DETAILS OF THE ATONEMENT

I got this from a regular on the blog - and a really nice guy:

September 1st 1979 - Zone Conference - It was so very inspiring as you can imagine it would be. President J_____ taught us all so very much and admonished each of us to strive to do only the will of God in all that we do throughout our lives. Then Elder Theodore M. Burton spoke on the difficult yet wondrous mission of Jesus Christ. He spoke in detail on how the Savior suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and the cruelty of the cross the next day. He said that in the Book of Luke it states that an angel from God came to Jesus to comfort him, but Elder Burton stated it does not say what the angel did to comfort Christ. Then Elder Burton told us, “As a witness of Jesus Christ, I will tell you what the angel did, for I know it.” He then went on to explain to us that the angel showed the Savior two visions.

First, he showed Jesus the vision that if He were to fail to take the bitter cup of the wrath of God what would happen to the rest of us. That we would all become angels of Lucifer as the Book of Mormon states, wherein we would become miserable forever. This must have been so horrible to look upon. Then in contrast, the angel showed Jesus in essence the visions of eternity described in section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants, wherein everyone who will be born will be resurrected and all who truly love the Father as Christ did and would come to rely on His, Jesus Christ’s merits through the atonement that He was about to accomplish would receive eternal life. Thus, with His eyes truly opened, Jesus Christ willing submitted Himself totally to the Father’s will and suffered beyond human capacity and comprehension to atone for the sins of each of us to save us all. 

Then as if that weren’t enough, the guards and scribes lead by Judas came to take Jesus away. The cruelty of the Romans was truly brutal. The following day of course, came Calvary.       

Elder Burton said that as the Son of God hung there on the cross that some of the spirit children of the Father were surrounding Him. That perhaps we were even there, seen only by the suffering Jesus, encouraging Him not to give up, urging Him on to finish His mission and save us all.

Elder Burton said that the Father, Elohim, was there too. He said that one by one each of those spirit children had to leave that scene, leaving only God standing before His Only Begotten Son. Then, even the Father had to leave and He withdrew Himself to the farthest part of His Universe and turned away from Jesus. Elder Burton said that at that point the Father wept for His Son, but Jesus Christ, the totally Perfect One, had to know what it was like to be totally on His own. 

Once the complete influence of the Father had been withdrawn, Lucifer and his evil minions appeared around Jesus. All of the very pains of hell were unleashed upon Christ. Every painful, hideous, torturous agony that these vile, evil spirits could possibly inflict upon Jesus they did with demonic glee. Then to top it all off, the pain of Gethsamene returned. Christ was still learning what it meant to be the Only Begotten of the Father.   

That is when Jesus cried out, "My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken me?" Jesus had never been without the Father available to Him but now He was truly alone. How long Christ waited for His answer Elder Burton said we do not know. Then Elder Burton said that Jesus could hear His Father saying unto Him,"Because you, my son, must descend below all things that you might be able to comprehend all things and thus rise above all things." Jesus knew that His earthly mission had been completed, he then cried aloud, "It is finished." Then the Son of God, the Savior of the world, allowed His body and spirit to separate, and thus He died for us all.  

I started to cry as nearly everyone else did at that moment, for all of us were truly touched by Elder Burton's remarks. He looked right at me when bore us his testimony based on perfect knowledge. There was a look in his eyes that touched my soul. Could he have known that I also knew?