Repentance

Among the many gifts our Heavenly Father has prepared for us are His love, the atoning sacrifice of His son, Jesus Christ, Eternal Life, the scriptures, full of divine guidance and prophetic messages, the restoration of the fulness of the Gospel, and many, many more.  

The scriptures tell us that the greatest gift, of all these, is Eternal Life; and so it is, yet, without the Love of our Heavenly Father, none of these would be possible. With that in mind, I love the hymn we sing: How great the wisdom and the Love, that filled the courts on high and sent the savior from above, to suffer bleed and die. 

Of the multitude of gifts, two stand out in relation to our every-day actions: Agency, and Repentance. Without agency the entire creation would have been for naught. Not one of us would have the opportunity for spiritual growth, and thus become prepared to meet our Heavenly Father, and there become divinely creative in His presence.

Tied to the opportunity of free choice, is the consequence that as apprentices we make mistakes, with the result that our progress would be limited and prevent us from fulfilling our divine potential, unless an opportunity were given to learn from our mistakes, overcome them and be forgiven, and thus again become pure in preparation for a divine future.

The infinite Atonement of Christ gives us the possibility to accept that sacrifice through our sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Included in that repentance is our willingness to give him the only gift which is truly ours to give: Our will. That obedience is a commitment of subjecting our will to His, with complete trust resulting from having experienced His love.

The principles of Agency and Repentance are thus inseparably connected through the Love of our Heavenly Father.

A broken heart and a contrite spirit comprise the most concise definition of repentance I can imagine. In the context of the Gospel, a broken heart indicates the depth of sorrow coming from a realization that I have offended my Heavenly Father. Thus, the scripture in the sermon on the mount: “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted”  becomes a message of repentance and forgiveness.

A broken heart suggests full recognition of transgression and willingness to make repairs where possible as well as a commitment to avoid future wrongdoing. The term contrite spirit includes confession to God, to individuals wronged and willingness to be subjected to appropriate priesthood authority to complete the repentance and receive forgiveness. By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins – he will confess them and forsake them. (D&C 58:43)

The joy of forgiveness is one of the great gifts of our Heavenly Father, made effective through full repentance as we accept the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The Greatest Gifts of God to His Children

And if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God.

D&C 14:7

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

The most sublime of feelings we can experience as children of our Heavenly Father, while dwelling here on earth, is the awareness of His Love. It suffuses our whole being with warmth, transcending sunrays, or the radiance of a warm fireplace on a winter’s evening. Unlike these, which penetrate our body from without, the awareness of the Love of God wells up from within and fills our entire being.

It is that love which motivated our Heavenly Father to present us with His plan of Salvation, His plan of happiness, which included the gifts of agency and repentance as essential elements, to give us the opportunity to accept the atonement of Jesus Christ, and eventually return to our Heavenly parents.

While Eternal Life is the ultimate goal, and thus the greatest gift our Heavenly Father has in store for us, it would not be possible without the Atonement which was voluntarily accomplished by Jesus Christ with unimaginable pain and suffering to pay for the sins, pains and sorrows of all mankind. In turn, the gift of His Son is the evidence of our Heavenly Father’s Love for His children.

As we consider Eternal Life as the goal of our existence, we realize that the quantitative element of that life has no beginning and no end, unlike any concepts associated with our earth life, which exhibit limitations. On the other hand, the qualitative aspects of Eternal Life suggest a life in the presence of our Heavenly Father, in creative harmony with Him. This suggests a level of competence achieved through steps of growth unimaginable in earthly terms. Such growth requires free choices resulting in learning, and failure overcome through repentance. Both, agency and repentance are two of the great gifts of our Father to make the trip to Eternal Life possible.

In Summary, the gift, greatest of all, Eternal Life, which includes life itself, death and the resurrection, made possible through the Atonement of Christ, which includes ability of free choice and repentance to enable ultimate freedom from sin, as well as growth to prepare for life in the presence of God, is made possible by the Love of a Heavenly Father for His spirit offspring, His children, You and Me.

The Messiah in the Restoration

 The Messiah

Prophesies of His coming

Fulfilment of these prophesies

The Messiah in the Restoration

The earliest comments about the coming of the Messiah relate to the time prior to the creation of the earth. Elohim, the Father of our spirits, presented His plan of salvation to us, which included the necessity of receiving a body, in order to become like Him, and ultimately return to our heavenly home to become divinely creative with Him in His presence. This furthermore included the inevitability of mistakes which would distance us from the ultimate goal of Eternal Life.

Payment by all who were subject to death by reason of sin, was clearly insufficient, so someone needed to be chosen to accept the task of living without sin in the face of extreme suffering to expiate for the universal load of sin, taking upon himself the infinite sin of the world, and voluntarily giving His life, and conquering death by freely taking up His life again and becoming the first to be resurrected.

Two offered themselves for the task. 

The firstborn spirit of our Father suggested “send me”, fully acknowledging the great gift of agency and free choice in order to make it possible for all of our Father’s children to return home. He was willing to make that infinite sacrifice, give His life and take it up again, while taking upon himself the sins of the world and suffering for all our transgressions, griefs, and carry our sorrows. The condition for making this sacrifice effective in our lives was accepting this offer through obedience and repentance by offering the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

The other offered universality of Eternal Life by removing the possibility of sin, eliminating choice and agency, with their concurrent opportunities for growth. For the universality of salvation, he demanded the glory and power of the Father. 

The Father spoke: “I will send the first”. Satan rebelled, and, because of that rebellion, and the ensuing war, was cast out with one third of the heavenly host who followed him.

Moses 4:1 -  4; Revelation 12:7 – 13; D&C 29:36

The first reference to the Savior in the scriptures, in the context of mortal life, is found in relating incidents in the garden of Eden following the fall. God tells Satan: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman,    between thy seed and her seed (Christ), and he shall bruise thy head. and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Moses 4:21

After Adam and Eve are driven out of the Garden, they obediently build an altar and offer prayers and sacrifices. An angel teaches them the significance of the sacrifice as a “similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.”

Moses 5:5 - 8