The atonement 71416

• “nothing in the entire plan of salvation compares in
any way in importance with that most transcendent
of all events, the atoning sacrifice of our Lord. It is
the most important single thing that has ever
occurred in the entire history of created things; it is
the rock foundation upon which the gospel and all
other things rest,” as has been declared. (Bruce R.
McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, Salt Lake City:
Bookcraft, 1966, p. 60.)

WITNESSES AND VISIONS OF THE ATONEMENT
• Orson F. Whitney
• David B. Haight
• Matt. 26
• Mark 14
• Luke 22
• John is silent?

WITNESSES OF THE ATONEMENT:
ORSON F. WHITNEY’S DREAM
• “It was a dream, or a vision in a dream, as I lay upon my bed in the little
town of Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I seemed to be in the
Garden of Gethsemane, a witness of the Savior’s agony. I saw Him as
plainly as ever I have seen anyone. Standing behind a tree in the
foreground, I beheld Jesus, with Peter, James and John, as they came
through a little wicket gate at my right. Leaving the three Apostles there,
after telling them to kneel and pray, the Son of God passed over to the
other side, where He also knelt and prayed. It was the same prayer with
which all Bible readers are familiar: ‘Oh my Father, if it be possible, let
this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.’

WITNESSES OF THE ATONEMENT:
ORSON F. WHITNEY’S DREAM
• “As he prayed the tears streamed down his face, which was toward
me. I was so moved at the sight that I also wept, out of pure
sympathy. My whole heart went out to him; I loved him with all my
soul, and longed to be with him as I longed for nothing else.”
(Through Memory’s Halls [Independence, Missouri: Press of Zion’s
Printing and Publishing Co., 1930]. pp. 82-83.

MARK 14:33
• Sore Amazed
• 33 And he taketh with him Peter and James
and John, and began to be sore amazed, and
to be very heavy; ( Mark 14:33)

MATT. 26:37-39
• His Soul Heavy Depressed? Apostles Slept?
• 37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and
began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
• 38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
• 39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed,
saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:
nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (Matthew 26:37 – 39;
DC 19:15-19)

NO MORTAL WATCHED
• He, by choice, accepted the penalty for all mankind for the
sum total of all wickedness and depravity; for brutality,
immorality, perversion, and corruption; for addiction; for
the killings and torture and terror—for all of it that ever had
been or all that ever would be enacted upon this earth. In
choosing, He faced the awesome power of the evil one who
was not confined to flesh nor subject to mortal pain. That
was Gethsemane!
• How the Atonement was wrought, we do not know. No
mortal watched as evil turned away and hid in shame
before the light of that pure being. All wickedness could
not quench that light. (CR April 1988, Boyd K. Packer)

• We know that in some way, incomprehensible to us,
his suffering satisfied the demands of justice,
ransomed penitent souls from the pains and
penalties of sin, and made mercy available to those
who believe in his holy name.
• We know that he lay prostrate upon the ground as
the pains and agonies of an infinite burden caused
him to tremble and would that he might not drink
the bitter cup.
• APRIL 1985 | The Purifying Power of Gethsemane

WHAT DID HE SEE?
• Did Jesus see us during the Atonement?
• And he beheld also the inhabitants thereof, and there was
not a soul which he beheld not; and he discerned them by
the Spirit of God; and their numbers were great, even
numberless as the sand upon the sea shore. (Moses 1:28;
JST Isa 53:10; Mosiah 15:10 (1-10))
• 10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to
grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he
shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

MARK 14:36
• Abba: The Father and the Atonement
• 36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible
unto thee; take away this cup from me:
nevertheless not what I will, but what thou
wilt.(Mark 14:36; see also Gal. 6:4)

PRESIDENT BRIGHAM YOUNG:
THE FATHER WITHDREW HIS SPIRIT
• President Young spoke of what evoked the "why"
from Jesus, saying that during the axis of agony
which was Gethsemane and Calvary, the Father at
some point withdrew both His presence and His
Spirit from Jesus (see Journal of Discourses 3:205-6)

ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND, “NONE WERE WITH HIM,”
ENSIGN, MAY 2009
• As Jesus hung on the cross he “cried with a loud
voice, saying Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani? That is to
say, My God, My God, why has thou forsaken
me?” As I hear those words he uttered in the last
moment of his pure life I wonder if from a distance,
in his heavenly realm God observed the last dying
struggles of his beloved son.

