As a young member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (inadvertently called “The Mormon Church” by the media), I learned about the atonement of Jesus Christ at a very young age. I prayed in His name, was baptized in His name, and partook of the bread and water of the sacrament weekly, just as He did with his disciples before his crucifixion (Luke 22:18-19). In my prayers, I promised God that I would follow Jesus and serve Him with my life; if I had broken one of His commandments, I asked forgiveness. I worshipped and asked for help every day. In my early 20′s, I went to the temple, where members of The Church of Jesus Christ (Mormons) covenant to follow Christ, keep His commandments, and sacrifice all they have to Him. Yet it was not until I reached the age of 31 that I truly came to understand what Jesus did for me when He suffered in Gethsemane, died on the cross, and was resurrected.

Needing the Savior

I spent Christmas of 1991 in the hospital, fighting for the lives of my unborn twin daughters. They were not due for 12 more weeks, but because of serious complications their lives were in danger. I had blown up like a balloon and was at constant risk of going into labor. My husband and I prayed constantly for our babies’ health and safety, but still felt continual fear. Our three little boys could not understand why Mommy was not home for Christmas.

Three days after Christmas, one of the twins died, and the other was delivered by Caesarian section. Her life, too, hung in the balance as she was rushed to a nearby children’s hospital, given three full units of blood, and placed on life support. In shock and pain, grieving the loss of her sister, we continued to pray for the miracle of health for our remaining daughter, whom we named Sarah.

In a few weeks the verdict was in: Sarah, although healthy in body, had suffered an almost complete loss of mental capacity. Her brain was damaged beyond repair, with only enough healthy tissue left to keep her heart beating and her lungs breathing as the rest slowly died and disappeared. We were devastated. How could God have treated us this way? We were His beloved children, and we worshipped Him and followed our Savior, Jesus Christ, who had miraculously healed the sick and brought the dead to life! Where was the Lord when we needed Him?

As we brought home our tiny, four-pound premie, I tried to settle into life as the mother of a profoundly handicapped child. Sarah required round-the-clock feeding and attention. She did not sleep normally; she fed listlessly; she could not keep her tiny meals down; she cried and arched her back painfully whenever she was not being held. With three other young children who needed me and a still grieving heart, I felt completely overwhelmed. Again I sought help from God through prayer. One day, as I was reading in The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, I came across the following lines in Mosiah 24:13-15. Jesus Christ said to a group of ancient Christians who were enslaved to their enemies:

“Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; …and I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs.”

The Miracle of Grace: Lifting our Burdens

Grace is the miracle the Lord God offers to us, through the atonement of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, that lifts us to Him beyond anything we can do or ever hope to do in this life. “For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (The Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 25:23). We must put forth our very best efforts all through our lives to keep the Lord’s commandments–but we will inevitably fall far short. Grace is the gift through which God strengthens us along the way and makes up the difference. One of the three essential gifts we receive by grace through the atonement of Jesus Christ is the gift of comfort and healing. Alma, an ancient prophet, calls it “succor:”

And [Jesus Christ] shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people…and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities (Book of Mormon, Alma 7:11-12).

Relief and hope flooded my heart as I read the words of the Lord. I began to pray differently: not that my Savior would remove my burdens, but that, through the atonement, he would “ease my burdens” and provide succor for my soul. It was then that our miracle began–not a miracle of the flesh, but a miracle of the heart. I began to sense the presence of my tiny daughter’s pure, magnificent soul, and the presence of the angelic spirits who tended to her as she endured her physical trials. Earthly angels entered my life in the guise of loving friends, wise doctors, and understanding social workers who eased my burdens of worry and exhaustion. By the time a few months had passed, I was rejoicing in the opportunity to nurture my beautiful daughter.

 

The Miracle of Healing our Bodies

In order to heal, I needed a second gift of grace. As a Mormon, I believed Sarah’s damaged body housed an immortal spirit that was a literal spirit child of God the Father. Although her brain could not function, her spirit was still experiencing mortal life through her body. When she felt pain, I suffered, knowing she could not remember or anticipate it. Nor could she organize the continual bombardment she experienced through her senses. She could not, for example, tolerate both a breeze and a song at the same time. Nevertheless, her mortal experience was important to her eternal life. I had faith that after this life, she would remember and learn essential truths from what she experienced here. I sang to her, and her spirit responded to the sounds. She would relax in my arms, a rare blessingfor her, as I sang her  a favorite children’s song from a songbook published by The Church of Jesus Christ:

          I Will Follow God’s Plan

My life is a gift; my life has a plan.

My life has a purpose; in heaven it began.

My choice was to come to this lovely home on earth

And seek for God’s light to direct me from birth.

I will follow God’s plan for me,

Holding fast to his words and his love.

I will work, and I will pray.

I will always walk in his way.

Then I will be happy on earth

And in my home above.

“I Will Follow God’s Plan,” by Vanya Watkins

I had faith in my heart that, through the grace of the resurrection of our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ, Sarah would one day fully experience life in a healthy, perfect immortal body. By understanding her past as a spirit daughter of God, her present mortal experience, and the perfection to which she would one day be raised, I found comfort despite her occasional sufferings.

On a trip to visit family just seven months after her birth, Sarah contracted a sudden, severe case of pneumonia. In the whirlwind of rushing her to the emergency room trying to help her breathe, I was forced to decide if the doctors should use oxygen or a ventilator in order to save her life. Visions of her early suffering in the NICU arose in my mind. There was no time to calmly review each choice, and although we prayed, answers were not immediately evident. I tried to see my daughter’s life in terms of the learning and growth of her immortal spirit, and made a decision to withhold treatment. She died in our arms at home just a few hours later, breaking my heart once again.

