The Power of Christ's Intercession

Christ “is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25). Through prayer to God, Christ makes intercession for us. These prayers that Christ offers to the Father on our behalf invoke extremely powerful forces and are 100% effective. After Lazarus died, his sister Martha said “unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.” (John 11:21-22). Christ’s prayers are always answered by the Father because he and the Father possess the same mind and spirit. The Lectures on Faith explain it this way:

“The Father and the Son possessing the same mind, the same wisdom, glory, power and fulness: Filling all in all—the Son being filled with the fulness of the Mind, glory and power, or, in other words, the Spirit, glory and power of the Father—possessing all knowledge and glory, and the same kingdom: sitting at the right hand of power, in the express image and likeness of the Father—a Mediator for man—being filled with the fulness of the Mind of the Father, or, in other words, the Spirit of the Father” (Lectures on Faith 5:2)

Christ may invoke the suffering and blood of his atoning sacrifice, which was still fresh on his mind when he gave a revelation to Joseph Smith 1800 years later aand still caused him so much distress that all he could say about it was:

18) Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

19) Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men. (D&C 19:15-19)

In an intercessory prayer, Christ invokes the power of his suffering like this – “Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified” (D&C 45:4). He actually asks the Father to behold his sufferings, death and blood. To behold means to look at, see, watch, or view. When he says a prayer like that, apparently something happens where the Father has to review the suffering of the atoning sacrifice in vision, which by all accounts would not be a pleasant thing to see or behold. After this process of invoking and visually showing his suffering to the Father and reminding him about the purpose of it all and his role in it, Christ then asks the Father to grant “eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God” (D&C 14:7) to us – “Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.” (D&C 45:5).

Below is a beautiful example of an intercessory prayer when Christ was visiting the Nephites after his resurrection. It is an example of an experience rarely recorded in the scriptures where the people Christ was praying for were right there with him, listening to and watching him pray.

14) And it came to pass that when they had knelt upon the ground, Jesus groaned within himself, and said: Father, I am troubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel.

15) And when he had said these words, he himself also knelt upon the earth; and behold he prayed unto the Father, and the things which he prayed cannot be written, and the multitude did bear record who heard him.

16) And after this manner do they bear record: The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father;

17) And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father. (3 Nephi 17:14-17)

The people’s reaction to the prayer (“eye hat never seen, neither hath ear heard …”) seems to indicate that this event is the fulfillment of a prophecy given by Isaiah – “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” (Isaiah 64:4). During his mortal life, Christ prayed for Peter, apparently alone, then later told Peter about the prayer. It seems that Christ was able to foresee (in vision?) challenges that Peter did and would have, so he prayed for what Peter needed to meet those challenges:

31) And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

32) But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. (Luke 22:31-32)

Other times, Christ will offer an intercessory prayer in his role as our advocate in more of a private conversation or council between him and God the Father. The decision of that council may or may not be explicitly made known to us. Here is an example of a time when Christ implied that he had acted as advocate during a council with the Father and the resulting decision of that council – “Lift up your hearts and be glad, for I am in your midst, and am your advocate with the Father; and it is his good will to give you the kingdom.” (D&C 29:5).

 
From the aforementioned verses, we can conclude that Christ acts as our advocate in a variety of situations. Those situations include when we sin and then repent, when Christ foresees a difficult challenge in our future, when we are ready to advance to the next level of spiritual progression, and when we are ready to be given the ultimate gift of eternal life.

Mercy's Claim

Although we sin because of influences that reside in our subconscious minds, we are still responsible to make things right. We are agents to ourselves, (see Moses 6:56), which is somewhat of an odd phrase. An agent is someone who represents someone else and acts on their behalf. To be an agent to yourself, or to act on behalf of yourself, seems to be a strange idea, unless you consider the part of you that is the agent to be your conscious self and that your conscious self acts as an agent on behalf of your entire being, conscious (which is 5% of you) and subconscious (which is 95% of you). The conscious part of us is responsible for what happens in the subconscious. When subconscious forces push us to sin or to do evil, the conscious part of us may make efforts to repair the evil that has been done. This process is called repentance and first requires faith in Christ, because it is a joint effort between us and Christ to heal and repair the sin that we commit. The great prophet-teacher Amulek explained how this works:

14) And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal.

15) And thus he shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance.

16) And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice; therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought about the great and eternal plan of redemption. (Alma 34:14-16)

Again, this drama of evil desires, justice, remorse of conscience, faith, repentance, mercy, and peace of conscience is all internal. The forces of justice and mercy already exist within us because the Spirit “is given to abide in you … and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment” (Moses 6:61). The Nephites who listened to and responded to King Benjamin’s sermon give us a good example of this drama playing out:

1) And now, it came to pass that when king Benjamin had made an end of speaking the words which had been delivered unto him by the angel of the Lord, that he cast his eyes round about on the multitude, and behold they had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them.

2) And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men. 

[The justice of God had caused them to feel some sort of remorse of conscience, which they described as “the fear of the Lord” and also viewing “themselves in their own carnal state”; they didn’t want to feel that way, so they took action so that Christ could help make them feel good again] 

3) And it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them. 

[Note that they asked for the atoning blood of Christ to be applied to them and then it was applied by means of the Spirit of the Lord]

The scriptures hint at reciprocity of action between the penitent soul and mercy. On one hand, “mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement” (Alma 42:23), as if mercy actively reaches out to claim the penitent. On the other hand “whosoever repenteth, and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins” (Alma 12:34), as if the penitent must actively reach out to claim mercy. In a revelation to Joseph Smith, the Lord talked about himself as “Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, the Great I Am, whose arm of mercy hath atoned for your sins” (D&C 29:1). Because the Lord identified mercy with his arm, this imagery of the Lord reaching out to us with his arm of mercy and us reaching out to grab hold and claim that mercy is apt. This reciprocity of action where the Lord offers a gift and we actively receive it is explained in this verse from the Doctrine and Covenants – “For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.” (D&C 88:33). Moroni explained it this way – “And again I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift” (Moroni 10:30). The symbolism of this reciprocity of action is captured when we take the sacrament. The Deacon extends his arm holding the tray of bread or water as if he was Christ extending his arm of mercy and then we reach out with our own hand to lay hold on the gift offered.