• Elder Melvin J. Ballard has said about this event, “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, like the mother who bids farewell to her
dying child, has to be taken out of the room so as not to
look upon the last struggles, so he bowed his head, and hid
in some part of his universe his heart almost breaking for
the love that he had for his son. . . .” (SMS, pp. 151-155)

ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND, “NONE WERE WITH HIM,”
ENSIGN, MAY 2009
• To watch those terrible last moments and not
rescue his son helps us to better appreciate these
words: “For God so loved the world, that He gave
His only begotten son. . . .” (John 3:16) —

JEFFERY R. HOLLAND
• In that most burdensome moment of all
human history, with blood appearing at
every pore and an anguished cry upon His
lips, Christ sought Him whom He had
always sought—His Father. “Abba,” He
cried, “Papa,” or from the lips of a younger
child, “Daddy.”
• This is such a personal moment it almost
seems a sacrilege to cite it. A Son in
unrelieved pain, a Father His only true
source of strength, both of them staying
the course, making it through the night—
together. (see April 1999, The Hands of the
Fathers)

JEFFERY R. HOLLAND
With all the conviction of my
soul I testify that he did please
his Father, and that a perfect
Father did not forsake his son
in that hour…(April 2009)

LUKE 22:42-43
• An Angel came to comfort Him
• 43 And there appeared an angel unto him from
heaven, strengthening him.
• 44 And being in an agony he prayed more
earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops
of blood falling down to the ground.

APRIL 1985 | THE PURIFYING POWER OF GETHSEMANE
• We know that an angel
came from the courts of
glory to strengthen him
in his ordeal, and we
suppose it was mighty
Michael, who foremost
fell that mortal man
might be.

DAVID B. HAIGHT:
OCTOBER 1989 | THE SACRAMENT—AND THE SACRIFICE
• I was shown a panoramic view of His earthly ministry: His
baptism, His teaching, His healing the sick and lame, the
mock trial, His crucifixion, His resurrection and ascension.
There followed scenes of His earthly ministry to my mind
in impressive detail, confirming scriptural eyewitness
accounts. I was being taught, and the eyes of my
understanding were opened by the Holy Spirit of God so
as to behold many things.

DAVID B. HAIGHT:
OCTOBER 1989 | THE SACRAMENT—AND THE SACRIFICE
• The first scene was of the Savior and His Apostles in the upper
chamber on the eve of His betrayal. Following the Passover supper,
He instructed and prepared the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper for
His dearest friends as a remembrance of His coming sacrifice. It
was so impressively portrayed to me—the overwhelming love of
the Savior for each. I witnessed His thoughtful concern for
significant details—the washing of the dusty feet of each Apostle,
His breaking and blessing of the loaf of dark bread and blessing of
the wine, then His dreadful disclosure that one would betray Him.

• Our Savior prayed
to His Father and
acknowledged the
Father as the source
of His authority and
power—even to the
extending of eternal
life to all who are
worthy.

HOW DO WE ACCESS THE BLESSINGS THAT FLOW FROM THE
ATONEMENT?
• The gospel is centered on the Atonement of our
Lord and Savior. The Atonement provides the power
to wash away sins, to heal, and to grant eternal life.
All the imponderable blessings of the Atonement
can be given only to those who live the principles
and receive the ordinances of the gospel—faith in
Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the
Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.( Elder L. Tom
Perry, April 2009 ; Bring Souls Unto Me)

WAS THE ATONEMENT INFINITE, INTIMATE AND
CONTINUOUS?

INFINITE IN DIVINITY-
•D&C 20:17; Alma 34:14; Mor.8:3
(TIA p. 65)

D&C 20:17
• 17 By these things we know that there is a God in
heaven, who is infinite and eternal, from everlasting
to everlasting the same unchangeable God, the
framer of heaven and earth, and all things which
are in them;

ALMA 34:14
• 14 And behold, this is the whole meaning of
the law, every whit pointingto that great and
last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be
the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal.

MORONI 8:3
• 3 I am mindful of you always in my prayers,
continually praying unto God the Father in the
name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his
infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through
the endurance of faith on his name to the end.

INFINITE IN POWER-
•D&C 93:17; John 17:2; Alma 12:15

D&C 93:17
• 17 And he received all power, both in heaven and
on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him,
for he dwelt in him.
•

JOHN 17:2
• 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

ALMA 12:15
• 15 But this cannot be; we must come forth and
stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and
in his might, majesty, and dominion, and
acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all
his judgments are just; that he is just in all his
works, and that he is merciful unto the children of
men, and that he has all power to save every man
that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit
meet for repentance.

LORENZO SNOW: WHAT DID IT TAKE TO DO THE
ATONEMENT?
• It was difficult for Jesus to accomplish the atonement. Jesus,
the Son of God, was sent into the world to make it possible for
you and me to receive extra ordinary blessings. He had to
make a great sacrifice. It required all the power that he had
and all the faith that he could summon for him to accomplish
that which the father required of him. (D&C 19:16-19; Lorenzo
Snow, 18 may 1899, MS, 61:531)

JAMES E. TALMAGE:
COULD ANYONE ELSE HAVE DONE THE ATONEMENT?
• No other man, however great his powers of physical or mental
endurance, could have suffered so; for his human organism would
have succumbed, and syncope would have produced unconsciousness
and welcome oblivion. In that hour of anguish Christ met and
overcame all the horrors that Satan, 'the prince of this world' could
inflict. The frightful struggle incident to the temptations immediately
following the Lord's baptism was surpassed and overshadowed by this
supreme contest with the powers of evil" (James E. Talmage testified,
Jesus the Christ, 613)

INFINITE IN TIME, SPACE AND
MATTER-
•Mosiah 3:18; D&C 93:24,30,36;
D&C 88:6-13; Abr. 2:8-11; D&C
131:7-8

MOSIAH 3:18
• 18 For behold he judgeth, and his judgment is just; and
the infant perisheth not that dieth in his infancy; but men
drink damnation to their own souls except they humble
themselves and become as little children, and believe
that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through
theatoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.

