someone else.” (The Mediator, General
Conference April 1977)
If
there was one being that could live life perfectly, he could take it upon
himself to fully pay the price for everyone else. This could only come by
immense sacrifice on that being’s part, but it would be possible. After this
mediator had fully paid the price, he, along with the Father, could set new
terms and conditions under the eternal law of mercy whereby all the rest of us
could be forgiven on an individual basis. This forgiveness could grant us
exaltation and eternal life in the presence of our Father.
The
Father informed us that this perfect being had already been selected from among
our ranks. Jehovah, the first of our Father’s spirit children ever to be born,
was selected to be that mediator who would pay the price for our mistakes. He
had walked in God’s shadow the longest and was completely obedient to the
Father. The love of Jehovah for our Heavenly Father and his fellow bothers and
sisters had become so great that his only desire was to do the will of the Father
in helping us all gain exaltation.
There
a covenant was made between Jehovah and the Father, and Jehovah and us that he
would be completely obedient to our Heavenly Father and work out our salvation
as a heavenly family. Jehovah also promised that all glory, honor, and power he
received in doing so would be returned to the Father, along with the kingdom,
at the end of the plan. In return God covenanted to us that, “all
that [our] Father hath shall be given unto [us].” (D&C 84:38) promised to make us all heirs to everything he
has, not in the sense of dividing it among us but we would all share everything
He has.
Our
first opportunity to exercise our agency was given to us. We were allowed to
choose whether or not to covenant to participate and follow God’s plan of
happiness. We each had to exercise faith in Jehovah to a degree. We knew him
and loved him. We trusted Jehovah with the eternal fate of our souls. We also
trusted that our Father’s plan would help us attain salvation. Our covenant was
willingly made with our Father and our elder brother. This is evidenced by the
fact that we are here on earth.
There
was however a dissention among the spirits in heaven. Some were not so
confident in this plan. If Jehovah ever made one mistake we would have all been
eternally lost. If he ever stubbed his toe and so much as had the thought to
curse, he would be unable to pay the ransom necessary for us to attain
salvation.
In
response to this fear and decision, Lucifer, one who attained power in that
premortal life as a Son of the Morning, offered an alternative. God told Moses
that Lucifer stood and declared, “Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son,
and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I
will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.” (Moses 4:1)
Lucifer thus proposed that he would be able to
force all to be obedient and return to God’s presence. He sought glory and
honor for himself and not the will of the Father. This ambitious plan, which
Lucifer offered, defied the very law by which we could obtain exaltation. At
the very core it was flawed. If we were not granted our agency, we would not be
able to learn all the lessons necessary to become like God.
Yet there were some who must have lacked faith in
Jehovah, or perhaps they lacked faith in their ability to be obedient, or even
desired power and prestige. Whatever their reasoning desired to follow
Lucifer’s idea. The Father must have explained to us how the plan defied
eternal laws and would not even be possible to carry out. Lucifer came out in
open rebellion against God and flattered many to join him.
Lucifer and those who followed him, “sought to
destroy the agency of man, which… God, had given him…” The Father stated that
he would not and could not accept this plan, but that his plan was the only way
whereby they could gain salvation. These rebellious spirits would not listen to
reason and started a war in heaven. This was not a physical war wherein no one
could physically die, but rather a war of words and philosophies.
Elder McConkie explained the nature of this war.
He wrote, “It [was] a war between truth and error, between light and darkness…
those who followed Lucifer in the pre-existence were the spirits who chose to
believe false doctrines about how to gain salvation.” (Mormon Doctrine, p.828)
Because they chose to disobey God they could no longer dwell in his presence.
Michael the Archangel led the armies of heaven
and cast Satan and his followers out of heaven. They having rejected the
opportunities receive salvation were forever denied the opportunity to have a
body and were forever damned in their eternal progression.
One
third of all of Heavenly Father’s children chose to reject his plan of
salvation and follow Lucifer. Abraham tells us of Lucifer and his followers,
“[They] kept not [their] first estate,” which therefore denied him the
chance to obtain a second estate. They ultimately got what they desired, to not
participate in God’s plan of Salvation.
Lucifer, now known as Satan or the
Devil, will be miserable forever and desires our misery. His greatest desire is
to prove that we are not worthy of the agency with which God has entrusted us.
Satan and his followers now roam the earth seeking to do everything in their
power to make us miserable. The war that they waged in heaven rages on today,
but in the end they will ultimately lose.