The Miracle of Forgiveness

The last grace I needed through the atonement of Jesus Christ was perhaps the most serious of all. While I had made the best decision I could, I had made an irrevocable choice in allowing my daughter to move on in her eternal life by leaving this one. If that was a mistake, it was a big one. Like all parents, I agonized over my imperfections. Like all mortals, I was lost unless my Redeemer intervened in my behalf. Without the Savior’s atonement, Sarah was gone forever; and I was cut off from God unless Jesus Christ atoned for all my sins. I reached up and grasped His promises with both hands. Isaiah’s promise was a light in the darkness to me: 

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18

Amazing Grace: The Atonement of Jesus Christ

The world has never been the same for me since Sarah lived and died. Sarah brought me face to face with suffering, sin, and death, and my own great need for a Savior and Redeemer. Despite my best efforts, in the depths of my need, I was indeed lost. Through the sacrifice of the blood and body of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I was strengthened, healed, forgiven, and found. He has paid my debt, and I owe every breath of my life to Him. I live in hope of a glorious resurrection where Sarah will be reunited with our family, our physical bodies made perfect, to continue to grow in God’s presence for all eternity. Through Jesus’ grace we have been saved, after all we could do. It is indeed Amazing Grace to me.

Nora Moore Hess

          Nora Moore Hess is a writer and musician living in Lindon, Utah. She is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon). Nora and her husband, Bret, are the parents of seven biological and three adopted children.

Additional Resources: 

Jesus Christ, the Son of God

Jesus Christ, Our Savior

The Living Christ

Amazing Grace Video

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint (inadvertently called by friends of other faiths, the “Mormon Church”) believe that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer and Lord over all mankind. He was born of the virgin Mary and was conceived and brought forth by the power of God. Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus Christ was the literal son of God in the flesh, and that Jesus Christ suffered for all the sins of mankind so that all people might be able to repent and be made clean from their sins in order to return back to live with God our Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ came forth as the resurrected Lord on the 3rd day after His death. He lives today, and leads and directs the affairs of His kingdom on this earth.

The Divinity of Jesus Christ and His Atonement

The subtitle of the Book of Mormon is “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.” The Old Testament in the Bible contains prophesies of the birth, ministry, and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Then in the New Testament are found four eyewitness accounts of the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies, making the Bible a powerful testament that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the Savior of the world. The Book of Mormon contains numerous, inspired prophecies and testimonies of the birth, ministry, and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as well as the account of the visit of the resurrected Jesus Christ in ancient America shortly after His ascension in Jerusalem, and thus fulfills the law of witnesses by joining the Bible as “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.”

The Book of Mormon is full of prophecies of the Savior’s life and mission. Consider the following powerful statements of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Between 600 and 592 bc, Nephi recorded a vision he had of the birth and baptism of the Savior:

I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white. . . . And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! . . . And I looked, and beheld the Son of God going forth among the children of men; and I saw many fall down at his feet and worship him. . . . And I looked and beheld the Redeemer of the world, of whom my father had spoken; and I also beheld the prophet who should prepare the way before him. And the Lamb of God went forth and was baptized of him; and after he was baptized, I beheld the heavens open, and the Holy Ghost come down out of heaven and abide upon him in the form of a dove. (1 Nephi 11:13, 21, 24, 27)

Nephi also witnessed the Savior’s ministry and His crucifixion:

And I beheld that he went forth ministering unto the people, in power and great glory; and the multitudes were gathered together to hear him; and I beheld that they cast him out from among them. And I also beheld twelve others following him. . . . And I looked, and I beheld the Lamb of God going forth among the children of men. And I beheld multitudes of people who were sick, and who were afflicted with all manner of diseases, and with devils and unclean spirits; and the angel spake and showed all these things unto me. And they were healed by the power of the Lamb of God; and the devils and the unclean spirits were cast out. . . . And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he was taken by the people; yea, the Son of the everlasting God was judged of the world. . . . And I, Nephi, saw that he was lifted up upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world. (1 Nephi 11:28–29, 31–33)

In addition to this amazing prophecy of the ministry and crucifixion of the Savior, Nephi also recorded a masterful testimony by his younger brother Jacob in 2 Nephi 9. This chapter contains 54 verses and beautifully explains how the “infinite atonement” of Jesus Christ ransoms mankind from the Fall of Adam and eve.

O how great the goodness of our God, who pre- pareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. . . . O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell…which is endless torment….And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men . . . who belong to the family of Adam. And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all men, that all might stand before him at the great and judgment day. And he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God. . . . O, my beloved brethren, turn away from your sins; shake off the chains of him that would bind you fast; come unto that God who is the rock of your salvation. (2 Nephi 9:10, 19, 21–23, 45)

Repeated readings of 2 Nephi 9 with sincere prayer and pondering could motivate a grievous sinner to repent and receive mercy and forgiveness through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith, an apostle of Jesus Christ, called Jacob’s discourse, “one of the most enlightening discourses ever delivered in regard to the atonement. . . . It should be carefully read by every person seeking salvation.”1

The first four hundred pages of the Book of Mormon contain the prophecies of more than a dozen different prophets who testified of the birth and saving Atonement of Jesus Christ. Consider the specificity of the following prophecy given by Nephi, given around 545 bc, shortly before his death: “There is save one Messiah spoken of by the prophets, and that Messiah is he who should be rejected of the Jews. For according to the words of the prophets, the Messiah cometh in six hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem; and according to the words of the prophets, and also the word of the angel of God, his name shall be Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (2 Nephi 25:18–19).

How could it be clearer? To help us understand how important the knowledge of the Savior was to Nephi and his people, he explained: “We labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ. . . . And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins” (2 Nephi 25:23, 26).