ABRAHAM 2:8-11
• 11 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that
curse thee; and in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in
thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a
promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed
after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the
body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with
the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of
salvation, even of life eternal.

D&C 131:7-8
• 7 There is no such thing as immaterial matter.
All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and
can only be discerned by purer eyes;
• 8 We cannot see it; but when our bodies are
purified we shall see that it is all matter.

BRUCE R. MCCONKIE
• The Atonement is infinite and eternal - the
atonement of Christ, being literally and truly
infinite, applies to and infinite number of
earths.(MD -BRM, p.65,642)
• Except for his mortal ministry accomplished on this
earth his service and relationship to other worlds is
the same as his relationship to this
earth...(Improvement Era, Nov. 1968, p.46-49)

JOHN TAYLOR: UNIVERSAL NATURE SHOOK
• The suffering of the Son of God was not simply the
suffering of personal death; for in assuming the
position that he did in making an atonement for the
sins of the world he bore the weight, the
responsibility and the burden of the sins of all men,
which, to us, is incomprehensible. –MA, 150.

• And again, not only did his agony affect the mind
and body of Jesus, causing him to sweat great drops
of blood, but by reason of some principle, to us
unfathomable, his suffering affected universal
nature.

• World upon world, eternal things,
Hang on thy anguish, King of kings.
• When he gave up the ghost, the solid rocks were riven; the
foundations of the earth trembled; earthquakes shook the
continents and rent the isles of the sea; a deep darkness
overspread the sky; the mighty waters overflowed their
accustomed bounds; huge mountains sank and valleys rose;
the handiwork of feeble men was overthrown, their cities
were engulfed or consumed by the vivid shafts of lightning;
and all material things were convulsed with the throes of
seeming dissolution. (John Taylor Mediation and Atonement)

INFINITE IN COMPREHENSIVENESS-
•2 Ne. 25:16; D&C 29:24; 2 Cor.
5:17; D&C 88:6-13

2 NEPHI 25:16
• 16 … they shall be persuaded to believe in Christ, the Son
of God, and the atonement, which is infinite for all
mankind—and when that day shall come that they shall
believe in Christ, and worship the Father in his name, with
pure hearts and clean hands, and look not forward any
more for another Messiah, then, at that time, the day will
come that it must needs be expedient that they should
believe these things.

2 COR. 5:17-21
• 17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things arepassed away; behold, all
things are become new.
• 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to
himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of
reconciliation;
• 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and
hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

2 COR. 5:17-21
• 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew
no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in
him.

CHIEKO N. OKAZAKI: HE KNOWS
• We know that Jesus experienced the totality of mortal existence in
Gethsemane. It’s our faith that he experienced everything—absolutely
everything. Sometimes we don’t think through the implications of that
belief. We talk in great generalities about the sins of all humankind,
about the suffering of the entire human family. But we don’t
experience pain in generalities. We experience it individually. That
means He knows what it felt like when your mother died of cancer—
how it was for your mother, how it still is for you. He knows what it felt
like to lose the student body election. He knows that moment when
the brakes locked and the car started to skid. He experienced the slave
ship sailing from Ghana toward Virginia. He experienced the gas
chambers at Dachau. He experienced napalm in Vietnam.

CHIEKO N. OKAZAKI: HE KNOWS
• He knows about drug addiction and alcoholism. Let me go further.
There is nothing you have experienced as a woman (or man) that He
does not also know and recognize. On the profound level, He
understands about the hunger to hold your baby that sustains you
through pregnancy. He understands both the physical pain of giving
birth and the immense joy. He knows about PMS and cramps and
menopause. He understands about rape and infertility and abortion.
His last recorded words to His disciples were. “And, lo, I am with you
always, even unto the end of the world.” (Matthew 28:20.) He
understands your mother-pain when your five-year-old leaves for
kindergarten, when a bully picks on your fifth-grader, when your
daughter calls to say that the new baby has Down’s syndrome. (Lighten
up! Chieko N. Okazaki, p.6-7)

BRUCE HAFEN: BELIEVE IN CHRIST! -THE ATONEMENT IS NOT
JUST FOR SINNERS
• Some church members feel weighed down with
discouragement about the circumstances of their personal
lives, even when they are making sustained and admirable
efforts. Frequently these feelings of self-disappointment
come not from wrongdoing, but from stresses and troubles
for which we may not be fully to blame. The atonement of
Jesus Christ applies to these experiences because it applies to
all of life. The Savior can wipe away all our tears, after all we
can do…The Savior’s Atonement is… the healing power not
only for sin, but also for carelessness, inadequacy, and all
mortal bitterness. The Atonement is not just for sinners.
(Bruce Hafen, Beauty for Ashes, En. April 1990, p.7)