Thankfully, many more of us had
faith in the father and Jehovah, and after having learned the details of the
plan of salvation chose to follow it. We each understood and accepted every
phase of our new journey to ultimately live in the celestial kingdom of God
having a fullness of joy in that exalted state. To assist us along this journey
were three in comprehensible gifts that would make our salvation possible; the
creation, the fall, and the atonement.
These incomprehensible gifts have
often been called the three pillars of eternity. Each led to the other and with
out one, all three would be utterly wasted and pointless. All three mad the
principles of agency, justice, and mercy work in perfect harmony for our
eternal benefit. Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught, “These three [pillars] are the
foundation upon which all things rest. Without any one of them all things would
lose their purpose and meaning, and the plans and designs of Deity would come
to naught.” (The Three Pillars of
Eternity, BYU Devotional Feb. 17, 1981)
The first mandatory pillar of God’s
plan to be set in motion was the creation of this earth. We know that “Under
the direction of the Father, Jesus Christ (Jehovah) created the earth as a
place for us to live and gain experience.” (PMG, p.49) The earth was created
for this very specific purpose. According to the prophet Nephi, “the Lord hath
created the earth that it should be inhabited; and he hath created his children
that they should possess it.” (1 Nephi 17:36). The earth was not just here by
happenstance, but created specifically as a tool to help us to become like God.
This, however, was not a unique
experience. Jehovah later known as Jesus Christ is the creator of “worlds
without number, of which ours is only one,” taught Elder Neal A. Maxwell.
(Special Witnesses of Christ) This was the first great miracle preformed by our
Savior.
But Christ was not alone in this
work. According to Abraham 4:1 we are taught, “…The Lord said: Let us go down.
And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and
formed the heavens and the earth.” We know Michael as well as many other noble
and great spirits assisted in the creation of the earth.
Joseph Smith taught that according
to the original Hebrew texts of Genesis 1:1 the word create should have been
translated organized in relation to the creation of the earth. (TPJS p.362)
This agrees with the modern knowledge that matter is self-existing and cannot
be created or destroyed. Christ di not create the world out of nothing, but
rather by the power of the priesthood organized the elements into an
inhabitable earth.
A complete account of the creation
of the Earth is given in Genesis 1, Moses 2, and Abraham 4. It is interesting
to note that the earth was completely organized in six periods of time, often
referred to as days.
In order to fulfill God’s purposes, the Earth had to be
created in a paradisiacal or terrestrial state. This would enable the Father to
communicate directly with man and institute all of the laws upon which the plan
of salvation is based. In this terrestrial state there would be no sin and no
death. The entire earth, plants, and animals would be able to abide eternally
in God’s presence.
The culmination of the creation happened on the sixth day
with the creation of man. God created a mortal tabernacle in which Michael’s
spirit could dwell. Genesis 1:27 relates, “So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
Michael, otherwise known as Adam, and Eve were given mortal bodies that were
designed just like Heavenly Father’s and Heavenly Mother’s bodies, but were not
yet glorified.
Adam
and Eve were allowed to live in the Garden of Eden in this paradisiacal state.
But yet this was contrary to the will of God and the plan of salvation. Lehi
taught his son Jacob, “And all things which were created must have remained in
the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have
remained forever, and had no end… wherefore they would have remained in a state
of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they
knew no sin.” (2 Nephi 2:22-23)
In
other words, if Adam and Eve had remained in the garden their spirits and
bodies would always remained united and they would have never received an
exalted body. They also would have never progressed or learned how to become
like God, because there was no opposition to help them learn. They simply would
have existed.
Another
huge problem was that in this paradisiacal state, the prophet Lehi teaches us,
was that Adam and Eve would have had no children. (2 Nephi 2:23) Just as they did not have the
capacity to die, they did not have the capacity to reproduce. Logically this
makes sense, because had they been able to have children they would have
embodied the rest of us with tabernacles in a state in which we could never
learn to become like God, thus damning us in our progression.
Speaking
of this injunction Lehi said, “Wherefore, [the earth] must needs have been
created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in
the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing must needs destroy the wisdom of
God and his eternal purposes, and also the power, and the mercy, and the
justice of God.” (2 Nephi 2:12)
This
brings us to the second pillar of the plan of salvation. Lehi rejoiced in the
beauty of God’s plan when he said, “But behold, all things have been done in
the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.” (2 Nephi 2:24) An integral part of
God’s plan was the Fall of Adam and Eve and the subsequent bringing about of
families to the earth. While many other faiths believe the Fall was a terrible
mistake on Eves part, we understand that it was essential to our salvation.
