Jesus-Gethsemane-Crucifixion-Me

To begin to meet the demands of the Atonement, the sinless Christ went into the Garden of Gethsemane, as Elder Whitney saw in his dream, there to bear the agony of soul only He could bear. He “began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy,” saying to Peter, James, and John, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, unto death.” Why? Because He suffered “the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.” He experienced “temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great [was] his anguish.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Jesus' Atonement: Conditional and Unconditional Blessings

The Resurrection of the body is a free and universal gift, a result of the Savior’s victory over death. It is one of the unconditional blessings available through the grace of Christ.

Other aspects of Christ’s atoning gift are conditional. They depend on one’s diligence in keeping God’s commandments. For example, while all members of the human family are freely given a reprieve from Adam’s sin through no effort of their own, they are not given a reprieve from their own sins unless they pledge faith in Christ, repent of those sins, are baptized in His name, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and confirmation into Christ’s Church, and press forward in faithful endurance the remainder of life’s journey. Of this personal challenge, Christ said,

“For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

“But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I.”

Jeffrey R. Holland

Jesus' Atonement Was Possible Because…….

This infinite Atonement of Christ was possible because:

(1) He was the only sinless man ever to live on this earth and therefore was not subject to the spiritual death resulting from sin.

(2) He was the Only Begotten of the Father and therefore possessed the attributes of godhood that gave Him power over physical death.

 (3) He was apparently the only one sufficiently humble and willing in the premortal council to be foreordained to that service.

Read the entire document "The Atonement of Jesus Christ" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Christ's Atonement: at-one-ment

The literal meaning of the English word Atonement is self-evident: at-one-ment, the bringing together of things that have been separated or estranged. The Atonement of Jesus Christ was indispensable because of the separating transgression, or Fall, of Adam, which brought two kinds of death into the world when Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Physical death brought the separation of the spirit from the body, and spiritual death brought the estrangement of both the spirit and the body from God. As a result of the Fall, all persons born into mortality would suffer these two kinds of death. But we must remember the Fall was an essential part of Heavenly Father’s divine plan. Without it no mortal children would have been born to Adam and Eve, and there would have been no human family to experience opposition and growth, moral agency, and the joy of resurrection, redemption, and eternal life.

Read the entire document "The Atonement of Jesus Christ" by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland