When I first read through this lesson, I
had no idea what to teach. Reading through it the second time, thought, the Spirit
was so strong and I got really excited to be able to talk about the plan of salvation.
Joseph Smith called this the “great plan
of salvation,” which I think shows his understanding of the plan. For me, it’s
probably something I take for granted and don’t appreciate enough.
Joseph Smith
said, “The doctrines, ordinances, and promises that constitute the plan of
salvation were revealed to the earth in these latter days through the Prophet
Joseph Smith. As one who clearly understood the importance of this plan, the
Prophet declared: “The great plan of salvation is a theme which ought to occupy
our strict attention, and be regarded as one of heaven’s best gifts to mankind.”4 (page 208)
He also
said, ““All men know that they must die. And it is important that we should
understand the reasons and causes of our exposure to the vicissitudes of life
and of death, and the designs and purposes of God in our coming into the world,
our sufferings here, and our departure hence. What is the object of our coming
into existence, then dying and falling away, to be here no more? It is but
reasonable to suppose that God would reveal something in reference to the
matter, and it is a subject we ought to study more than any other. We ought to
study it day and night, for the world is ignorant in reference to their true
condition and relation [to God].”10 (page 211)
I think we could probably all get up
here and draw the plan of salvation, with the Council in Heaven, the premortal
life, the fall, the veil, earth, the atonement, the degrees of glory, etc.
Beyond knowing the elements that make up the plan of salvation, what does our
Father want us to know and study?
There are lots of things God wants us to
know about the Plan, and this lesson covers several of them. Going through the
manual, I pulled out a few, but there are more, so read the whole chapter in
the manual if you get a chance.
1.
Its entire purpose is our immortality and
eternal life
The manual
says, “When the Prophet first began his translation of the Bible in June 1830,
the Lord revealed to him a lengthy passage from the writings of Moses. This passage became chapter 1 of
the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price. It records a vision in which
Moses saw and conversed with God—a vision so remarkable that Joseph Smith
called it “a precious morsel” and “a supply of strength.”3 In this vision, God taught Moses the
fundamental purpose of the great plan of salvation:
“And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying: … For behold,
this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality
and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:37, 39). (page 208)
One of the
first things God wants us to know about the plan of salvation is that its
entire purpose is our immortality and eternal life.
One of the things we can study and think
about in relation to that is why. Why does He want our immortality and eternal
life? It’s not for Him; it’s for us. He doesn’t do anything that isn’t for our
benefit. He’s not a greater God if we all return to Him; He doesn’t get a
bigger heaven or a plaque on the wall somewhere. The plan isn’t about what He
gets; it’s all about what we get. And the underlying reason for all of that is
that He loves us and He wants us to live with Him forever.
2.
It’s possible
Joseph Smith
said, “Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle. It is
a spirit from age to age and there is no creation about it. All the minds and
spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement.”
(page 210) and ““We consider that God has created man with a mind capable of
instruction, and a faculty which may be enlarged in proportion to the heed and
diligence given to the light communicated from heaven to the intellect; and
that the nearer man approaches perfection, the clearer are his views, and the
greater his enjoyments, till he has overcome the evils of his life and lost
every desire for sin; and like the ancients, arrives at that point of faith
where he is wrapped in the power and glory of his Maker, and is caught up to
dwell with Him. But we consider that this is a station to which no man ever
arrived in a moment.”9 (page 210-211)
Another thing He wants us to know is
that it’s possible. The plan isn’t designed to save only a select few. The plan
works for every single one of us who chooses to follow it. According to the effort
that we put in, the plan works.
3.
There is no other way
Joseph Smith
said, ““The salvation of Jesus Christ was wrought out for all men, in order to
triumph over the devil. … All will suffer until they obey Christ himself.”
L
et’s also look at 2 Nephi 9:6-10, 17-23:
6 For
as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the great
Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must
needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of
transgression; and because man became fallen they were cut off from the
presence of the Lord.
7 Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement—save it
should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption.
Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man must needs have remained to
an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to
crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.
8 O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if
the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who
fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise
no more.
9 And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we
become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God,
and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to
that being who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto
an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations
of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness.
10 O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way
for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death
and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit.
17 O the greatness and the justice of our God! For he
executeth all his words, and they have gone forth out of his mouth, and his law
must be fulfilled.
18 But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One
of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have
endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit
the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the
world, and their joy shall be full forever.