INFINITE IN SUFFERING-
•D&C 19:16-19; Moses 7:39
•(TIA p.137)

NONE WERE WITH HIM 2009
JEFFERY R HOLLAND

MOSES 7:39
• 39 And that which I have chosen hath pled before my
face. Wherefore, hesuffereth for their sins; inasmuch as
they will repent in the day that myChosen shall return
unto me, and until that day they shall be in torment;
• 40 Wherefore, for this shall the heavens weep, yea, and
all the workmanship of mine hands.

TAD R. CALLISTER: INFINITE IN SUFFERING-
• That he also had godly powers did not make his suffering
any less excruciating, any less poignant, or any less real.
To the contrary, it is for this very reason that his
suffering was more not less, than his mortal
counterparts could experience. He took upon him
infinite suffering, but chose to defend with only mortal
faculties, but with one exception-his godhood was
summoned to hold off unconsciousness and death…his
divinity would be called upon, not to immunize him from
pain, but to enlarge the receptacle that would hold it. He
simply brought a larger cup to hold the bitter drink. (Tad
R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement)

INFINITE IN DEPTH-
•D&C 122:8; MOSES 7:29-30, 36
(TIA P. 135)

D&C 122:8
• 8 The Son of Man hath descended below
them all. Art thou greater than he?

JOHN H. GROBERG: INFINITE IN DEPTH
• I testify that no one has or ever will experience any set
of circumstances, be they disappointments, betrayal,
pain persecution, suffering or whatever, that can not and
is not swallowed up in the Savior! You can feel no hurt
emotional or physical, that he has not already felt. There
is no combination of human emotions or physical illness
or suffering that can not find refuge in the Saviors
sacrifice for us. He knows how to help us. He wants to
help us please let Him. (Trust in the Lord, Elder John H.
Groberg. May 1994,p.6)

INFINITE IN LOVE-
•1 NE. 19:9; D&C 133:52; 1 NE.
21:15-16

1 NE 21:15-16
• 15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that
she should not have compassion on the son of her
womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget
thee, O house of Israel.
• 16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of
my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

LOVE REHABILITATES
• "If we could see the Savior of men suffering in the garden and
upon the cross and could fully realize all that it meant to us, we
would desire to keep his commandments and we would love the
Lord our God with all our heart, with all our might, mind and
strength, and in the name of Jesus Christ would serve him." -
Joseph Fielding Smith, "Doctrines of Salvation," 3 vols., 2:347

INFINITE COMPASSION
• "Part of the reason the Savior suffered in Gethsemane was so that
he would have an infinite compassion for us as we experience our
trials and tribulations. Through his suffering in Gethsemane, the
Savior became qualified to be the perfect judge. Not one of us will
be able to approach him on the Judgment Day and say, 'You don't
know what it was like.' He knows the nature of our trials better
than we do, for he 'descended below them all.'" - Glenn L. Pace,
"Crying with the Saints," Ensign, Sept. 1988, 71

C.S. LEWIS
• God has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He
does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as
much alone with Him as if you were the only being He
had ever created. When Christ died he died for you
individually just as much as if you had been the only
man in the world.” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 168

CONTINUOUS IN MERCY-
•1 NE. 1:14, 20; MORONI 10:3;
LAMENTATIONS 3:22-24; HEB.
4:15-16

LAMANTATIONS 3:22-24
• 22 ¶It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not
consumed, because his compassions fail not.
• 23 They are new every morning: great is thy
faithfulness.
• 24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore
will I hope in him.
•

FROM THE ATONEMENT FLOW ALL
THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT-
•ROMANS 8:26-38; 1 COR. 13; D&C
46:8-31

INTIMATE –
•MORMON 5:11; 6:17; ALMA 34:16;
MOSIAH 15:1-10; 2 NE. 1:15; D&C 6:20
ISA. 40:11; ALMA 5:33; 2 NE. 26:25-33; 3
NE. 9:14; 2 NE. 6:17, 9:41; ALMA 26:15

MORMON 7:17
• 17 O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from
the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye
have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms
to receive you!

BRUCE C. HAFEN: HE FEELS OUR PAIN
• It is to give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning and to free the captives (Isa. 61). The
atonement is intimate as well as infinite (Mosiah
15:10). The Atonement applies to anything which
estranges us from God (The Broken Heart, Bruce C.
Hafen). Jesus Christ is the great High Priest who was
tempted and afflicted in every point and yielded not
to temptation (D&C 20:22).