Various Book of Mormon prophets prophesied and bore testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ from hundreds of years before the Savior’s birth right up to 5 bc:

• Enos—Between 544 and 421 bc (enos 1:26–27) • Amaleki—Between 279 and 130 bc (omni 1:26) • King Benjamin—About 124 bc (Mosiah 3:5–8, 17) • Abinadi—About 150 bc (Mosiah 16:6–13) • Alma the Elder—Between 100 and 92 bc (Mosiah 26:22–26—words of the Savior) • Alma the Younger—Between 83–73 bc (Alma 5:48; 7:7–14; 34:4–8; 36:17–20) 38 • Aaron—About 90 bc (Alma 22:12–14) Helaman, son of Helaman—About 30 bc (Helaman 5:9–12) Samuel the Lamanite—5 bc (Helaman 14:2–8)

The Book of Mormon contains the sacred account of the visit of the resurrected Jesus Christ to the inhabitants of ancient America, after his crucifixion and resurrection in Jerusalem. The following was recorded by another prophet named Nephi, who lived on the American continent in ad 34, as he related the account of a group of people gathered in the land called Bountiful:

They heard a voice as if it came out of heaven . . . and it said unto them: Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him. And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multi- tude were turned upon him. . . . And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying: Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. . . . And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come. And when they had all gone forth and had witnessed for themselves, they did cry out with one accord, saying: Hosanna! Blessed be the name of the Most High God! And they did fall down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship him (3 Nephi 11:3, 6–10, 15 –17).

The resurrected Lord and Redeemer then taught these people his gospel, called twelve special witnesses, gave them power and authority to baptize, organized His Church, instituted the sacrament, and ministered among the people for three days. Third Nephi chapters 12–30 is the account of the resurrected Christ’s ministry among the Nephites in America in ad 34. Third Nephi contains the actual teachings of the resurrected Christ and may be referred to as the fifth Gospel, along with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Following the Savior’s ministry in America the people enjoyed, an unprecedented, millennial-like era that lasted for nearly two hundred years. The four-page book of Fourth Nephi is a brief account of this peaceful time during which “there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people. And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God” (4 Nephi 1:15–16).

The prophet Mormon lived about ad 310–385. At age ten, he was recognized as a serious-minded youth, and at age fifteen he became a military leader among the Nephites. Mormon was selected by the Lord to make an abridgment of the sacred history of his people and was the principle recorder of the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. Mormon was a great prophet and witnessed the downfall of his people. He prophesied that the record he made on plates of gold would be brought to light in the latter days. Of this record, Mormon declared,

Now these things are written . . . to be hid up unto the Lord that they may come forth in his own due time . . . they shall come forth according to the commandment of the Lord. And behold, they shall go unto the unbelieving of the Jews; and for this intent shall they go—that they may be persuaded that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God . . . unto the fulfilling of his covenant; and also that the seed of this people may more fully believe his gospel (Mormon 5:12–15).

Mormon’s son, Moroni, the last of the Book of Mormon prophets, recorded his testimony of Jesus Christ before burying the plates in the hill Cumorah: “Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ” (Moroni 10:32).

“The principal and commanding figure in the Book of Mormon, from first chapter to last, is the Lord Jesus Christ. In its unparalleled focus on the Messianic message of the Savior of the world, the Book of Mormon is rightly referred to as . . . ‘another testament’ of Jesus Christ.”2

The Book of Mormon testifies of the redeeming power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ by relating accounts of the change of heart experienced by the “most vile” of sinners. The list includes Alma the elder, Alma the younger, the four sons of king Mosiah, king Lamoni’s father, and Zeezrom, a wicked lawyer.

Additional Resources:

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is paramount to the beliefs of Mormons. Learn more at the official site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (inadvertently called by friends of other faiths as the “Mormon Church”).

The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. Request a free copy today.

Attend a local meetinghouse.

Source:

T. Rose, How to Know the Book of Mormon is True, (Springville, Utah: Cedar Fort, Inc., 2010), 35-41.

by Eric Kotter, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“Mormon“), student at BYU-Idaho studying communications, and freelance writer.

The Holy Spirit, also referred to as the Holy Ghost, was given to us by God in order to guide us and strengthen us here in this earth life. The Holy Spirit is an actual person, but he doesn’t have a physical body, He has a spirit. The Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and Heavenly Father are three separate beings that are all a part of the Godhead. They all have the same purpose, which is to help bring us back into the presence of God so that we might have eternal life.

There are two parts to understanding the Holy Spirit. There is the power of the Holy Spirit, and there is the gift of the Holy Spirit, or gift of the Holy Ghost. Before someone is baptized and given the gift of the Holy Ghost, they can feel the power and influence of the Holy Spirit testify to their hearts of things that are true. It can help them feel peace and lead them to what is right and good. When the spirit leads others to truth, it prompts them act on those truths. For example, after finding out that Jesus Christ asks us to get baptized, the Holy Spirit would then prompt that person to make changes in their lives in order to get ready for baptism. After baptism, when given under proper priesthood authority, we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost which is the right to have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost whenever one is worthy. The gift of the Holy Ghost has a sanctifying effect on the body, and helps remove the desires to do evil and sin. It helps us literally become like Jesus Christ, and allows us to be cleansed from our sins.

One purpose of the Holy Spirit is to testify of all truth. In The Book of Mormon, a volume of ancient holy scripture which testifies of Jesus Christ, it says, “And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. And whatsoever thing is good is just and true; wherefore, nothing that is good denieth the Christ, but acknowledgeth that he is” (Book of Mormon: Moroni 10:5-6). The Holy Spirit speaks to us through our thoughts and feelings. When Heavenly Father sent us to this earth He did not want to leave us alone and lost without any way of knowing what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what isn’t, so He gave us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through thoughts, feelings, and impressions. The Holy Ghost speaks to us more as a still small voice rather than a loud voice. An apostle of Jesus Christ said, “That sweet, quiet voice of inspiration comes more as a feeling than it does as a sound” (Elder Boyd K. Packer). The book of Galatians in the Bible helps us recognize when we are feeling the influence of the Holy Spirit. It says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). When I feel the spirit it helps me want to be more loving, kind, patient and good. When I feel the spirit, I want to be more like Jesus Christ. I know that I am feeling the Holy Ghost when I feel calm and at peace, and when confusion and doubt clears away. When I feel this way, it helps me know what is true and good. I have felt that way about Jesus Christ and His restored church. I know that His church has been restored to the earth. Just as a blind man knows that the sun exists because he can feel its heat, I know that Jesus Christ lives because I can feel His love for me when I read about Him, and follow His counsel to love and serve others. I also know that there are living prophets and apostles on this earth who speak for Jesus Christ by revelation. I have felt the same feelings of the Holy Spirit testify to me that these things are true.

