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Easter | Scripture Study Insights with Tyler Griffin | A Come Follow Me Resource · Scripture Central

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Hello there. My name is Tyler Griffin and
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this is Scripture Study Insights by Scripture Central.
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Today, Easter as we contemplate this most important week of all
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weeks in the history of eternity.
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As far as as our salvation is concerned, there are 1,000,000
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directions we could we could take our study insights.
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I wanted to focus in today on a couple of things #1 amplifying
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what the scriptures say about the Infinite Atonement of Jesus
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Christ, specifically the Book of Mormon because of this year's
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Come Follow Me curriculum. And secondly, to amplify what
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our prophets, our modern prophets, have said about the
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Infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ.
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There are a lot of theories, there are a lot of ideas
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circulating out there about different aspects of what Jesus
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Christ accomplished through His infinite Atonement.
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But it's important to stay rooted in what the Lord has said
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through prophets, both both ancient as well as modern.
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To to illustrate that section one of the Doctrine and
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Covenants, the the preface to the whole Doctrine and
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Covenants. Listen to these words in verse
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14 The Savior said, and the arm of the Lord shall be revealed.
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And the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the
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Lord, neither the voice of His servants, neither give heed to
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the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from
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among the people. And then towards the end of
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section One He gives that famous statement.
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What I, the Lord, have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not
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myself. And though the heavens and the
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earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be
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fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of My
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servants. It is the same.
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So it's this, this beautiful invitation for us to not just
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see the prophetic voice as another option in a sea of
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people, in a chorus of many voices telling us what to think
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or how to believe or how to worship, but rather amplifying
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that voice of the prophets and the apostles that God has chosen
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for our day. So that's what we're going to to
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do as we explore some principles to study this week of Easter.
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Now, initially we need to talk about the the word itself, the
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Atonement of Jesus Christ. It's many of you have already
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seen this. You already understand this, but
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making sure we're all on the same page in English, When you
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put MENT as a suffix to a word, the dictionary definition of of
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MENT is the process or product of whatever came before.
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So in this case it was William Tyndale who is credited with
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coining this new word when he he comes to the Greek word
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cataloguay. And most of the time in English
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it got translated as reconciliation.
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But I love the fact that William Tyndale took it one step further
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and created this brand new word from 2 English words at 1.
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So it's the process or product whereby we come to be at one
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with God, with Jesus Christ and ultimately with our loved ones
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with each other. He is all about this.
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Root word of of the word atonement is 1.
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William Tyndale probably wouldn't have pronounced this
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atonement. It would have been at onement
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for him because it's all about unity and oneness and coming
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together and unifying. So today, as we open up the
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scriptures in the Book of Mormon and look for what?
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What can we gain from a deeper understanding and appreciation
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for the infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ, and what
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difference will that make in our life moving forward?
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That's the question we want to keep at the forefront.
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And it's important to remember President Nelson has emphasized
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this We don't talk about the Atonement as if it's this
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isolated entity unto itself. The Atonement doesn't heal
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anyone. The Atonement doesn't forgive.
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The Atonement doesn't save. The Atonement is the infinite
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sacrifice that Jesus Christ performed for us.
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Thus, it's Jesus Christ who saves through the power of His
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Atonement. It's Jesus Christ who heals, who
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delivers, who redeems through the means of performing His
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infinite Atonement. So it's important to remember as
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we hearken to the words of our living prophets that we amplify
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the fact that it is the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
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It's never an isolated entity unto itself.
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Now the other thing to mention before we dive into some
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scriptures is the reality that sometimes we overlook the
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significance of Easter. In April 2023 General
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Conference, there were multiple general authorities and leaders
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of the church who talked about the significance of Easter
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regarding our our worship and our understanding of the gospel.
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NT Wright, a New Testament scholar was quoted a couple of
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times talking about the significance of those chapters
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in the Bible that refer to the week of the atoning sacrifice.
