[After quoting 3 Nephi 27:13-15,
20-21]
In this short statement the
Master named four eternal verities upon which all else in his gospel is
founded: first, the relationship between himself and his Father; second, the
fact of his atonement; third, the universal resurrection; and fourth, the judgment.
As to the relationship between
himself and his Father, he said: "I came into the world to do the will of
my father; because my father sent me." This verity, so simply put, is the
cornerstone of his gospel. A Christian brotherhood can no more be built without
the acceptance of the fact that Jesus is the Son of God than the superstructure
of this great building can be supported without its foundation. The very burden
of the Master's message during all his life was that he is the Son of God, The Father
himself, who seldom speaks on any other question, time after time bore witness
that Jesus is his Son. That fact is an essential part of the message of the
restoration.
That the atonement was a fact is
as essential to the gospel of Jesus Christ as is the Sonship of Jesus. We have
the sacrament to remind us every week or his atonement. The only purpose, or at
least the main purpose, for which Jesus came into the world was to make the
atonement. Others could have been sent to preach the gospel. As a matter of
fact, others have been sent in every other dispensation--Abraham, Enoch, Moses,
for example, and in this dispensation the Prophet Joseph Smith. These great
prophets taught the gospel of Jesus Christ as plainly as did Jesus himself. But
in the Meridian of Time Jesus came. He came not only to teach the gospel, but
also to be the Redeemer of the world. He was the only one who qualified to be
the Redeemer, first, because he and he alone had life within himself -- eternal
life, which he inherited from his divine Father. He was the only one who ever
lived a sinless life upon the earth, and he alone was foreordained to be the
Redeemer.
The resurrection is inherent in
the atonement. Jesus said he came to do the will of his Father, and that the
will of his Father was that he should be lifted up upon the cross. He further
said that the purpose for which he was to be lifted up upon the cross was that
he might draw all men to him. That he does through the resurrection.
The purpose for which men are to
come before him after the resurrection is that they may be judged of the works
which they have done in the flesh.
These are the fundamentals of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, as he put them in his own language. (Marian G. Romney, Conference
Report [April, 1955], 32)