When I was a child of eight years old, I was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Commonly misnamed “The Mormon Church“) and given the gift of the Holy Ghost. Through the authority of God, which is called the priesthood, I was baptized, and then hands were laid on my head to confer upon me the gift of the Holy Ghost. I don’t remember everything that was said at the baptism, but I do remember the feeling I felt. I felt clean–clean spiritually. I felt happy and peaceful. I felt that the Lord was pleased with my decision of committing to follow Him. The Holy Spirit rested upon me and I felt the Lord’s love. The Holy Spirit has been a tremendous blessing in my life. Without it, I would be lost in this world of confusion. I know that it is real. I have felt it’s power and influence lift me, teach me, and testify to me of the reality of Jesus Christ. I know that the Holy Spirit can be felt by all who honestly want to do what’s right and find truth.

Additional Resources:

Obtain a free copy of The Book of Mormon

The Gift of the Holy Ghost

Read more about the Holy Ghost from an apostle of Jesus Christ at the official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

For me, no testimony found in scripture can project the power of the Savior, Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, and the potential to access His guiding hand in our life more than Jacob’s witness in 2 Nephi 9, a chapter of the Book of Mormon, a record of scripture that chronicles the writings of prophets as witnesses of Christ in the ancient Americas.

As one of such prophets, Jacob spoke of the ability that the Savior’s Atonement– His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, along with His crucifixion and resurrection on the third day– has to guarantee our very own resurrection, as the apostle Paul testified in a letter to the Corinthians when he said, “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). Through Adam and Eve’s choice to give into the temptation of eating the fruit of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, we are all privy to physical death. But it is our Savior’s own resurrection which indicates that we, too, have the promise to physically live again since we are not responsible for dying. Without such a physical redemption, our spirits would remain separate from our bodies, no longer to reunite, as the Book of Mormon prophet Alma promised when he spoke to his wayward son, Corianton: “the soul (spirit) shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul… yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost” (Alma 40:23).

Just as we would not have our spirit and body reunite without the Savior’s help, we too would remain in our sins without His willingness to answer the demands of justice by suffering for the times in which we mortals act contrary to the laws of God. Again speaking to Corianton, Alma explained the necessity of appeasing this law of justice when he spoke of its eternal connection with action:

Now, how could a man repent except he should sin? How could he sin if there was now law? How could there be a law save there was a punishment?

Now, if there was no law given– if a man murdered he should die– would he be afraid he would die if he should murder?

And also, if there was no law given against sin men would not be afraid to sin (Alma 42:17, 19-20).

It is for this very reason that our Savior, chosen to be the sacrifice for all of His own creations, had the love to be willing to bleed from every pore in the Garden of Gethsemane. The ancient American prophet King Benjamin taught as much to his people, when he said that Christ’s anguish for “temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst and fatigue,” let alone sin, would bring about  a horrendous reality— something that would kill a typical man with ease. Truly, only “God himself,” as the prophet Abinadi said to a wicked king in Mosiah 15:1 of the Book of Mormon, would be able to accomplish such a task! The creator of the world, the God who led the prophets of the Old Testament, who was sired with godly attributes through the unique virgin conception of his mother, Mary, would have been capable of enduring such pain to the point of death typically thousands of times over, only to survive. The Savior’s suffering in Gethsemane was followed by His agonizing death on the cross, finishing His atonement for us.  Christ could not be killed by men, but chose to give His life freely.  The Savior’s passing into the world of spirits truly was on his own terms, when He told His Father, “it is finished” (John 19:30).

Understanding that we would forever remain as spirits full of sin is the premise for Jacob’s message to his people, the Nephites, in 2 Nephi 9:

O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more.

And… we [would] become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness.

O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit.

I can never thank our Savior enough for His perfect love, the only motivation He had to free us from this “awful monster” of physical and spiritual death.

We learn from the New Testament that this God of Israel raised many from the dead, walked on water and established a church in the midst of the political oppression of His people. But there is no doubt that the most important work He accomplished while on earth— and the single action which mankind least understands, in spite of all of the sociological, medical and technological advances that society has made in history— was his success in completing the terrors that beset Him as He freed us from death and gave us the opportunity to receive the blessings of eternal life.

This very passion that was His alone is what we ought to devote ourselves to understanding, at least as these chosen Bible and Book of Mormon prophets did. Though I cannot understand remotely everything about this flawless sacrifice, I can do all possible to comprehend it and only be more prepared to weep at His feet when He returns to earth again to reign over those who have followed Him in truth and sincerity of heart.

]]> http://jesus.christ.org/2534/how-jesus-christ-saves-us/feed 0 http://jesus.christ.org/1323/why-is-jesus-called-the-son-of-man http://jesus.christ.org/1323/why-is-jesus-called-the-son-of-man#comments Mon, 12 Apr 2010 18:23:16 +0000 admin http://jesus.christ.org/?p=1323

Why is Jesus Christ called the Son of Man?  While others in the Scriptures (particularly the Old Testament) who are called “son[s] of man” (Jeremiah 49:18, Ezekiel 4:16, Psalms 8:4), the word “son” is uncapitalized.  Elder James E. Talmage, a Biblical scholar, sheds light on the answer in his renown work, Jesus the Christ.  He says,

“In applying the designation to Himself, the Lord invariably uses the definite article. ‘The Son of Man’ was and is, specifically and exclusively, Jesus Christ. While as a matter of solemn certainty He was the only male human being from Adam down who was not the son of a mortal man, He used the title in a way to conclusively demonstrate that it was peculiarly and solely His own. It is plainly evident that the expression is fraught with a meaning beyond that conveyed by the words in common usage. The distinguishing appellation has been construed by many to indicate our Lord’s humble station as a mortal, and to connote that He stood as the type of humanity, holding a particular and unique relationship to the entire human family.”

