The spiritual benefits of the atonement
were in force before this earth existed—the Lamb was figuratively slain in
eternity. Therefore, original sin or guilt was never inflicted on mankind. The
baptism of infants is, as Mormon taught, “solemn mockery before God” (Moron.
8:9). Every child is born whole and innocent regardless of the circumstances of
its conception. The Redeemer told Mormon: “The curse of Adam is taken from them
in me”. (Moron. 8:8). Thanks to the atonement, original sin or guilt is a theological
fossil.
. . .
Unlike the rest of mankind, Jesus
was not conceived in sin, meaning in imperfection (Moses 6:55). When the young
virgin asked Gabriel how she was to conceive, he answered: “Of the Holy Ghost,
and the power of the Highest. Therefore, that holy child that shall be
born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (JST Luke 1:35; see 1 Ne.
11:18-2; Alma 7:10; emphasis added). When Mary conceived Jesus her humanity
was, for that moment, bathed in the Father’s divinity.
Jesus (not Mary) had an “immaculate
conception.” It occurred when “the mother of the Son of God . . . was carried
away in the Spirit” (1 Ne. 11:18-19; see JST Luke 1:35). The Lamb of God had a
heavenly, not an earthly, conception. For this reason, Jesus spoke of himself
as the one “whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world”
(John 10:36; emphasis added). The Only Begotten in the flesh was the holy child
of a holy Father and a sanctified Mother (Moro. 8:3). (Rodney Turner, “The
Blood of the Lamb,” Religious Educational Annual Lecture, November 13, 1986, Brigham
Young University, Provo, Utah, pp.12, 22-23, Church History Library, Call no.: M231.23
T951b 1986)
IF
NO ATONEMENT
But what if that "good
news" never came? Had such been the case, mercy would be powerless.
Justice would reign supreme...and alone. And there would be no free agency; we
would have no say as to our eternal destiny. All mankind would be predestined
to perdition. The fall resulted in the entire human race, including newborn
infants, becoming lost to God (1 Ne. 10:6; 2 Ne. 2:21; Jacob 7:12; Mosiah 3:16;
16:4). Every man, woman, and child--however virtuous--would be doomed to
endless physical and spiritual death, bondage to Satan, and moral devolution,
becoming devils themselves (2 Ne. 9:7-9).
Consequently, the Father's work
and glory, the immortality and eternal life of his children, would be an
impossible dream. We fully understood this possibility in our first estate and
accepted the risk involved in coming to earth. Why? Because we knew the danger
was only theoretical. It would never really happen because our Father would not
allow it to happen.
To preclude so diabolical a
catastrophe, God himself, agreed to meet the just demands of divine law,
demands stemming from the Father's gift of free agency to us. This gift cost us
nothing, but it came at a fearful price to the Father and his Only Begotten
Son.
The Father's gracious work
required the Only Begotten's gracious atonement. The atonement was the only way
the Father could satisfy the just demands of violated law resulting from Adam's
transgression and mankind's myriad sins. Sin is the negative use of moral
agency. The plan of salvation took into account the inevitable misuse of agency
by mankind in its fallen, corrupt state. As Paul wrote: "All have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). The disease would prove
pandemic; the cure had to be universal.
Therefore, said Joseph Smith,
"At the first organization in heaven we were all present, and saw the
Savior chosen and appointed and the plan of salvation made, and we sanctioned
it" (TPJS, p. 181). It is a poignant fact that we exercised our agency to
sustain the one who died to make it possible. The atonement was an act of law
as well as an act of love. (Rodney Turner, “The Blood of the Lamb,” Religious
Educational Annual Lecture, November 13, 1986, Brigham Young University, Provo,
Utah, pp. 13-15, Church History Library, Call no.: M231.23 T951b 1986)
WHY
THE FATHER COULD NOT ATONE
By the same token, the Father
could not atone for the sins of his own children. The act of reconciliation
required the shedding of blood; it required the death of "the
testator" (Heb. 2:17; 9:16-17). Only flesh and blood could atone for flesh
and blood. The Father was a resurrected, glorified man of flesh and bone; he
had no blood to shed (D&C 130:22). Nor could he die. He was a spiritual
being; his spirit and body were "inseparably connected" (D&C
93:33; 88:27; Alma 11:45).
Consequently, the Father endowed
his Only Begotten with his own nature, attributes and powers. I believe that
the Father sent his Beloved Son because he was unable to come himself. He
sacrificed his Only Begotten because he could not sacrifice himself.
As we have seen, God had to
atone. Thus the Only Begotten became the Father's surrogate, possessing, as
Paul wrote, "all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Col. 2:9;
compare D&C 93:14-17).