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And his point is, is beautifully taken that sometimes in
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Christianity we put so much emphasis on Christmas and then
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Easter is just this little minor holiday in the spring when in
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reality he said if you take away Christmas you only lose 4
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chapters, Matthew one and two, and Luke 1:00 and 2:00.
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But if you take away the week of the atoning sacrifice, you lose
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35 to 40% of your New Testament Gospels.
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In in the Gospel of John you've got 7-8 chapters that are
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focused on the last 24 hours of Jesus Christ and his suffering
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and then his his ultimate resurrection.
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It is. It is the the main event of
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Christ's life, the miracles, the parables and His teachings, even
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going back to His baptism, his temptations, and then going all
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the way back to His birth and all of his experiences there.
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All of those are pointing forward to the significance of
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why He was born on this earth, and it was to make intercession
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or to make His infinite atonement for us.
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So that's important to remember as you, you celebrate this week
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that this, this should be more glorious, this should be more
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triumphant than any other time of the year for us this Easter
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season because of what Jesus Christ overcame for us through
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the events of His atoning sacrifice.
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And with that, let's dive in. So instead of doing a a lesson
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on the Infinite Atonement, instead of covering concepts
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that other people have have shared regarding the Infinite
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Atonement, I wanted to do something a little different.
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Following the example of President Dallon H Oakes, when
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he gave his great talk that we believe the words of Christ and
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then he read a whole bunch of scriptures, I want to do that
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scriptures from the Book of Mormon that add beautiful
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insight and depth to what the Bible teaches regarding the
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infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ.
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So we begin in second Nephi Chapter 9 that incredible talk
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given by Jacob to the people after he had read to them two
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chapters from Isaiah. He says this.
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Yeah, I know that ye know that in the body he shall show
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himself unto those at Jerusalem from whence we came.
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For it is expedient that it should be among them.
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For it behooveth the great Creator, that he suffereth
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himself to become subject unto man in the flesh and die for all
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men, that all men might become subject unto him.
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Then moving on, in verse seven he says, Wherefore it must needs
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be and infinite atonement, save it should be an infinite
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atonement. This corruption could not put on
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incorruption. Wherefore the first judgement
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which came upon man must needs have remained to an endless
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duration, And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and
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to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.
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And then he goes on to say, well, if your flesh will rise no
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more than what happens to your spirit?
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And he tells us in verse 8 that our spirit would become subject
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to that Angel who fell from before the presence of the
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eternal God, and become the devil to rise no more.
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Hence our absolute need for an infinite atonement to help us
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overcome the most important things that make us separated
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from God, our physical and our spiritual death.
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Jacob describes that in verse 10.
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Oh how great the goodness of our God who prepareth away for our
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escape from the grasp of this awful monster.
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Yeah, that monster. Death and hell, which I call the
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death of the body and also the death of the spirit.
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But there's more he goes on in describing in verse 21.
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And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they
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will hearken unto his voice. Here we go again.
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He's saying salvation is is hinged on our ability and
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willingness and using our agency to hearken to his voice the
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things that he teaches us personally, directly as well as
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through his prophets, through his chosen servants.
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So going on, he says, for behold, he suffereth the pains
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of all men. Yeah, the pains of every living
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creature, both men, women and children, who belong to the
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family of Adam. And he suffereth this, that the
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resurrection might pass upon all men, that all might stand before
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him at the Great and Judgement Day.
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Now this is a this is a beautiful place to pause and and
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reflect on the significance of mortal life, the significance of
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our physical bodies, the significance of the the creation
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of the earth, and the fall that brought about these conditions
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in which we live, which then leads to the need for an
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infinite atonement. Referring back to NT Wright,
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this New Testament scholar who has been quoted in General
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Conference multiple times, he wrote a book called Surprised by
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Hope. And in that book he teaches this
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beautiful doctrine that aligns beautifully with the teachings
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of the prophets in the Book of Mormon as well as the Prophet
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Joseph Smith and our modern prophets.
