HEAVENLY FATHER AND THE ATONEMENT
We sometimes forget that Heavenly
Father was intimately involved as the Savior worked out the Atonement. As we
have mentioned, in Gethsemane it was the Father who told His Son there was no
other way. It was the Father who placed the infinite burden upon Christ and
refused to remove it. It was the Father who cast a veil between Him and His
suffering Son. We cannot begin to fathom what agony and heartache Heavenly
father must have felt as heard His suffering Son exclaim, “Father, why has thou
forsaken me?” How that must have wrenched His heart.
Maybe that is one reason Abraham
was asked to offer up his only son, Isaac, so that one mortal father would have
an inkling, some insight, into what Heavenly Father did for us. The prophet
Abraham’s faith was such that he raised the knife in obedience to slay Isaac.
To Abraham’s and Isaac’s great relief an angel came and delivered them both
from the test. Let us never forget that Heavenly Father allowed the knife to be
raised, but it was not stayed. There was no angel of deliverance. The knife
fell and was driven through His pure perfect, Holy Son, and “the life’s blood”
of His Beloved Son went out.
Jeffrey R. Holland shared this
important insights about the Father withdrawing His presence: “with all the
conviction of my soul I testify that . . . a perfect Father did not forsake His
Son in that hour. Indeed, it is my personal belief that in all of Christ’s
mortal ministry the Father may never have been closer to His Son than in these
agonizing final moments of suffering” (Church Education System, The Life and
Teachings of Jesus and the Apostles. 2nd ed., The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints, 1978, 186. See James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ [Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book, 1915/1982], 661). The father’s physical presence and
sustaining power may have departed, a veil cast between the two, but certainly
Heavenly Father’s eyes were upon His perfect, pure suffering Only Begotten Son—His
every thought. His whole heart going out to Him; His own heart breaking as He
watched and let the knife fall. Two divine beings suffered that Thursday
evening and Friday. How Heavenly Father must have wanted to save His Son from
suffering and remove the bitter cup. Let it be remembered just as Jesus could
have withdrawn and stopped the suffering, so could have His Father.
Elder Melvin J. Ballard commented,
“In that hour I think I can see our dear Father behind the veil looking upon
these dying struggles until even he could not endure it any longer; and taken
out of the room, so as not to look upon the last struggles, so he bowed his
head, and his in some part of his universe, his great heart almost breaking for
the love that he had for his Son. Oh, in that moment when he might have saved
his Son. I thank him and praise him that he did not fail us, for he had not
only the love of his Son in mind, but he also has had the love for us in mind”
(Hyrum L. Andrus, God, Man and the Universe [Salt Lake City: Deseret
Book, 1999], 425).
Could the Father have saved us and
performed the Atonement? Heavenly Father gave His Only Begotten Son the power
necessary to save us. Hence, the Savior is the Father’s representative in
performing the Atonement, and bringing salvation to mankind.
Since the Fall came by blood, so
redemption from the Fall would occur by blood, for “without shedding of blood [there]
is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). To commemorate the preeminence of this
sacrifice, God from the time of Adam had required a blood sacrifice. He required
His children to offer the firstlings of their flocks. These sacrifices were in
similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father. And being in
similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father. And being in
similitude, their blood, or life, had to be given. For blood is “the life of
the flesh.” That is, life, or blood, was required to make “an atonement for the
soul” (Leviticus 17:11).
In a sense, Jesus did for His
Father that which His Father could not do Himself. The Father could not shed His
own blood for the sins of mankind. Why? He had no blood to shed. Nor could He
lay down His life in the manner Jesus did. The Father was and is a resurrected
being whose spirit and flesh are inseparably connected and are never to be
divided (see D&C 93:33; 103:22; Alma 11:45).
At the time this was not the case
with Jesus. Thus, the great atoning sacrifice was a supreme vicarious ordinance
in behalf of both the Father and all of His children. The Father sent His
Beloved Son because He could not come Himself. And this was in accordance with
the plan of redemption which had been formulated by the father from before the
foundation of the world was laid. The Atonement was the ordinance of all
ordinances performed by Christ and Christ alone. (Jeff Neville, His Final
Days and Triumph [Springville, Utah: CFI, 2022], 144-46)