Joseph Fielding Smith: Lesson #3 The Plan of Salvation
presented by Sharyn
The manual recounts an incident early in President Smith’s life
when his sister Alice died shortly before the end of his mission in Great
Britain. She had been ill when he left,
but continued to live through most of the mission, and he fully expected her to
be there when he returned. He wrote in
his journal: “It is at such times that
the hopes which the gospel presents to us are most welcome. We shall meet again on the other side to
enjoy the pleasure and blessings of each other’s presence, where family ties
will no more be broken, but where we shall all live to receive the blessings,
and realize the tender mercies of our Father in Heaven.”
Much later, when he was an apostle, he again testified: “We
have the plan of salvation; we administer the gospel; and the gospel is the
sole hope of the world.”
Elder Nelson describes three pillars of the Plan of
Salvation: the Creation, the Fall
and the Atonement. I’d like to add my
opinion that the foundation for those pillars is Agency. President Smith reminds us this about the
Fall: “Had Adam and Eve not partaken, the great gift of mortality would not
have come to them. Moreover, they would
have had no posterity…The fall of Adam brought to pass all the vicissitudes of
mortality…but…it brought the blessing of knowledge and understanding of mortal
life.”
We know that the Fall and our subsequent mortality brought
into the world both spiritual and physical death. We usually don’t like to think about these,
but as Elder Maxwell tells us, “There must be regular exit routes…we cannot
presume, even by faith, to block all these exits. Nor, if possessed of full, eternal
perspective, would we desire to do so.”
Our only hope of overcoming death lies in the Atonement of
Jesus Christ. Our Father’s Only Begotten
Son who was without sin was the only One who could have made this
sacrifice. President Smith teaches us:
“The driving of the nails into His hands and feet was the least part of His
suffering…His great suffering occurred before He ever went to the cross. It was in the Garden of Gethsemane that blood
oozed from every pore of His body; and in the extreme agony of His soul, He
cried to His Father…He took upon Himself that extreme penalty…our
transgressions.”
President Smith added that he “does not know how that was
done and neither does anyone else. He did it for us. And then He was resurrected--- again for
us. We are eternally grateful for His
willingness and ability to perform it. “
We then go from earth life to the spirit world. This and the next stages in the plan are less
clear to us; we haven’t been there yet, and we rely on the visions of others
such as President Joseph F. Smith to assure us that we continue to
progress. Then comes the Fist
Resurrection, followed by the Millennial Reign.
We then have the Final Resurrection.
All people --- anyone who was ever born will be resurrected and there
will be no more separation of body and spirit.
Then will come the Final Judgment when we will be assigned to one of
three kingdoms. A very few will become
Sons of Perdition.
Sharyn then read Elder Maxwell’s words about the plan of salvation:
“Its truths are crucial to how we see ourselves, others,
life, the Lord and even the universe.
Or how we view a baby or a death or the praise and honors of the world.
This plan constitutes the mother lode of meaning and can
cradle us conceptually amid any concern.”
Now, how does this Plan of Salvation really affect you in
your everyday life?
Some of the answers from the sisters were:
Realizing there is a plan gives me hope. It provides perspective.
It gives me comfort to know that I’m not in charge. Heavenly Father has a plan and I just need
to do my best to live it.
For me, it always helps to know what the end result is
supposed to be. That helps me
understand that out of all the millions of things you have to look at, which
ones are the important ones and which ones you can cast off.
Sharyn concluded with this quote from Pres. Smith:” This
mortal probation is a brief period, just a short span linking the eternity past
with the eternity future. Yet it is a period
of tremendous importance…this life is the most vital period in our eternal
existence.”
Sharyn concluded, “I’d like to close by testifying that the
plan gives me hope, both for earth life and a future not just because I know about
the Plan of Salvation, but because it is active in my life. My world view is certainly different, and
just being so aware of the Plan as I have been for the past couple of weeks has
reinforced my determination to become more focused on the rewards, not just the
vicissitudes. That we may all be more blessed by its influence
is my prayer.