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He talks about this concept of often in in Christianity as a
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whole, people refer to the the resurrection as this event where
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Jesus Christ overcomes death and then he goes off to heaven and
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someday he'll take us from this fallen earth and take us to
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heaven to live with him there and NT Wright says that that
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goes against everything the New Testament is teaching about the
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mission of Jesus Christ. Even in his His the Lord's
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Prayer in the Sermon on the Mount he talks about the Kingdom
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coming to this earth. The the beautiful point of the
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resurrection of Jesus Christ is that it matters what we do in
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our physical bodies in this fallen mortal world, because God
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is not intending to one day take us away from this earth and ship
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us off to heaven to live with Him there.
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God is bringing heaven here. He is going to make Earth an
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outpost of the Divine for those who will fully embrace and
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accept the Savior's Infinite Atonement for us.
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God is coming here. This will become heavenly.
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Consequently, as as you celebrate Easter this week, pay
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attention to the people around you, pay attention to the
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beautiful creation around you, and remember that the glorious
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promise of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a reassurance
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that all of these things actually matter, that we're
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engaging with and experiencing here in mortality.
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And Christ will perfect this earth, just like Christ will
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perfect our bodies, our minds, our souls, He He will perfect
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all unrighteousness and impurity and make us clean and make us
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heavenly. That's what the covenant path is
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all about, isn't just trying to get somewhere to get to heaven.
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The covenant path is about building this relationship with
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Jesus Christ and walking with Him as He helps us become more
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like him until that glorious day when He will bring us into the
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presence of the Father to be judged gratefully by the Savior
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himself. And then we become one with
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them, as Jesus talks about in his intercessory prayer that as
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they are one, we can become one with each other and with them.
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It's this beautiful promise of the coming glory of heaven to
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the earth for all of us in resurrected bodies, so that we
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don't have to go down to the grave to rise no more, or have
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our spirits become subject to the devil to rise no more.
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The next one that directly refers to it.
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Mosiah, chapter 3, verse seven. And lo, he shall suffer
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temptations and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue,
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even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death.
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For behold, blood cometh from every poor, so great shall be
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his anguish for the wickedness and abominations of his people.
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So you see that sometimes we refer to the infinite Atonement
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of Jesus Christ is only helping us overcome death and hell, that
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awful monster. But there's so much more
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involved beyond the those most important two elements that he
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he suffered temptations. In other words, when you're
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suffering temptation, don't assume that that the Savior is
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up in heaven saying, oh, I I hope that you do OK with that.
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I'm going to help you with your death and overcoming sin and
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hell, but I can't help you with temptation.
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That is not the God we worship. The God we worship knows how to
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help us, how to run to us or sucker to us in whatever it is
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that we're experiencing as an effect of the fall of Adam and
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Eve. And Temptations is one of those.
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What an amazing power it is, brothers and sisters, when
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you're in the face of temptation, to not be a victim
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of that temptation, but to rather call upon the power of
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the Savior's infinite grace that is offered to us through by way
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of His infinite atonement in our behalf.
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To call upon His name, to use His name in the moment of
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temptation and to plead for deliverance.
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There is a power there that we don't need to just look at it as
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a solution to our problems. It can be a help to prevent sin
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as we're going through temptation.
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Same thing with pain of body, hunger, thirst and fatigue.
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All of these these mortal elements that we experience as
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the effects of the fall of Adam and Eve.
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He's able to succor us and help us, which doesn't mean he always
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takes it away. Often it means he strengthens us
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so that as we are experiencing those things, we don't just go
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through them. We don't just endure them and
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survive them, but we actually grow through them.
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We actually learn more empathy, more compassion for others so
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that we can become more like Jesus Christ in the way we treat
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each other and the way we treat even ourselves with with more
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kindness as we go through these these adversities and
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afflictions. In chapter 5, verse seven at the
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end of King Benjamin's speech, I love how he talks about the
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outcome, the fruit of the infinite atonement.