BRUCE C. HAFEN: HE FEELS OUR PAIN
• During the atonement Jesus also experienced our
pains, afflictions, temptations, sicknesses and mental
sufferings of us all. He feels our pain. He even saw us
during the atonement. (Alma 7:11-13; Heb. 4:14-15;
Mosiah 15:10, Isa. 53:10(Hebrews 4:15-16; John
11:20-25; Moses 7:23-33; Romans 8:26)

JEFFERY R HOLLAND
• I testify that He loves each of us—
insecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all.

YOU MATTER TO HIM- 2011
DIETER F. UCHTDORF
• This is a paradox of man: compared to God, man is
nothing; yet we are everything to God. While
against the backdrop of infinite creation we may
appear to be nothing, we have a spark of eternal
fire burning within our breast. We have the
incomprehensible promise of exaltation—worlds
without end—within our grasp. And it is God’s great
desire to help us reach it.

YOU MATTER TO HIM- 2011
DIETER F. UCHTDORF
• Brothers and sisters, the most powerful Being in the
universe is the Father of your spirit. He knows you.
He loves you with a perfect love.
• God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small
planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as
His child. He sees you as the being you are capable
and designed to become. He wants you to know
that you matter to Him.

MERRILL J. BATEMAN: INTIMATE AS WELL AS INFINITE
• “For many years I thought of the Savior’s experience in the
Garden and on the cross as places where a large mass of
sin was heaped upon Him.
• Through the words of Alma, Abinadai, Isaiah, and other
prophets, however, my view has changed. Instead of an
impersonal mass of sin, there was a long line of people, as
Jesus felt ‘our infirmities’ (Heb. 4:15), bore our griefs,
Carried our sorrows. . . And was bruised for our iniquities.
(Isa. 53:4-5) Elder Bateman, CR, October 2005, 77

MERRILL J. BATEMAN: INTIMATE AS WELL AS INFINITE
The Atonement was not only infinite in its expanse but
intimate in the lives of Gods children. The redeemer of the
world is acquainted with each person’s infirmities. He
knows your problems. He understands your joys as well as
your sorrows. Above all he knows you and knows how and
when to help you. (BYU-Magazine, Merrill J. Bateman,
Sept.9, 1997)

J.RUEBEN CLARK JR.: HE CARRIED THE BURDEN—OUR
BURDEN.
• I added something to it; so did you. So did
everybody else.
• (… in Charge to Religious Educators, 2nd ed. [1982],
127)

ROBERT MILLET: INTIMATE AS WELL AS INFINITE
• The Savior’s atonement in the garden and on the cross is
intimate as well as infinite. The Saviors Atonement is
infinite in that it spans the eternities. Intimate in that
the savior felt each person’s pains, sufferings, and
sicknesses. Consequently, he knows how to carry our
sorrows and relieve our burdens that we might be
healed from within, made whole persons, and receive
everlasting joy in his kingdom. May our faith in the
father and the son help each of us become whole. “The
Atonement was an intimate, personal experience in
which Jesus came to know how to help each of
us.”(Robert Millet, What Happened to the Cross, p.91)

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF GRACE?
• Through the enabling power the atonement of Jesus Christ we can
become
• 1) justified from sin,
• 2.)sanctified from the effects of sin and,
• 3.) resurrected with a glorified and perfected body.
• 4.) Become partakers of the tender mercies and glories of God. This
includes all spirital gifts.
• These changes in our divine nature and being enable us to live with
peace in this life and obtain eternally life with God in the world to
come.
• During all these spiritual changes we are aided by the Lords grace and
tender mercies. These four blessing flow from the atonement of the
Savior.

BLESSINGS AND DOCTRINES
THAT FLOW FROM THE ATONEMENT
• 1. Justification
• 2.Sanctificaton
• 3. Tender Mercies
• 4. The Resurrection

JUSTIFICATION
• To be pardoned from punishment for sin and declared guiltless. A
person is justified by the Savior’s grace through faith in him. This
faith is shown by repentance and obedience to the laws and
ordinances of the gospel. Jesus Christ’s atonement enables
mankind to repent and be justified or pardoned from punishment
they otherwise would receive.
•

• Elder Christofferson wrote, “Justification and
sanctification are the fruit of the atonement’s
infinite virtue, which virtue we also refer to as
mercy or grace.”

• "For all have sinned," Paul taught, "and come short
of the glory of God; therefore being justified only by
his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus." (JST, Rom. 3:23-24.)

• "Therefore ye are justified of faith and works,
through grace." (JST, Rom. 4:16.)

• "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
• "By whom also we have access by faith into this
grace." (Rom. 5:1-2.)

The grace of the Lord through the Atonement can both
cleanse us of sin and assist us in perfecting ourselves
through our trials, sicknesses, and even "character defects."
We are both sanctified and justified through the grace of
the Lord. (See D&C 20:30-31.) Truly, "as a man his sins
confess, Christ, in mercy, manifests." (Gene R. Cook and
Holly Cook, "I Am a Healthy Man," unpublished hymn; see
Alma 24:10.) Remember, Christ can repair our flaws and
failings that otherwise are not repairable. (See Gen. 18:14;
Mark 9:23-24.)

