As Many As Would Believe

Final Reflections on Doctrine and Covenants 29

What would life be like without our Savior Jesus Christ?

This question reminds us of the sobering thought experiment that the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob used in his teaching:

Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.

O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more.

And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness.

O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. (2 Nephi 9:7-10)

Jacob’s father, the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi, employed a similar thought experiment in his teaching:

And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.

And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon. (2 Nephi 2:13-14)

Thankfully there is a God. Thankfully, there is a Savior, Jesus Christ.

Without Heavenly Father or His Beloved Son Jesus Christ, there would be no creation. Without Them, neither we or the earth would exist, and there would be no happiness, righteousness, or law. Or, if Jesus Christ had not Atoned for us, there would be no resurrection, and our spirits would be shut out of the presence of God forever, to become miserable, to become devils, and to become angels to the devil.

Thankfully, God did not create us only to abandon us and leave us in such an awful condition:

But, behold, I say unto you that I, the Lord God, gave unto Adam and unto his seed, that they should not die as to the temporal death, until I, the Lord God, should send forth angels to declare unto them repentance and redemption, through faith on the name of mine Only Begotten Son.

And thus did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation—that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many as would believe; (D&C 29:42-43)

Mercifully, the Lord God sends angels. He sent angels to Adam, and he sends angels to us, to declare the Good News: repentance and redemption, through faith on the name of God’s Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ rescues us from spiritual death (separation from God because of sin), and physical death (the separation of our spirits from our bodies). Without Him, spiritual and physical death would be permanent. Because of Him, we will each be resurrected, and because of Him, we can repent and return to God.

Without faith unto repentance, things would be very bleak indeed:

And they that believe not unto eternal damnation; for they cannot be redeemed from their spiritual fall, because they repent not;

For they love darkness rather than light, and their deeds are evil, and they receive their wages of whom they list to obey. (D&C 29:44-45)

With faith unto repentance, on the other hand, joy is possible.

Children, however, are innocent, and need no repentance until they become accountable before the Lord:

But behold, I say unto you, that little children are redeemed from the foundation of the world through mine Only Begotten;

Wherefore, they cannot sin, for power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children, until they begin to become accountable before me;

For it is given unto them even as I will, according to mine own pleasure, that great things may be required at the hand of their fathers. (D&C 29:46-48)

This is a unique, true, and beautiful doctrine in the Church of Jesus Christ.

The Lord concludes His revelation in Doctrine and Covenants 29 with His Divine invitation to us:

And, again, I say unto you, that whoso having knowledge, have I not commanded to repent?

And he that hath no understanding, it remaineth in me to do according as it is written. And now I declare no more unto you at this time. Amen. (D&C 29:49-50)