Understanding what we can of the Atonement and the Resurrection of Christ helps us to obtain a knowledge of Him and of His mission. 6 Any increase in our understanding of His atoning sacrifice draws us closer to Him. Literally, the Atonement means to be “at one” with Him. The nature of the Atonement and its effects is so infinite, so unfathomable, and so profound that it lies beyond the knowledge and comprehension of mortal man. I am profoundly grateful for the principle of saving grace. Many people think they need only confess that Jesus is the Christ and then they are saved by grace alone. We cannot be saved by grace alone, “for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.” 7 . . . .
The Atonement and the Resurrection accomplish many things. The Atonement cleanses us of sin on condition of our repentance. Repentance is the condition on which mercy is extended. 25 After all we can do to pay to the uttermost farthing and make right our wrongs, the Savior’s grace is activated in our lives through the Atonement, which purifies us and can perfect us. 26 Christ’s Resurrection overcame death and gave us the assurance of life after death. Said He: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” 27 The Resurrection is unconditional and applies to all who have ever lived and ever will live. 28 It is a free gift. President John Taylor described this well when he said: “The tombs will be opened and the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and they shall come forth, they who have done good to the resurrection of the just, and they who have done evil to the resurrection of the unjust.” 29 . . . .
The Atonement not only benefits the sinner but also benefits those sinned against—that is, the victims. By forgiving “those who trespass against us” (JST, Matt. 6:13) the Atonement brings a measure of peace and comfort to those who have been innocently victimized by the sins of others. The basic source for the healing of the soul is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This is true whether it be from the pain of a personal tragedy or a terrible national calamity . . . .
James E. Faust, “The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope,” Ensign, Nov 2001, 18
Real hope keeps us “anxiously engaged” in good causes even when these appear to be losing causes on the mortal scoreboard (see D&C 58:27). Likewise, real hope is much more than wishful musing. It stiffens, not slackens, the spiritual spine. Hope is serene, not giddy, eager without being naive, and pleasantly steady without being smug. Hope is realistic anticipation which takes the form of a determination—not only to survive adversity but, moreover, to “endure … well” to the end (D&C 121:8).
Though otherwise a “lively” attribute, hope stands quietly with us at funerals. Our tears are just as wet, but not because of despair. Rather, they are tears of heightened appreciation evoked by poignant separation. Those tears of separation change, ere long, becoming tears of glorious anticipation.
Real hope inspires quiet Christian service, not flashy public fanaticism. Finley Peter Dunne impishly observed, “A fanatic is a man who does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts” (quoted in The Third—and Possibly the Best—637 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, comp. Robert Byrne [1986], no. 549).
Indeed, when we are unduly impatient with an omniscient God’s timing, we really are suggesting that we know what is best. Strange, isn’t it—we who wear wristwatches seek to counsel Him who oversees cosmic clocks and calendars.
Because God wants us to come home after having become more like Him and His Son, part of this developmental process, of necessity, consists of showing unto us our weaknesses. Hence, if we have ultimate hope we will be submissive, because, with His help, those weaknesses can even become strengths (see Ether 12:27).
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Hope through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Ensign, Nov 1998, 61
Re-post of a hymn that always applies to you or someone you know.
Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.
When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o’erflow,
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee, and sanctify to thee,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, thy dross to consume,
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
This hymn draws extensively from Isaiah. See Isaiah 41:10, 51:10, 1:23,25
How Firm a Foundation
Hymn 85
I had made up my mind that I would never write a book … [but] when I come in contact almost daily with broken homes, delinquent children, corrupt governments, and apostate groups, and realize that all these problems are the result of sin, I want to shout with Alma: ‘O … that I might go forth … with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people.’ (Alma 29:1)
Hence this book indicates the seriousness of breaking God’s commandments; shows that sin can bring only sorrow, remorse, disappointment, and anguish; and warns that the small indiscretions evolve into larger ones and finally into major transgressions which bring heavy penalties.
[But] having come to recognize their deep sin, many have tended to surrender hope, not having a clear knowledge of the scriptures and of the redeeming power of Christ.