SANCTIFICATON
• The process of becoming free from sin the effects of
, pure, clean, and holy through the atonement of
Jesus Christ (Moses 6:59–60). To become Christlike.
Developing divine nature.
•

ELDER DAVID A. BEDNAR, "CLEAN HANDS AND A PURE
HEART," ENSIGN, NOV 2007, PP. 80-83
• Brothers and sisters, it is possible for us to have clean
hands but not have a pure heart. Please notice that both
clean hands and a pure heart are required to ascend into
the hill of the Lord and to stand in His holy place. Let me
suggest that hands are made clean through the process of
putting off the natural man and by overcoming sin and the
evil influences in our lives through the Savior's
Atonement.

ELDER DAVID A. BEDNAR, "CLEAN HANDS AND A PURE
HEART," ENSIGN, NOV 2007, PP. 80-83
• Hearts are purified as we receive His strengthening power to do
good and become better. All of our worthy desires and good
works, as necessary as they are, can never produce clean hands
and a pure heart. It is the Atonement of Jesus Christ that provides
both a cleansing and redeeming power that helps us to overcome
sin and a sanctifying and strengthening power that helps us to
become better than we ever could by relying only upon our own
strength. The infinite Atonement is for both the sinner and for the
saint in each of us.

ELDER RUSSELL M. NELSON, THANKS BE TO GOD, ENSIGN
MAY 2012
• God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but
we are not. Each day, ours is the challenge to access
the power of the Atonement so that we can truly
change, become more Christlike, and qualify for the
gift of exaltation and live eternally with God, Jesus
Christ, and our families.

DAVID A. BEDNAR (QUORUM OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES)
• The gospel of Jesus Christ encompasses much more than
avoiding, overcoming, and being cleansed from sin and
the bad influences in our lives; it also essentially entails
doing good, being good, and becoming better. Repenting
of our sins and seeking forgiveness are spiritually
necessary, and we must always do so.

DAVID A. BEDNAR (QUORUM OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES)
• But remission of sin is not the only or even the ultimate
purpose of the gospel. To have our hearts changed by the
Holy Spirit such that "we have no more disposition to do
evil, but to do good continually" (Mosiah 5:2), as did King
Benjamin's people, is the covenant responsibility we have
accepted.

DAVID A. BEDNAR (QUORUM OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES
CLEAN HANDS AND A PURE HEART," ENSIGN, NOV 2007, PP.
80-83; )
• This mighty change is not simply the result of working harder
or developing greater individual discipline. Rather, it is the
consequence of a fundamental change in our desires, our
motives, and our natures made possible through the
Atonement of Christ the Lord. Our spiritual purpose is to
overcome both sin and the desire to sin, both the taint and
the tyranny of sin.

DAVID A. BEDNAR (QUORUM OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES
CLEAN HANDS AND A PURE HEART," ENSIGN, NOV 2007, PP.
80-83; )
• Prophets throughout the ages have emphasized the dual
requirements of (1) avoiding and overcoming bad and (2)
doing good and becoming better.

GRACE
• In the Bible Dictionary we learn that the
word grace frequently is used in the scriptures to
connote a strengthening or enabling power: "The
main idea of the word is divine means of help or
strength, given through the bounteous mercy and
love of Jesus Christ. …

GRACE
• It is likewise through the grace of the Lord that
individuals, through faith in the atonement of Jesus
Christ and repentance of their sins, receive strength
and assistance to do good works that they
otherwise would not be able to maintain if left to
their own means. This grace is an enabling power
that allows men and women to lay hold on eternal
life and exaltation after they have expended their
own best efforts" (p. 697).

• Thus, the enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement
helps us to see and to do and to become good in ways that we
could never recognize or accomplish with our limited mortal
capacity. I testify and witness that the enabling power of the
Savior's Atonement is real. Without that strengthening power of
the Atonement, I could not stand before you this morning.

• Can we sense the grace and strengthening power of Christ
in the testimony of Ammon? "Yea, I know that I am
nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not
boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his
strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty
miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will
praise his name forever" (Alma 26:12). Truly, brothers and
sisters, in the strength of the Lord we can do and endure
and overcome all things. (Elder David A. Bednar, "In the
Strength of the Lord," Ensign, Nov 2004, p. 76)

ELDER DAVID A. BEDNAR, “THE ATONEMENT AND THE
JOURNEY OF MORTALITY,” ENSIGN, APR. 2012, 42
• “It is one thing to know that Jesus Christ came to earth
to die for us—that is fundamental and foundational to the
doctrine of Christ. But we also need to appreciate that the
Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of
the Holy Ghost, to live in us—not only to direct us but also
to empower us”

SISTER SUSAN BEDNAR, HAVE I SEEN THE HAND OF GOD IN
MY LIFE? CES DEVOTIONAL MARCH 3, 2013
• To me, the Atonement of Jesus Christ provides individual
comfort and powerful evidence of God’s love for us. It
strengthens us to do hard things—things we do not think we
can do. It helps us hold on when we do not understand God’s
will and timing in our lives. I testify God lives, and we will feel
His love and know that He knows us as we dedicate our hearts
to understand more fully the blessings of the Atonement of
His Son, Jesus Christ.