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Because keep in mind there's three things, 3 levels you could
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look at, kind of like scripture study.
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There's the underlying foundation that which undergirds
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the Infinite Atonement, the the need for it, the historical
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setting, all of the the rationale for why we even need
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Jesus Christ to come and be born and live a perfect life and
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perform the Infinite Atonement in the 1st place.
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And then the second layer is the actual events of the Atonement
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itself. What did Jesus do?
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What did he experience? What?
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What elements of his suffering occurred?
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And then the third level is therefore what?
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What are the fruits that that come from his suffering?
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How is it that Isaiah could say by his stripes we are healed?
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How does that work? I don't know.
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I I know this. I know it works.
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I know that we are benefited because of Christ's suffering.
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I don't know all of the mechanics and all of the the
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eternal implications of why it works or even how it works.
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But I know it works from words of the prophets in the
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scriptures and from living prophets today.
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We see the fruits of His suffering everywhere we look.
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So here's one of the the major fruits that flow from his
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infinite suffering. Mosiah 5 verse seven.
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And now because of the covenant which you have made, you shall
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be called the children of Christ.
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You're now a child of the covenant, a child of Christ, his
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sons and his daughters. For behold this day he hath
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spiritually begotten you. For you see that your hearts are
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changed through faith on his name.
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Therefore you are born of him, and have become his sons and his
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daughters. And as any child who's given a
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new life and born into a family, that that child takes upon him
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or herself the name of the family.
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As we're born into the covenant, we also take upon us the name of
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Christ. We don't just take His name upon
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us, but we have the capacity now to grow up to become like Him
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through the power of His infinite Atonement.
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And you'll notice it's a process as well as a product.
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Jesus Christ works with us through this long process to
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create an at one product. In the end, that's the that's
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the end goal. Skipping over to Alma 34, verse
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8 is where we'll start here and now.
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Behold, I will testify unto you of myself that these things are
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true. Behold, I say to you that I do
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know that Christ shall come among the children of men to
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take upon him the transgressions of his people.
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Did you catch that? Christ will come.
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So the the beauty of his birth is amazing.
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We're not trying to take away anything from Christmas.
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Keep loving Christmas with all that it that it brings of of joy
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and light and love into the world that is wonderful.
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Keep all of that there. The point being, then let's add
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to it this glorious culmination of why he was even born in the
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1st place. He came into the world among the
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children of men. Why to take upon him the
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transgressions of his people, that he shall atone for the sins
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of the world? For the Lord God hath spoken it.
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For it is expedient that an atonement should be made, for
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according to the great plan of the eternal God there must be an
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atonement made, or else all all mankind must unavoidably perish.
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Yeah, all are hardened, all are fallen, and are lost, and must
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must perish, except to be through the atonement.
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Which is it is expedient, should be made.
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So it's it's again, you can't get very far in the Book of
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Mormon before it reminds you of our absolute and utter
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dependence upon Jesus Christ, our need for access to His
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infinite atonement in our behalf.
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If you turn the page over, verse 15 says, And thus he shall bring
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salvation to all those who shall believe on His name, this being
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the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the
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bowels of mercy which overpowers justice, and then down to verse
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16 And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice and
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encircles them in the arms of safety.
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It's my prayer that we will all put more emphasis on what Jesus
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Christ did for us as we go through this week of the atoning
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sacrifice this year that will focus on the mercy of God, the
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arms of of His safety that He offers to encircle us in.
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Because he went through that infinite atonement all alone, we
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don't ever have to be isolated or left alone in any of the
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mortal conditions, whether it be pain, sickness, affliction or
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temptation or sin needing to be forgiven or death needing to be
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resurrected. Ultimately, then we jump over to
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3rd Nephi, where Jesus Christ himself is talking about what he
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accomplished in 3rd Nephi 27. When he gives his description of
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what the gospel of Jesus Christ is from his own perspective,
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nobody's interpreting it for us. It's Jesus telling us This is my
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gospel, and here's what he says. Chapter 27 verse 13 Behold, I
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have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I
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have given unto you, that I came into the world.
