Chapter 4

The Plan Founded in Love

(Read the Third Article of Faith)

Purpose and a plan penetrate and suffuse every Gospel principle and practice, even as the warp crosses and touches the woof. Humanity lives under law, not chance.

The unchanging purpose of the Almighty Father has been and is to secure the constant, progressive welfare of His children; and, throughout the ages. His plan has been fitted to His purpose. Such a purpose and plan, encompassing human existence, must have been framed in God’s love for us, His children. There can be no other explanation of the concern of a glorified intelligence for mortal man. Indeed, the Lord has declared in ringing words, “This is my work and my glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

The story of the origin of the plan which governs man’s life on earth is known in its large outlines. In the time that was, before earth’s foundations were laid, the hosts of spirits, destined for the earth to be. gathered at the Father’s request. In that great council there was explained and proposed for acceptance a plan for the further education of the spirit children of God. The plan required that the spirits descend from their heavenly abode to earth, and enter earthly bodies, subject to death. Contest with the stubborn elements of earth, toil and struggle, often sorrow and disease, were the experiences on which to strengthen and sharpen their wills. Courageously, they faced the issue and joyously accepted the divine proposal. Thus man secured the privilege of an earth experience. He had fitted himself for it; and was willing to accept it. All who come upon earth were in that great council and accepted the plan.

The first of the glorious throng to come to earth were Adam and Eve, who were to be the parents of the coming race. They partook of earthly things and made themselves and their posterity subject to earth-pains and death. That was part of the plan. However, since the permanent winning of a body of earth materials, as an instrument for learning to know the material universe, was an essential feature of the plan, it was necessary to devise some method of recovering the body after death, to be thereafter an imperishable possession of man.

Jesus, the First-Born of the Father, was selected to perform the work required to cancel the effects of Adam’s act, and to raise the bodies of humankind, purified, into eternal life, beyond further vicissitudes of mortal life. It was a heavy commission. Jesus was to pay the price of the mortal death of Adam and of every member of the human race. By that law of compensation, of paying an equal price, he must needs suffer the accumulated agony of all men. He has himself described the ordeal, “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 – nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.” Only one high in the councils of heaven could endure such agony. It is therefore no wonder that the First-Born, the eldest in the family, possessed of greatest power, was so selected.

The love of the Father for His children led to the formulation of the plan of salvation. The greatness of that love is evident in the placing of this soul-testing mission upon his beloved First-Born. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believed in hm should not perish but have everlasting life.” Likewise, it was the great love of Jesus for His Father, whose plan it was, and for His brothers and sisters, for whose benefit the plan was presented, that impelled Him to accept the appointment, gladly. Love directed His vast power into service for mankind. Love gives courage to suffer. Even so, love determines the actions of man to man. Love is the vitalizing force of life.

The atonement, from this point of view, becomes less the payment of a wrong committed, and more a necessary step in the consummation of a plan. In the larger sense, whenever we break a law to our hurt, we sin; but often we endure pain for a greater gain. The cataract on the eye is cut. so that sight may be won. We subject ourselves to an operation to regain our health. Adam had incurred a debt for himself and his children; Jesus undertook to pay it. In all such cases the law of love is the impelling force acting upon him who gives help. In the case of Adam, love of God. shown through obedience, as well as desire for progress impelled him to come upon earth and perform his assigned mission.

All this is reasonable enough. If God lives and we are his children. He would naturally love us and plan for our welfare. If we need to experience life in a material universe, the necessity of a plan for earth-life is explained. Vicarious service is a daily affair in life. One man may cut off or restore the lighting or water system of a city of thousands: one man may rescue another who is drowning; a friend may pay the obligations incurred by a student who enters college. The comprehension of the atonement begins with belief in God, a recognition of man’s relationship to his Eternal Father and an understanding of the plan of salvation. To begin anywhere else is to invite confusion and doubt. Christians who find it difficult to understand the atonement have not begun their study correctly. True it is that the exact means, methods, or procedure by which Jesus performed his work are not known to us. and probably could not be understood bv the finite human mind. The same may be said, however, concerning the essential truth of every human concern. There is mystery to finite man in the ultimate relationships within every science and art. “What is truth?” in its deepest meaning remains the unanswered question.