The Cause of the Children of Men

As explained in a previous post, Christ pleads our cause, and our cause is both our motive for not keeping the law and the ensuing legal dispute that the justice of God brings against us. Let us look at our cause as being our motive for our actions.

The scriptures talk about the mind and the heart, which are our mental and emotional cognition and processes. The mind is our consciousness, or conscious mind, and the heart is our subconscious. Nephi understood that we have a subconscious part of our psyche and he spoke to his own subconscious, calling it by the names of ‘soul’ and ‘heart’, with his conscious mind, as if he were trying to program his subconscious mind – “Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.” (2 Nephi 4:28). Nephi may have learned this method of speaking to the subconscious from the Psalms. A few of the Psalms speak to the subconscious, such as this one – “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” (Psalm 103:1).

We can also think of the conscious mind as our will power. Psychologists and other scientists have found that the subconscious mind controls between 85 and 99 percent of our behavior, while the conscious mind or our will power only controls the remaining 1 to 15 percent. This is what one scientist has said about the will power of the conscious mind and the subconscious mind:

“In contrast to the power of the conscious mind, the subconscious mind is a million times more powerful an information processor. Also, as neuroscientists emphasize, the conscious mind provides 5% or less of the cognitive activity during the day. Ninety-five to ninety-nine percent of our behavior is directly derived from the subconscious. Hence the use of the word ‘power’ in the concept of will power, it takes significant effort for the conscious mind to keep tabs on the subconscious behavior. Positive thinking is primarily effective if the subconscious supports the conscious intention.” (Mind over Genes: The New Biology, by Bruce Lipton)

 What this means is that our cause, or our motives for action, are perhaps 95% subconscious. We may not even consciously understand all of the reasons for our behavior, including our sinful behavior. This is what Emeritus Seventy Elder Enzio Busche said about this concept:

 

“This war [for righteousness and truth] is a war that has to be fought by all of Heavenly Father’s children, whether they know about it or not. But without a keen knowledge of the plan of salvation, and without the influence of the divine Light of Christ to bring us awareness, this war is being fought subconsciously, and therefore its battlefronts are not even known to us, and we have no chance to win. Wars in the inner self that are fought subconsciously, with unknown battlefronts, lead to defeats which also hurt us subconsciously. These defeats are reflected in our conscious life as expressions of misery, such as a lack of self-confidence, lack of happiness and joy, lack of faith and testimony, or as overreactions of our subconscious self, which we see then as pride, arrogance, or in other forms of misbehavior—even as acts of cruelty and indecency.” (Truth is the Issue, General Conference 1993 - https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1993/10/truth-is-the-issue?lang=eng)

Elder Busche also said that “without Christ, this war within us is lost.” Christ works with our subconscious and conscious minds, or with our hearts and minds. He knows everything about our subconscious selves, much of which we don’t even understand ourselves. He is the advocate of our conscious motives and our subconscious motives. The subconscious heart is the battleground where the devil often fights against us and God “and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil continually.” (Moroni 7:12). Jesus told the Nephites during his post-resurrection visit to them that the devil “stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger” (3 Nephi 11:29).

Our subconscious hearts are not negatively affected solely by the devil. We are told about “the pride of your hearts” (Mormon 8:36), the “fears in your hearts” (D&C 67:3), and advised to “let not thine heart envy” (Proverbs 23:17). Pride, envy, fear and anger can cause our heart to not be “right in the sight of God” (Acts 8:21). These negative emotions and attitudes, along with “the influence from the other part of me, ‘the flesh,’ with its selfish desires and foolishness”, which are contrary to “the original ‘real me,’ the child of God, in its innocence and potential”, (Truth is the Issue) can motivate and cause us to commit sin.

In addition to subconscious negative emotions and attitudes and the subconscious desires of the body, our hearts can be detrimentally affected by the poor lifestyle choices of our ancestors – “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation” (Numbers 14:18). The devil also seeks to negatively influence entire cultures at the national or societal level – “for Satan is abroad in the land, and he goeth forth deceiving the nations” (D&C 52:14). He also seeks to negatively influence cultures at the family level, which gives him power to deceive us – “And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.” (D&C 93:39). Our societal and family cultures have a direct impact on our subconscious, as well as conscious, motives for our behavior. The devil and his servants may also get into our hearts, causing all kinds of damage. Aaron, one of King Mosiah’s sons who went on a mission to convert the Lamanites to the Lord, taught King Lamoni’s father the gospel. His response to hearing the gospel was to ask “what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day?” (Alma 22:15). The old king of the Lamanites recognized that he had a wicked spirit or devil dwelling in his breast or subconscious mind and wanted it removed. Part of Christ’s mission is to “cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.” (Mosiah 3:6).

Christ’s saving knowledge includes knowledge about all of these negative influences on our subconscious motives. To summarize, these detrimental subconscious influences, or desires to do evil within our hearts, include persistent negative emotions and attitudes, the desires of the flesh, ancestral curses, mainstream culture, and evil spirits. These forces and desires are not a product of the true, divine nature of our spirits. The apostle Paul explained the inner struggle between his innate, good nature and the forces of sin this way – “Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” (Romans 7:17). (Note that he describes sin as if it were an intelligent entity or force that causes wrong action as opposed to the wrong action itself.) The intelligent force of sin gets into us early in life – “And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying: Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good.” (Moses 6:55). These evil influences are also described as the evil treasure of our hearts – “and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil” (Luke 6:45).