[So I also] write to make the joyous affirmation that man can be literally transformed by his own repentance and by God’s gift of forgiveness.
It is my humble hope that … [those] who are suffering the baleful effects of sin may be helped to find the way from darkness to light, from suffering to peace, from misery to hope, and from spiritual death to eternal life.
.
President Spencer W. Kimball
The Miracle of Forgiveness, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969, pp. x–xii; emphasis added.
.
Quoted in A Robe, a Ring, and a Fatted Calf by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign, August, 1985
I wonder if we fully appreciate the enormous significance of our belief in a literal, universal resurrection. The assurance of immortality is fundamental to our faith. The Prophet Joseph Smith declared:
“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, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1938], 121).
Of all things in that glorious ministry, why did the Prophet Joseph Smith use the testimony of the Savior’s death, burial, and Resurrection as the fundamental principle of our religion, saying that “all other things … are only appendages to it”? The answer is found in the fact that the Savior’s Resurrection is central to what the prophets have called “the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death” (2 Ne. 11:5).
In our eternal journey, the resurrection is the mighty milepost that signifies the end of mortality and the beginning of immortality. The Lord described the importance of this vital transition when He declared, “And thus did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation—that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many as would believe” (D&C 29:43). Similarly, the Book of Mormon teaches, “For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection” (2 Ne. 9:6). We also know, from modern revelation, that without the reuniting of our spirits and our bodies in the resurrection we could not receive a “fulness of joy” (D&C 93:33–34).
When we understand the vital position of the resurrection in the “plan of redemption” that governs our eternal journey (Alma 12:25), we see why the Apostle Paul taught, “If there be no resurrection of the dead, then … is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Cor. 15:13–14). We also see why the Apostle Peter referred to the fact that God the Father, in His abundant mercy, “hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3; see also 1 Thes. 4:13–18).
Elder Dallin H. Oaks
“Resurrection,” Ensign, May 2000, 14
In the gospel of Jesus Christ, hope is the desire of His followers to gain eternal salvation through the Atonement of the Savior.
This is truly the hope we must all have. It is what sets us apart from the rest of the world. Peter admonished the early followers of Christ to “be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15).
Our hope in the Atonement empowers us with eternal perspective. Such perspective allows us to look beyond the here and now on into the promise of the eternities. We don’t have to be trapped in the narrow confines of society’s fickle expectations. We are free to look forward to celestial glory, sealed to our family and loved ones.
In the gospel, hope is almost always related to faith and charity. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf has taught: “Hope is one leg of a three-legged stool, together with faith and charity. These three stabilize our lives regardless of the rough or uneven surfaces we might encounter at the time” (“The Infinite Power of Hope,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2008, 21).
. . . .
Elder Russell M. Nelson has taught that “faith is rooted in Jesus Christ. Hope centers in the Atonement. Charity is manifest in the ‘pure love of Christ.’ These three attributes are intertwined like strands in a cable and may not always be precisely distinguished. Together they become our tether to the celestial kingdom” (“A More Excellent Hope,” Ensign, Feb. 1997, 61).
When Nephi prophesied of Jesus Christ at the closing of his record, he wrote, “Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men” (2 Nephi 31:20).
This “perfect brightness of hope” of which Nephi speaks is the hope in the Atonement, eternal salvation made possible by the sacrifice of our Savior. This hope has led men and women through the ages to do remarkable things. Apostles of old roamed the earth and testified of Him and ultimately gave their lives in His service.
Elder Steven E. Snow
Hope, General Conference, April, 2011
Don’t vex your mind by trying to explain the suffering you have to endure in this life. Don’t think that God is punishing you or disciplining you or that he has rejected you. Even in the midst of your suffering, you are in his kingdom. You are always his child, and he has his protecting arms around you. Does a child understand everything his father does? No, but he can confidently nestle in his father’s arms and feel perfect happiness, even while tears glisten in his eyes, because he is his father’s child.