In Mormon Doctrine, Elder McConkie wrote,
“By his diligence and obedience [in the preexistence], as one of the spirit
sons of God, [Adam] attained a stature and power second only to that of
Christ.” (Mormon Doctrine, p.16)
Because of this faithfulness he was chosen and foreordained to be parent to the
human family just as Christ was foreordained our Savior. The same can be
assumed of Eve.
After
embodying Adam and Eve in earthly tabernacles, Moses 2 tells us that God gave
Adam power and authority over the whole earth, or in other words the
priesthood. He also joined Adam and Eve in a marriage that was supposed to last
through eternity. This is also evidenced
in Matthew 19:6 when Jesus said, “What therefore God hath
joined together, let not man put asunder.” (This subject will be addressed in
further detail in subsequent chapters.)
God
also gave them several commandments, the first of which was the
command to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth...” (Moses 2:28)
This commandment was in essence to complete the mission that they were
foreordained to accomplish, that is bring about the human family. This
commandment was different from the first because Adam and Eve did not have the
option to choose whether or not to keep it. As long as they kept the first
commandment, they would never be able to have posterity.
The
second commandment was in relation to their conduct while in the
garden. In order to give Adam and Eve their agency God had to give them a
choice between being obedient to his commandments or not. He created two trees
in the garden, the first being the Tree of Life, and the second being the Tree
of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
The
commandment in relation to these two trees is recorded in Moses 3:16-17, “Of every
tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, nevertheless, thou mayest choose for
thyself, for it is given unto thee; but, remember that I forbid it, for in the
day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Thus they had the opportunity
to choose.
These
two commandments were intentionally set up in opposition to one another. They
could not keep one without violating the other. In God’s infinite wisdom, he
knew that he could not force Adam and Eve out of his presence for that would
violate the law of justice. They had to willfully choose on their own to leave,
and in setting up these two commandments, he gave them that opportunity.
The
entire plan of salvation would be halted until Adam and Eve chose to transgress
the second commandment. Because until they transgressed the command to not
partake of the forbidden fruit, they would by default transgress the first
commandment to multiply and replenish the earth. Eventually Adam and Eve would
have seen fit to transgress the second commandment and chosen to bring about
the plan of salvation. Yet Satan in his everlasting short sightedness decided
to come tempting them to use their agency incorrectly as he always does.
Desiring
to do anything in his power to disrupt God’s plan he came tempting Eve. Christ
told Moses that, “Satan sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the
mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world.”(Moses 4:6) Using one of
his favorite tactics, Satan began by reasoning with Eve, twisting the truth and
telling a simple lie.
He told
Eve that if she ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil she
would “not surely die; for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then
your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
(Moses 4:10-11) Eventually Eve chose to partake of this fruit of her own
accord.
Many
have condemned Eve for this initial decision, but it must be remembered that
Eve was a very elect woman. God would not have entrusted her as the mother of
the human race if she were going to sinfully destroy his purposes. Rather she
must have learned and understood in that moment that there was something more,
and that if she were to fulfill the commandment to bear children she must eat
the fruit.
With a new understanding, she persuaded Adam to also
partake of the fruit. He also must have been convinced of the necessity of this
decision and desired to further the plan of salvation.
We know
from modern revelation that this transgression was essential to the plan of
salvation. Had Eve not chosen under the urgings of Satan to partake of the
forbidden fruit, we can deduce that Heavenly Father would have eventually
encouraged them to move the plan forward by partaking of the fruit.
Satan
may have pushed the plan forward “prematurely” yet what he thought was a
victory was actually furthering the plan of salvation. Adam and Eve had just
completed the second pillar of eternity. Yet as is the natural consequence of
sin, the feeling of guilt crept in and they tried to hide from the Lord when
they heard him call out to them.
God
eventually came to Adam and Eve, discovering what they had done; he informed
them of the consequences. I doubt Heavenly Father lashed out in anger, but
rather in a loving manner he must have informed them of their new reality.
The
first order of business he had to take care of was to mete out the consequences
of Satan’s choices. There was a cursing placed upon the Father of Lies. And
then Heavenly Father taught this eternal truth, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her
seed; and he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” (Moses
4:21 italics added)
Elder
James E. Talmage taught that this referred to Christ’s eventual and ultimate
victory over Satan.