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There's the glorious birth to do the will of my Father, because
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my Father sent me, and my Father sent me, that I might be lifted
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up upon the cross. And after that I had been lifted
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up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me.
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That as I have been lifted up by men, Even so should men be
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lifted up by the Father to stand before me, to be judged of their
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works, whether they be good or whether they be evil.
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The incredible reality here is Jesus Christ was already judged
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of your works and of my works, and He was found guilty and He
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was punished to the full extent of the law for us.
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He who had done no wrong, He who deserves 0 punishment, suffers
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infinite punishment, and if infinite agonies for us.
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So those are just a handful of beautiful scriptures in the Book
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of Mormon that teach us, give us more depth, more breadth, more
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angles to look at the Savior's infinite atonement in our behalf
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that it doesn't take away from or compete with what we read in
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the Bible. The Book of Mormon is there to
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complement and to uphold and to be a joint witness.
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If to become at 1:00, if you will, there there's an AT
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onement here between the Book of Mormon and the Bible.
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And then we would add the Doctrine and Covenants in the
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Pearl of Great Price. They're all one in our hand to
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testify of these eternal truths. Now I mentioned at the beginning
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that I have two scripture study perspectives I wanted to really
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focus, focus on for this particular set of concepts.
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The first being to look at what the scriptures say about
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teachings and the second was to amplify and magnify what are
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living prophets have said about the Infinite Atonement of Jesus
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Christ. And there are thousands of
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quotes from General Conference and in books and in other talks
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given by by leaders of the Church, especially by prophets
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and apostles. I wanted to share a couple of
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insights from our First Presidency and from President
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Holland, our current prophets and apostles, on things that
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they have shared regarding this attribute of the Savior's
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infinite atonement of His ability and His empathy for us
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in not just overcoming sin and death, which we've said is the
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biggest part that the awful monster, death and hell, but in
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some of those often overlooked and forgotten parts of His
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suffering that have a huge impact on our life regarding our
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pains, our sicknesses, our afflictions.
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So the first one I want to share comes from our prophet,
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President Russell M Nelson shared in the Christmas
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devotional 2023 called Come, Let Us adore Him, Listen to these
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beautiful words. During the past few months, I
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have learned a lot more about pain and it's refining
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influence. My heart has been drawn out to
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our Savior as I have tried to imagine the extent of His
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suffering. My mortal mind simply cannot
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comprehend how He took upon himself all the pains, all the
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sins, all the anguish, and all the afflictions of everyone who
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has ever lived. We Revere the babe of Bethlehem
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precisely because he later offered the incomprehensible
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infinite sacrifice in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross
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of Calvary. This offering redeems each of
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us, as we choose, to repent and follow him.
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Then, as his crowning act on earth, he rose from the tomb on
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the third day, granting each one of us the unprecedented blessing
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of resurrection and life. After death next.
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This comes from the talk by President Dylan H Oakes.
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Most scriptural accounts of the Atonement concern the Saviours
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breaking the bands of death and suffering for our sins.
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In his sermon, recorded in the Book of Mormon, Alma taught
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these fundamentals. But he also provided our
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clearest scriptural assurances that the Savior also experienced
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the pains and sicknesses and infirmities of his people.
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Alma described this part of the Savior's Atonement, And he shall
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go forth, suffering pains, and afflictions, and temptations of
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every kind, and this that the Word might be fulfilled, which
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saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his
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people. Think of it In the Savior's
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Atonement he suffered pains and afflictions and temptations of
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every kind. As President Boyd K Packer
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explained quote, he had no debt to pay.
