Articles of Faith: What Do Latter-day Saints Believe About the Atonement of Jesus Christ? 5

                                                                        Article of Faith 3

We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved,

by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

This is the fifth essay about the Atonement of Jesus Christ as stated in the third Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The first week, I discussed the importance of understanding how the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as the third pillar of eternity, is essential to Heavenly Father’s plan for the eternal happiness of His children. The second week, the discussion was about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the nature of the atonement. Last week, the discussion concerned the Atonement of Jesus Christ as a vicarious sacrifice. Last week, the discussion was about Christ’s sacrifice being voluntary and love inspired. The discussion for this week will be about the Atonement being foreordained and foretold, using the words of Elder James E. Talmage (Articles of Faith [1913], 81-85).

The Atonement Foreordained and Foretold – As already shown, the plan of the Father to open a way for the redemption of mankind, then to leave all men free to exercise their agency, was adopted by the council in heaven to the rejection of Lucifer’s plan of compulsion. Even at that remote period Christ was thus ordained as a mediator for all mankind; in fact, “a covenant was entered into between Him and His Father, in which He agreed to atone for the sins of the world, and He thus, as stated, became the ‘Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.’” Prophets who lived centuries before the time of Christ’s birth testified of Him and of the great work He had been ordained to perform. These men of God had been permitted to behold in prophetic visions many of the scenes incident to the Savior’s earthly mission, and they solemnly bore record of the manifestations. The testimony of Christ is the spirit of prophecy, and without it no person can rightly claim the distinction of being a prophet of God [emphasis added.] Adam’s despair incident to the fall was changed to joy when, through revelation, he learned of the plan of redemption to be wrought by the Son of God in the flesh. Righteous Enoch taught the same truths, which had been declared to him from the heavens. This testimony was borne by Moses, Job, David, Zechariah, Isaiah, and Micah. The same declaration was made by John the Baptist who was characterized by the Lord as more than a prophet.

Should there be doubt as to the application of such prophecies, we have the conclusive testimony of Christ that they refer to Himself. On that memorable day, immediately following His resurrection, while walking incognito with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He taught them the scriptures that had been written concerning the Son of God: “Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” A few hours after this event the Lord appeared to the eleven at Jerusalem. He operated upon their minds “that they might understand the scriptures; and said unto them: Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer,” in this way testifying that He was fulfilling a previously ordained plan. Peter, one of the Savior’s most intimate earthly associates, refers to Him as “a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world. In his epistle to the Romans, Paul characterizes Christ as the one “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past.” These are but a few of the Biblical evidences of Christ’s foreordination; both Old and New Testament writings abound in proofs of the Messiah’s appointed work.

Book of Mormon prophets are characterized by the directness of their testimonies concerning the Messiah. Because of his faith the brother of Jared was permitted to behold the Savior, twenty-two centuries prior to the meridian of time and to be shown that man was created after the image of the Lord, at the same time being taught of the Father’s purpose that the Son take upon Himself flesh and dwell upon the earth. Note the personal declaration of the foreordained Redeemer to this prophet: “Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have light, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.”

Nephi records the prophecy of his father Lehi concerning the future appearing of the Son in the flesh, His baptism, death, and resurrection; and this prophetic utterance specifies the exact date of the Savior’s birth – six hundred years after the time of Lehi’s exodus from Jerusalem. The mission of John the Baptist is described and even the place of baptism is designated. Shortly after the time of Lehi’s vision, Nephi was shown by the Spirit the same things, as also many others, some of which he has written but the greater part of which he was forbidden to write, as another, the Apostle John, had been ordained to set them forth in a book which should form part of the Bible. But, from the partial account of his vision we learn that he saw, in Nazareth, Mary the Virgin, first alone and shortly afterward with a child in her arms; and that the demonstrator of the vision informed him that the infant was the Lamb of God, the Son of the Eternal Father. Then Nephi beheld the Son ministering among the children of men, proclaiming the word, healing the sick, and working many other wondrous miracles; he saw John, the prophet of the wilderness, going before Him; he beheld the Savior baptized of John, and the Holy Ghost descending upon Him with the visible sign of the dove. Then he saw and prophesied that twelve apostles would follow the Savior in His ministry; that the Son would be taken and judged of men and finally be slain. Piercing the future even beyond the time of the crucifixion. Nephi beheld the strife of the world against the apostles of the Lamb and the final triumph of God’s cause.

Jacob, brother of Nephi, prophesied to his brethren that Christ would appear in the flesh among the Jews, and that He would be scourged and crucified. King Benjamin lifted his voice in support of the same testimony, and preached unto his people the righteous condescension of God. So also declared Abinadi, Alma, Amulek, and /Samuel the Lamanite prophet. The literal fulfilment of these prophecies furnishes proof of their truth. The signs and wonders indicative of Christ’s birth and death were all realized; and after His death and ascension the Savior manifested Himself among the Nephites while the Father proclaimed Him to the multitude.

The ancient scriptures, then, are plain in declaring that Christ came upon the earth to do a work previously allotted. He lived, suffered and died, in accordance with a plan that had been framed in righteousness even before the world was, for the redemption of the children of Adam. Equally important and explicit is the word of latter-day revelation through which the Son has declared Himself as Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, man’s Advocate with the Father, the universal Redeemer. Consider a single citation from the many revelations concerning Christ given in the present dispensation: “Listen to the voice of the Lord your God, even Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, whose course is one eternal round, the same today as yesterday, and forever. I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was crucified for the sins of the world, even as many as will believe on my name, that they may become the sons of God, even one in me as I am one in the Father, as the Father is one in me, that we may be one.”