President James E. Faust
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
"Our salvation depends on believing in and accepting the Atonement.
Such acceptance requires a continual effort to understand it more fully."
My beloved brothers and sisters and friends, I come humbly to this pulpit
this morning because I wish to speak about the greatest event in all history.
That singular event was the incomparable Atonement of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
the Christ. This was the most transcendent act that has ever taken place, yet
it is the most difficult to understand. My reason for wanting to learn all I can
about the Atonement is partly selfish: Our salvation depends on believing in and
accepting the Atonement.1 Such
acceptance requires a continual effort to understand it more fully. The Atonement
advances our mortal course of learning by making it possible for our natures to
become perfect.2 All of us have
sinned and need to repent to fully pay our part of the debt. When we sincerely
repent, the Savior's magnificent Atonement pays the rest of that debt.3
Paul gave a simple explanation for the need of the Atonement: "For as
in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."4
Jesus Christ was appointed and foreordained to be our Redeemer before the world
was formed. With His divine sonship, His sinless life, the shedding of His blood
in the Garden of Gethsemane, His excruciating death on the cross and subsequent
bodily Resurrection from the grave, He became the author of our salvation and
made a perfect Atonement for all mankind.5
Understanding what we can of the Atonement and the Resurrection of Christ helps
us to obtain a knowledge of Him and of His mission.6
Any increase in our understanding of His atoning sacrifice draws us closer to
Him. Literally, the Atonement means to be "at one" with Him. The nature
of the Atonement and its effects is so infinite, so unfathomable, and so profound
that it lies beyond the knowledge and comprehension of mortal man. I am profoundly
grateful for the principle of saving grace. Many people think they need only
confess that Jesus is the Christ and then they are saved by grace alone. We
cannot be saved by grace alone, "for we know that it is by grace that we
are saved, after all we can do."7
Some years ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley told "something of a parable"
about "a one room school house in the mountains of Virginia where the boys
were so rough no teacher had been able to handle them.
"Then one day an inexperienced young teacher applied. He was told that
every teacher had received an awful beating, but the teacher accepted the risk.
The first day of school the teacher asked the boys to establish their own rules
and the penalty for breaking the rules. The class came up with 10 rules, which
were written on the blackboard. Then the teacher asked, 'What shall we do with
one who breaks the rules?'
"'Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,' came the response.
"A day or so later, . . . the lunch of a big student,
named Tom, was stolen. 'The thief was located—a little hungry fellow, about
ten years old.'
"As Little Jim came up to take his licking, he pleaded to keep his coat
on. 'Take your coat off,' the teacher said. 'You helped make the rules!'
"The boy took off the coat. He had no shirt and revealed a bony little
crippled body. As the teacher hesitated with the rod, Big Tom jumped to his
feet and volunteered to take the boy's licking.
"'Very well, there is a certain law that one can become a substitute for
another. Are you all agreed?' the teacher asked.
"After five strokes across Tom's back, the rod broke. The class was sobbing.
'Little Jim had reached up and caught Tom with both arms around his neck. "Tom,
I'm sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was awful hungry. Tom, I will love
you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever!'"8
President Hinckley then quoted Isaiah:
"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. . . .
". . . 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."9
No man knows the full weight of what our Savior bore, but by the power of the
Holy Ghost we can know something of the supernal gift He gave us.10
In the words of our sacrament hymn:
We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.11
He suffered so much pain, "indescribable anguish," and "overpowering
torture"12 for our sake.
His profound suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He took upon Himself
all the sins of all other mortals, caused Him "to tremble because of pain,
and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit."13
"And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly,"14
saying, "O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink
it, thy will be done."15
He was betrayed by Judas Iscariot and denied by Peter. He was mocked by the
chief priests and officers; He was stripped, smitten, spat upon, and scourged
in the judgment hall.16
He was led to Golgotha, where nails were driven into His hands and feet. He
hung in agony for hours on a wooden cross bearing the title written by Pilate:
"JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS."17
Darkness came, and "about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,
saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?"18
No one could help Him; He was treading the winepress alone.19
Then "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the
ghost."20 And "one
of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out
blood and water."21 "The
earth did quake" and "when the centurion, and they that were with
him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they
feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God."22
In the words of the hymn, "Let me not forget, O Savior, / Thou didst bleed
and die for me."23 I wonder how
many drops were shed for me.
What He did could only be done by Deity. As the Only Begotten Son of the Father
in the flesh, Jesus inherited divine attributes. He was the only person ever
born into mortality who could perform this most significant and supernal act.
As the only sinless Man who ever lived on this earth, He was not subject to
spiritual death. Because of His godhood, he also possessed power over physical
death. Thus He did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He broke the cold
grasp of death. He also made it possible for us to have the supreme and serene
comfort of the gift of the Holy Ghost.24
The Atonement and the Resurrection accomplish many things. The Atonement cleanses
us of sin on condition of our repentance. Repentance is the condition on which
mercy is extended.25 After
all we can do to pay to the uttermost farthing and make right our wrongs, the
Savior's grace is activated in our lives through the Atonement, which purifies
us and can perfect us.26 Christ's
Resurrection overcame death and gave us the assurance of life after death. Said
He: "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live."27
The Resurrection is unconditional and applies to all who have ever lived and
ever will live.28 It is a
free gift. President John Taylor described this well when he said: "The
tombs will be opened and the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and
they shall come forth, they who have done good to the resurrection of the just,
and they who have done evil to the resurrection of the unjust."29
With reference to our mortal acts and the Atonement, President J. Reuben Clark
Jr. contributed this valuable insight when he said:
"I feel that [the Savior] will give that punishment which is the very
least that our transgression will justify. I believe that he will bring into
his justice all of the infinite love and blessing and mercy and kindness and
understanding which he has. . . .
