Satan tries to separate man from God. If we are alone without God and Christ, we are in the adversary’s power. Satan tries to separate men from one another. In the Book of Mormon, we see how successful he was in separating the Lamanites from the Nephites. Satan’s efforts continue in our day, separating nation from nation, race from race, class from class, men from women.
Christ’s Atonement joins us—men to God and men to one another as brothers and sisters. As we become closer and closer to God because of the influence of the Atonement in our lives, both our yearning and our ability to bring the blessings of the Atonement to others grows. Our love for others increases as we comprehend the magnitude of the love that Heavenly Father and Christ have for us and as we understand that these two infinite and eternal Beings have the same love for each of our brothers and sisters. We then desire to become the hands of God. We desire to constantly act as representatives of Christ wherever we are, be it through a smile, a kind word, a helping hand.
David P. Vandagriff
I Need Thee Every Hour – Applying the Atonement in Everyday Life
The greatest work of Christ is centered upon His Atonement. So long as there is anyone in pain, His work will continue. So long as there is anyone suffering under the burden of sin, His work will continue. So long as there is anyone who is afraid or lonely, His work will continue. So long as there is anyone who sorrows, His work will continue. So long as there is anyone who has been faithful and who needs to be lifted up and brought back to their Heavenly Father, His work will continue.
David P. Vandagriff
I Need Thee Every Hour – Applying the Atonement in Everyday Life
If we are to respond to tribulation by either growing out of it or growing strong enough to bear it more easily, we must know that Christ is focused on saving us. We are often greatly tempted to doubt in times of immense pain. We doubt ourselves and our righteousness. We doubt that our God and our Savior are really paying much attention to us. Some wonder if there even is a God, and others feel that he has turned his back to them. These are the times of chastening, of tutelage, of testing, of preparation of our souls for a future harvest.
If you are not going to trust a loving father and a Savior who died to save you, who are you going to trust in a world full of difficulties? Do you think you can trust in yourself alone? Are you powerful enough to overcome all things? Do you always know the right answer?
I know good people who have experienced enormous trials and, as a result, have lost trust in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. These friends have allowed their great pain to swell into a consuming anger. They have then ironically directed that anger toward the only Beings who can relieve their pain. There is no solace in such anger nor is there any ability to keep adversity at bay by keeping God away. By responding angrily toward a loving Savior, the original tragedy is only compounded.
You may have had terrible experiences come into your life, experiences for which you bear no blame. Such life events may have scarred you deeply and damaged your ability to trust anyone or anything. In some ways, the pain of the innocent can exceed the pain of the guilty in this life. To you I would ask a simple question. Do you want to continue living in your world of pain? If you do not, I ask another question. Do you know how to move out of your world of pain?
Jesus Christ is the God of broken people, the God of the hopeless, the God of the violated innocent, the God of ruined lives, the God of those who weep without ceasing. He is also and always will be the God of fresh starts, the God of new lives, the God of inner peace. His greatest ministry is where there is the greatest pain. There is no place so dark that He will not enter and bring a gentle and warming light.
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
David P. Vandagriff
I Need Thee Every Hour – Applying the Atonement in Everyday Life
When We Lived with our Father
.
When we lived with our Father in palaces of light,
We never felt of suffering, of loneliness or fright.
We trusted that God loved us, before we said good-bye,
For He gave us a Savior upon whom we rely.
.
We came to earth without Him, our hearts still feel the loss
Of loving arms around us, bright days that now are lost.
Our mortal flesh brings choices, and we so often err.
We follow other voices, we fail to kneel in prayer.
.
But we still have our Savior, the Son we knew above.
He taught us, showed us mercy, the fullness of His love.
He never will forget us or leave us in the night.
When we call out for Jesus, He comes and brings His light.
.
Our hearts were filled with anguish when He hung on the cross.
We knew He suffered for us, that we supplied the cost.
Our Father had us watch Him though we would hide our eyes,
So we would never doubt Him, that He would hear our cries.
.
For only His Atonement can raise us from the grave
And cleanse us, lift us homeward with families He has saved.
He’ll bring us back to Father, embrace us with delight,
As shining men and women, as beings filled with light.
.