Albert Schweitzer
Reverence for Life
For some years, brothers and sisters, there has been an increasing and profound sense of existential despair in the world. This mortal hopelessness both reflects and affects much of mankind. Whether tribal or national, wars constitute “the continued experience of twentieth-century man” (Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory, London: Oxford University Press, 1975, p. 74). A grumpy cynicism pervades politics in so many places on this planet. Holocausts, famine, pestilence, and tides of refugees have taken a terrible toll on human hope, with much of that toll coming from man-made, avoidable disasters. Causality can be assigned to one or another form of iniquity. No wonder, as the scriptures say, despair comes of iniquity! (See Moroni 10:22)
Of course, many disagree over what constitutes sin, but surely they do not welcome the deepening of human despair! Some moderns do not lament the loss of traditional faith either, but surely they lament the further loss of hope and charity, ever in such short supply anyway.
Does hope really matter, or is it merely an antique virtue?
. . . .
Only the acceptance of the revelations of God can bring both direction and correction and, in turn, bring a “brightness of hope” (2 Ne. 31:20). Real hope does not automatically “spring eternal” unless it is connected with eternal things!
“What is it that ye shall hope for?” Moroni wrote. “Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ” (Moro. 7:41; see also Alma 27:28). From this triumphal act, resulting in the eventual resurrection of all mankind, so many lesser hopes derive their significance!
Prophets have always had and taught ultimate hope in Christ. Jacob wrote, “We knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and … also all the holy prophets which were before us” (Jacob 4:4).
You and I can be repeatedly reassured concerning this grand hope by the Comforter, who teaches us the truth about “things as they really are, and … really will be” (Jacob 4:13; see also Moro. 8:26). Such hope constitutes the “anchor of the soul” (Heb. 6:19). Such hope is retained through faith in Christ (see Alma 25:16; Ether 12:9). In contrast, a resurrection-less view of life produces only proximate hope (see 1 Cor. 15:19).
Having ultimate hope does not mean we will always be rescued from proximate problems, but we will be rescued from everlasting death! Meanwhile, ultimate hope makes it possible to say the same three words used centuries ago by three valiant men. They knew God could rescue them from the fiery furnace, if He chose. “But if not,” they said, nevertheless, they would still serve Him! (Dan. 3:18.)
Unsurprisingly the triad of faith, hope, and charity, which brings us to Christ, has strong and converging linkage: faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ, hope is in His atonement, and charity is the “pure love of Christ”! (See Ether 12:28; Moro. 7:47.) Each of these attributes qualifies us for the celestial kingdom (see Moro. 10:20–21; Ether 12:34). Each, first of all, requires us to be meek and lowly (see Moro. 7:39, 43).
Faith and hope are constantly interactive, and may not always be precisely distinguished or sequenced. Though not perfect knowledge either, hope’s enlivened expectations are “with surety” true (Ether 12:4; see also Rom. 8:24; Heb. 11:1; Alma 32:21). In the geometry of restored theology, hope has a greater circumference than faith. If faith increases, the perimeter of hope stretches correspondingly.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell,
“‘Brightness of Hope’,” Ensign, Nov 1994, 34
Life is repentance . . . progression and improvement and growth and maturity and refinement are all forms of repentance . . . the God-fearing live in a constant state of repentance. It is not intended that we exist in a constant fear or frustration or anxiety but rather that we have desires for holiness and purity, longings to feel quiet confidence before God.
To push ourselves beyond the mark is, in a strange sort of way, a statement that we fear we must do the job ourselves if we expect to get it done.
Balance – that is the key. I have come to sense the need to balance a type of “divine discontent” – a healthy longing to improve – with what Nephi called a “perfect brightness of hope,” the Spirit-given assurance that in and through Jesus Christ we are going to make it.