From this perspective, Christ's
atonement appears to be a vicarious ordinance performed in behalf of both the
Father and his children. The Son glorified the Father by bringing his work--the
immortality and eternal life of man--to fruition (Moses 1:39; John 12:28;
13:31-32). The Father and his Beloved Son closely collaborated in working out
the salvation of the human family. All this in accordance with the plan of
redemption as formulated by the Gods eons before the foundations of this earth
were laid. (Rodney Turner, “The Blood of the Lamb,” Religious Educational
Annual Lecture, November 13, 1986, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, pp.
26-27, Church History Library, Call no.: M231.23 T951b 1986)
GETHSEMANE
During the Last Supper Jesus told
the Twelve: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends" (John 15:13). Yet Jesus did more than lay down his
physical life, he sacrificed his very being, spirit and flesh, for friend and
enemy alike.
Although the Redeemer's torment
of soul reached its climax in Gethsemane, his spiritual pains continued up to
the moment he died upon the cross. Luke writes that before Jesus' ordeal began
"there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him"
(Luke 22:43). Was that angel the Father? Although the Holy Ghost had been the
Savior's constant companion throughout his ministry (John 1:33; 3:34), the
Spirit was obliged to withdraw. Jesus will yet testify: "I have trodden
the winepress alone, and none were with me" (D&C 133:50; see 76:107;
88:106).
. . .
THE
CROSS
Jesus' unspeakable sufferings on
the cross are a tangible reminder of his even more excruciating pains in
Gethsemane. When all was done, he said: "It is finished" (John
19:30). "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46). He
was free at last.
The death of Jesus Christ
fulfilled the law of Moses with its associated feasts (Alma 34:13-14; 3 Ne.
15:5). According to John's gospel, Jesus and his apostles were the last to eat
a lawful passover meal. At the very hour the Jews were killing their paschal
lambs (about 3 P.M.), Jesus died on the cross. The shadow (the paschal lamb)
and its substance (the Lamb of God) died at the same time.
Although Jesus was already dead,
"one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came
there out blood and water" (John 19:34). Was this significant? I believe
so. We sing: "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee; Let
the water and the blood, from thy wounded side which flowed, Be of sin the
double cure, Save from wrath and make me pure." I believe his blood
symbolized the atonement, and the water, baptism. Together they establish the
new and everlasting covenant founded upon Christ, the "Rock of Ages."
The ordeal finished, the Son of
God assumed the fulness of his former glory (John 13:31-32). He had descended
into hell, but he did not remain there. Nor will any soul who repents whether
in life or in death. (Rodney Turner, “The Blood of the Lamb,” Religious
Educational Annual Lecture, November 13, 1986, Brigham Young University, Provo,
Utah, pp. 30-31, 35-36, Church History Library, Call no.: M231.23 T951b 1986)
(This should not be confused with
the mistaken belief that mankind is in bondage to Satan and must be “ransomed”
from him. Christ did not ransom us from the devil, but from the demands of
justice (Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:6). Only those who never repent become
those sons of Perdition (the “filthy still”) who will be sealed to the devil in
the second death following the last judgment (Alma 34:35; D&C 29:41; 63:17;
76:37; 88:35). (Rodney Turner, “The Blood of the Lamb,” Religious Educational
Annual Lecture, November 13, 1986, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, p.33,
Church History Library, Call no.: M231.23 T951b 1986)
QUALIFICATIONS
FOR MERCY
In meeting the demands of
justice, the Savior gave life to mercy and she "claimeth all which is her
own" (Alma 42:15, 22-23). But for mercy to temper justice, the
requirements of divine law must be met by both the the Savior and the saved.
The law that required a qualified Redeemer, also requires qualified
beneficiaries of his redemptive act. All mankind will be resurrected by pure
grace. To that extent, all are saved by pure grace.
However, only those who enter
into a valid baptismal covenant "with full purpose of heart, acting no
hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent" (2 Ne. 31:13)
qualify for a fullness of the spiritual blessings of the atonement. The prophet
Lehi taught: "Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer
the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite
spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered" (2 Ne.
2:7; see Alma 42:24).
The fully repentant will be found
"spotless, pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the
Lamb, at that great and last day" (Morm. 9:6; see Alma 13:11; 34:36; Rev.
7:14; 12:11). In the resurrection they will be "clothed with purity, yea,
even with the robe of righteousness" (2 Ne. 9:14). (Rodney Turner, “The
Blood of the Lamb,” Religious Educational Annual Lecture, November 13, 1986, Brigham
Young University, Provo, Utah, pp. 40-41, Church History Library, Call no.: M231.23
T951b 1986)