Man may be certain of one thing. Through the atonement of Christ, he shall recover his body, and possess it throughout eternal life. It is the Christian’s sure belief. Paul, the apostle, set forth clearly the effect of Christ’s sacrifice:

What is sown is mortal
What rises is immortal
Sown inglorious it rises in glory.
Sown in weakness, it rises in power;
Sown an animate body, it rises a spiritual body.
As here is an animate body so there is a spiritual body—
For this perishing body must be invested with the imperishable,
And this mortal body invested with immortality.

Death is swallowed up in victory.
O Death, where is thy victory,
O Death, where is thy sting.

Exceeding joy enters the hearts of men, when the meaning of Christ’s sacrifice is comprehended. In the words of Gilbert:

Jesus lives! Thy terrors now
Can, of Death, no more appall us;
Jesus lives! By this we know
Thou, of Grave, canst not enthrall us.
Hallelujah.

Jesus lives! Henceforth is death
But the gate to life immortal;
This shall calm our trembling breath
When we pass its gloomy portal.
Hallelujah.

The service of Jesus does not stop with the atonement by which the resurrection from the grave of the body of man will be accomplished. He had yet other duties. “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved.” His position as man’s Redeemer makes Him the central figure in the plan of salvation. His appointment included the full supervision of the working out of the plan for human salvation. He was delegated to create the earth. He reports to the father the progress and ultimate completion of the plan. Since He made the earth he became, as pertains to the earth, our Creator and our Father; as He performs this work in behalf of His Father He becomes the Mediator between God and man; as He died for man He became our Redeemer. In every particular He is the representative, leader, captain, and director of the army of men and women. He is our beloved, worshipped Elder Brother. Therefore, we speak of the plan as the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we pray to God in the name of His Son, Jesus the Christ.

Through the atonement of Jesus the bodies of all who have died, the whole human family will be resurrected. Saint and sinner, black and white, will recover their bodies through the service of the Redeemer. The effect of the sacrifice of Jesus is unlimited, universal. The mission of the Savior does even more. The plan of salvation which is under His supervision on earth offers salvation to all. Salvation may be as universal as the resurrection. By the service of Jesus, the Christ, man is placed on the road of eternal progression. With his body as an ally, a tool, if he so wills, obedience to the Father’s law. he may go forward, progressively, endlessly. It is possible for all men to attain to salvation.

So universal is the opportunity for salvation provided in the Gospel that those who have died without a knowledge of the law may be taught it in the spirit world, and if they accept it. they will be judged as if they had obeyed the law on earth. The earth ordinances will be done for them by proxy, in the temples, and if accepted by the dead will be valid, effective, and satisfactory to the law.

There is, however, a vital difference which all must keep in mind: Resurrection is an unconditional gift to all men through the atonement; salvation is conditional upon obedience to the principles of the Gospel.

Such then is man’s relationship to the plan of salvation. It was formulated by the Father and accepted by all who come upon earth. Jesus was appointed to supervise and to carry out the plan. By his sacrifice, every man will be resurrected unconditionally. By his teaching every man, by obedience to that which is taught, may win salvation. By Christ’s leadership and mediation man may be brought into the range of divine justice, mercy, and love, and find here and hereafter the joy of the abundant life.

Let it be repeated that the underlying thought with respect to the plan of salvation is that it was conceived in the love of the Father for His children; that Jesus accepted the appointment to suffer for them because of His love for His brothers and sisters; and that mankind, in their spiritual estate, so loved the Father that they gladly accepted the plan. From beginning to end, in every ramification, the plan of salvation is founded in love! How the troubles of the day would vanish if on earth our plans were founded in love! In the midst of this story stands the figure of Jesus, our Savior, as the example and pattern for men to follow. In His preexistent life His love for us led Him

to accept the call to leadership of the plan with its conquest of the grave; in life on earth, He showed the happy way of love; by His love, today, He helps and guides, He wants. He pleads and leads, and He will be with us to the end.