Robert Millet
Grace Works, Deseret Book , 2007, pages132–33
Regarding trials, including of our faith and patience, there are no exemptions—only variations (see Mosiah 23:21). These calisthenics are designed to increase our capacity for happiness and service. Yet the faithful will not be totally immune from the events on this planet. Thus the courageous attitudes of imperiled Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are worthy of emulation. They knew that God could rescue them. “But if not,” they vowed, they would still serve God anyway (see Daniel 3:16–18). Similarly, keeping the unfashionable but imperative first and seventh commandments can reflect the courage which three young women displayed anciently; they said no with their lives (see Abraham 1:11).
Therefore, we can be troubled on every side, but nothing can really separate us from the love of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 4:8; Romans 8:35–39); worldly anxieties are not part of being “anxiously engaged” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:27). Even so, as Peter urged, we can and should cast our cares upon the Lord, because He surely cares for us! (see 1 Peter 5:7). Oh, brothers and sisters, the awaiting emancipation of such trusting surrender!
As to remedying our personal mistakes, we face no hindering traffic jams on the road of repentance. It is a toll road, not a freeway, and applying Christ’s Atonement will speed us along.
There may need to be plain-speaking Jethros in our lives to stretch us (see Exodus 18:14–24) or moments of stark realization, as with the original Twelve, who rightly concluded: “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
Besides, unless we are filled with resolve, what will we say to the heroes and heroines of Martin’s Cove and the Sweetwater? That “we admire you, but we are reluctant to wade through our own rivers of chilling adversity”?
Brothers and sisters, by divine appointment, “these are [our] days” (Helaman 7:9), since “all things must come to pass in their time” (Doctrine and Covenants 64:32). Moreover, though we live in a failing world, we have not been sent here to fail.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
“Encircled in the Arms of His Love,” Ensign, Nov 2002, 16
Recent entries
- On Through the Eternities to Exaltation
- There is No End to Light
- Washed White Through the Blood of the Lamb
- The Great Atonement of the Redeemer
- The Grandeur of Christ’s Spirit
Popular Posts
- Bednar – Grace – The Enabling Power of the Atonement
- Bednar – The Enabling Power of the Atonement
- Author
- And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions
- Holland – The Peace and Renewal of Repentance
- The Grandeur of Christ’s Spirit
- Earth Has No Sorrow That Heaven Cannot Heal
- Earth Has No Sorrow That Heaven Cannot Heal
- About
- Washed White Through the Blood of the Lamb
Categories
- Abinadi (1)
- Abuse (4)
- Addiction (1)
- Administrative Notes (1)
- Adversity (66)
- Advocate (1)
- Agency (3)
- Allred (1)
- Alma (20)
- Amulek (5)
- Andersen (5)
- Arnold (1)
- Ballard (2)
- Banish Fear (4)
- Baptism (1)
- Bateman (6)
- Beck (3)
- Bednar (16)
- Benson (5)
- Bergin and Butler (1)
- Bible (1)
- Bible Dictionary (2)
- Book of Mormon (19)
- Born Again (1)
- Bowen (1)
- Boyle (1)
- Bradford (1)
- Brown (4)
- Burton (1)
- C.S. Lewis (33)
- Callister (1)
- Cannon (3)
- Caring for the Poor (4)
- Change (11)
- Charity (32)
- Chastity (4)
- Children (6)
