Just a couple of weeks ago President Nelson gave us each the following challenge:

I urge you to devote time each week—for the rest of your life—to increase your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

This sounds fairly straightforward, as I have reflected on his invitation it has reminded me of Bruce R. McConkie’s last testimony. In this, Elder McConkie share his thoughts about the atonement of Jesus Christ:

Now, the atonement of Christ is the most basic and fundamental doctrine of the gospel, and it is the least understood of all our revealed truths. Many of us have a superficial knowledge and rely upon the Lord and his goodness to see us through the trials and perils of life. But if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived. May I invite you to join with me in gaining a sound and sure knowledge of the Atonement.

That is quite a bold statement and has caused me to pause and reflect at different points over the last thirty or more years. Is my understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ superficial, and is it a problem if it is? I know my Saviour died for me, and I know that he lives again. I know that through him I can be strengthened, I can be forgiven, and I can find joy in this life and eternal life in the life to come. Surely that is enough. Well yes, but one of the things I have learned in terms of my discipleship is that if I’m not moving forwards, I’m moving backwards. If my relationship of the Saviour is not developing, it is stagnating. We read this in the scriptures:

For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have (2 Nephi 28:30).

Indeed, we also know that this is how the Saviour himself learned:

And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace; And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness… (D&C 93:12-13).

If it’s ok to incremental progress in our knowledge, how can we increase our understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ?

The first thing that we can do is to turn our lives over to Him. President Nelson promised us that There is no limit to the Savior’s capacity to help you. His incomprehensible suffering in Gethsemane and on Calvary was for you! His infinite Atonement is for you! The Saviour describes himself as the “True Vine” and outlines our responsibility to him as such:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing (John 15:1-5).

As the True Vine of which we are a branch he is the source of our strength and of our blessings. What does it mean to abide in Him? Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught:

Christ is everything to us and we are to “abide” in Him permanently, unyieldingly, steadfastly, forever. For the fruit of the gospel to blossom and bless our lives, we must be firmly attached to Him, the Savior of us all, and to this His Church, which bears His holy name. He is the vine that is our true source of strength and the only source of eternal life.

Our relationship with the Lord should be whole hearted, and should be forever. Every action and choice that we make is reflective of our covenants. Every action that we perform should be reflective of our covenantal abiding in Him. What is important about this relationship is that only we can break the connection, he will always be true.

In John’s Gospel there are seven “I am” sayings which hearken back to the experience of Moses with the Lord at the burning bush. As I have studied this recently I have become aware of different translations of the Hebrew. Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh which is usually translated as “I Am That I Am”; or “I Am Who I Am” can also be translated as “I Will Be What I Will Be”. As I reflect on this I realise that the Saviour’s declaration that “I am the True Vine” or the bread of life, or the living water was not just a statement of what he was at that point, but what he will always be. Thus, my faith in Him and his atonement is not a one time thing, it is a promise and a power that I can always and will always be able to call on in every aspect of my life.

Part of that abiding in a relationship with the Lord is by learning of him and serving him. We study his life and teachings- through this we come to know him and how we should follow him. To be disciples we are ‘learners’ or ’followers’- in our discipleship we fully combine both roles. It is not enough just to learn we need to show what we have learned. Joseph McConkie taught:

In the context of the Bible, knowledge− in its highest spiritual sense− had little to do with the intellect but was rather a matter of the heart. The Old Testament references to a man knowing God and to a man knowing his wife− meaning conceiving a child with her− both use the same Hebrew word (yada). As a man was to leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife and become one flesh with her, so he was to leave the things of the world, cleave unto his God, and become one with him. As faithfulness in marriage was essential to the nurturing of love, so faithfulness in keeping Gospel covenants was understood to be necessary in obtaining a knowledge of God. As love of spouse was strengthened in sacrifice and devotion, so the knowledge of God was obtained in living those covenants with exactness and honour (McConkie, J. 1987: 230).

