Supreme Act of Goodness and Grace

The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the most transcendent event that ever has or ever will occur. Through the Atonement the Father’s eternal plan of salvation became operative. Through the Atonement immortality and eternal life are brought to pass. Through the Atonement, all men are saved from death, hell, and the devil.

“And since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance. . . and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory. . .” (Book of Mormon, Alma 22:14)

“. . .remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world . . . the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins. And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore, he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls.” (Book of Mormon, Helaman 5:9-11)

The Passover lamb prefigured Jesus Christ, the Lamb sacrificed for the sins of the world. The Passover lamb was to be without blemish, just as Jesus Christ would be without blemish: “. . .ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, . . . But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1 Peter 1:18–19)

Lamb’s blood on doorposts saved ancient Israel from death, just as Christ’s atoning blood saves us from the grave and spiritual death. The similarities between the Passover and Jesus Christ’s death were so notable that Paul called Jesus “our Passover.” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Before going to Gethsemane, Jesus kept the Passover and instituted the Sacrament. “Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28)

There are the three gardens of God—the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Garden of the Empty Tomb.

If there had been no fall of Adam, by which cometh death, there could have been no atonement of Christ, by which cometh life. As Adam is the father of mortality, so Christ is the father of immortality. “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.” (1 Corinthians 15:21)

The Atonement took place in Gethsemane and at Golgotha.

Jesus came to the Mount of Olives to effect the first component of the Atonement. This He did at the Garden of Gethsemane. The word Gethsemane comes from two Hebrew roots: gath, meaning “press,” and shemen, meaning “oil,” especially that of the olive. Their olives had been pressed under the weight of great stone wheels to squeeze precious oil from the olives.

Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, was pressed under the weight of the sins of the world. He sweat great drops of blood which issued from every pore. He prayed saying, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done. . .And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:41-44).

This suffering was prophesied by ancient prophets: “. . .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” (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 3:7). Jesus said of His suffering: “Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink.”

The atonement of Jesus Christ was completed on the cross. By His Atonement and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has overcome all aspects of the Fall. “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.” (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 27:13-14)

Under the Father’s great eternal plan, it is the Savior who suffered. It is the Savior who broke the bands of death. It is the Savior who paid the price for our sins and transgressions and blots them out on condition of our repentance. It is the Savior who delivers us from physical and spiritual death.

Elder and Sister Cromar are senior missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Anchorage Alaska Mission