19 O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of
Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and
death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.
20 O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all
things, and there is not anything save he knows it.
21 And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if
they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he 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.
22 And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass
upon all men, that all might stand before him at the great and judgment day.
23 And he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be
baptized in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they
cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.
We need to know that there is no other
way—but there is a way. Jesus Christ is the way, the only way. Nothing else
will work, and we need to think about whether our lives are in line with His
plan because He is the only option. But at the same time, He is the best
option. It isn’t like you weren’t to a vending machine and to buy a Sprite and
all the Sprite was gone so you tried to by an orange soda and it was gone, too,
and so on and so on until you buy whatever’s left in the machine. Jesus isn’t
the last option, after every other option is exhausted and you’re stuck with
what’s left. He’s the best option, the first choice. And every single one of us
knew that when we chose to follow Him in the premortal world.
4.
It’s our choice
Joseph Smith
said,” “All persons are entitled to their agency, for God has so ordained it.
He has constituted mankind moral agents, and given them power to choose good or
evil; to seek after that which is good, by pursuing the pathway of holiness in
this life, which brings peace of mind, and joy in the Holy
Ghost here, and a fulness of joy and happiness at His right hand
hereafter; or to pursue an evil course, going on in sin and rebellion against
God, thereby bringing condemnation to their souls in this world, and an eternal
loss in the world to come.”16
“Satan cannot seduce us by his enticements unless we in
our hearts consent and yield. Our organization is such that we can resist the
devil; if we were not organized so, we would not be free agents.”17
“The devil has no power over us only as we permit him;
the moment we revolt at anything which comes from God, the devil takes power.”18 (pages 213-214)
It is absolutely our choice. We get to
decide for ourselves, and Satan can’t stop us from obtaining the celestial
kingdom. That puts all the responsibility on us, so there’s no one to blame if
we mess up, but it’s also liberating because we know we will win if we make the
right choices. If we sincerely do our best, we’ll win—there is no other
outcome.
When I was in high school, I played
basketball, and my team wasn’t very good. We didn’t have many players, we didn’t
have ANY tall players, and we just didn’t win a lot of games. One time, we
practiced so hard and completely changed our defense because we were going to
play against a team that wasn’t actually that good but that had one of the
league’s best players. We went into the game and played pretty well—we held that
girl who averaged over 25 points a game to 7 points—and we lost because the
rest of her team shot like 80%, which is unbelievable.
The plan of salvation is NOT like that
basketball game. When we choose to follow the plan, and we play the best we
possibly can, no one gets to come in and beat us. Satan can’t come in and cream
us or throw up some buzzer beater. He can try—and he will try—but he doesn’t have
the power to beat us unless we give him the game.
5.
Our bodies are essential to the plan
Joseph Smith
also said, “We came to this earth that we might have a body and present it pure
before God in the celestial kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists
in having a body. The devil has no body, and herein is his punishment. He is
pleased when he can obtain the tabernacle of man, and when cast out by the
Savior he asked to go into the herd of swine, showing that he would prefer a
swine’s body to having none. All beings who have bodies have power over those
who have not.”12 (page 211)
And he said,
“Perhaps there are principles here that few men have thought of. No person can
have this salvation except through a tabernacle.” (page 212)
2 Nephi 9:8
says, “O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh
should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from
before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more.”
D&C
93:33-34 says, “For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and
element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy;
“And
when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy.”
Our bodies
are essential are essential to the plan. Without the resurrection, there is no
fullness of joy, and without having a body now, we don’t ever get to be
resurrected.
Our bodies
are also essential to our time on earth. Obviously, we came here to get bodies,
but it’s because we have bodies that we are able to resist Satan and are able
to progress. So often Satan directs temptations toward our bodies, and I think
we feel that our bodies are a weakness, but there is power in having a body—and
Satan knows that. So he tries to get us to give up control of our bodies and to
let go of the power that we have over him by nature of having bodies. But
because of our agency and because we have bodies, we don’t have to give him
that control.
I think this
is just the tip of the iceberg as far as what the Lord wants us to know about
the plan of salvation. I don’t know that we learned anything new, but I really
do hope the Spirit was able to testify of the plan and to renew our testimonies
of that plan and to help us rejoice in that plan. As Jacob said in the
scriptures we read earlier, “How great the goodness of our God” and I’d like to
add, how glorious is His plan and how infinite and perfect is His love.” I say
this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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