Not every subconscious influence on our behavior is negative, detrimental, or evil. “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good” (Luke 6:45). It is possible to have a heart that is right before the Lord (see D&C 39:8). A heart that has negative influences in it may be healed by the power of Christ, because he was anointed specifically to “to bind up the brokenhearted” (Isaiah 61:1) and to heal “all that were oppressed of the devil” (Acts 10:38). Christ defends us because the reasons that we commit sin are often subconscious and not a product of the true, divine nature of our spirits. Through a combination of his power and our faith and repentance, we may experience a mighty change in our hearts so that we have no more desire to do evil (see Mosiah 5:2). Remorse of conscience is removed and replaced with joy and “peace of conscience” (Mosiah 4:3).

The Law in our Hearts

This drama of breaking the law of God and feeling the punishment of remorse of conscience is all in our inner self. The law of God is also in our inner self. “[T]he Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world” (D&C 84:46) and the Spirit of Jesus Christ and light are the same thing (D&C 84:45). This “light which is in all things . . . is the law by which all things are governed” (D&C 88:13). So we have the law in us because of the spirit or light of Christ that we are all given when we are born into this life. Even though we may not have ever been formally and explicitly taught the law, it is still in our psyche, or written on our hearts, so that we can feel or sense what the law is. Paul noticed this about the Gentiles of his day:

13) For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

14) For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

15) Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another (Romans 2:13-15)

 
Enoch explained that the Spirit “is given to abide in you … and hath all power according to wisdom, mercy, truth, justice, and judgment” (Moses 6:61), implying that the justice of God, which brings a remorse of conscience, is in you. It seems that there are various levels of God’s law that are written in our hearts. A basic level of the law is given to us at birth. As we advance in the gospel, greater and more difficult levels of the law are successively given to us. The prophet Jacob quoted Isaiah talking about people who had advanced far enough in the gospel that they “[knew] righteousness”, saying, “Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart I have written my law, fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.” (2 Nephi 8:7). There are three levels of spirit and law described in Doctrine and Covenants 88. The three levels are, not surprisingly, called Telestial, Terrestrial, and Celestial (D&C 88:28-39).

The Justice of God

If Christ is our advocate in a spiritual court of law, then who, or what, is our accuser? Although the devil is called “the accuser of our brethren” (Revelation 12:10), he is more of a false accuser. The word ‘devil’ actually comes from a Greek word meaning ‘false accuser’ or ‘slanderer’. The apostle John tells us that Christ is our “advocate with the Father” (1 John 2:1), meaning that the Father is, in some way, our accuser. Abinadi said that Christ stands between us and justice (Mosiah 15:9). Alma the Younger explained that this justice is “the justice of God in the punishment of the sinner” (Alma 42:1), which brings “remorse of conscience unto man” (Alma 42:18). The justice of God, which brings remorse of conscience to those who act contrary to the law of God, is actually a gift from God to let us know when we have sinned and that we need to return to the way of righteousness. Remorse of conscience is a fore-taste to the suffering that we will endure in the next life, if we do not return to the path of the Lord. In a revelation to Joseph Smith and Martin Harris, the Lord explained this concept:

20) Wherefore, I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit. (D&C 19:20)

If we do not repent after committing sin and feeling remorse of conscience through the gift of the justice of God, and remain in that state until the end of this life, then “the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever.” (Mosiah 2:38).

Our Advocate with the Father

By virtue of his righteousness (priesthood and temple correctness) and atoning sacrifice, Christ has power to intercede with God for us, or to be our advocate. But what does that mean? Let’s first take a look at two different passages of scripture that talk about Christ’s role as advocate:

28) For he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth all those who have faith in him; and they who have faith in him will cleave unto every good thing; wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men; and he dwelleth eternally in the heavens. (Moroni 7:28)

3) Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—

4) Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;

5) Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life. (D&C 45:3-5)

Both of those passages tell us that Christ advocates or pleads our cause with God the Father. In order to understand what that means, we ought to define some terms. An advocate is like a defense attorney who uses arguments to defend someone in a court of law. This implies that we are on trial as criminals. Actually, we are on trial partly because of the fall of Adam – “and because man became fallen they were cut off from the presence of the Lord.” (2 Nephi 9:6) – and partly due to our own sins. ‘Plead’ is another legal term. It means to argue a claim in court and declare whether the defendant is either guilty as charged or not guilty. Christ as our advocate will plead or give reasons why we are not guilty. The legal term ‘cause’ means ‘lawsuit’. The word ‘cause’ also means ‘motive’. Both definitions work here because Christ acts as our advocate to argue why we should not be punished according to our legal dispute and according to our motives for not fully living the law.

Christ's Knowledge

Through the process of the atoning sacrifice in the Garden of Gethsemane and perhaps also while on the cross, Christ gained all of the knowledge necessary to spiritually heal us and teach us what we must do to be sealed up to eternal life. Isaiah explained, “by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.” (Isaiah 53:11). Alma explained that Christ would take on himself our infirmities and sins in order to gain the knowledge necessary to deliver us: 

12) And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

13) Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me. (Alma 7:12-13)

 

In a revelation to Joseph Smith, Christ explained that he “knoweth the weakness of man and how to succor them who are tempted.” (D&C 62:1). Peter taught that “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations” (2 Peter 2:9). From this small sample of scriptures, we see that the knowledge that Christ gained through his suffering includes:

§  The knowledge of how to succor and deliver us in our infirmities
§  The knowledge of how to deliver us from our temptations
§  The knowledge of how to justify us

But what does it mean to be justified? The words ‘justify’ and ‘righteous’ in Isaiah 53:11 quoted above both come from the same Hebrew root word ‘zedek’, which is typically translated as ‘righteous’ or ‘righteousness’. According to ancient Hebrew scholar Jeff Benner, the word ‘zedek’ means “one who remains on the path. The path is the course through life which God has outlined for us in his word.” (http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/27_righteous.html). I would define “The Path” as the series of ordinances that you need to receive, covenants with God that you need to make, laws and commandments that you need to keep and trials that need to successfully fulfill until you are brought into the presence of God, speak with him face to face, and receive the promise of eternal life. LDS scholar LeGrand Baker has this to say about ‘zedek’:

Zedek was a path that did not bend, a principle of action that was in strict conformity with the laws of rectitude, priesthood propriety, and truth… Both words, zedek and Zadok, are related to the Israelite temple. Their translations, “righteous” and “righteousness,” have to do with High Priestly authority, rectitude, and propriety. The words assert that one has and will continue to do the right things, with the right authority, in the right place, at the right time, using the right words, and dressed the right way, and be personally clean and worthy. One may be described as a “follower of righteousness” if one followed the correct procedures in performing or receiving priesthood and ancient temple ordinances and covenants. One might “obtain righteousness” in consequence of the rectitude of another’s actions. And, most importantly, one might be a further “follower of righteousness” by living according to one’s ordinances and covenants, and then claiming the blessings promised therein… “Righteousness” might simply be defined as “temple and priesthood correctness.” (Who Shall Ascend into The Hill of The Lord (2009), p. 281-283).

