“All the negative aspects of human existence brought about by the Fall, Jesus Christ absorbed into himself. He experienced vicariously in Gethsemane all the private griefs and heartaches, all the physical pains and handicaps, all the emotional burdens and depressions of the human family. He knows the loneliness of those who don’t fit in, or who aren't handsome or pretty. He knows what it’s like to choose up teams and be the last one chosen. He knows the anguish of parents whose children go wrong. He knows these things personally and intimately because he lived them in the Gethsemane experience. Having personally lived a perfect life, he then chose to experience our imperfect lives. In that infinite Gethsemane experience, in the meridian of time, the center of eternity, he lived a billion billion lifetimes of sin, pain, disease and sorrow.
"God has no magic wand with which to simply wave bad things into nonexistence. The sins that he remits, he remits by making them his own and suffering them. The pain and heartache that he relieves, he relieves by suffering them himself. These things can be transferred, but they cannot be simply wished or waved away. They must be suffered. Thus, we owe him not only for our spiritual cleansing from sin for our physical, mental, and emotional healing as well, for he has borne these infirmities for us also. All that the Fall put wrong, the Savior in his atonement puts right. It is all part of his infinite sacrifice—of his infinite gift.”
(Stephen Robinson, Religious Educational prayer meeting, 12 February 1992) [From The Savior’s Final Week, by Andrew C. Skinner]
Here's a thought I found that helped me understand a little more about the power that comes through making and keeping covenants:
ReplyDelete"In the premortal council the Savior covenanted with the Father to perform the Atonement....Based on that pledge or covenant we had faith in him. Based on that covenant The Father could promise remission of sins prior to the atoning sacrifice because he 'knew' his Son would not fail. The issue was not that he could not break his covenant, but rather, that he would not." (Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement, p74)