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Lesson 16
“Ye
Shall Be Called the Children of Christ”
Mosiah 4-6
By
Maurine Jensen Proctor
Children of Christ
Before his death, King Benjamin hoped to help his people make a
covenant to become the children of Christ. He said:
And
now because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called
the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold,
this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your
hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are
born of him and have become his sons and his daughters (Mosiah
5:7).
Since
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and Elohim is our Father, people
are often confused by this terminology. In what way is Jesus Christ
our father? Joseph Fielding Smith answered that question:
What
is a father? One who begets life. What did our Savior
do? He begot us, or gave us life from death, as clearly set forth
by Jacob, the brother of Nephi. If it had not been for the death
of our Savior, Jesus Christ, the spirit and body would never have
been united again.
If
there had been no redemption from death, our spirits would have
been taken captive by Satan and we would have become subject to
Satan's will forever.
What
did our Savior do? He begot us in that sense. He became a father
to us because he gave us immortality or eternal life through his
death and sacrifice upon the cross. I think we have a perfect
right to speak of him as Father"( Joseph Fielding Smith,
Answers to Gospel Questions, 4:177-79.)
Jesus
Christ is also the life giver to our wounded and sin-ridden spirits.
Without his atoning sacrifice we would be lost forever, unable to
enter God's presence. The natural man would reign, and we would
be unable to escape the chains that bind us. It is Jesus Christ
who heals us, binds our wounds, and takes upon himself our sins.
Without the protective cloak of his atonement around us, we would
stand naked in our sins at the bar of justice, and be cast off.
Since
Jesus saves us from physical and spiritual death, he gives us physical
and spiritual life. No wonder his sentiment rings with such clarity,
"I am come that they might have life, and that they might have
it more abundantly" (John 10:10).
Just
as a child takes upon himself his father's name, so do we take upon
ourselves our Savior's name. It not only indicates that we are seeking
to be like him, but that we are under his protection and love. He
will lend his strength in our struggle with sin.
Bruce
R. McConkie said, "May I speak of the special family relationship
enjoyed by those who so live that they become a peculiar people.
Of them it is written: 'Ye are the sons of the living God' (Hosea
1:10). That is, those who gain the high status of a peculiar people
are adopted into the family of the Lord Jehovah. They become his
sons and his daughters and have him as their father."
Who
Is God?
How do we become a son or daughter of Jesus Christ? We begin by
seeking to understand who God is. What is he like? If we were to
think of the most righteous person we ever knew, is God something
like that? Or is he like those other authority figures in our lives-our
earthly parents?
In
this finite, mortal state, we struggle to understand God's attributes
for he is simply so much more than we can conceive. We taste his
love, but we don't comprehend it. Our mortal brains cannot leap
far enough to take Him in. Yet, we can read something about the
prophet's experiences with him in scripture.
Moses,
when he was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain saw God
face to face and talked to him. "And God spake unto Moses,
saying: Behold, I am the Lord God Almighty, and Endless is my name;
for I am without beginning of days or end of years; and is not this
endless?"(Moses 1:3).
Then
Moses was shown "the world upon which he was created; and Moses
beheld the world and the ends thereof, and all the children of men
which are, and which were created; of the same he greatly marveled
and wondered"(Moses 1:8). After this magnificent and sweeping
vision in which he began to comprehend the glory of God, Moses fell
to the earth and said, "Now, for this cause I know that man
is nothing, which thing I never had supposed (Moses 1:10).
This
was a clarifying moment for Moses, because he had edged closer to
knowing who God is, and thus knew more certainly who he was. After
the Lord gave his powerful introduction to Moses, he claimed him
as his own. "Thou art my son." To be truly related, next-of-kin,
to this great and glorious God filled Moses with awe and humility.
Just
as Moses came to comprehend something about God's attributes in
his vision, so King Benjamin urges his people to know God. "Believe
in God," he pleads. "Believe that he is, and that he created
all things, both in heaven and earth; believe that he has all wisdom,
and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth
not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend"
(Mosiah 4:9)
It
is in coming to "a knowledge of God's goodness, his matchless
power and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards
the children men" (Mosiah 4:6) that we see ourselves for the
first time. We are, as Moses discovered, nothing. We are dependent
on him for everything that we are, everything that we have, every
breath that we take. We are unprofitable servants. We are beggars.