Now when we read that “by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many” (Isaiah 53:11), we can understand that ‘to justify’ means to put someone back on the path of temple and priesthood correctness towards the presence of God and eternal life.

Because of Christ’s righteousness, he is able to make us righteous. He is righteous because he lived according to his ordinances and covenants, never deviating, and then claimed the blessings promised therein. He is able to justify us or make us righteous and return us to “the paths of righteousness” (Psalm 23:3) because he bore our iniquities (see Isaiah 53:11). The prophet Lehi understood that Christ’s own righteousness gave him power to justify, make righteous, or redeem others when he said to his son Jacob, “I know that thou art redeemed, because of the righteousness of thy Redeemer; for thou hast beheld that in the fulness of time he cometh to bring salvation unto men. And thou hast beheld in thy youth his glory; wherefore, thou art blessed even as they unto whom he shall minister in the flesh” (2 Nephi 2:3-4).

In the ancient Near East, the verb ‘to know’ (and its noun form, ‘knowledge’) was sometimes used as a technical legal, treaty, and covenant term. According to LDS scholars Stephen Ricks and RoseAnn Benson, “In covenant language, to know indicates God's knowledge, primarily in reference to people, with care for those whom he knows; knowledge of God, that is, an understanding of where one stands in relation to God; and ignorance of God, meaning failure to practice the filial relationship in which they [humankind] stand with God. … To know … conveyed terms of the treaty relationship as well as its obligations. Old Testament covenants use the verb to know in the very same senses, with the added dimension of intimacy.” (http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1399&index=6). When we talk about Christ’s saving knowledge, we are talking not only about his intimate knowledge of our sins, temptations, infirmities, weakness, as well as our strengths, but we are also talking about a covenant.

Now we can understand the statement “by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many” in a more meaningful way. We can read that statement in this way – by his knowledge, covenant to save and intimate understanding of their weaknesses shall my servant who never deviated until he fulfilled his path of temple and priesthood correctness help others who lose their way to return to their path of temple and priesthood correctness so that they may gain eternal life.

Psychological Affects of Suffering

When Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah were out trying to destroy the church that then existed among the Nephites, an angel appeared to them and told them to stop. After that experience, they all changed their lives and chose to be disciples of Christ. The prophet Mormon made these comments about how their formerly sinful lives and experience with an angel changed them:

3) Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.

4) And thus did the Spirit of the Lord work upon them, for they were the very vilest of sinners. And the Lord saw fit in his infinite mercy to spare them… (Mosiah 28:3-4)

They had experienced some portion of “endless torment”. The Lord worked on them through his spirit, giving them thoughts of how others might also suffer such torment. They could not stand those thoughts and were thus motivated to teach people the gospel and help them convert to the Lord so that they would not have to suffer. I believe that this is a type of Christ’s suffering. He suffered endless torment and came away from that experience not wanting anyone else to have to suffer like he did. He ministers to us in various ways so that we may avoid such suffering. Christ seems quite adamant about us avoiding the same endless torment that he experienced by repenting and living the gospel:

15) Therefore I command you to repent—repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.

16) For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

17) But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I; (D&C 19:15-17)

In Alma the Younger’s case, he experienced not only the bitterest of suffering, but also the sweetest of joy. For him, the thought of others receiving joy was at least as motivating for him to preach salvation as the thought of helping others avoid suffering:

21) Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.

24) Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. (Alma 36:21, 24)

In a revelation to Joseph Smith, Christ explained that he is motivated not only by helping people avoid suffering but also to bring them joy:

10) Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

11) For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.

12) And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.

13) And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth! (D&C 18:10-13)

The joy that Christ feels when a soul repents is not Christ’s joy alone, but it is the joy that is in that soul. It is joy that they share together.

The Travail of Childbirth as a Type of the Atonement

Isaiah prophesied about the suffering of the atonement and says that, among other pains, it would be like the pain (and joy) of childbirth. The scriptures use the word ‘travail’ to describe the painful process of birth.  Isaiah said, “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and‍ shall be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11). The travail of Christ’s soul was the suffering of the atonement, which was necessary so that our hearts could be changed and we could be “born of him and … become his sons and his daughters” (Mosiah 5:7).

The Lord revealed to Isaiah that he was like a mother, but even more compassionate and thoughtful – “Can a woman‍ forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget‍ thee.” (Isaiah 49:15). If Christ compares himself to a mother and each of us to his child, then he implies that he experienced the painful process of the atonement to birth us as “new creatures”, “born of God, changed‍ from [our] carnal and fallen‍ state, to a state of righteousness”, and “unless [we] do this, [we] can in nowise‍ inherit the kingdom of God.” (Mosiah 27:25-26).

Of all the symbols and types of Christ’s suffering, the type of a mother in labor is to me the most meaningful because it shows how personal, intimate and loving Christ’s work of the atonement was and is. Like a pregnant woman before giving birth to her first child, Christ didn’t know the extent of the pain that he would have to endure. Like a soon-to-be mother, he had an idea of the pain involved and was willing to suffer it “because of his loving kindness‍ and his long-suffering‍ towards the children of men.” (1 Nephi 19:9).

