Justified


I hope these words have given you a small taste of what the Atonement can do for you.  It is something we must learn to apply over and over again in the details of our lives.  I believe the more we understand about the Atonement, the easier it is to apply it to the details of our circumstances. Our personal circumstances and life experiences can guide us to discover and understand different facets of the beautiful and priceless gift of the Atonement---a gift that is available if we will but allow it to be!

Let’s focus again on what to do about this list of fallen and natural man tendencies you have begun to uncover. There is still much to accomplish in our time together, so don’t worry that I’m not filling in all the details just yet.  For now, we are exploring what the Atonement has to do with ways you are trying to hide behind your bush of shame, or your make-shift coping mechanisms.

There are three aspects of the Atonement we must tap into to remedy our discoveries about ourselves and to also later understand ministering at a deeper level. First, we must realize that our personal sins, weaknesses, and inability to stop or prevent ourselves from turning to such things can be covered because of Jesus Christ.  Second, because of His grace, we can have the strength to overcome any tendencies contrary to God’s commandments.  Jesus Christ is literally able to root the natural man and fallen man tendencies out of us in such a way that He changes our hearts. Third, as we learn to abide in Him, we can receive continual sustenance, guidance, and love from His constant companionship. This is the process that invites us to go even deeper in our journey in becoming like our Heavenly Father. It is essential to ministering as are the other two aspects of the Atonement. We will draw from our personal experiences with the first and the second aspects of the Atonement as we seek to guide others in discovering these same patterns for themselves. The third is how we will be able to do so. It is through Christ's love that we are able to love as He loves. It simply spills out from our own full heart into the hurting and hungering hearts of others around us. It is through Jesus Christ that we will have the courage and strength to stand tall and share light to others as a beacon of His light.

“The Lord has said that He cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance (D&C 1:31).  Yet elsewhere He has said, ‘I have forgiven you your sins’ (D&C 64:3) and ‘Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more’ (John 8:11).  Justice is indeed a divine law, but so is the principle of mercy.  At times these two correct principles can seem inconsistent, until the unifying higher doctrine of the Atonement brings them together” (Bruce C. Hafen, Spiritually Anchored in Unsettled Times, 75-76, 77).

Let’s examine the seeming paradox of justice and mercy a little more closely.  I hope you will consider reading Alma 42.  Read the entire chapter because Alma states it so clearly and hopefully after all we have discussed together it will be easier to follow what he is saying.  Just in case you don’t decide to do that, I will do my best to summarize what he says.

Adam and Eve were placed in the garden, but after the Fall God “drew out the man,” or in other words, cast him out, and also placed cherubim with a flaming sword to prevent Adam and Eve from partaking of the tree of life (verse 2).

Once Adam and Eve had “become as God, knowing good and evil,” they would live forever in their sins if they partook of the tree of life afterwards.  They needed time to repent and prepare to meet God (verse 3). Also “the word of God would have been void, and the great plan of salvation would have been frustrated” (verse 5).  God made this probationary time the time to repent and serve Him (verse 4).

Because Adam and Eve were cut off both temporally and spiritually from God they became fallen man and “became lost forever” (verse 6).  They also “became subjects to follow after their own will” (verse 7).

If God had only addressed the physical death and returned Adam & Eve back to an immortal state, “that would [have destroyed] the great plan of happiness” (verse 8). Man needed to have a way to be “be reclaimed from this spiritual death” first (verse 9).

“Therefore, as they had become carnal, sensual, and devilish, by nature, this probationary state became a state for them to prepare; it became a preparatory state.” (verse 10).

Without “the plan of redemption,” they would have been eternally “miserable,” because there would have been no way to overcome the spiritual death, or in other words, to return to God’s presence (verse 11). Without this plan of redemption, “there was no means to reclaim men from this fallen state, which man had brought upon himself because of his own disobedience” (verse 12).

“Justice and mercy are difficult concepts to explore, not because there is an absence of scriptural references, but because these concepts exhaust our intellectual resources long before divulging all the answers.  Elder McConkie wrote, ‘We know that in some way, incomprehensible to us, his suffering satisfied the demands of justice’” (Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 299).

Although we don’t have an answer to why it works this way, the Law of Justice means we only have one shot.  If we mess up, we are then subject to the demands of Justice (see Callister...page 302).  Just like other laws, like the Law of Gravity, no matter how much we plead, wish it to be otherwise, or try to ignore it, laws take full effect whether we want them to our not.

Callister had an interesting point that helped me connect the Law of Justice and the principle of mercy.  “By way of illustration, God might not be able to rob a man of his agency to jump from a plane (i.e., to prevent him from sinning), but he might be able to put a parachute on the man’s back before he leaps (i.e. provide a means to repent).  As the dire consequences of this man’s foolish decision quickly unfold, he still has a chance to land safely: He can pull the ripcord.  In such a circumstance no law is violated or circumvented.  The law of gravity is still in full force and effect.  No justice is robbed; yet the sinner is given power to land safely if he will just pull the ripcord (i.e. repent and rely on the protective life-preserving power of the Atonement).” (Callister, The Infinite Atonement, 304).  God cannot side-step the Law of Justice without “ceas[ing] to be God” (Alma 42:22).  However, His plan of redemption, or providing a Savior for us, can meet the demands of justice and still protect the sacred agency of His children.

“But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God.” (verse 22, emphasis added). Alma says nearly the same thing again a few verses later. “What, do ye suppose that mercy can rob justice? I say unto you, Nay; not one whit. If so, God would cease to be God.” (verse 25).

“Therefore, according to justice, the plan of redemption could not be brought about, only on conditions of repentance of men in this probationary state, yea, this preparatory state; for except it were for these conditions, mercy could not take effect except it should destroy the work of justice. Now the work of justice could not be destroyed; if so, God would cease to be God.” (Alma 42:13, emphasis added).  Mercy is activated by our repentance and available because of Jesus Christ’s “great and last sacrifice” which was “infinite and eternal” (Alma 34:10).