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
• Cheap grace means the justification of sin without
the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does
everything they say, and so everything can remain
as it was before. ‘All for sin could not atone.’ Well,
then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world,
let him model himself on the world’s standards in
every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire
to live a different life under grace from his old life
under sin….

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
• “Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves.
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without
requiring repentance, baptism without church
discipline, Communion without confession...Cheap
grace is grace without discipleship, grace without
the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and
incarnate.”… ”

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
• …”costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to
follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness
to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. It is
costly because it compels a man to submit to
the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace
because Jesus says: 'My yoke is easy and my
burden is light.'"

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
• Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for
the sake of it a man’ will gladly go and self all that
he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the
merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule
of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the
eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of
Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and
follows him.

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
• Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought
again and again and again, the gift which must be
asked for, the door at which a man must knock.
Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and
it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It
is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is
grace because it gives a man the only true life.

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
• It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace
because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly
because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were
bought at a price,” and what has cost God much
cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace
because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price
to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us

POWER TO CHANGE
• God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but we
are not. Each day, ours is the challenge to access the
power of the Atonement so that we can truly change,
become more Christlike, and qualify for the gift of
exaltation and live eternally with God, Jesus Christ, and
our families. For these powers, privileges, and gospel
gifts, thanks be to God! (Elder Russell M. Nelson, Thanks
Be to God, Ensign May 2012)

WHAT ROLE DOES THE SACRAMENT PLAY IN
ACCESSING DIVINE GRACE AND TENDER MERCIES?
• Elder Jeffery R. Holland, “This Do in Remembrance of Me” ,
Conf Report October 1995
• On some days we will have cause to remember the unkind
treatment he received, the rejection he experienced, and the
injustice—oh, the injustice—he endured. When we, too, then
face some of that in life, we can remember that Christ was
also troubled on every side, but not distressed; perplexed, but
not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but
not destroyed (see 2 Cor. 4:8–9).

ELDER JEFFERY R. HOLLAND, “THIS DO IN REMEMBRANCE OF
ME” , CONF REPORT OCTOBER 1995
• When those difficult times come to us, we can
remember that Jesus had to descend below all things
before he could ascend above them, and that he
suffered pains and afflictions and temptations of
every kind that he might be filled with mercy and
know how to succor his people in their infirmities
(see D&C 88:6; Alma 7:11–12).

• To those who stagger or stumble, he is there to
steady and strengthen us. In the end he is there
to save us, and for all this he gave his life.
However dim our days may seem they have been
darker for the Savior of the world.

• In fact, in a resurrected, otherwise perfected body, our
Lord of this sacrament table has chosen to retain for the
benefit of his disciples the wounds in his hands and his
feet and his side—signs, if you will, that painful things
happen even to the pure and perfect. Signs, if you will,
that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn’t
love you. It is the wounded Christ who is the captain of
our soul—he who yet bears the scars of sacrifice, the
lesions of love and humility and forgiveness.

• Those wounds are what he invites young and old, then
and now, to step forward and see and feel (see 3 Ne.
11:15; 3 Ne. 18:25). Then we remember with Isaiah that it
was for each of us that our Master was “despised and
rejected … ; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”
(Isa. 53:3). All this we could remember when we are
invited by a kneeling young priest to remember Christ
always.

ROLE OF THE SACRAMENT
• . …One request Christ made of his disciples on that
night of deep anguish and grief was that they stand
by him, stay with him in his hour of sorrow and
pain. “Could ye not watch with me one hour?” he
asked longingly (Matt. 26:40). I think he asks that
again of us, every Sabbath day when the emblems
of his life are broken and blessed and passed

TAD R. CALLISTER: THE RESURRECTION
• …The Scriptures reveal the remedy for death. It is power not
manpower, not atomic power, but the divine power of the
resurrection…It does not just restore the dead to mortal life. It
does not just put the process of entropy in remission. This is
infinite power, only found in an infinite being, bringing both a
permanent cure and eternal enhancement. This power somehow
changes our bodies to a state free from the entropic process. An
immortal, terrestrial body, like Adams in the garden, is exempt
from decay. But a resurrected, exalted body is the direct antithesis
of entropy.

TAD R. CALLISTER: THE RESURRECTION
• It has the powers of Godhood, the power of endless seed, the
power to create and people other worlds. (D&C 132:19-20) As an
exalted body exercises its creative powers, its offspring become
divine agents to bring order and harmony to an otherwise
increasingly chaotic universe, Such is but a glimpse of the
awesome power of the resurrection. (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite
Atonement p.168)

ELDER MCCONKIE: THE BODY IS THE BOOK OF LIFE
• In a real through figurative sense, the book of life is the
record of the acts of men as such record is written in their
own bodies. It is the record engraven on the very bones,
sinews, and flesh of the mortal body. That is, every
thought, word, and deed has an effect on the human
body; all these leave their marks, marks which can be read
by Him who is Eternal as easily as the words in a book can
be read.