There are and have been those who have sought to discredit Jesus by denying the truth or the facts of His life as recorded in the New Testament, or denying that such a person ever lived. The eminent historian, George Grandes, wrote a book to prove that Jesus was but a myth invented by persons who desired to deceive and mislead their fellows. Such attempts, however, have been unconvincing, not accepted even by those who deny the divinity of Jesus, for allusions to Jesus, dating back in some instances to the days before the crucifixion, are available, the truth of which cannot be gainsaid. The references to him are sufficient to prove that Jesus was a historical figure. Jesus was, as a man, but a humble person, and while His teaching attracted many, the event of His crucifixion was to the historians of that day but one of many cruel events in a turbulent age.

The same may be said of the record of the events of his life. The mention of him by contemporary historians is always accompanied by allusions to the marvelous works he was said to be doing. Moreover, as scholarship has advanced, the manuscripts on which the four Gospels are based are pushed further back, almost to the lifetime of the Savior. It is a mere quibble, an ignoring of established historical fact, to assert that the Gospels do not give a fairly faithful account of the acts and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus came to initiate the Gospel work in the midday of earth’s history, to lay its foundations, to start it on its way. At no time did He seek the glamor of fame. He sowed seeds of truth, left the authority of the Priesthood with mortal men, suffered an inglorious death for the whole human race, friend and foe, and commissioned His disciples. who were left behind, to foster and nurture the work so that it might grow and prosper. All this fits in with the scanty historical notices concerning Him made at the time of His sojourn on earth.

That which Jesus left behind, in the fragmentary accounts of the Gospels, is unique in its exalted power and wisdom. Great men throughout the centuries since Christ was upon earth have testified to the greatness of Jesus, the Teacher and Leader. He seems to all to be more than man.

One of the most famous testimonies of the divinity of Jesus comes from the lips of Napoleon, spoken while the great emperor was living in banishment on St. Helena. He was speaking to his companion. General Bertrand, “I know men; and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. … Everything in Him astonishes me. His spirit overawes me, and His will confounds me. Between Him and whomever else in the world there is no possible term of comparison. He is truly a Being by Himself, His ideas and His sentiments, the truth which He announces, His manner of convincing, are not explained either by human organization or by the nature of things, … His religion is a revelation from an intelligence which certainly is not that of man. The influence of Christ has been the mightiest in the world’s history, and most effective in changing the hearts of men. George MacDonald says:

When thou turnest away from ill,
Christ is this side of thy hill.
When thou turnest toward good,
Christ is walking in thy wood.
When thy heart says, “Father, pardon,”
Then the Lord is in thy garden.
When stern duty wakes to watch,
Then his hand is on the latch.
But when hope thy song doth rouse,
Then the Lord is in the house.
When to love is all thy wit
Christ doth at thy table sit.
When God’s will is thy heart’s pole,
Then is Christ thy very soul.

Thousands upon thousands of eminent men have testified publicly, by spoken or written word, of their faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and in his divine mission. Millions have learned to know that Jesus is the Savior, Redeemer, the Mediator for men, and have drawn abundant happiness from that knowledge. Any person who will approach the study of Jesus Christ with a desire to know the truth, and who will test the Gospel by the practice of its principles will receive the convincing assurance of the divine nature and loving mission of Jesus of Nazareth.

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS

1. How would you define love?

2. How would you define plan?

3. Why do you believe in the resurrection of all men?

4. State some of the facts that convince you that Jesus of Nazareth was divine,

5. What is the effect upon men who become convinced of the divinity of Christ?

6. What is the relationship of Jesus to Adam? The human race? The Plan of Salvation?