We are in a fallen and carnal state. We are less than the dust of
the earth. We are wounded.
Yet
that very knowledge can fill us with joy, because it is what draws
us to him, the source of healing. We can be forgiven and lifted
from the ashes of despair. We can be refreshed and renewed through
our Savior. We can be cleansed and refined.
It
is more joyful to be transformed through Christ, than believe we
are self-made and sufficient. It is happier to see our weaknesses
and overcome them, than hide them from ourselves. Nothing tastes
sweeter than the atonement or is a more healing balm of Gilead.
Only when we understand how much we need forgiveness, can we comprehend
the extent of God's goodness and love towards us.
The
Joy of Forgiveness
King Benjamin's people knew "exceedingly great joy" because
they had tasted of God's love and received a remission of their
sins. How can we know when our sins have been forgiven? President
Harold B. Lee told this story:
Some
years ago, President Marion G. Romney and I were sitting in my
office. The door opened and a fine young man came in with a troubled
look on his face, and he said, “Brethren, I am going to the temple
for the first time tomorrow. I have made some mistakes in the
past, and I have gone to my bishop and my stake president, and
I have made a clean disclosure of it all; and after a period of
repentance and assurance that I have not returned again to those
mistakes, they have now adjudged me ready to go to the temple.
But, brethren, that is not enough. I want to know, and how can
I know, that the Lord has forgiven me also.”
What
would you answer one who might come to you asking that question?
As we pondered for a moment, we remembered King Benjamin's address
contained in the book of Mosiah. Here was a group of people asking
for baptism, and they said they viewed themselves in their carnal
state:
"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. 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"(Mosiah 4:2,3).
There
was the answer.
If
the time comes when you have done all that you can to repent of
your sins, whoever you are, wherever you are, and have made amends
and restitution to the best of your ability; if it be something
that will affect your standing in the Church and you have gone
to the proper authorities, then you will want that confirming
answer as to whether or not the Lord has accepted of you. In your
soul-searching, if you seek for and you find that peace of conscience,
by that token you may know that the Lord has accepted of your
repentance.
Satan
would have you think otherwise and sometimes persuade you that
now having made one mistake, you might go on and on with no turning
back. That is one of the great falsehoods. The miracle of forgiveness
is available to all of those who turn from their evil doings and
return no more, because the Lord has said in a revelation to us
in our days, "go your ways and sin no more; but unto that
soul who sinneth [meaning again] shall the former sins return,
saith the Lord your God.” (D&C 82:7). Have that in mind, all
of you who may be troubled with a burden of sin. (Harold B. Lee,
Stand Ye in Holy Places, pp. 184-185.)
Retaining
a Remission of Sins
Once we have been filled with the sweetness of forgiveness and felt
to rejoice in God's love, we must live as new people — people who
have been born again. Those in this state of refreshment do not
have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably. They nurture
their children well, teaching them the laws of God. They walk soberly
and uprightly.
Then,
King Benjamin mentions this acid test. If we would retain a remission
of our sins, we will "succor those that stand in need of your
succor, ye will administer to your substance unto him that standeth
in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition
to you in vain, and turn him out to perish (Mosiah 4:16).
What?
If we would retain a remission of our sins, we must respond to the
needs of the poor? It is so easy to think of that as a "going
the extra mile" kind of task, after the real work of life is
done. (See "Consecration Beckons" currently on Meridian.)
Yet
Amulek gives us this additional insight in his sermon on prayer
in Alma 34. He lists all the places and reasons we should cry unto
the Lord, and then adds, "Behold, my beloved brethren, I say
unto you do not suppose that this is all; for after ye have done
these things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit
not the sick and afflicted and impart of your substance, if ye have,
to those who stand in need-I say unto you, if ye do not any of these
things, behold your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and
ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith" (Alma 34:28).
If
we would have our prayers answered and retain forgiveness for our
sins, we must respond to the outstretched hand of the beggar. How
appropriate. King Benjamin has just demonstrated that we are beggars,
dependent on the largesse of the Lord. Now, we see, that in turn,
in order to receive the full bounty of his gifts, we must respond
to the beggars in our lives.
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