“Though the devil, represented by the serpent in
Eden, should have power to bruise the heel of Adam’s posterity, through the
seed of the woman should come the power to bruise the adversary’s head. It is
significant that this assurance of eventual victory over sin and its inevitable
effect, death, both of which were introduced to earth through Satan, the
arch-enemy of mankind, was to be realized through the offspring of woman; the
promise was not made specifically to the man, nor to the pair. The only
instance of offspring from woman dissociated from mortal fatherhood is the
birth of Jesus the Christ, who was the earthly Son of a mortal mother, begotten
by an immortal Father. He is the Only Begotten of the Eternal Father in the
flesh, and was born of woman.” (Jesus the Christ, 3rd ed. [1916], 43)
Thus the first thing that the Father did after
the fall was to give Adam and Eve a message that all was not lost, and that no
matter the consequences of their choices there would be an eventual victory
through Christ.
The
next thing God informed Adam and Eve about was the impending mortality that
they would now have to face. He surely informed them that their bodies would literally changed from immortal
to mortal bodies. These lower bodies would be so concerned with base and
natural desires that it would consume their whole attention. We would have hard
physical labor to sustain their lives. God told Adam, “Cursed
shall be the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days
of thy life. Thorns also, and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou
shalt eat the herb of the field. By the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
until thou shalt return unto the ground.”
(Moses 4:23-25)
They would also now face pain, temptation, sin,
and unhappiness. The prophet Lehi described these new conditions of mortality
when he said, “for it must needs be, that there is an opposition in
all things. If not so… righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither
wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad.” (2 Nephi 2:11)
In this state of mortality, they would be much more vulnerable to sin and make
many mistakes which, according to the principle of justice, would keep them
from ever entering back into the presence of the Father. And thus in a sense,
they would die spiritually being eternally separated from God. As another new reality of mortality,
Adam and Eve and all of their posterity would face death. Death was not just a
reality of mortality, but the consequence for sin. It is according to the
eternal law justice that when one sins a penalty must be paid. Because having a
body is a privilege and reward for righteousness in the first estate, if we
fail to keep this second estate we are no longer worthy to retain our bodies. This
penalty for sin is physical death, or being eternally separated from our
physical bodies. As the Apostle Paul taught, “The wages of sin is death.”
(Romans 6:23)
In order to perpetuate the entire plan of salvation, it
was necessary for God prevent Adam and Eve from partaking of the fruit of the
Tree of Life. By partaking of the fruit of the Tree of Life, they would have
maintained their immortal state. This would have frustrated the entire plan of
salvation. Had they become immortal in a fallen state, all of us would have
been lost. We would have sinned and faced spiritual death, but we would not
have died physically.
Thus we would have eternally been separated from God
with no chance of ever returning to his presence. This would have frustrated
the entire plan of salvation. This principle was explained when God told
Jehovah, “Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil; and now
lest he put forth his hand and partake also of the tree of life, and eat and
live forever… [I] will send him forth from the Garden of Eden.” (Moses 4:28-29)
At the Father’s command, Adam and Eve were driven out of
the Garden of Eden and they “placed at the east of the Garden of Eden, cherubim
and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of
life.” (Moses 4:31) Mortality must have been even more daunting to Adam and Eve
than they are even to us today. They were alone in the world, sent to face
these two new deaths, which were totally foreign to them. They undoubtedly
wondered about their standing before their Father and if they would ever see
him again.
In his
infinite love, Heavenly father sent an angel to teach Adam and Eve about the
Atonement of his Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ. (Moses 5:6-15, more of this
encounter will be discussed in the next chapter) They were informed that
through this Atonement they would find joy in this life and eventually be able
to live as immortals once again with Heavenly Father.
The
Atonement of Jesus Christ is the third and final pillar in the plan of
salvation. Without it, we would have no chance to ever live with God again. It
is the central message of Eternity and ultimately the reason we construct
Temples today. Of the atonement the prophet Joseph Smith said, “The
fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and
Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the
third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our
religion are only appendages to it.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,
p.121)
The
effects of the atonement of Christ, though not wholly apparent at the time,
have affected every generation throughout all eternity. This great and eternal
miracle commenced even before this world was, culminated on the first bright
Easter morn, and can affect each of us every day of our lives.
The roadblocks of
spiritual and physical death, brought into the world by the fall of Adam, could
both be justly overcome only if there was a mediator as mentioned before. The
Father mercifully provided us this Mediator, Jehovah or Jesus Christ. Paul
taught of Christ’s role in the plan of salvation in his letter to the
Corinthians. He stated, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become
the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came
also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)
Whereas
death is a penalty for sin, which was brought into the world by Adam, it was a
price that according to justice must be paid. As one man brought this disparity
of mortality to mankind, one man, Christ, would be able to bring the reality of
immortality to the entire human family. By vicarious proxy, Christ could stand
in for us, and pay the price that we are eternally incapable of paying
ourselves.