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He had committed no wrong. Nevertheless, an accumulation of
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all of the guilt, the grief and sorrow, the pain and
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humiliation, all of the mental, emotional and physical torments
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known to man, he experienced them all.
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End of quote. This next quote from President
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Henry B Eyring. It will comfort us when we must
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wait in distress for the Savior's promise, relief that he
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knows from experience how to heal and help us.
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The Book of Mormon gives us the certain assurance of His power
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to comfort, and faith in that power will give us patience as
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we pray and work and wait for help.
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The Savior could have known how to succor us simply by
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revelation, but He chose to learn by His own personal
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experience. And finally, President Jeffrey R
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Holland. Now I speak very carefully, even
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reverently, of what may have been the most difficult moment
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in all of this solitary journey to atonement.
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I speak of those final moments for which Jesus must have been
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prepared intellectually and physically, but which he may not
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have fully anticipated emotionally and spiritually,
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that concluding descent into the paralyzing despair of divine
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withdrawal when he cries in ultimate loneliness.
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My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
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The loss of mortal support he had anticipated, But surely he
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had not apparently comprehended this, had he not said to his
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disciples, Behold, the hour has now come, that you shall be
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scattered every man to his own, and leave me alone.
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And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
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The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those
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things that please Him. Indeed, it is my personal belief
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that in all of Christ's mortal ministry the Father may never
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have been closer to His Son than in these agonizing final moments
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of suffering. Nevertheless, that the supreme
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sacrifice of his Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and
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solitary, the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort
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of His Spirit, the support of His personal presence.
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It was required. Indeed, it was central to the
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significance of the Atonement that this perfect Son, who had
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never spoken I'll nor done wrong, nor touched an unclean
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thing. He had to know how the rest of
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humankind would feel us, the rest of us, when we did commit
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such sins. For his atonement to be infinite
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and eternal, he had to feel what it was like to die not only
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physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have
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the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally,
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abjectly, hopelessly alone. Why?
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So that you and I would never need to be left alone.
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We would always have His power to turn to and draw upon and
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access. There have been so many
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prophetic voices, so many prophetic visions of what Jesus
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Christ accomplished and what comes from His infinite
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suffering and his His atonement, that we have a veritable sea of
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witnesses, a flood of witnesses out there.
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And it's my hope that this week, as you individually or
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collectively prepare to celebrate Easter and that
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glorious resurrection, that you won't have it be just a little
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holiday with treats on Sunday morning.
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But rather that it will be a week where you immerse yourself
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in the scriptures and the words and the testimonies of God's
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prophets, testifying of these incredible events in King
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Benjamin's words. How knoweth a man the master
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whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and who
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is far from the thoughts and the intents of his heart?
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Hopefully this week the Lord Jesus Christ will not be a
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stranger to any of us, nor far from the thoughts and the
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intents of our heart. Hopefully this week of all the
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weeks of the calendar year, we can be thinking of him every day
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and pondering what he was going through, leading up to his
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infinite atonement that He offered to us in Gethsemane
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through the trials and onto the cross of Calvary and into the
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tomb, to then be gloriously resurrected on Easter morning
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and closing. I want to add my testimony to
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that sea of witnesses that exists.
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I know that Jesus Christ was born, that He lived a perfect
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life, that He taught, He healed everything in His life, pointed
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people, and us forward to His great and last sacrifice.
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I know that He took upon himself my sins, my death, my mortal
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weaknesses, all of the effects of the fall that I experience
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and that you experience. And I know that He rose
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triumphant from the grave on that first Easter morn.
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And He sits enthroned in Yonder heavens on the right hand of the
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Father. And He is still guiding His
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church and leading people who are willing to listen to Him,
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both collectively through the voices of His prophets and
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individually through revelation that we're willing and able to
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receive. And I know that He's doing this
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because of His infinite love for us that came because of His
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infinite suffering for us. I love him with all my heart,
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and I leave that with you. In the name of Jesus Christ,
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Amen. Know that you're loved.