Gethsemane, The Oil Press

The atoning sacrifice of Christ began in the Garden of Gethsemane. The word ‘gethsemane’ is of Hebrew origin, and means ‘oil press’. At the time of Christ’s life, olive oil was pressed out of the olives by crushing them with a large, wheel-like stone on a stone basin, as depicted in the picture below:



When the oil is first pressed, it is a brownish-red color, but it later turns into the typical golden-green color of olive oil. The symbolism here is that Christ was like an olive, the crushing stone was the sins of the world, and the red-brown oil oozing out of the olive was the blood of Christ that was like sweat coming out of every pore, falling down to the ground (see Luke 22:44). The atoning blood-oil of Christ can be applied by God to us, or perhaps we can even say that God anoints us with it, in order to forgive our sins, purify our hearts, and fill us with joy (see Mosiah 4:2-3).

Abraham and Isaac as Type of the Atoning Sacrifice

The Book of Mormon prophet Jacob tells us that when Abraham went “in the wilderness to be obedient unto the commands of God in offering up his son Isaac” that it was “a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son.” (Jacob 4:5).  Here is the story of Abraham and Isaac:

3) And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

4) Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

5) And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

6) And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.

7) And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

8) And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

9) And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

10) And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11) And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.

12) And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

13) And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. (Genesis 22:3-13)

The main symbolic elements in this story are Abraham, Isaac, the wood, the knife, and the fire. Here is my key to understanding the drama of Abraham and Isaac:

§  Abraham (whose name means “Father of Many”) represents God the Father
§  Isaac represents Christ (the meaning of Isaac’s name, ‘laughter’, should tell us something about Christ’s personality)
§  Isaac is like Abraham’s sacrificial lamb, or the lamb of Abraham and Christ is the “Lamb of God” (1 Nephi 11:21)
§  The wood represents the sins of all mankind, which God intends to burn away; “. . . then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost” (2 Nephi 31:17)
§  Abraham gathering the wood and chopping it up represents God the Father gathering the sins, pains, infirmities, and afflictions of all mankind prior to loading them onto Jesus
§  The action when Abraham “laid [the wood] upon Isaac his son,” represents the action of God when “the Lord [God the Father] hath laid on him [Christ] the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6); this happened in the Garden of Gethsemane – “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane … My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death … and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” (Matthew 26:36-39)
§  The knife represents truth, which Jesus equated with the word of God in John 17:17 (“[God’s] word is truth”); and “the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit” (Hebrews 4:12); and “the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center” (1 Nephi 16:2); in other words, the knife represents the guilt or remorse of conscience that we feel when we sin or break one of God’s laws
§  The fire represents the presence of God; at the final judgment, those who have been evil “are consigned to an awful view of their own guilt and abominations, which doth cause them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of misery and endless torment … And their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flames are unquenchable” (Mosiah 3:25, 27).

Like Alma the Younger and Jonah, Isaac was rescued from the worst suffering. However, God the Father was required to forsake his son (“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me” – Matthew 27:46 and Psalm 22:1) and let him finish the bitter cup, rather than answer his plea to remove the cup (D&C 19:18-19).

In the Belly of the Whale

Several years ago I read Psalm 69, which is a Messianic Psalm, meaning that it is a prophecy of the life of the Messiah (Jesus Christ). That particular Psalm can be identified as a Messianic Psalm because of the following two phrases: “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” (Psalm 69:21, fulfilled as recorded in Matthew 27:34), and “the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up” (Psalm 69:9, fulfilled as recorded in John 2:14-17). I was struck with the first several verses of that Psalm, which seem to be a prayer for relief that Christ would say while in the Garden of Gethsemane and/or on the cross, in which he would compare his suffering to drowning in water and mud:

1) Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.

2) I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

3) I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.

4) They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.

5) O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.

14) Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

15) Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

17) And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.

18) Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.

20) Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

21) They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. (Psalm 69:1-21)

However, verse 5 talks about “my foolishness” and “my sins”, which didn’t make sense to me if this were Christ’s prayer, because he has declared that he “did no sin” (D&C 45:4). It wasn’t until many years later that the meaning of that passage came to me. Those verses are indeed the prayer of Christ while suffering during the atoning sacrifice. In verse 5 he talks about his sins because he had so fully taken on our sins and taken ownership for them that they were, in that moment, his. Paul explained it this way – “For [God] hath made [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Jonah’s suffering in the belly of the whale was mentioned in a previous post and linked to Christ’s suffering during the atoning sacrifice. Here is part of Jonah’s own account of his experience in the belly of the whale:

 

3) For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.

4) Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; …

5) The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

6) I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever … (Jonah 2:3-6)

 
Jonah’s suffering also gives insight into the suffering that Christ experienced. Notice how he uses the same imagery of drowning in deep water as Psalm 69 does. My conclusion from Psalm 69 and Jonah 2 is that Christ’s suffering included feeling as if he were drowning in a sea of filthiness or sin that had an acidic effect (like the stomach acid of the whale that swallowed Jonah) where the water penetrated deep into his soul. For Christ, it was like a baptism in sin. Like Alma, Jonah was given relief from his suffering – “… out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice… thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.” (Jonah 2:2, 6, & 10). However, when Christ was in agony, he “looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but [he] found none.” (Psalm 69:20).

Alma the Younger’s Suffering as a Type of Christ's Suffering During the Atonement

From John Taylor’s statement, “through that atonement and the power of the Priesthood associated therewith”, we learn that the blood and atoning sacrifice of Christ provides power to the priesthood. Alma the Younger understood the connection between the atoning blood of Christ and holding the priesthood – “thus this holy calling being prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not harden their hearts, being in and through the atonement of the Only Begotten Son … Therefore they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb.” (Alma 13:5 and 11). In addition, Enoch taught that “by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified” (Moses 6:60). A little later in Moses 6, he went on to explain how Adam went through all three of those steps dealing with water, spirit and then blood:

64) And it came to pass, when the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.

[Adam kept the commandment “by the water” when he was baptized]

65) And thus he was baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit, and became quickened in the inner man.

66) And he heard a voice out of heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever;

[Adam was justified “by the Spirit” when “the Spirit of God descended upon him”]

67) And thou art after the order of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to all eternity.

