He Lives! All Glory to His Name!

by Elder Richard G. Scott
Sunday Morning April 2010
(click on title to read entire talk)


I know that I have a lot to still learn about the Atonement. I know that I am not fully using this gift in my life. Elder Scott gave us council below to study the Atonement.

"This Easter, as you remember the Resurrection and the price paid and the gift given through the Atonement, ponder what the scriptures teach of those sacred events. Your personal witness of their reality will be strengthened. They must be more than principles you memorize. They must be woven into the very fiber of your being as a powerful bulwark against the rising tide of abomination that infects our world."


What a powerful testimony:
"Jesus Christ lives. He is our Savior, our Redeemer. He is a glorious, resurrected being. He has the capacity to communicate love that is so powerful, so overwhelming as to surpass the capacity of the human tongue to express adequately. He gave His life to break the bonds of death. His Atonement made fully active the plan of happiness of His Father in Heaven."

"The Atonement gives all the opportunity to overcome the consequences of mistakes made in life." - Do we remember to always apologize and ask forgiveness? Sometimes things seem too big, too wrong and we hide away wallowing in guilt, self-pity ... but that isn't true! We are loved and we can be forgiven ... but it is up to each one of us.


I want to study these three points Elder Scott made further. I hadn't thought of breaking down the Atonement before.
"I believe that it is instructive to try to imagine what the Atonement required of both the Father and His willing Son. Three of the challenges the Savior faced were:

First, an enormous sense of responsibility, for He realized that except it be done perfectly, not one of His Father’s children could return to Him. They would be forever banished from His presence since there would be no way to repent for broken laws and no unclean thing can exist in the presence of God. His Father’s plan would have failed, and each spirit child would have been under the eternal control and torment of Satan.

Second, in His absolutely pure mind and heart, He had to personally feel the consequences of all that mankind would ever encounter, even the most depraved, despicable sins.

Third, He had to endure the vicious attack of Satan’s hordes while physically and emotionally pressed to the limit. Then, for reasons we do not fully know, while at the extremity of His capacity, at the time the Savior most needed succor, His Father allowed Him to shoulder the onerous responsibility with only His own strength and capacity.

I try to imagine what an intensely poignant moment it must have been for our Father in Heaven when the Savior cried out from the cross, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34). I don’t believe Father in Heaven forsook His Son on the cross. I do believe the cry was motivated when that Son felt removed the sustaining support He had always enjoyed from His Father. His Father recognized that the Savior needed to accomplish the Atonement totally and completely on His own, without external support. The Father did not abandon His Son. He made it possible for His perfect Son to win the eternal fruits of the Atonement."

Elder Scott points out that our homes can be a refuge from the world. We need to make the Savior the center of our homes. I know a lot of us say that this is so but if we step back and examine our lives and homes ... could we improve? I know I could. What would our homes be like if we knew the Savior was coming over?

"When the Savior is the center of your home, it is filled with peace and serenity. There is a spirit of calm assurance that pervades the home that is felt by the children and adults alike."

I know my Savior lives!! I am so happy to have this knowledge. I am eternally indebted to Him for the price he paid for me and all of my imperfections.