Having a knowledge of Christ, involves having a correct understanding of his nature and work which then leads to a correct relationship with Christ. We cannot have a true relationship with someone that is built on a misunderstanding of who they are and what they do. As we live in this relationship with him we begin to emulate his mannerisms and his actions. Love becomes part of who we are; we also view people as he would view them. We become more Christlike, and as such we live our covenants which helps us understand the atonement that much more. This is why, wherever we are, President Nelson has called upon us to rededicate your lives to Jesus Christ.

The atonement of Jesus Christ brings us into this relationship. In the Church we often speak of the atonement as being about suffering for our sins, or for strengthening us in times of sorry. It is absolutely both of those things. It is also so much more. Through our fallen nature people refuse “to turn to God and be reconciled. Through the incarnation and death of Jesus Christ, the love of God shines like a beacon, beckoning humanity to come and fellowship” (Edder & Bielby, 2006: 18-19). When the Saviour taught that “I am the Light of the World” he meant that he is the exemplar to all of us, but he also meant that he is the light by whose life and suffering draw us into a relationship with Him. His human nature enabled him to suffer: “in order to satisfy the demands of divine justice and redeem fallen man, Christ sacrificed the attributes and powers of both physical and eternal life which he possessed on earth. In this way, Jesus made an ‘infinite and eternal’– not only a sinless human– sacrifice” (Andrus 1968: 417). Christ’s entire mortal experience (not just the last hours) became a part of his atonement in order that he could suffer “pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people… that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11-12). Blake Ostler suggests that the “purpose of the atonement in LDS scripture is to ‘bring about the bowels of mercy’ so that God is moved with compassion for us and we are moved with gratitude to trust him by opening our hearts to him” (2001: 235). The atonement of Jesus Crist is a reciprocal relationship. “The suffering that Christ experienced not only moves us with compassion for him, but it also moves him with compassion for us” (Ostler, 2001: 238). As such as we study his life and suffering, we are drawn to him, as he has truly been there and done that. In the words of the scriptures “The Son of Man hath descended below them all” (D&C 122:8). As I think of his life I think of his encounter with the woman caught in adultery and his compassionate response that highlighted the hypocrisy of the onlookers. In this event, whether I place myself in the woman’s shoes, or in one of the men judging her, I have a desire to draw close to the Saviour because I want to be forgiven and not be found in hypocrisy. When he calls Matthew, or shows love to lepers or to Mary Magdalene with her demons, or  his mother, Mary; I learn that the Saviour can look beyond anything that others would condemn. His whole life is an inspiration and a call to discipleship; a call to be in a relationship with the Lord. Viewing his life which is full of love, rejection, human emotion, loss, grief, friendship, compassion, and lots more I am called or compelled to love him. Why do I love him? As the scriptures tell me, I love him, because he loved me first (1 John 4:19).

The scriptures tell us that the purpose of the atonement of Christ is to draw us into this relationship with the Lord, and every aspect of that discipleship, which will include aspects of his suffering.

Wherefore, we would to God that we could persuade all men not to rebel against God, to provoke him to anger, but that all men would believe in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his cross and bear the shame of the world; wherefore, I, Jacob, take it upon me to fulfil the commandment of my brother Nephi (Jacob 1:8).

When we are drawn into the relationship with Christ, all of our problems will not be at an end. We will still fall, we will still experience pains, sicknesses and sin; but the beauty of the atonement is that as we “suffer his cross and bear the shame of the world” we will never be alone, and we will find ourselves yoked with the Saviour, and our burdens become light.

As a way to rededicate ourselves, and also to learn more of the atonement of Jesus Christ, President Nelson invites us to spend time in the Temple. In the house of the Lord, we focus on Jesus Christ. We learn of Him. We make covenants to follow Him. We come to know Him… Here is my promise to you: Every sincere seeker of Jesus Christ will find Him in the temple. You will feel His mercy.