68) Behold, thou art one in me, a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. Amen. (Moses 6:64-68)

[Adam was sanctified “by the blood” when he was ordained after the Order of God, which is the priesthood, and became a “son of God”]

Understanding the suffering that Christ endured during the atoning sacrifice will help us understand the power behind the priesthood. We will look at men in the scriptures who suffered as a type of Christ’s suffering and at other scriptures that explain what his suffering entailed.

The scriptures tell us that Christ “suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.” (2 Nephi 9:21). They explain further that “he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death” (Mosiah 3:7). Although Christ suffered more than any man can suffer, I have wondered what passage or passages in the scriptures describe the greatest pain suffered by anyone other than Christ. Understanding that would give some insight into the suffering of Christ. I have found that the suffering that Alma the Younger describes is the greatest pain and suffering that anyone other than Christ has experienced recorded in the scriptures. After “seeking to destroy the church of God” (Alma 36:6), an angel appeared to him and told him to stop. He describes his subsequent suffering in Alma 36:

12) But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.

13) Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.

14) Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.

15) Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.

16) And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.

17) And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.

18) Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.

21) Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. … (Alma 36:12-21)

Alma describes his suffering with phrases such as racked with eternal torment, harrowed to the greatest degree, tormented with the pains of hell, inexpressible horror (at the thought of coming into the presence of God), gall of bitterness, encircled by the everlasting chains of death, and nothing so exquisite and bitter. In Mosiah 27:29 we also learn that his suffering included the bonds of iniquity and the darkest abyss. In addition, he essentially says that pain was so great that he wanted to have his mind, consciousness, spirit, intelligence, identity, body and soul annihilated or extinct, rather than to go into the presence of God. He says that he was in this state for three days and three nights, which is interesting because of what Jesus said here – “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40). The three days and three nights of pain link Alma’s suffering to Christ’s time in the spirit world after his suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross. Therefore, I believe that Alma’s suffering was a type of Christ’s suffering.

We already understand that Christ suffered the pain of all men, which would include the pain that Alma suffered. We also understand that if man suffered what Christ did, he would have physically died from it and possibly even had his spirit disintegrated. What is it that Christ suffered that was beyond what Alma suffered? Alma tells us that the most painful part of his suffering was due to the thought of coming into the presence of God while in his sins, but he didn’t have to experience that. It seems that what Alma feared to experience but didn’t and what Christ actually did experience was being brought into the presence of God for final judgment. Alma described the experience of going into the final judgment unprepared:

12) And Amulek hath spoken plainly concerning death, and being raised from this mortality to a state of immortality, and being brought before the bar of God, to be judged according to our works.

13) Then if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned.

14) For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.

15) But this cannot be; we must come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his might, majesty, and dominion, and acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance.

16) And now behold, I say unto you then cometh a death, even a second death, which is a spiritual death; then is a time that whosoever dieth in his sins, as to a temporal death, shall also die a spiritual death; yea, he shall die as to things pertaining unto righteousness.

17) Then is the time when their torments shall be as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever; and then is the time that they shall be chained down to an everlasting destruction, according to the power and captivity of Satan, he having subjected them according to his will.

18) Then, I say unto you, they shall be as though there had been no redemption made; for they cannot be redeemed according to God’s justice; and they cannot die, seeing there is no more corruption. (Alma 12:12-18)

Christ describes the suffering of the wicked after they are resurrected and brought to final judgment in this revelation to Joseph Smith found in Doctrine and Covenants 19:

15) Therefore I command you to repent—repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.

16) For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

17) But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

18) Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink—

19) Nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men. (D&C 19:15-19)

In the next verse, Christ explains the “least degree” of suffering that men can experience – “Wherefore, I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit.” (D&C 19:20). If that is the smallest or least degree of suffering, then keep in mind that Alma experienced being “harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.” (Alma 36:12).

The difference between Christ suffering the final judgment of the unrepentant and the wicked suffering the final judgment is that Christ suffered it while still mortal and vulnerable to physical death, but the wicked will suffer it after becoming immortal. Christ seems to link the suffering that he experienced to actually entering into God’s presence when he was unclean while bearing our sins – “And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.” (3 Nephi 27:19). He can wash us in his blood so that we may enter into God’s kingdom because he suffered the pain of entering into God’s kingdom as an unclean being and subsequently recovered and healed from it on our behalf.

 
Alma found relief from his suffering after he “cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me” (Alma 36:18) and “the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning” (Mosiah 27:28). However, for Christ “there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.” (Isaiah 63:5).

Sources of Christ's Power

As explained earlier, we know that Christ had priesthood power because “God was with him” (Acts  10:38). Christ’s atoning and saving power was given to him from God. Christ had priesthood power from before the creation – “I was with the Father [a declaration of having priesthood power] from the beginning” (3 Nephi 9:15). Even before he was born, God had given Christ this saving power and Christ was proficient at exercising it. The Book of Mormon prophet Helaman told his sons in about 30 B.C., “And [Christ] hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem [his people] from their sins because of repentance” (Helaman 5:11). This power is known as “the power of the Redeemer” (Helaman 5:11). Not only had God given Christ this power, but he mentored and prepared him to use it before the creation of the earth. When Alma (the Elder) was baptizing in the waters of Mormon, the last line of the baptismal prayer that he used was “may [God] grant unto you eternal life, through the redemption of Christ, whom he has prepared from the foundation‍ of the world.” (Mosiah 18:13).

During his mortal ministry, Christ said “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (John 5:26). This life is another description of his power to redeem. Although he had this life and power, he still had to be aligned with his Father to use it – “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” (John 14:10). The reason that God gave Christ “power over all flesh” was so “that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him” (John 17:2).

The prophet Abinadi further explained how Christ obtained power, which was by setting aside his own will and doing the will of the Father by performing the atonement:

7) Yea, even so he shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father.