David P. Vandagriff
Copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved
May be sung to the tune of Hymn 197, O Savior, Thou Who Wearest a Crown
I grew up on ranches and farms in Colorado and Minnesota. In the spring, we used a number of different farm implements to prepare the ground for planting. One of those implements was the harrow.
Some harrows use sharp round disks and others have tines. One of the harrows we used consisted of a heavy rectangular metal frame with several crossbars. On each crossbar, several tines were mounted. Each of these tines was like a thick and rugged dagger with a sharp point on one end. The sharp point faced downward toward the earth.
We attached the harrow to a tractor and dragged it back and forth over the field. The sharp point of each tine cut into the earth, digging through the surface and opening up fresh earth where new seeds would be planted. Unless the earth was broken and dug up, our crop would not grow. If seeds were dropped on the old surface, few would take root, and those that did would not thrive. We cut and broke the earth in the spring so it would produce a good harvest in the fall.
If the earth were a living being, the harrow would have felt like an instrument of torture. The earth had developed a hard surface that resisted penetration by productive crops. While that hard surface was not very fertile, the soil just beneath was capable of producing a rich harvest. Without the harrow, however, the good soil would never be exposed to light and air and seeds of growth. It would always have possessed the potential to bless us, but that potential would never be fulfilled.
The scriptures frequently use the harrow as a metaphor for the painful and difficult experiences that often seem to precede major spiritual change.
Alma the Younger was traveling through the land committing terrible sins when an angel appeared to stop him. Alma was struck down by the angel and describes the experience of confronting the true character and consequences of his actions:
“I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.” (Alma 36:12) (emphasis added)
This experience with a spiritual harrow is key to preparing Alma for his later repentance. He says:
“As I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.” (Alma 36:17) (emphasis added)
In an echo of Alma’s earlier problems that must have been particularly painful for him, Alma has a son who also commits serious sins. Corianton is sent to the Zoramites on a mission but abandons his work and is involved in sexual sin. Alma meets with Corianton to call him to repentance. In the process of doing so, Alma bluntly confronts his son with the magnitude of his sins and their consequences. Then he explains his reason for doing so.
“I would not dwell upon your crimes, to harrow up your soul, if it were not for your good.” (Alma 39:7) (emphasis added)
Alma is providing Corianton with the same painful experience that Alma himself learned was necessary for him to make a permanent change in his earlier life.
The blessing of the harrow and its attendant pain is not restricted only to the sinful who need to repent. It often comes through unearned trials that come into our lives. When we need to grow, when we need to change, when we need to take steps up to a higher and better place, sometimes the Lord must allow the harrow to cross and re-cross our lives. As it does so, it opens up our souls and fixes our attention on our Savior.
Elder Maxwell said, “When we take Jesus’ yoke upon us, this admits us eventually to what Paul called the ‘fellowship of [Christ’s] sufferings.’ (Philippians 3:10) Whether illness or aloneness, injustice or rejection . . . our comparatively small-scale sufferings, if we are meek, will sink into the very marrow of the soul. We then better appreciate not only Jesus’ sufferings for us but also His matchless character, moving us to greater adoration and even emulation.” (Neal A. Maxwell, “‘From Whom All Blessings Flow,’” Ensign, May 1997, 11)
If we are to respond to tribulation by either growing out of it or growing strong enough to bear it more easily, we must trust in the Driver of the harrow. We are greatly tempted to doubt in times of immense pain. We doubt ourselves and our righteousness. We doubt that our God and our Savior are really paying much attention to us. Some wonder if there is a God and others feel that He has turned His back to them.
These are the times of chastening, of tutelage, of testing, of preparation of our souls for a future harvest.
David P. Vandagriff
I Need Thee Every Hour – Applying the Atonement in Everyday Life
The 500th post about the Atonement of Jesus Christ will appear on The Atonement Blog in five minutes.
When I began, I thought that, after a period of time, it would become difficult to keep finding new thoughts and insights about the Atonement and I would stop adding entries.
I was wrong.
.
The works of God continue,
And worlds and lives abound;
Improvement and progression
Have one eternal round.
There is no end to matter;
There is no end to space;
There is no end to spirit;
There is no end to grace.
