So I woke up from a nightmare and can't go back to sleep. Seeing how Easter just passed I was thinking a lot about the atonement of my Savior and what it means to me personally and to everyone else. As I got thinking I thought about how I could explain it to someone else and so I thought, "Let's go back to the Pre-mortal life and the Council in Heaven"
Image just for a minute you are there and God the Father tells you that to become like him you need to first become an imperfect mortal. He then puts a price on your return.
"You must pay for every mistake you make and be perfect by the end of your life, or I as a perfectly just God cannot accept you back."
So you are trapped. You know that even if you were to pay for every mistake, you just aren't going to be perfect by the time you die. At the same time your current life as a spirit can't progress any further and you want to live up to your Father's expectations. So you cry.
"Is there no other way? Surely as the perfect God, you are perfectly merciful as well. Can't we bend the rules?"
But the Father decreed an eternity before that nothing imperfect can dwell with him.
So our Savior steps forward. Our eldest brother whose strength, power, and glory was so great that he had already achieved perfection and was God. Our Savior says, "Let me act as a mediator. I shall live a perfect life. Yea, a perfect mortal life. I will during that time suffer for my brothers and sisters both for their mistakes but also for their trials in life so that I can be their judge. I shall offer them a price they are capable of paying and then I will make up the difference between them and perfection."
The Father says this is both just and merciful and therefore God can remain perfect and we can continue to become like him.
The Savior then turns to us. "I am also perfect. I too must be Just and Merciful. So here is my Justice. You will not be perfect now for that is beyond you, but I suffered your trials and I know how close you are capable of getting. You must reach what you are capable of, only then will I make up the difference and you shall become perfect."
That will seem impossible to you. So here is my Mercy. I will help you, strengthen you, comfort you, send prophets to guide you, establish a church to support you, and the Holy Ghost to give you more light and perfect you. If you will never give up I promise you that you will make it."
"All I ask is that you accept my aid and never give up trying to be the perfect person you were meant to be. If you do this I will make up the difference and you will return with me and receive your glory as a child of the Almighty God. Yea, an heir to all the Father has."
"If you accept my help but give up trying, then I cannot justly plead your case before the Father that you will progress to perfection. Since you accepted me I will plead to the Father that my suffering be enough to spare you, and that you should be allowed to dwell with me. You cannot go to the Father but you can stay with me since you accepted me."
"If however you also refuse my aid. If you refuse to call for the Mercy I have offered you before the Father. Then Justice will have its claim on you. You must suffer even as I, which suffering caused even me the God of Heaven and Earth to shrink and wish that I would not need to drink the bitter cup. Yea, you must suffer your payment in full. Once the payment is made you shall take your place in the Light as a child of our Father but you cannot dwell with him, nor I. You paid the price for your mistakes and so earned the light but you did not meet perfection and rejected me."
"And if you should accept my aid and receive of my light and then with perfect knowledge turn to fight against our Father, then are you a devil. As a devil you have chosen to live in darkness and so into Darkness shall you be thrust to dwell with those who, as Lucifer, chose to walk the paths of darkness while in the light of God. There is no suffering sufficient to repay for the betrayal made by denying the Holy Ghost when possessing a perfect knowledge."
These are the terms we were offered when we accepted this life. Maybe not exactly like this but the terms are the same. Both the Father and the Son have set their price and reward. Both are perfectly Just and perfectly Merciful.
All that is asked of us is that we accept the sacrifice our Savior made and always strive to be better and then through his Grace we can return to our Father in glory. He promised it to us and so it must be true. This is what Easter is about and means to me.
