The How and the Why
To have any measure of appreciation and gratitude for what Jesus Christ accomplished in our behalf, we must remember these vital truths:
Jesus Christ came to earth to do our Father’s will.
He came with a foreknowledge that He would bear the burden of the sins of us all.
He knew he would be lifted up on the cross.
Christ was born to be the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind.
He was able to accomplish His mission because He was the Son of God and He possessed the power of God.
Christ was willing to accomplish His mission because He loves us.
No mortal being had no power or capability to redeem all other mortals from their lost and fallen condition, nor could any other voluntarily forefeit his life and thereby bring to pass a universal resurrection for all other mortals.
Only Jesus Christ was able and willing to accomplish such a redeeming act of love.
We may never understand or comprehend in mortality how Christ accomplished what He did , but we must not fail to understand why He did what He did.
Everything Christ did was prompted by His unselfish, infinite love for us. . . .
As was so characteristic of His entire mortal experience, the Savior submitted to our Father’s will and took the bitter cup and drank.
He suffered the pains of all men in Gethsemane so they would not have to suffer if they repent.
Jesus Christ submitted Himself to humiliation and insults form His enemies without complaint or retaliation.
And, finally, He endured the flogging and brutal shame of the cross. Only then did He voluntarily submit to death. In His words:
“No man taketh it [my life] form me, but I lay it down of myself. i have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. This commandment have i received of my Father” (John 10:18).
Ezra Taft Benson, The How and the Why, The Gift of the Atonement, Deseret Book, 2004, p. 23-24.
Tags: Atonement, bitter cup, resurrection of Jesus Christ
This entry was posted on Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at and is filed under Crucifixion of Jesus, The Atonement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.