If You Could Hie to Kolob
Hymn 284
I know thee, O my Savior
And seek thy endless grace
For mercy and for comfort
Until I see thy face.
I honor thy Atonement,
I need thy help today
To be a better servant
To follow and obey.
.
As children of our Father,
We’ve left our heavenly home
To come to earth for testing
And often feel alone.
Each of us need thee, Savior,
For we can’t find the way
Through darkness and confusion
Back to eternal day.
.
Just as thou helped the beggars
Thou asketh me to bless
My brothers and my sisters,
To bless as I’ve been blessed.
How often thou hast helped me
When I cried out at night.
I go to help the weary, the poor
Bearing thy light.
.
Thy hands were pierced and bleeding
As thou for me didst die.
My hands will serve and labor,
Thy teachings I’ll apply.
When I seek out the suffering,
Both sinning and sinless,
Thy hands shall strengthen my hands.
In blessing, I’ll be blessed.
.
David P. Vandagriff
Copyright 2011, All Rights Reserved
Can be sung to the tune of “If You Could Hie to Kolob”, Hymns, 284
We are accustomed to thinking about the permanent and unchanging aspects of the gospel, and there are many enduring principles that applied to Adam and Eve just as they apply to us. However, in the midst of this eternal doctrine, we can sometimes forget that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest force for change in the universe.
Since we reside in mortal bodies in a fallen world, we’re pre-programmed to be natural men and women. Our most important job in this life is to change—put off the natural man or woman and become Saints—and the only way we can do that is through the power of the Atonement of Christ.
[W]e need to become very adept at changing bad for good and good for better. Sometimes that requires letting go of bad attitudes, bad habits, and large or small sins that we have become accustomed to incorporating in our lives. There can be something dangerously comfortable in such flaws. “I wasn’t struck down by lightning yesterday because of my little problem,” we think, “so I’ll probably be fine today, as well.”
Alma understood the changes necessary to deal with our familiar frailties. “Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism.” (Alma 7:15)
David P. Vandagriff
I Need Thee Every Hour – Applying the Atonement in Everyday Life
Yesterday, I was asked to speak on the topic, “Why We Need a Savior,” as part of our church Christmas Program. I was happy to receive the request because this question is at the heart of the Atonement.
I was asked to take no more than 7 minutes on this subject. This raised an interesting challenge. I can talk about the Atonement for 30 minutes, an hour, two hours or more without difficulty. However, how could I speak about the essential elements of the Atonement in 7 minutes?
Following is what resulted after quite a number of drafts:
At this time of year, we remember some of the titles Isaiah used to identify the Messiah – Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
Many other words also describe Christ and his countless attributes, but, for me, two sacred titles stand above all others – Savior and Redeemer.
But why do we need a Savior?
Our Savior and Redeemer holds those exalted titles because His Atonement saves us from sin and the consequences of mortality and allows us to return to our heavenly home.
We cannot understand the Atonement unless we understand the Fall.
When Adam and Eve were placed into the Garden of Eden, their bodies were immortal – they would never age or die. Those bodies were also incapable of having children.
In the Garden, Adam and Eve enjoyed the presence of Heavenly Father. They could see God with their eyes and hear Him with their ears. That association made a strong spiritual connection easy and natural.
When Adam and Eve transgressed the law and ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, four things happened:
1. Their bodies became mortal and subject to mortal death.
2. They could no longer remain in the presence of Heavenly Father. That separation is spiritual death.
3. They understood the difference between good and evil and were accountable for their choices.
4. They were able to have children so God’s spirit children could come to earth.
After the Fall, “Eve . . . was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.” (Moses 5:11)
The Fall was not a mistake, it was a choice. Just as Adam and Eve chose to live in mortal bodies, each of us made that same choice — we chose to come to earth and gain mortal bodies, knowing we would be separated from our Father.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie said, “The atonement is the child of the fall, and the fall is the father of the atonement. Neither of them, without the other, could have brought to pass the eternal purposes of the Father.
“The fall of Adam brought temporal and spiritual death into the world, and the atonement of Christ ransomed men from these two deaths.” (Elder Bruce R. McConkie, The Three Pillars of Eternity, devotional address at Brigham Young University on 17 February 1981)
Two scriptures encapsulate our mortal lives and describe why a Savior is essential.