ELDER MCCONKIE: THE BODY IS THE BOOK OF LIFE
• By obedience to telestial law men obtain telestial bodies;
terrestrial law leads to terrestrial bodies; and conformity
to celestial law--because this law includes the sanctifying
power of the Holy Ghost--results in the creation of a body
which is clean, pure, and spotless, a celestial body.(D&C
88:16-32, 67-68; Hebrews 10:20; Mormon Doctrine p. 97)

C.S. LEWIS, MERE CHRISTIANITY: DOCTRINAL ANALOGY ON
THE BODY AS A LIVING HOUSE
• Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild
that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is
doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in
the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing
and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts
knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and
does not seem to make any sense.

• What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is
building quite a different house from the one you thought of -
throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor
there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought
you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is
building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

WHAT WAS THE ROLE OF THE PRIESTHOOD DURING THE
ATONEMENT?
• Was it through the power and authority of his priesthood, that his mind
and soul crossed the boundaries of time and space? On an intimate level
did he open a conduit to the personal anxiety, loneliness, inadequacy,
pain, sin, and even the darkness and depravity experienced by every soul
(Romans 8:26). His atonement applies to all of his creations under
Heavenly Father. It applies to every soul that has ever lived, lives now or
will yet live, under his stewardship. It’s as If he was downloading the
computer virus of every soul then prepared to reformate our hard drive
with his own divine nature. This happens in the present, as fast as we are
willing to soften our hearts to receive his grace.

WHAT WAS THE ROLE OF THE PRIESTHOOD DURING THE
ATONEMENT?
• Grace in this sense is defined as “Divine influence on the heart and its reflection
in the life” (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, OT Hebrew 2580; Grace -5485 NT
Greek-Charis).

THE ROLE OF OBEDIENCE IN GODS PLAN
• Obedience is a cherished concept in the gospel of Jesus Christ
because we know that “through the Atonement of Christ, all
mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and
ordinances of the Gospel.”
• If our faith does not change the way we live—if our beliefs do
not influence our daily decisions—our religion is vain, and our
faith, if not dead, is certainly not well and is in danger of
eventually flat lining.
• Obedience is the lifeblood of faith. It is by obedience that we
gather light into our souls.

• But sometimes I think we misunderstand obedience. We may
see obedience as an end in itself, rather than a means to an end.
Or we may pound the metaphorical hammer of obedience
against the iron anvil of the commandments in an effort to
shape those we love, through constant heating and repeated
battering, into holier, heavenly matter.

• No doubt about it, there are times when we need a stern call to
repentance. Certainly, there are some who may be reached only in this
manner.
• But perhaps there is a different metaphor that can explain why we
obey the commandments of God. Maybe obedience is not so much
the process of bending, twisting, and pounding our souls into
something we are not. Instead, it is the process by which we discover
what we truly are made of.

• We are created by the Almighty God. He is our Heavenly Father. We are literally His spirit children. We
are made of supernal material most precious and highly refined, and thus we carry within ourselves the
substance of divinity.
• Here on earth, however, our thoughts and actions become encumbered with that which is corrupt,
unholy, and impure. The dust and filth of the world stain our souls, making it difficult to recognize and
remember our birthright and purpose.
• But all this cannot change who we truly are. The fundamental divinity of our nature remains. And the
moment we choose to incline our hearts to our beloved Savior and set foot upon the path of
discipleship, something miraculous happens. The love of God fills our hearts, the light of truth fills our
minds, we start to lose the desire to sin, and we do not want to walk any longer in darkness.

• We come to see obedience not as a punishment but as a
liberating path to our divine destiny. And gradually, the
corruption, dust, and limitations of this earth begin to fall
away. Eventually, the priceless, eternal spirit of the
heavenly being within us is revealed, and a radiance of
goodness becomes our nature.
• (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, APRIL 2016 | He Will Place You on His Shoulders and Carry You Home)

INFLUENCE OF THE ATONEMENT IS BASED ON
PERSONAL OBEDIENCE
• "I have long believed that the study of the doctrines of the gospel will
improve behavior quicker than talking about behavior will improve
behavior. The study of behavior is greatly improved when linked to
standards and to values. Practical values, useful in everyday life, are
found in the scriptures and the doctrines they reveal. I will give you one
example: 'We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind
may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.'
(A of F 1:3) "You should learn while you are young that while the
Atonement of Christ applies to humanity in general, the influence of it is
individual, very personal, and very useful. Even to you beginners, an
understanding of the Atonement is of immediate and very practical
value in everyday life." - Boyd K. Packer, "Washed Clean," Ensign, May
1997

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