Others are called by the title “son of man,” but only the Lord Jesus Christ is called The Son of Man.  Said the Spirit of the Lord to the prophet Nephi, “Knowest thou the condescension of God?” (Book of Mormon: 1 Nephi 11:16; emphasis added).  But, as Talmage says,

There is, however, a more profound significance attaching to the Lord’s use of the title ‘The Son of Man’; and this lies in the fact that Jesus Christ knew His Father to be the one and only supremely exalted Man, whose Son Jesus Christ was both in spirit and in body—the Firstborn among all the spirit-children of the Father, the Only Begotten in the flesh—and therefore in sense applicable to Himself alone, He was and is the Son of the ‘Man of Holiness,’ Elohim, the Eternal Father.

Moses wrote,
Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence; for, in the language of Adam, Man of Holiness is his name, and the name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time” (Moses 6:57).

In other words, “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us” (Doctrine and Covenants 130:22).

Joseph Smith, a prophet God raised up to re-establish Jesus Christ’s Church on earth in our day, said,

The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 121). Since ‘all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to [Jesus Christ],’ and since the Old Testament is something ‘which pertains to our religion,’then the Old Testament must somehow testify of Jesus Christ.1

Yet, the somewhat gruesome nature of blood sacrifice [in the Old Testament] has led some to ask, “How could such an activity have anything to do with the gospel of love?” We can better understand the answer to that question when we understand the two major purposes for the law of sacrifice. These purposes applied to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and the New Testament Apostles, and they apply to us today as we accept and live the law of sacrifice in a different way: through exemplifying a broken heart and contrite spirit. Its two major purposes are to test and prove us and to assist us in coming unto Christ” (M. Russell Ballard, “The Law of Sacrifice,” Ensign, Oct 1998, 7).

The Bible often refers to the hand of the Lord. This is generally used metaphorically to represent God’s interactions with man. The interactions are sometimes described as being punishing due to sins, and other times, are comforting or

rewarding, in response to valiant behavior.

Listen to the words of Mormon: ‘Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath all power?’” (Morm. 5:23).

Hands are one of the symbolically expressive parts of the body. In Hebrew, yad, the most common word for “hand,” is also used metaphorically to mean power, strength, might (see William Wilson, Old Testament Word Studies [1978], 205). Thus, hands signify power and strength.” (W. Craig Zwick, “The Lord Thy God Will Hold Thy Hand,” Liahona, Nov 2003, 34–36).

The scripture quoted here is from the Book of Mormon, which also uses the phrase often. The Bible shows this is applied to individuals as well: “And I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me,” (Ezra 7:28).

Elder Zwick continues to explain the analogy:

Consider John’s words describing the resurrected and glorified Savior: “And when I saw him, …he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; … I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore” (Rev. 1:17–18). When He lays His hand upon us, we, like John, can be alive in Him.

To be in the hands of God would suggest that we are not only under His watchful care but also that we are guarded and protected by His wondrous power.

Throughout the scriptures, reference is made to the hand of the Lord. His divine assistance is evidenced over and over again. His powerful hands created worlds, and yet they were gentle enough to bless the little children.

Mormons believe in a very hands-on, involved God. While some today think God withdrew from His children after the Savior’s time on earth, Mormons believe God continues to love us, to watch over us, and to be actively involved in the lives of His children as they prepare for the Second Coming.

This interaction in our lives began long before we were born. Prior to our births, we lived with God as spirits. He created our spirits and we lived with Him, developing a loving relationship. He was directly involved with our lives at that time, and He has never withdrawn. Because He is literally the Father of our spirits, He loves us as would any parent. Good fathers don’t abandon their children. Jesus Christ became our Savior and also promised to watch over us and to help us through the challenges of life. Elder Zwick assures us:

We must all remember that we are sons and daughters of God and that He loves us very much. If we truly understand who we are, we will have an unfailing source of hope and comfort.

We can never complete “the race that is set before us” (Heb. 12:1) without placing our hand in the Lord’s.

Several years ago, our only daughter decided to compete in a marathon. She trained and worked very hard, along with some of her friends. The race was difficult, and there were times when she wanted to quit. But she kept going, just concentrating on one step at a time. As she was approaching the middle part of the course, she heard someone behind her shout out, “Blind man on your left.”

She turned her head only to see a blind man overtake her, holding the hand of another man. They were both running the race. As they passed, she could see how tightly the blind man held the hand of his friend.

Overcome with her own physical pain, she was lifted as she watched these two men run hand in hand. He who could see was motivated by his blind friend, and the blind man depended upon the connection he had to his friend’s hand. Our daughter knew the blind man could never finish the race alone. She was inspired by the trust of the blind man and the devoted love of his friend.

In like manner, the Savior has stretched forth His hand to each of us so that we don’t have to run alone. “To those [of us] who [occasionally] stagger or stumble, He is there to steady and strengthen” (Trusting Jesus, 43). As we advance toward the finish line, He will be there to save us; and for all this He gave His life.

Imagine the wounds in His hands. His weathered hands, yes, even His hands of torn flesh and physical sacrifice, give our own hands greater power and direction.

It is the wounded Christ who leads us through our moments of difficulty. It is He who bears us up when we need more air to breathe or direction to follow or even more courage to continue.

If we will keep the commandments of God and walk hand in hand with Him in His paths, we will go forward with faith and never feel alone.

Trust in His promise of eternal life, and allow peace and hope to distill upon you.

When we connect with the Author of Peace and with His perfect and redeeming love, then we can come to know the reality of the Lord’s promise: “I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying … , Fear not; I will help thee” (Isa. 41:13).