- Christmas (20)
- Christofferson (14)
- Clark (1)
- Clayton (2)
- Condie (3)
- Consecration (4)
- Conversion (1)
- Cook (7)
- Cornish (1)
- Covenants (7)
- Covey (2)
- Dalton (2)
- Death (3)
- Dew (5)
- Didier (2)
- Discipleship (2)
- Discouragement (12)
- Doctrine (1)
- Doctrine & Covenants (7)
- Easter (2)
- Edgley (1)
- Enabling Power (58)
- Encyclopedia of Mormonism (14)
- England (1)
- Enoch (1)
- Eternal Life (19)
- Exaltation (10)
- Eyring (28)
- Faith (45)
- Fall (17)
- Family (5)
- Faust (7)
- Forgiveness (38)
- Fuhriman (1)
- Fundamental Principles (94)
- Garments (2)
- General Authorities (397)
- General Conference (246)
- Gethsemane (13)
- Grace (71)
- Grant (2)
- Gratitude (14)
- Grow (1)
- Hafen (23)
- Hales (3)
- Hanks (1)
- Happiness (14)
- Healing (22)
- Hinckley (17)
- Holland (31)
- Holy Ghost (20)
- Hope (36)
- Howard (1)
- Hugo (1)
- Humility (41)
- Hunter (8)
- Hymns (23)
- I Need Thee Every Hour (22)
- Immortality (8)
- Integrity (4)
- Italy (2)
- Jacob (4)
- Jensen (2)
- Jeppsen (1)
- Jessen (1)
- John (2)
- John Paul II (2)
- Joseph F. Smith (7)
- Joseph Fieldin Smith (3)
- Joseph Smith (10)
- Joy (6)
- Justice (16)
- Justification (16)
- Kapp (1)
- Keith (1)
- Kimball (17)
- King Benjamin (10)
- Knowledge (1)
- Law (2)
- Lehi (2)
- Light of Christ (3)
- Lincoln (1)
- Longfellow (1)
- Lund (4)
- Lyon (2)
- Madsen (3)
- Marriage (3)
- Martin Luther King (1)
- Matthews (1)
- Maxwell (59)
- McClanahan (1)
- McConkie (29)
- McKay (3)
- McMullin (1)
- Mediator (6)
- Meekness (5)
- Mercy (29)
- Meridian Magazine (1)
- Mickelsen (2)
- Millett (14)
- Miracles (2)
- Missionary (2)
- Monson (13)
- Mormon (1)
- Moroni (8)
- Morrison (2)
- Mosser (1)
- Mother Teresa (5)
- Nash (1)
- Natural Man (1)
- Nature of Christ (5)
- Necessity (1)
- Necessity of Atonement (4)
- Nelson (8)
- Nephi (3)
- New Testament (5)
- Nibley (16)
- Oaks (15)
- Obedience (8)
- Old Testament (4)
- Packer (13)
- Pain (1)
- Patience (3)
- Paul (11)
- Peacock (1)
- Perfection (6)
- Perry (4)
- Peter (1)
- Phelps (1)
- Pingree (1)
- Plan of Salvation (7)
- Poelman (2)
- Pondering (2)
- Porter (1)
- Power (1)
- Prayer (10)
- Preexistence (3)
- Pride (4)
- Priesthood (2)
- Proctor (1)
- Prophesies of Christ (1)
- Psalms (1)
- Reconciliation (4)
- Redemption of the Dead (1)
- Remembering (2)
- Renewal (4)
- Repentance (82)
- Rescue (25)
- Restitution (1)
- Resurrection (36)
- Revelation (8)
- Richards (1)
- Roberts (2)
- Robinson (1)
- Romney (6)
- Sacrament (3)
- Sacrifice (17)
- Salvation (20)
- Samuelson (1)
- Sanctification (26)
- Schweitzer (2)
- Scott (26)
- Scripture (3)
- Second Coming (1)
- Selfishness (1)
- Service (19)
- Sin (9)
- Snow (1)
- Spirit World (1)
- Taylor (4)
- Temple (8)
- Testimony (9)
- Tests (28)
- The Pearl of Great Price (2)
- Thomas (1)
- Thomas More (1)
- Tingey (1)
- Top (1)
- Trust (11)
- Uchtdorf (10)
- Uncategorized (1)
- Vandagriff (31)
- Vessels (1)
- Video (25)
- Wells (1)
- Wesley (6)
- Whitney (3)
- Wilder (1)
- Wirthlin (7)
- Women (2)
- Woodruff (1)
- Words of Christ (13)
- Works (1)
- Wright (1)
- Young (5)
- Zeballos (1)
Archives
Blogroll
- Amazon
- Broadcast Archives – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- BYU Devotionals
- BYU Hawaii Devotionals
- BYU Idaho Devotionals
- CES Firesides
- KBYU Find a Talk Database
- Mormon.org
- RSS Feed
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- The Encyclopedia of Mormonism
- The Gratitude Journal
- The Hope Central Blog