Christ,
the mediator had to be perfect. He could never rebel, for if he did death would
have claim on him, thus making him completely incapable of overcome its grasp.
If
on the other hand he were able to be completely loyal, death would justly have
no claim on him. But by willingly taking death upon himself, he would be paying
the ransom for us all and enable us to be able to work out our salvation and
return to the presence of the Father, clothed in an immortal body.
The
Father had prepared Jesus for this daunting task and sent him to earth in the
meridian of time. Though born to this earth, Christ was no ordinary man. He was
of divine parentage. Born of Mary, a virgin mortal mother, and literally God,
an immortal father. Thus making him literally half man and half god. Elder
James E. Talmage further explained this principle in his book Jesus the Christ, “Jesus Christ could
not be slain until his ‘hour had come,’ and that, the hour in which he
voluntarily surrendered his life, and permitted his own decease through an act
of will. Born of a mortal mother he
inherited the capacity to die; begotten by an immortal Sire he possessed as a
heritage the power to withstand death indefinitely. He literally gave up his life…” (Jesus the
Christ, Chapter 3, p. 22)
Jesus
Christ, himself, testified of this fact when he said, “Therefore doth my Father
love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down
of myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again.” (John 10:17-18)
We
lean from Holy Writ that Christ grew and progressed, as do we. He had the
capacity to internalize and embrace all truth. Luke wrote “And the
child [Jesus] grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the
grace of God was upon him.” (Luke 2:40)
Thus growing from grace to grace became the perfectly prepared Lamb. Christ was
tried, tempted, and tested as are we, but was able to pass every test. He gave
us the perfect example of how to pass this test that we call life.
The
Savior’s life ultimately culminated in his last day in mortality. It was the
week of the Feast of the Passover; a religious ceremony originally instituted
by Jehovah himself to point his people forward in remembrance of his great and
atoning sacrifice. On this night in his 33rd year, the Messiah was
here on the Earth, he had been rejected by all save his inner circle of most
intimate friends.
The
Passover lamb had been slain, the last accepted of the Lord, and the Feast had
been prepared in a large upper room. That night the Savior and his Twelve
Apostles fulfilled the requirement of the law and in complete obedience partook
of the feast. Then Christ, ending the old law, instituted the ordinance of
partaking of bread and wine in remembrance of him, rather than an annual Passover.
We refer to this most sacred ordinance as the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
It is interesting to note that this single most significant change in the
gospel was instituted in an upper room, as are most changes in the Restored
Church.
Jesus
then proceeded to wash the feet of the apostles as an ordinance signifying that
they were clean from the sins of the people. After which he proceeded to
instruct the Apostles in their responsibilities. He prophesied of his betrayal,
the denial of Peter, and Christ’s imminent death.
At
the end of the evening, the Savior led eleven of his Apostles (Judas having
left to plot Christ’s betrayal) out of the city limits, crossing a brook, and
entering a garden called Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives. Gethsemane was a
fitting name, literally meaning olive press. In an olive press the fruit is put
under intense pressure until it literally bleeds out the olive oil used for
lamps and ceremonial anointings. Christ that night was similarly put under
intense pressure and bled from every pore and symbolically became a light in
the darkness of sin.
Gethsemane
was not unfamiliar to the Lord. He had resorted there oft times in his
ministry, no doubt contemplating the great and last sacrifice which he himself
would pay for sin. As they entered he left all but Peter, James, and John at
the gate. The three, his most trusted friends were allowed to follow him
further into the garden so that they could testify that he paid the price for
sin and had accomplished all that he had been commanded to do. He confided in
them the enormous weight upon his soul, and asked them to stay there and watch
with him.
Christ
then went even further into the garden and then kneeling under the weight of
his crushing burden he cried out “Abba!” or Father, Daddy! He asked the
question, “If thou be willing, remove this cup from me.” Pleading with his
Father he asked if there was some other way, if there was any other option
possible he wanted to go the alternative route. But knowing his divine calling
he submitted his will again to the Father and in the most supreme expression of
love, he said, “not my will, but thine be done.” (Luke 22:42)
Christ
then partook of what he described as the bitter cup. He began to suffer the
punishment for our sins. Imagine how you feel when you do something wrong, add
all of those feelings up over a lifetime and times it by every person that ever
lived or would ever live. We know that the punishment for sin, as before
stated, is eternal separation from God; and eternal punishment. Somehow he
bridged that gap, providing the infinite gift of mercy to all mankind.
Besides
suffering alone for our sins, Christ chose to take upon him all of our pains,
sicknesses, infirmities, temptations, and anything that brings us sadness. He
went through it all firsthand so that he could know how to run to us when we
are in need. Because of what he did, none of us can ever say, “no one knows
what I am going through,” because he does.
