“You shall have eternal life, which gift is the
greatest of all the gifts of God (D&C 14:7). It is a pure gift – we have no
right to it: we have proved our helplessness to achieve it and our unworthiness
to possess it. Jesus Christ bought it for us: He paid the ransom price, He
redeemed us when we could not redeem ourselves, and He gave us eternal life as
a free gift. He has taught us how to qualify for the gift, but the gift itself
we could never earn by our own efforts.” (Hugh Nibley, “Approaching Zion” p
137)
The above quote is the greatest understanding that
I have received regarding the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the study of which can
be overwhelming. I don’t think we will
ever come to understand how it was executed, in this life or even the next. It’s
an experience exclusive to one person and to fully understand someone’s
experience one has to be a partaker of it to some degree.
The best we can do is understand the three
principal purposes of the Atonement:
1.
To
restore all that was lost by the Fall of Adam which brought about physical
death (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).
2.
To
overcome the first spiritual death by bringing us back into God’s presence to
be judged and the second spiritual death for those who will repent (Helaman
14:16-18).
3.
To
provide the power necessary to exalt us to the status of a god (D&C 76:69).
Much can be said about all three of these
reasons but I would like to expound a little on the third one as I feel that exaltation
is the main purpose of the Plan of Salvation. The role of the Atonement of
Jesus Christ plus our own efforts of repentance is meant to produce one thing and
that is not only to live with God the Father, but to become like Him. God the
Father is not only a perfect, resurrected being but an exalted one, meaning He
is God, therefore our goal is exaltation:
“To live with God does not assure us we will be
like Him. All who live in the celestial kingdom dwell with God, but only those
who are exalted become as He is. The objective of the Atonement is not just to
cleanse us, but to so transform our lives and our way of thinking and acting
that we become like God.” (Tad Callister, “The Infinite Atonement”, p 27)
What is the life of God the Father
like? It is one of eternal joy in a marital capacity that never ends, being a
co-creator of posterity and worlds without end with someone who loves you with
a perfect love, a love that lasts forever and ever. This is the crowning
blessing and the perfect state of a God. This is where we hail from and this is
where the Atonement of our Saviour Jesus Christ can take us to.
My heart is full of love for Thee,
As
I stand in awe of Thy Godly majesty,
The
magnitude of worlds
And
the stars of heaven
That
roll upon their wings praising Thee.
The
creation of man, a crowning glory
To
Thy priesthood and Thy throne,
In
endless praise of Thy name
In
the splendour of Thy celestial home.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
(Art: Worlds Without Number by Rose Datoc Dall)
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