8) And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men— (Mosiah 15:7-8)

To summarize, God the Father gave Christ priesthood power to redeem before the creation of the world and prepared him for his mission as Savior. Christ was able to fully exercise this power after man was on the earth and before he was born into mortality and performed the atoning sacrifice. However, it was through the atoning sacrifice that God was able to fully give Christ his power. Although Christ has been given all this power, he still has to be aligned with his Father to exercise it.

Peace, It Is Well

The ultimate step of Christ’s ministry described in the Aaronic blessing is to “give thee peace.” The word ‘peace’ comes from the Hebrew word ‘shalom’. The word ‘shalom’ also means ‘welfare’. When The Book of Mormon talks about the welfare of the soul (as in 2 Nephi 32:9, Enos 1:9, 2 Nephi 6:3, Alma 6:6, Moroni 6:5, and Mosiah 25:30, among others), it is very likely coming from the Hebrew word ‘shalom’ and refers to the ultimate step in Christ’s ministry to fully sanctify us. In 2 Kings 4:26, the word ‘shalom’ was translated as ‘it is well’. If you think about the presentation of LDS temple endowment ceremony, then you may recall hearing the phrase ‘it is well’, who said it, and why. This is one of the most important declarations that God can make about a person’s life. For example, when a group of Lamanite prison guards repented and cried to God, they heard the voice of God declare  to them “Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved” (Helaman 5:47). If we had the record in Hebrew, it is very likely that God would have declared “Shalom, shalom, etc.”. So God essentially declared to them, “It is well”. The welfare of the soul is that God declares “Shalom”, “Peace”, or “It is well” to you or about you. He declares “Shalom” after hearing the report about your faith, “For by [faith] the elders obtained a good report.” (Hebrews 11:2).

Jesus started the Sermon on the Mount with the beatitudes (blessed are the …). The beatitudes describe progressive states of spiritual development. The state after being pure in heart and seeing God (Matthew 5:8), which is quite an advanced state in itself, is to be a peacemaker and to be “called the children of God.” (Matthew 5:9). A peacemaker is someone who has received peace, or to whom God has declared “It is well”, and then ministers to others so that they may also reach the same state of spiritual development. Melchizedek apparently was quite adept at mentoring others through the process to be given peace – “And now, Melchizedek was a priest of [the order of the Son of God]; therefore he obtained peace in Salem, and was called the Prince of peace.” (JST Genesis 14:33). Abraham desired “also to be . . . a prince of peace” (Abraham 1:2) to bring others to such a spiritual standing. Isaiah prophesied about priesthood ministers “that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace” (Isaiah 52:7) and that Christ would be “The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Abinadi gave his testimony of the Peace of Christ – “For O how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that is the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord, who has redeemed his people; yea, him who has granted salvation unto his people” (Mosiah 15:18). This is the ministry of the priesthood, to bring others to peace.

In his epistle to the Colossians, Paul said, “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:14-15). Paul implies that you first receive charity and then you receive “the peace of God”. Charity is a prerequisite for peace.

Christ's Mission Described in the Aaronic Blessing

Not long after Moses and the children of Israel constructed their tabernacle, Moses explained several religious practices to the children of Israel. One of those was what is called the Aaronic blessing, which is a priestly blessing that Aaron and his sons were to give to the people on a regular basis. Although that blessing does not say what Jesus was anointed to do, it still gives good insight into his mission and ministry. Moses received the words of the blessing by revelation. Here is the Aaronic blessing found in Numbers 6:

24) The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:

25) The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

26) The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

Jeff Benner, a Christian scholar who has extensively studied and written about ancient Hebrew, understands and translates the Aaronic blessing this way (http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/12_blessing.html):

Yahweh will kneel before you presenting gifts and will guard you with a hedge of protection,

Yahweh will illuminate the wholeness of his being toward you bringing order and he will beautify you,

Yahweh will lift up his wholeness of being and look upon you and he will set in place all you need to be whole and complete.

When Jehovah, who is Jesus Christ, gave Moses the revelation with the words of the Aaronic blessing, he explained that the Aaronic blessing is a means of putting his name on the people – “And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:27). In Hebrew, the word ‘name’ also means ‘character’. So the Aaronic blessing describes how Christ ministers to people in order to put his name on them, or to give them his character, which is “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). The Aaronic blessing has three parts, which describe how Christ progressively ministers to us. The first step level of ministration is that Christ will bless us and keep us, or help us turn from a worldly, or Telestial, lifestyle to a basic Christian lifestyle. This is fairly equivalent to someone being “converted unto the Lord” (Alma 23:6), getting baptized, and becoming an active member of the church. The second level of Christ’s ministry is to assist us to get to the point of living a steady, honorable life, or living “the law of a terrestrial kingdom” (D&C 88:21). The third level of Christ’s ministry is to assist and enable us to gain the knowledge and make the sacrifices necessary to live “the law of a celestial kingdom” (D&C 88:22) and “overcome by faith, and [be] sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true.” (D&C 76:53).

Anointing and Priesthood Mission of Jesus Christ

Not long ago I opened my scriptures to study and as I opened them, I asked God to direct me to a passage that would give me a new insight into priesthood. I read John 3:2 – “[Nicodemus] came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” From this verse I learned that Christ acted within his priesthood by being a teacher and doing miracles. Specifically, Christ was a “teacher come from God”, meaning that he taught doctrine with the power and authority of God. However, the Spirit impressed me most with the phrase “except God be with him.” I realized that the reason that Christ had such power was because God was with him, because Christ was perfectly aligned with his Father’s will. Such alignment allows for a full flow of the Spirit and priesthood power. I also learned that when the scriptures use a phrase such as “God was with him” or where God says “I am with thee”, they are talking about someone who is acting in the priesthood with real spiritual power.