The
suffering Christ went through is incomprehensible. His suffering was so great
that he began to bleed from every pore in his body. Science tells us that to
bleed from one pore takes about as much stress and pressure as taking 3
basketballs and shoving them through a water hose all at once.
The
pain was so unbearable that angels came to help sustain him. We are not sure
who was privileged to help him but we can assume that Michael was there. Our
great father Adam, who had brought about the fall, and assisted Christ in the
plan from before the foundation of this world surely would have ben the first
to be at Christ’s side during this terrible agony.
This
intense agony went on for three or four long and terrible hours. Christ went to
check on his Apostles periodically only to find they had drifted off to sleep.
He was completely and utterly alone at the most crucial moment in eternity. I
imagine that God the Father had to go to the farthest, quietest corner of his
universe to close his eyes and allow what had to happen, to actually happen to
his Only Begotten Son. I am sure that the hosts of heaven held their breath
during that time. At anytime he could have backed out, but he chose to see it
through to the end.
Christ described
this, his most terrible time, to the prophet Joseph Smith, “For
behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer
if they would repent… which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of
all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both
body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and
shrink—nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my
preparations unto the children of men.” (D&C 19:16,18-19)
Finally
it was finished very early that next morning. He woke his Apostles only to be
met by a mob sent by the Jewish leaders, and lead by the Apostle Judas. Jesus,
after going through the intense pain of the night, stood boldly before them and
asked who they were looking for. They said they were there for Jesus, and when
he proclaimed it was he, the mob recoiled. Then the Iscariott mocked his
Savior, calling him Master and signaling to the mob with a kiss. Christ told
the mob to take him but let the apostles go their way.
As the mob rushed forward
to take Jesus, Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the servants
of the High Priest. Jesus, full of compassion stopped Peter and reminded him
that the hosts of Heaven would stop the mob if it were Christ’s will, but that
this too was part of his high calling in God’s eternal plan. Then he knelt and
healed the ear of the man, whom had come to lead Christ to his death. Christ
surely understood this man better than anyone else could, for just hours before
Christ had paid the price for his sins and felt his afflictions.
The
Apostles fled, leaving him alone without a friend in the world. The mob tied a
rope around his neck like a common criminal or a lamb being led to the
sacrificial altar. They lead him to Annas, the High Priest, who questioned him
privately. The servants of Annas struck the Savior and then bound him and sent
him to Caiaphas and the Chief Priests. They held a trial before dawn, in
private, and during the Feast of the Passover; all of which made the trial
illegal by Jewish Law. The Pharisees brought forward false and lying witnesses,
which could not seem to make their stories match. Finally they brought in two blasphemous
liars and accused the Savior of the only crime that was impossible for him to
commit, blaspheme. For how could God be guilty of mocking himself?
They
sent him to Pilate under these pretentious charges, yet they themselves would
not go into Pilate. They claimed they could not be defiled for Passover. Their
hands could never have been dirtier, while they sought to kill the man for whom
they celebrated the Passover. It was nothing short of blaspheme. They continued
to lie telling Pilate that Christ had spoken out against Caesar. Ironically,
the only thing he had ever taught about Caesar was that the Jews should give
Caesar what was rightfully his.
Pilate
questioned Christ, and finding no treason in him was about to release him and
let the Jews punish him according to their laws. The Chief Priests knew that
under Roman rule they could not put anyone to death, so they persisted in their
lying and said that he had been starting an uprising in Galilee. Hearing this
Pilate realized that Christ was within Herod’s jurisdiction and sent the Master
to Herod to be tried.
Christ
remained silent before Herod and after they mocked Christ and beat him, they
sent him back to Pilate. This put Pilate in a difficult situation. His wife had
dreamt of their fate if he did not let Jesus go. He again questioned Jesus, asking Christ if
he was the King of the Jews. It was in this setting that Christ uttered those
immortal words that have caused all mankind beginning with Pilate to marvel, “My
kingdom is not of this world… To this end was I born, and for this cause came I
into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.” (John 18;36-37)
Pilate
knowing that Christ was innocent came up with a plan as a last resort to free
Jesus. Though a Roman dignitary, Pilate had sought to gain favor with the Jews
and had annually offered to release one Jewish prisoner every Passover. Seizing
this opportunity, he selected one Barabbas, a known murder, and offered to release
either Jesus or the prisoner. Surely he must have thought that the Jews would
not allow a murderer to be set free.