"And on the other hand, I believe that when it comes to making the rewards
for our good conduct, he will give us the maximum that it is possible to give,
having in mind the offense which we have committed."30
As Isaiah wrote, if we will return unto the Lord, "he will abundantly
pardon."31
We are commanded to remember the singular events of the mediation, crucifixion,
and the Atonement by partaking of the sacrament weekly. In the spirit of the
sacramental prayers, we partake of the bread and water in remembrance of the
body and the blood sacrificed for us, and we are to remember Him and keep His
commandments so that we may always have His Spirit to be with us.
Our Redeemer took upon Himself all the sins, pains, infirmities, and sicknesses
of all who have ever lived and will ever live.32
No one has ever suffered in any degree what He did. He knows our mortal trials
by firsthand experience. It is a bit like us trying to climb Mount Everest and
only getting up the first few feet. But He has climbed all 29,000 feet to the
top of the mountain. He suffered more than any other mortal could.
The Atonement not only benefits the sinner but also benefits those sinned against—that
is, the victims. By forgiving "those who trespass against us" (JST,
Matt. 6:13) the Atonement brings a measure of peace and comfort to those
who have been innocently victimized by the sins of others. The basic source
for the healing of the soul is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This is true whether
it be from the pain of a personal tragedy or a terrible national calamity such
as we have recently experienced in New York and Washington, D.C., and near Pittsburgh.
A sister who had been through a painful divorce wrote of her experience in
drawing from the Atonement. She said: "Our divorce . . . did
not release me from the obligation to forgive. I truly wanted to do it, but
it was as if I had been commanded to do something of which I was simply incapable."
Her bishop gave her some sound advice: "Keep a place in your heart for
forgiveness, and when it comes, welcome it in." Many months passed as this
struggle to forgive continued. She recalled: "During those long, prayerful
moments . . . I tapped into a life-giving source of comfort
from my loving Heavenly Father. I sense that he was not standing by glaring
at me for not having accomplished forgiveness yet; rather he was sorrowing with
me as I wept. . . .
"In the final analysis, what happened in my heart is for me an amazing
and miraculous evidence of the Atonement of Christ. I had always viewed the
Atonement as a means of making repentance work for the sinner. I had not realized
that it also makes it possible for the one sinned against to receive into his
or her heart the sweet peace of forgiving."33
The injured should do what they can to work through their trials, and the Savior
will "succor his people according to their infirmities."34
He will help us carry our burdens. Some injuries are so hurtful and deep that
they cannot be healed without help from a higher power and hope for perfect
justice and restitution in the next life. Since the Savior has suffered anything
and everything that we could ever feel or experience,35
He can help the weak to become stronger. He has personally experienced all of
it. He understands our pain and will walk with us even in our darkest hours.
We long for the ultimate blessing of the Atonement—to become one with
Him, to be in His divine presence, to be called individually by name as He warmly
welcomes us home with a radiant smile, beckoning us with open arms to be enfolded
in His boundless love.36 How gloriously
sublime this experience will be if we can feel worthy enough to be in His presence!
The free gift of His great atoning sacrifice for each of us is the only way
we can be exalted enough to stand before Him and see Him face-to-face. The overwhelming
message of the Atonement is the perfect love the Savior has for each and all
of us. It is a love which is full of mercy, patience, grace, equity, long-suffering,
and, above all, forgiving.
The evil influence of Satan would destroy any hope we have in overcoming our
mistakes. He would have us feel that we are lost and that there is no hope.
In contrast, Jesus reaches down to us to lift us up. Through our repentance
and the gift of the Atonement, we can prepare to be worthy to stand in His presence.
I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
NOTES
1. See Mosiah
4:6–7.
2. See Moro.
10:32.
3. See 2
Ne. 25:23.
4. 1
Cor. 15:22.
5. See Bible Dictionary, "Atonement," 617.
6. See Jacob
4:12.
7. 2
Ne. 25:23; emphasis added.
8. "Pres. Hinckley: Christmas a Result of Redeeming Christ,"
Church News, 10 Dec. 1994, 4.
9. Isa.
53:4–5.
10. See 1
Cor. 12:3.
11. "There Is a Green Hill Far Away," Hymns,
no. 194.
12. John Taylor, The Mediation and Atonement (1882),
150.
13. D&C
19:18.
14. Luke
22:44.
15. Matt.
26:42.
16. See Matt.
26:47–75; 27:28–31.
17. John
19:19.
18. Matt.
27:46.
19. See D&C
133:50.
20. Matt.
27:50.
21. John
19:34.
22. Matt.
27:51, 54.
23. "In Humility, Our Savior," Hymns, no.
172.
24. See John
15:26.
25. See Alma
42:22–25.
26. See 2
Ne. 25:23; Alma
34:15–16; 42:22–24;
Moro.
10:32–33.
27. John
11:25.
28. See Acts
24:15.
29. The Gospel Kingdom, sel. G. Homer Durham (1943),
118. See also John
5:28–29.
30. "As Ye Sow . . . ," Brigham Young University
Speeches of the Year (3 May 1955), 7.
31. Isa.
55:7.
32. See Alma
7:11–12.
33. Name Withheld, "My
Journey to Forgiving," Ensign, Feb. 1997, 42–43.
34. Alma
7:12.
35. See Alma
7:11.
36. See Alma
26:15; Morm.
5:11; 6:17;
Moses
7:63.
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