Through this perfect plan, mercy meets the demands of justice. “...justice exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy claimeth all which is her own; and thus, none but the truly penitent are saved....And thus God bringeth about his great and eternal purposes, which were prepared from the foundation of the world. And thus cometh about the salvation and the redemption of men, and also their destruction and misery. Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely; and whosoever will not come the same is not compelled to come; but in the last day it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds” (Alma 42:24, 26-27, emphasis added).

Elder McConkie summarized all of this by simply stating, “As justice is the child of the fall, so mercy is the offspring of the atonement” (as quoted in The Infinite Atonement, 310). I love that!

Eliza R. Snow beautifully penned:

“How great, how glorious, how complete
Redemption’s grand design,
Where justice, love, and mercy meet
In harmony divine!” (“How Great the Wisdom and the Love,” Hymns, no. 195)


Truly it is a “great,” “glorious,” “complete,” and “grand design” where justice, love, and mercy can all come together in harmony!

Do you understand that we are seeking to be claimed by mercy rather than expecting to somehow satisfy the demands of justice in our feeble attempts by ourselves? Beginning to understand this gave me hope! God isn’t asking us to somehow pay the price of our own sins.  As our debt transfers hands from Satan being our task master to the Savior becoming our task master, Christ can write whatever terms and conditions He chooses.  The Savior pays the debt, so nothing is lost from the Law of Justice.

Under the coverage of mercy, He offers us a new “payment” plan that centers around repentance. This plan of redemption is forced on none, yet those who will take advantage of it find different requirements than those who choose to be “exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice” (Alma 34:16). For example, “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, emphasis added) and “...I, the Lord, forgive sins, and am merciful unto those who confess their sins with humble hearts” (D&C 61:2, emphasis added).

We must understand that “Christ justifies by exchanging His goodness for our sin.” (Brad Wilcox, The Continuous Atonement, 4, emphasis added). We do not pay the debt!  It isn’t our works by which we are justified. It’s by and through Jesus Christ.  Remember, this is the only way.  “...there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent” (Mosiah 3:17. See also Acts 4:12, Helaman 5:9, Alma 38:9, 2 Nephi 9:41, 2 Nephi 10:24, Mosiah 16:13, Moses 6:52, and D&C 18:23).

Listen to how Jaci Wightman eloquently describes this process. This passage is used with permission. “How can we be justified or found not guilty when we really are guilty? ...Some well-meaning people may say we can earn our justification by recommitting ourselves to work harder and do all we can to keep the commandments. According to this theory, if we try hard enough and do enough good works, the good we do will outweigh the bad and God will eventually proclaim us not guilty. But guess what the scriptures say about that? Things just don’t work that way in the courtroom of heaven.
“For starters, Paul says this: ‘by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in [God’s] sight’ (Romans 3:20, see also Galatians 2:16 and 3:11). And in the Book of Mormon, Lehi repeats almost the exact same thing: ‘[B]y the law no flesh is justified; or, by the law men are cut off’ (2 Nephi 2:5).So why can’t we be justified by trying harder to keep God’s law? Well, it’s like a murderer promising to do hours of community service in exchange for the judge letting him out of his sentence. His good works will never be enough to make up for his crime. There’s a price that must be paid for that murderer’s sin, and unfortunately, the same thing goes for our personal sins. God’s law requires a punishment for those sins, and no amount of good works or service or obedience can ever undo that punishment. What’s done is done and there’s nothing we can do to change that.

“But don’t panic, because this is the part where our...story gets really, really good.  Since we can’t be justified by working harder to keep the commandments, our prince has prepared another way to justify us in the eyes of our Father in heaven. It’s simple and incredibly beautiful at the same time. The Doctrine and Covenants tells us that ‘justification [comes] through the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’ (D&C 20: 30). In other words, it’s through our prince’s atonement that we can be found blameless in the courtroom of heaven. In fact, the Joseph Smith Translation makes this point extra clear in Romans 3:24. There Paul says we’re ‘justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 3:24). But in the Joseph Smith Translation, the prophet changed the word freely to only. It just goes to show that it’s only through our prince that we can be justified or pronounced not guilty as we stand in that heavenly courtroom.

“So if the villain (or accuser, [Satan]) has been blaming you and shaming you and trying to make you feel guilty for all your sins, I want you to imagine your prince rising to his feet as he prepares to defend you. He’s about to take his miraculous grace and apply it to your desperate situation. Again, his courtroom argument is not going to be what most people expect. He’s not going to tell the Judge, ‘Look at all the good this [person] has done. I think [s/he’s] accomplished enough righteous works to earn her/he salvation.’ No, he’s actually going to say something that may sound a little bit crazy. He’s going to stand on his feet and boldly ‘declare his righteousness for the remission of [your] sins’ (Romans 3:25).  It’s a pretty amazing defense if you ask me.

“In the Doctrine and Covenants, Jesus shows us exactly what his courtroom argument will sound like. It goes something like this:

‘Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—
   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;

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).

“That right there is what the atonement is all about. In essence, your prince is saying, ‘Father, I’ve shed my own blood to pay for this [person]’s sins. Because I’ve already suffered [his/]her punishment, please find [him/]her not guilty—not because of [his/] her works—but because of me.’
“What Jesus is offering here is what Christians around the world like to call the Great Exchange. As we sit in the courtroom of heaven condemned for our sin, Jesus Christ pleads our case not only by taking on the punishment for our sins, but also by offering us his righteousness in exchange for our [fallen man or natural man tendencies]” (Wightman, A Princess Story, 129-132).

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