Yet
the voice of the mob called for the release of the murderer, and for the death
of the giver of life. The mob called out for Pilate to crucify the Savior of
all mankind, because he had said that he was the Son of God. Pilate hearing
this, again question Jesus and gained a bright knowledge that Jesus was the Son
of God.
From
that point, Pilate desired to release Jesus, lest he bring upon himself the
judgment of God. Yet the people cried out, “If thou let this man go, thou art
not Cæsar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar.”
(John 19:12) Fearing that he would lose his position on accusations of treason,
Pilate decided to appease the mob. Thus fearing man more than God, Pilate chose
to pursue their blasphemous charges.
In
bewilderment he asked if the mob would have him crucify their king. Then in
ultimate blaspheme, the nation who had claimed to have no god or ruler other
than Jehovah, denounced Christ and cried out, “We have no king but Caesar!”
(John 19:15)
Then
Pilate, the only man on earth with the power to save the Savior of the world,
washed his hands before the multitude, hoping to signify that he was guiltless
in the verdict. Pilate’s hand could not have been dirtier. Yet the crowd cried
out as they reveled in their sins, “His blood be on us, and on our children.”
(Matthew 27:25)
Christ
was then offered up to the Roman soldiers to be scourged. This custom was so
violent that prisoners usually died from the excruciating pain of the beating.
A whip laced with shards of metal and glass was use to whip the prisoners
condemned to death as a form of further torture. They were whipped 39 times,
one less than the legal 40, lest the prisoner be justly set free.
The
fact that Jesus survived the scourging is amazing and a further attestation of
the divinity of the savior that he was the Son of God, considering the
agonizing pain and loss of blood he had experienced the night before in
Gethsemane. Truly the words written by the prophet Isaiah centuries earlier
rang true that Passover morning, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and
with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
After
the scourging, the soldiers took a scarlet robe and placed it on his bruised
and bloody back. They place a crown made out of thorns upon his head, and a
reed in his hands as a scepter. They bowed before him, mocking him, slapping
him, and spitting on him. And yet through all of this, the Savior spoke not a
word.
The
Roman legion then compelled him to carry a beam of wood down the streets of
Jerusalem toward the hill known as Golgotha, all the time being followed by the
blasphemous mob. When Jesus’s strength finally gave out, the soldiers compelled
a bystander from Cyrene to carry the beam the rest of the way to Golgotha.
At
approximately 9:00 am the procession reached Golgotha, known as the place of
burial, the soldiers took nails the size of railroad spikes, and nailed his
hands to the beam he had been forced to carry. The then nailed him to a post
placed between two thieves. It is amazing that the Savior could utter the words
from the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke
23:34) Even at his lowest point, Christ felt love and compassion for the Roman
soldiers who had just tortured him and driven spikes through his hands and
feet.
Pilate
had a sign placed on the cross above Jesus’s head that created quite a stir
among the mob. In Greek, Latin, and Hebrew the sign read, “THIS IS JESUS THE
KING OF THE JEWS.” Golgotha was a very prominent hill along the main road
entering Jerusalem, and the Jews once again expressed their desire to not be connected
with the Savior. In spite of this, Pilate would not allow the inscription to be
removed.
The
soldiers stood on guard to watch the prisoners until they were taken by death.
As Jesus hung there suffering, the mob, who had condemned him to die stood by
and continued to mock him. Even one of his fellow prisoners chided him. When
Jesus became thirsty due to the loss of blood, all that was offered to him to
quench his thirst was vinegar.
To
add to all of this, we know by modern revelation that the Savior again was
caused to suffer all of the feelings he had felt the night before that cause
him to bleed from every pore. The difference this time was that there was no
angel there to bear him up; he was left completely and utterly alone to bear
the burdens of the entire world. This loneliness caused Christ to cry out in
pain, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”(Mark 15:34) The interpretation is “My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Even
in his darkest hour, Christ took this opportunity to teach. Of all the things
he could have cried to God, he chose to quote a scripture with which he was
undoubtedly familiar. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” is the first
sentence in Psalms 22. The psalm then goes on to teach of the Savior and how
his suffering brings salvation.
The
Savior hung on the cross for the next 3 hours, and then after immense suffering
prepared to depart his mortal experience. The last thing he did before he
departed was to ensure that his looking on and distraught mother would be taken
care of by his beloved disciple John. Thus to his dying breath, Jesus reminded
us of the importance of the Ten Commandments, particularly the command to honor
thy father and thy mother.