Another scripture that is closely related to John 3:2 is Acts 10:38, which adds information about Christ’s priesthood mission. The two scriptures are tied together by the concept that God was with Christ. Here is Acts 10:37-38, which records what Peter said to a group of Gentiles or non-Israelites – “That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judæa, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” This passage reiterates that “God was with” Jesus, so it is talking about Christ’s priesthood ministry. The anointing that God gave Jesus imparted two things – the Holy Ghost and power, which shows how closely connected the Holy Ghost is to priesthood power. We also learn that Christ’s priesthood ministry included going “about doing good”. Moroni 7:24 provides information about the scriptural definition of ‘good’ – “… and all things which are good cometh of Christ; otherwise men were fallen, and there could no good thing come unto them.” If it weren’t for Christ and his power and ministry, men would remain in their fallen state and not receive anything good. So the word ‘good’ means something that reverses the effects of the fall or brings men out of their fallen state into a saved or redeemed state. When the scripture says that Jesus went “about doing good”, it means that he went about bringing men out of their fallen state into a saved state, which is consistent with our definition of priesthood.

In Acts 10:38, we learn that another aspect of Christ’s priesthood ministry included “healing all that were oppressed of the devil”. The ‘oppression of the devil’ is a good description of the devil’s power, false priesthood, and work. The ultimate work of the devil is to “encircle you about with his chains, that he might chain you down to everlasting destruction, according to the power of his captivity.” (Alma 12:6). The dark priesthood of the devil stands in opposition to the priesthood of God, although the devil tries to mimic God’s priesthood as much as possible. The apostle John adds this about Christ vs. the devil – “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8). Who hasn’t been exposed to the oppression of the devil? Essentially, all of us have been. Who then needs Christ to heal them from the oppression of the devil? Everyone does. What are the wounds resulting from the oppression of the devil? Some that come to mind include pride, jealousy, one-time acts of sinful behavior, addiction to sinful behavior, many forms of depression, broken families, anger, hate, fear, shame, despair, and getting stuck on traumatic experiences from the past. Christ can and does heal all of those and more. That is the essence of his “Christ-hood”. The angel who spoke to King Benjamin said it this way – “And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.” (Mosiah 3:6).

The title ‘Christ’ is a Greek word meaning anointed, which is equivalent to the Hebrew word-title ‘Messiah’. Anciently, men were anointed to receive priesthood – “And thou shalt anoint [the sons of Aaron] … that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office: for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.” (Exodus 40:15). A man who is anointed is given a priesthood mission. Acts 10:38 described what Jesus was anointed to do. The only other passage of scripture that I know of that explicitly describes what Jesus was anointed to do is found in Isaiah 61 [with my comments in brackets]:

1) The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

[My summary of this verse is that Jesus was anointed to teach and heal, which aligns with John 3:2 and Acts 10:38, which we looked at above]

2) To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

[One aspect of Jesus’ anointed mission is to comfort, or give strength to, those who mourn, or who have been wounded by the oppression of the devil; the next verse describes how he comforts and heals]

3) To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

[From an emotional standpoint, Jesus heals our mourning and our heaviness and in place gives us joy and praise; that healing includes being washing off ashes, anointed with oil, clothed in “holy garments” (Exodus 28:2), and given the name of “tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord”; the result is that the Lord is glorified because his work and glory are to bring to pass the eternal life of man, which is what he is working towards in this verse]

4) And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

[Even as Jesus was anointed to teach, heal, and comfort, he anoints us to work with him under his priesthood mission to help build, raise up and repair those who have not yet been healed from the oppression of the devil]

5) And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.

[The verse adds information about the mission of those who are comforted by Jesus – they will feed the flocks, or feed the sheep of strangers (think of Jesus’ instruction to Peter found in John 21:15-17 to “feed my sheep”; that instruction to Peter was a priesthood injunction), and they will also become plowmen and vinedressers – my understanding of being a plowman is someone who raises wheat and then makes bread and being a vinedresser is someone who raises grapes and makes wine, and both bread and wine are symbols of the atonement, so these people are bringing the blessings of the atonement to “strangers” and “aliens”]

6) But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.

[Two more names or identities are given – “The Priests of the Lord” and “Ministers of our God”; both of those names describe what Christ intends you to become after he has fully healed you or made you whole]

As stated by Peter in Acts 10:38, right after Jesus was baptized, he was anointed by God with the Holy Ghost to heal all who were oppressed of the devil. Soon after Jesus was baptized and anointed, he went to the wilderness in order to fast for 40 days. At the end of those 40 days he returned to his hometown of Nazareth. While attending a meeting at the local synagogue, he “stood up for to read” (Luke 4:16). He read what we know as Isaiah 61:1-2. Then he sat down and said “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.” (Luke 4:21). Based on his recent baptism and anointing, he likely understood that the passage in Isaiah 61 about being anointed to preach, heal and deliver was fulfilled when he was baptized and “the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him.” (Luke 3:22). Therefore, Acts 10:38 and Isaiah 61 refer to the same spiritual anointing that Jesus received right after being baptized. Also, it seems that the Jewish people at the time of Jesus understood that Isaiah 61 was a prophecy and description of the coming Messiah, or anointed one. When Jesus declared that he was the Messiah and the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, the people knew very well what he was saying. They didn’t believe him. In fact, they thought he was insane, or worse, so they “were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.” (Luke 4:28-29). Keep in mind that this was likely the first time that Jesus publicly announced that he was The Messiah.

Jesus was originally anointed to his priesthood mission at the pre-mortal council in heaven. The anointing he received there was actually an anointing of light and was accompanied with the reception of a new name. (Oil happens to be a symbol of the light of the Holy Ghost.) Lehi saw this event in vision as recorded in 1 Nephi 1:

8) … [Lehi] saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God.

[This scene is the pre-mortal council in heaven. The numberless angels are the spirits of those who would eventually come to earth. In the book of Job this same scene is described in this way – “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7). God the Father sat in the middle of the council with everyone circled around him.]

9) And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day.

[The being that Lehi saw descending out of the middle of heaven had been with God the Father in the middle of the giant circle. He had just been anointed with light because his luster brighter than the noon-day sun and it was the reason that the morning stars or numberless concourses of angels were shouting and singing. He had received the name of ‘One’ in connection with his anointing of light, a name that was revealed to the ancient Israelites, “The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4), and that he would refer to during the great intercessory prayer, “that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17:22).]