I testify of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and living Savior.

I testify that He lives and extends His loving hand to each of us. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

The hand of the Lord, then is always stretched out for us, prepared to help us, guide us, and reassure us when we’re working to stay on the path described by the Savior. It’s a hand we don’t ever need to fear as long as we’re trying to do the right thing and to make wise choices. By studying the scriptures, praying, and building our relationship with God, we can come to recognize our hand in the very details of our lives.

The evening before the Lamb of God was to be crucified for the sins of the world and hours before He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus was sitting with his Apostles in a “large upper room” (Mark 14:15). It was here that He first instituted the sacrament: “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples,” (Matthew 26:26). Then He said, “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me” 1 Corinthians 11:24). Then, “After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:25). Thus, the purpose of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is to look back and remember Jesus the Christ and what He has done for each of us. Everything points “to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice [is] the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal” (Alma 34:14). Blood sacrifices looked forward; the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper looks backward, and the central act—the atonement of Jesus Christ—is right in the middle—the meridian of time.

In the previous two articles about the law of sacrifice, we have discussed how the law was used anciently to teach God’s children to look forward to this “great and last sacrifice.” With the Savior’s ultimate sacrifice, the law of Moses was done away. The law of Moses, however, “is not the same thing as the law of sacrifice” (M. Russell Ballard, “The Law of Sacrifice,” Ensign, Oct 1998, 7). The Savior said after His resurrection from the dead, “And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood . . . [but] ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:19-20). Hence, what we sacrifice has changed; that we sacrifice, and the reasons why we sacrifice have remained the same.

The word sacrifice means to make holy. It also means “To surrender or give up (something) for the attainment of some higher advantage or dearer object” (Oxford English Dictionary, “Sacrifice”). Or, as Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Bruce R. McConkie put it, “Sacrifice involves giving up the things of this world because of the promises of blessings to be gained in a better world” (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. “Sacrifice,” Bookcraft: 1966).

But what is a broken heart and a contrite spirit? A broken heart is the opposite of a hard heart. The image of a hard heart is used in the scriptures to denote pride. Hence, a person with a broken heart is one who is humble. The word contrite means repentant. A person with a contrite spirit is one who has an awareness of his or her guilt. This person remembers the things he or she has done wrong, but because the person is repentant, he or she strives to change and be better than before. This person knows that through the atonement of Jesus Christ, he or she can overcome all obstacles.

To have a broken heart and a contrite spirit therefore means we are willing to submit to God. We are willing to submit to God as Christ was willing to submit to His father. The Savior said, “And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me, that as I have been lifted up by men, even so should men be lifted up by the Father, to stand before me, to be judged of their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil” (3 Nephi 27:14).

God loves us. He wants us to come unto Him. The law of sacrifice tests us and assists us in coming unto Christ (M. Russell Ballard, “The Law of Sacrifice,” Ensign, Oct 1998, 7). Another Apostle of the Church, Russell M. Nelson, has taught: “Our highest sense of sacrifice is achieved as we make ourselves more sacred or holy. This we do by our obedience to the commandments of God” (“Lessons from Eve,” Ensign, Nov. 1987, 88). Hence, “the sacrifice changed from the offering to the offerer” (M. Russell Ballard, “The Law of Sacrifice,” Ensign, Oct 1998, 7).

Sacrifice is therefore a wonderful blessing. Joseph Smith said, “A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation” (Lectures on Faith 6:7). In other words, sacrifice gives us faith, and with faith we can receive salvation. It is not always easy to give up something we want, especially when we can’t actually see the end results. But I testify that it is worth it in the end. Sometimes we must take a few steps into the darkness in order for the light to turn on and go before us. That’s faith. And sacrifice takes faith.

I end with one of my favorite quotes on the law of sacrifice: “Real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed!” (Neal A. Maxwell “ ‘Deny Yourselves of All Ungodliness,’ ” Ensign, May 1995, 68).

The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ “embraces, sustains, supports, and gives life to all other gospel doctrines.  It is the foundation upon which all truth rests and all things grow out of it and come because of it.”1 “The wondrous and glorious Atonement was the central act in all of human history.”2 Because of these statements, all things also point to Christ and His atonement.  Those who lived before Christ looked forward to Him and His infinite and eternal sacrifice.  Those who live after Christ look back to this greatest of all events and “remember what was done.”3

There were many different ways in which the blood sacrifices before Christ were types and shadows of the great and last sacrifice.  Note a few of the details:

First, like Christ, the [sacrificial] animal was chosen and anointed by the laying on of hands. (The Hebrew title Messiah and the Greek title Christ both mean “the Anointed One.”) Second, the animal was to have its life’s blood spilt. Third, it had to be without blemish—totally free from physical

flaws, complete, whole, and perfect. Fourth, the sacrifice had to be clean and worthy. Fifth, the sacrifice had to be domesticated; that is, not wild but tame and of help to man (see Lev. 1:2–3, 10; Lev. 22:21). Sixth and seventh, for the original sacrifice practiced by Adam and the most common sacrifice in the law of Moses, the animal had to be a firstborn and a male (see Ex. 12:5; Lev. 1:3; Lev. 22:18–25). Eighth, the sacrifice of grain had to be ground into flour and made into breadstuffs, which reminds us of our Lord’s title the Bread of Life (see John 6:48). Ninth, the firstfruits that were offered remind us that Christ was the firstfruits of the Resurrection.”4

About 74 years before Christ, the prophet Amulek wrote about how Christ’s sacrifice would eventually end blood sacrifices:

It is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a sacrifice of man, neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal sacrifice . . .
And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal. (Alma 34:10, 14)

Nine years before that, the prophet Alma also testified of Christ,

And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. (Alma 7:11-12)

The Savior of all mankind came and fulfilled the law.  He is the great and last sacrifice.  The pain that He went through was “so hard to bear” that we cannot comprehend it, and His suffering was so great that He–God, the greatest of all–trembled because of the pain, bled from every pore, and suffered both body and spirit (See Doctrine and Covenants 19:18).