Finally
the Savior declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30), meaning that the final
piece to our Father’s Great Plan of Happiness was finally complete. He then
said with a loud voice, “Father into thy hands I commend my spirit.” He then
died. As stated before, the Savior could not be killed, but had to willfully
lay down his life because of his immortal parentage.
At
that same instance the Earth mourned the death of her Creator. The sky went
dark as thundering, lightning, and earthquakes occurred around the globe. The
veil of the temple, an extremely thick piece of cloth, was torn from top to
bottom, exposing the empty Holy of Holies, signifying that the chasm between
death an eternal life had been bridged. All of this commotion caused a Roman
Centurion standing near the earthly tabernacle of the savior to say in
amazement, “Truly, this man was the Son of God.”
The
Jews holding to the tradition that a dead body left unburied near the city
overnight would defile the temple, encouraged the Roman soldiers to cause the
crucified prisoners to die faster by breaking their legs. As the soldiers
approached Jesus, they found him dead and pass him by. Thus further fulfilling
the prophesies that, “neither a bone [they] break a bone thereof.” (Exodus
12:46) Rather, one of the soldiers pierced the Savior’s side with a spear to
ensure that he had died. Upon doing this, blood and water flowed out of the
Savior’s body.
At
the end of the day one of the Christ disciples among the Sanhedrin, Joseph of
Arimathea, Approached the Pilate and pleaded that he be given the body for
burial. Pilate consented, but under pressure from the rest of the Jews sent a
detachment of soldiers to guard the place where Jesus was to be buried. The
Jews were worried that Christ disciples would hide the body, claiming that he
was resurrected.
So
Jesus’s body was hurriedly lain in a borrowed tomb in the garden of Joseph of
Arimathea. The saints did not want to break the Sabbath and so they embalmed
the body just enough until they could return the next Sunday morning to
properly burry their Lord.
On
the third day after his death, Sunday morning, three women came to the
sepulcher to properly embalm the body of Jesus. Upon their arrival, they found
the massive stone placed over the entrance of the sepulcher rolled away with
two angels sitting on top of it, and the Roman soldiers lying as if they were
dead.
The
angels then spoke, calming the women’s fears and pronouncing the joyous news, “Fear
not ye: for we know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here:
for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” (Matthew
28:5-6, See JST)
The
women saw and bear witness that the Lord was no longer there. The linen lay
there in the sepulcher empty, and the Napkin that was wrapped around his head
was fold neatly apart from the rest. This detail is minute but was a big lesson
to all those who understood. It was tradition at that time that if the master
of the house left the dinner table and didn’t intended to return, he would cast
aside his napkin. But if the napkin was folded neatly and set aside, it meant
that the master would return. Thus the Savior taught all who were looking on
that he was coming back.
The
women ran to tell the Apostles all that they had seen and heard. Upon hearing
that the Savior’s body was gone, Peter and John ran back to the tomb and witnessed
for themselves that it indeed was empty, but did not entirely understand the
meaning of these things.
After
Peter and John had left Mary Magdalene stood outside of the tomb mourning the
loss of her Lord and now the loss of his body as well. She saw two angels in
the tomb sitting where they had laid the Lord to rest who conversed with her as
she express her sorrow of not knowing where the body of the Lord had been
taken.
A
man approached her, whom she thought was the gardener, who asked her why she was
weeping. She asked him where he had placed the body and she begged that he
would allow her to take the body elsewhere. Then Man called her name and she
finally recognized him as the resurrected Christ. All she could utter was,
“Master” as she looked in wonder and awe. She then moved to embrace him but he
said, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my
brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to
my God, and your God.” (John 20:17)
Think
of the joy that she must have felt as the first witness of the resurrected
Lord. Now because of Christ, all mankind would live again and if they lived
worthily would be permitted to live with the Father and Jesus Christ for the
rest of eternity! She surely must have run faster than ever before to tell the
Apostles what she had witnessed.
Later
that evening, the ten of the apostles we gathered together and were visited by
the Lord. He het them feel for themselves the marks left in his hand, feet, and
side as tokens of the atonement. Eight days later all eleven faithful apostles
were again together and visited by the resurrected Lord. They were then
instructed by him for 40 days in Galilee and prepared to take the good news of
his resurrection to the entire world.
Our
message today is the same as what it was then. We witness that Christ lives
today. He was seen of Mary, the original apostles, the two travelers on the
road to Emaus, 500 brethren in the primitive church, over 2000 Nephites in the
Americas, Joseph Smith, and many other faithful saints in these latter days.
And we witness that because Christ lived, we too shall live, all of us. The
Great Plan of our Eternal Father is made possible only through Jesus Christ.
That is the main message of the temples, the reason why we build them.
