The Atonement

As used in the scriptures, the word Atonement is defined as “the reconciliation of one’s self to God.” (Bible Dictionary, Atonement).  The Atonement was the single greatest act in human history, but not only was it an act in history performed by the Savior, it is an act that will exist and extend to all human history, in all different worlds. He was foreordained as the Savior of the world to perform the Atonement to save all mankind. I have chosen to examine His foreordination and His sinless life He led leading up to the Atonement. I hope to share some of my feelings and do this sweet topic justice, as it means so much to me.

The Guide to the Scriptures defines foreordination as, “God’s premortal ordination of his valiant spirit children to fulfill certain missions during their mortal lives.” Christ was foreordained as the Savior of the world in the great council of heaven. In Abraham 3, we learn of the foreordination. The idea of God was that we would each come to earth to be proved to see if we would obey His commandments and become what He wanted us to become. It says in verse 27, “And the Lord said: 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.” We know this as the point where Jesus was chosen to come to earth, gain a body and be the Savior. This was the time that God glorified His Son and we learn that in Romans 8:30. “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Just as each of us were foreordained to perform a certain mission on this earth, Christ was foreordained to be the Savior of us all. Our destiny however, could never happen or take place without His divine role that He had to play.

Jesus also led a sinless life. This is shown in 2 Nephi 31:7, which reads, “Know ye not that he was holy? But notwithstanding he being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father.” Because He led this sinless life, He could turn to us and ask for something. Not for us to be perfect, but for us to try to be like Him. He could ask us for Faith and Repentance, He could ask us to make covenants and introductory ordinances, Baptism and the Receiving of the Gift of the Holy Ghost. This is the same reason He had the authority to tell the sinful woman taken in adultery to “go and sin no more.” (John 8:11) Because of His Godly characteristics, He led this sinless life. No man could live sinless and without temptation. Jesus was able to do this because He understood His Father’s will perfectly.

The way that I feel about the Atonement can be summarized in a story. On my mission, I was serving in Switzerland. I had been attempting to understand the Atonement a little more fully, and was hitting a wall every time I tried to study. I read Jesus the Christ, poured over my scriptures, but it felt like there was a piece missing. My companion and I had been on the street for about 3 hours talking to people without much success. We had passed a man on a bench a time or two, but the third time both felt the deep impression to speak with him. As we approached him, it became clear that he couldn’t speak German, but did speak English. He was from London, and we asked him what he had been doing there in Switzerland. He told us that he was just there for the day and would fly home afterwards. He told us that he had suffered his entire life from a tremor, for 78 years, and that he had just come out of experimental surgery that had healed his tremor. This left quite an impression on me. I thought about suffering under the circumstances of life, things we cause, things caused by others, or things that just happen by chance. So many of our brothers and sisters in the world are weighed down by these things, and to know that Jesus Christ has paid for those sufferings would be so beneficial to them. I have seen the Atonement heal people. It caused me to reflect on the basics of my testimony. I know that Jesus Christ came into the world and suffered more than imaginable. More than we have all suffered. He did it because He was the only one ordained of God to do so. He did it so He could fulfill the words of Alma 7:12, “That He may know how to succor His people.” I am thankful for that effect of the Atonement. That is what the Atonement means to me, is that I have the opportunity to be healed all at once, if I hand over my sorrow and suffering to the Savior. If I exercise my faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I can be made whole through my repentance. I testify that each of us can be healed by the Atonement. I testify as well that the life Jesus led was a perfect life. My favorite scripture is Alma 34:15-16, it says, “And thus 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 overpowereth 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, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption.” That is the miracle of human history, we can be healed because the demands of justice have been satisfied through His Grace. That is the testimony that I have, that He loves all of us and that we can be made whole through Him.