1. “No unclean thing can dwell with God” – 1 Nephi 10:21
2. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” – Romans 3:2
A) We cannot sin and be with God and
B) We all have sinned.
We need a Savior.
The Atonement is key to everything Heavenly Father does and all He has created. “This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1:39)
These two terms may sound the same, but have different meanings.
Immortality is how the Atonement saves us from physical death.
Eternal Life is how the Atonement can save us from spiritual death, depending upon our faithfulness.
Amulek describes how Christ saves us from the death of our body and gives us immortality:
“Now, there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death . . . . The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame . . . . Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame . . . .” (Alma 11:42-44)
Virtually everyone who will ever be born on this earth will receive immortality through the Atonement of Christ. Their bodies will be resurrected from the grave and returned to a perfect form, then their spirits and bodies will be reunited and never die. Worlds and time without end, they will live. Mortal death will be permanently defeated.
What about Eternal Life?
Eternal Life is the kind of life that Heavenly Father lives. Through the Atonement, immortality comes to all men, righteous or wicked. Eternal Life is “the greatest of all the gifts of God.” (D&C 14:7.) We obtain Eternal Life, according to the Lord, “if you keep my commandments and endure to the end.” If we do this, He promises, “you shall have eternal life.” (D&C 14:7.)
If we are to gain Eternal Life, this greatest of all gifts, it will be because we become like God. God is perfectly clean and pure and we must become the same way.
How can imperfect people possibly do that?
“We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.” (Third Article of Faith)
This brings us to justice and mercy. One of the most important ways in which Heavenly Father is perfect is that He is perfectly just and perfectly merciful.
Perfect justice is not terribly difficult for us to understand. Any time a law of God is violated, justice imposes an appropriate penalty.
Our problem arises because of that scripture we mentioned earlier, “No unclean thing can dwell with God” (1 Nephi 10:21)
Does justice make us clean?
No, justice ensures that a proper penalty is paid when a law is violated. It does not remove the effects of sin upon the individual who is punished. When prisoners are released from the penitentiary after having served their sentences, we say they have “paid their debt to society.” Prison has not made them clean and pure.
One way to be perfectly clean and pure is to never sin at all. That describes our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and no one else. He is the key to perfect mercy. Christ is the only way to recover from our sins.
Lehi tells us, “[R]edemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth. Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.” (2 Nephi 2:6-7)
A perfectly sinless Christ took upon Himself all the sins of all the people who will ever live on this world. At Gethsemane and Calvary, he paid the full price that justice imposed for every one of those sins, great or small.
Christ “satisfied the demands of justice by His own suffering, ‘the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God’ (1 Peter 3:18). He removes our condemnation without removing the law. We are pardoned and placed in a condition of righteousness with Him. We become, like Him, without sin.” (Elder D. Todd Christofferson, “Justification and Sanctification,” Ensign, Jun 2001, 18)
In place of the demands of justice, Christ provides merciful commandments that ordinary people can obey. He allows us to repent of our sins without being condemned by them. Describing His commandments, Jesus said, “Whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled; and if he endureth to the end, behold, him will I hold guiltless before my Father at that day when I shall stand to judge the world” (3 Nephi 27:16)
Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. We celebrate the Manger because of what Christ did on the Cross.
David P. Vandagriff
When I began the Atonement Blog, I worried that it would be difficult to find enough material to continue to post a new item every day. One of the things I have discovered is that, once you start looking, you find the Atonement everywhere – in scriptures and in sermons, in stories and observations from men and women of good will who follow Jesus Christ, regardless of their religious affiliation.
Today, the 400th post about the Atonement appears on this blog from President Henry B. Eyring, who speaks of Charity. I would never presume to make any ranking among the brethren, but I do think that Charity has a place of particular prominence among the fruits of the Atonement and is the greatest of the many Christ-like virtues. For this conclusion, I rely, in part, upon the words of Paul to the saints in Corinth:
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
1 Corinthians 13:1-8, 13
I would like to thank all those who visit the blog or subscribe to the feed and look forward to a continuing journey, discovering many more ways in which our Savior has blessed us with His infinite and eternal sacrifice.
David P. Vandagriff