Sunday, April 10, 2011

2 Nephi 9:13-14

13  O how great the plan of our God!  For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge shall be perfect.
14  Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness.
2 Nephi 9:13-14 (Emphasis mine)

Jacob is full of praise for God in his sermon - O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! (v8), O how great the goodness of our God who prepareth a way for our escape  (v10), and lastly O how great the plan of our God! (v13).

Through God's wisdom, mercy and grace (the resurrection) we will not become devils, being shut off from the presence of God. 

The goodness of God allows us to escape from the monsters of death and hell; the death of the body and of the spirit.to again become living souls.  We are delivered by the Holy One of Israel.

Finally, the plan of God.  Through this plan, the spirits and bodies of the righteous will be reunited, becoming a living soul once again.  Death is no longer the victor.  The devil will not win. He will be conquered and we will be with God again.  We will be closed with the pure robe of righteousness.

Through this process, Christ is the key.  The atonement makes this all possible.

12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Acts 4:12

8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
Hebrews 5:8-9 (Emphasis mine)

1  MY little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.  And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1 John 2:1 (Emphasis mine)

Elder James Faust said:

"Paul gave a simple explanation for the need of the Atonement: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Jesus Christ was appointed and foreordained to be our Redeemer before the world was formed. With His divine sonship, His sinless life, the shedding of His blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, His excruciating death on the cross and subsequent bodily Resurrection from the grave, He became the author of our salvation and made a perfect Atonement for all mankind."
October 2001 Conference (Emphasis mine)

Elder Earl C. Tingey, Presidency of the Seventy, gave a great example of what it is Christ offers us.

"Sin and the need to repent might be represented by a man who takes a journey. On his back is a large empty bag. From time to time, he picks up a rock, representing the transgression of a law. He places the rock in the bag on his back. Over time, the bag becomes full. It is heavy. The man cannot continue on his journey. He must have a way to empty the bag and remove the rocks. This can be done only by the Savior through the Atonement."
April 2006 Conference (Emphasis mine)

We are all so blessed because of the wisdom, grace, goodness and great plan of God.  Through the resurrection and atonement, we are saved from becoming a devil and spending eternity in torment, suffering an eternal spiritual death.  Instead, they day can come that will be able to enter into the presence of God, participating the joy of the righteous.

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