Everything about the temple points us to the Saviour Jesus Christ, and so the best thing that we can do to prepare to attend the temple is to come to know Him and have a testimony of His atonement and role as Saviour, mediator and advocate with the Father. If we have a testimony of His love then we will have a desire to attend His house. The scriptures teach us much about the link between the Lord and His temple:

And inasmuch as my people build a house unto me in the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to come into it, that it be not defiled, my glory shall rest upon it; Yea, and my presence shall be there, for I will come into it, and all the pure in heart that shall come into it shall see God (Doctrine and Covenants 97:15-16).

The temple is the natural next stage in our relationship with our Saviour Jesus Christ. We come to know Him in the daily act of living but this is developed and enhanced in the temple. Defined in context of the plan of salvation, life is a continuum of knowledge where we learn line-upon-line. As we attend the temple and claim its blessings, we can draw closer to Him in a way we had not previously enjoyed. President Henry B. Eyring has said:

President Russell M. Nelson made clear for us that we      can “see” the Saviour in the temple in the sense that He becomes no longer unknown to us. President Nelson said this: “We understand Him. We comprehend His work and His glory. And we begin to feel the infinite impact of His matchless life.” If you or I should go to the temple insufficiently pure, we would not be able to see, by the power of the Holy Ghost, the spiritual teaching about the Saviour that we can receive in the temple” (2021)

For our understanding to be added to, for us to comprehend His matchless life and love, we must have a testimony and understanding of Christ in the first place. We must, in preparing children, youth and adults to attend the temple, place Christ at the centre of all our teaching and example:

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins (2 Nephi 25:26).

We do this through the way that we teach and the way that we live. When we teach the principles of the gospel, whatever they may be, we must be explicit in our explanation of how they relate to the Saviour. When I explore the teachings of Christianity with my students at University, I begin by asking them to compile a timeline of the events of Jesus’ life from the Annunciation to the Ascension. I then have them make a list of all of the actions that Christians perform such as baptism, prayer, partaking of the bread and wine, helping others and so on. Following discussion, I send them away to match up the two lists with the hope that they realise that every action that a Christian performs relates to the life and teaching of the Saviour.

Just so in The Temple. We can ask ourselves each time to worship there, what does this teach me about the Saviour and my relationship to him? One example of an ordinance, as do all ordinances, drawing us to the Saviour and teaching us about his atonement is the sealing ordinance of husband and wife and the sealing of children to their newly sealed parents. Elder Bruce C. Hafen (2015) noted when sealing a couple in the temple:

I invited them to the altar, and as the groom took the bride by the hand, I realised that they were about to place upon that altar of sacrifice their own broken hearts and contrite spirits—an offering of themselves to each other and to God in emulation of Christ’s sacrifice for them. By living that way every day, they would each come closer to God, which would also bring them closer to each other. Thus, living the covenants of the sealing ordinance would sanctify not only their marriage but also their hearts and their very lives.

As we consider our relationship with the Lord and His atonement we are led to conclude as President nelson suggests that  The best is yet to come as we fully turn our hearts and our lives to Jesus Christ. I think that as we place everything on the altar in putting the Saviour at the forefront of our lives. Our love for Him, and our emulation of Him should be evident in all we do and say. It might seem to be a trite car sticker slogan but ‘What would Jesus do?’ should be uppermost in all we do.

Through all of this there should be a golden thread that weaves through every moment of every day- and that is our discipleship of the Lord Jesus Christ. This might be termed the covenant path; but that again, might use an image that conjures up separateness. The golden thread of discipleship suggests how woven into the fabric of our being our relationship with the Lord is. As we love Him, Hear Him and follow Him each day we allow Him to transform us, and all we do, into the best version of ourselves and our actions. I trust in a loving Lord who is willing to take of my offering and make it into what He wants and what is best for me. Christ is the ultimate alchemist- he takes that which is base- meaning everything that we have and are and turns them into gold. He makes so much more of us than we can make of ourselves. Just as he touched the stones in the story of the Jaredites and made them shine, he can touch our lives and make them shine like a city that is set on a hill, reflecting his glory to the world.