With His death, the law of Moses was fulfilled.  Yet, the law of Moses is not exactly the same thing as the law of sacrifice.5 We still keep the law of sacrifice.  The Savior taught concerning the fulfilling of the law and what we are to sacrifice nowadays:

And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings.
And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit.  And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost. (3 Nephi 9:19-20)

Malachi 3:8-10 is often quoted to motivate us to pay our tithes and offerings.  “Will a man rob God?” the record reads,

Yet ye have robbed me.  But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?  In tithes and offerings.
Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.  (Malachi 3:8-10)

Because one of the offerings we are to give to the Lord is “a broken heart and a contrite spirit,” the same principle of blessings applies.  I testify that when we offer up to the Lord a broken heart and a contrite spirit that He will pour out a blessing upon us that is so great that we will not have room enough to receive it.  Our cup of blessings will fill to overflowing, even so much that those around us will also receive blessings.

Yet, no matter how contrite our spirit or how broken our heart, our sacrifice is nothing compared to the one that happened in the meridian of time.  Indeed, there is one offering that pours out a blessing so great upon all of mankind, that none can even begin to comprehend the greatness of it.  This offering is so great that it has power to bless—and save—all mankind: “black and white, bond and free, male and female” (2 Nephi 26:33).

In conclusion, hear another testimony from another prophet in the Book of Mormon–King Benjamin:

And lo, he shall suffer 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 shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.
And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.
And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him.
And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men.
For behold, and also his blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned. (Mosiah 3:7-11)

Hence, “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.”6

Notes

1 Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966, 60.
2 Neal A. Maxwell, “Willing to Submit,” Ensign, May 1985, 70.
3 Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Salt Lake City, 1980, 185.
4 M. Russell Ballard, “The Law of Sacrifice,” Ensign, Oct 1998, 7.
5 Ibid.
6 Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Ed. Joseph F. Smith, Deseret Book: Salt Lake City, 1976, 121.

The atonement of Jesus Christ is the central doctrine of Christianity, and all other Christian doctrines come out of and are appendages to it.1 Not only can these other doctrines be connected back to the Savior and His Atoning Sacrifice, but if they are not, “there will be no life nor substance nor redemption in them,” to use a phrase by President Boyd K. Packer, an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.2 It is therefore not only important, but necessary, when studying any doctrine or teaching or appendage of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to connect it back to Jesus Christ and His eternal sacrifice.

When Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden, they were commanded “that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord” (Moses 5:5).  Yet M. Russell Ballard, another apostle of the Church, has said that some have wondered, “How could the slaughtering of an animal upon an altar have anything to do with the gospel of love?”3

He continues,

We can better understand the answer to [this] question when we understand the two major purposes for the law of sacrifice. These purposes applied to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and the New Testament Apostles, and they apply to us today as we accept and live the law of sacrifice. [The] two major purposes [of the law of sacrifice] are to test and prove us and to assist us in coming unto Christ.4

As we read more of Adam and Eve’s obedience to the law of sacrifice, take note of how these two major purposes—to test or prove, and “to assist us in coming unto Christ.”

“Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord” (Moses 5:5).  He offered up the firstlings of his flocks.  This was not easy, especially in an era when one lived off of their land and flocks.  A firstling was a very valuable possession.  And if that weren’t enough, Adam and Eve did not even know why they were offering sacrifices.  The record says that “after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord?  And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me (Moses 5:6).

Adam and Eve passed the test.

Like Adam and Eve, we are also asked to sacrifice.  Most of us don’t have any firstlings or firstfruits to give up (though even if we did, the law was changed after Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice anyway).  We are, however, being tried and proved, and sometimes a person “must learn to walk a few steps ahead into the darkness, and then the light will turn on and go before [them],” as Boyd K. Packer has written.5 Adam and Eve took a few steps into the darkness.  They did not know why they were asked to give sacrifices, but they did it anyway.  Yet, notice, as the record continues, how Adam and Eve received a witness after the trial of their faith (see Ether 12:6) and were taught concerning the second of the two main purposes of the law of sacrifice—“to assist [God’s children] in coming unto Christ.”

The record reads,

And then the angel spake saying: This [sacrifice] is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.
Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore. (Moses 5:7-8)

As Bruce R. McConkie, yet another apostle, has written, “For a pastoral people whose lives depended on their flocks and herds, there could have been no better similitude than this.”6

The righteous posterity of Adam continued to offer sacrifices, down to the children of Israel.  However,

[b]ecause of the rebellious nature of the children of Israel in the days of Moses, the practice of the law of sacrifice was changed; it became a strict law requiring daily observance of performances and ordinances. During the time of Moses there was an expansion in the number and variety of offerings under the law of sacrifice. The Mosaic sacrifices consisted of five major offerings that fell into two primary categories—obligatory and voluntary. . .7

Yet,

[o]ne thing remained the same in all of these offerings: everything about Mosaic sacrifice focused on Christ. Like Christ, the priest acted as the mediator between the people and their God. Like Christ, the priest had to have the right parentage to officiate in his office. Like Christ, the offerer through obedience willingly sacrificed what was required by the law.8

Hence, the purpose of the law of Moses was to persuade God’s children “to look forward unto the Messiah, and believe in him to come as though he already was” (Jarom 1:11).
Alma, about 74 years before Christ, wrote that after the Savior’s ultimate sacrifice the law of Moses (not the law of sacrifice, for these two are not exactly the same thing) would be done away.  He said,

It is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice, and then shall there be, or it is expedient there should be, a stop to the shedding of blood; then shall the law of Moses be fulfilled; yea, it shall be all fulfilled, every jot and tittle, and none shall have passed away.
And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal.
And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance.” (Alma 34:13-15)

God loves us.  He “doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world” (2 Nephi 26:24).  He gives His children laws and commandments that point them to Christ.  Giving up what we want for the sake of something better isn’t easy.  Sacrifice never was easy.  It tries our faith and, like all other doctrines of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, connects back and brings us closer to the Savior.

While the law of Moses was done away, the law of sacrifice was not.  Those who lived before Christ looked forward to Him as though He had already come.  Today, we look back with a “broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9:20).

Indeed, as Neal A. Maxwell, an apostle of the Church, has said, “Real, personal sacrifice never was placing an animal on the altar. Instead, it is a willingness to put the animal in us upon the altar and letting it be consumed!”9

Notes
1 See Bruce R. McConkie. Mormon Doctrine 2nd ed. “Atonement of Christ.” Bookcraft: 1966. 60.; Joseph Smith.  Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Selected by Joseph Fielding Smith.   Salt Lake City: Deseret Book.  1938. 121.
2 Boyd K. Packer, in Conference Report, Apr. 1977, 80; or Ensign, May 1977, 55-56.
3 M. Russell Ballard. “The Law of Sacrifice,” Ensign, Oct 1998, 7.
4 Ibid.
5 Boyd K. Packer. “The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ—Plain and Precious Things,” Liahona, May 2005, 6–9.
6 Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985, 114–15.
7 M. Russell Ballard, “The Law of Sacrifice,” Ensign, Oct 1998, 7.
8 Ibid.
9 Neal A. Maxwell, “‘Deny Yourselves of All Ungodliness,’” Ensign, May 1995, 68, emphasis added.

Sometimes some of the simplest questions are also some of the most profound.  These types of questions are therefore some of the most difficult to answer.  “Why is Jesus called the Son of God?” is one of these questions, simple, profound, and difficult to answer.  But as one of my English Professors told me the other day, “The hard questions are really the only questions worth asking.”  In that case, Why is Jesus called the Son of God?

In a basic sense, the question is closely related to the question the Spirit of the Lord asked Nephi: “Knowest thou the condescension of God?” (1 Nephi 11:16).  Note a definition of “condescend” that the Oxford English Dictionary gives the word, “To depart from the privileges of superiority by a voluntary submission; to sink willingly to equal terms with inferiours.”  I feel like I can use Nephi’s response to the Spirit’s question as my own response, “I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things” (1 Nephi 11:16-17).

What the record says next is a basic answer to the question.

“And he [the Spirit] said unto me [Nephi]: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.
And it came to pass that I beheld that she was carried away in the Spirit; and after she had been carried away in the Spirit for the space of a time the angel spake unto me, saying: Look!
And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms.
And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!”  (1 Nephi 11:18-21).

James E. Talmage, a biblical scholar, wrote about the Savior’s birth and what it means that Jesus is the Son of God:

“That Child to be born of Mary was begotten of Elohim, the Eternal Father, not in violation of natural law but in accordance with a higher manifestation thereof; and, the offspring from that association of supreme sanctity, celestial Sireship, and pure though mortal maternity, was of right to be called the “Son of the Highest.” In His nature would be combined the powers of Godhood with the capacity and possibilities of mortality; and this through the ordinary operation of the fundamental law of heredity, declared of God, demonstrated by science, and admitted by philosophy, that living beings shall propagate—after their kind. The Child Jesus was to inherit the physical, mental, and spiritual traits, tendencies, and powers that characterized His parents—one immortal and glorified—God, the other human—woman. (Jesus the Christ. Deseret Book: Salt Lake City, 1990. 77.)

When speaking of a son, we mean a male child of a father and a mother.  Calling Jesus Christ the Son of God is closely related to calling Jesus the Firstborn.  Also, to be called a firstborn son implies being an heir and inheriting “the leadership of the family. . . This is often spoken of in the scriptures as birthright” (Bible Dictionary: Firstborn).  Because Jesus is the Son of God and the Firstborn, He is therefore heir to “all . . . that the Father hath” (John 16:15).  Furthermore, He “is the firstborn of the spirit children of our Heavenly Father, [and] the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh” (Bible Dictionary: Firstborn).

The second of these last two statements from the Bible Dictionary, that Jesus is the “Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh,” reiterates what the Spirit said to Nephi, that Mary is “the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh” (1 Nephi 11:18).  The phrase “after the manner of the flesh” is interesting.  It specifies that Mary is Jesus’ mortal mother.  But by specifying, the phrase alludes to the existence of a life before Jesus received a physical body.  “We are not now thinking about the Virgin Birth,” said C. S. Lewis, “We are thinking about something that happened before Nature was created at all . . . ‘Before all worlds’ Christ is begotten” (Lewis, 157).  This is essentially a rewording of the first statement from the Bible Dictionary, that Jesus “is the firstborn of the spirit children of our Heavenly Father.”

But because of the definition of “son” that was defined above, that a son is a male child of a father and a mother there is another corollary.  The definition of “son” implies that during the Premortal Life, “before Nature was created at all,” Jesus, “the firstborn of the spirit children,” must have a Heavenly Mother as well as a Heavenly Father.  Eliza R. Snow once wrote,

I had learned to call thee Father,
Thru thy Spirit from on high,
But, until the key of knowledge
Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heav’ns are parents single?
No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason; truth eternal
Tells me I’ve a mother there. (Hymns 292)

For some, all this will be hard to comprehend.  But, “There is no good complaining that these statements are difficult.  Christianity claims to be telling us about another world, about something behind the world we can touch and hear and see.  You may think the claim false, but if it were true, what it tells us would be bound to be  difficult—at least as difficult as modern Physics, and for the same reason” (Lewis, Mere Christianity 156).

Yet, just because these statements are difficult does not mean they are not possible to comprehend with study and faith.  “For with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27).

I know I have certainly not come close to describing every way (or even one way) in which Jesus is the Son of God, but I hope this basic explanation will invite the reader to study more deeply the life of the Savior, and the “great . . . plan of our God” (2 Nephi 9:13).