What Christ means to me

Image a world without knowing Christ and His gospel.  If you look at humanity’s worldly experience over the millennia, at least 90% of us have no understanding of the true nature of God, His son and their role in our salvation.  Man has had to struggle through this mortal existence without knowing the gospel plan and the happiness it brings.  Each person is born, grows up, lives and dies with a limited view of their purpose.  If they didn’t see, touch, taste, feel or smell it, it didn’t exist.  Others are lead down strange paths by the vain theories of men.  They don’t know where they came from, why they are here or where they go after this mortal realm. Hope and faith are strange to this world view.  Today, our world is caught up in such a dark place where faith is chided and hope can only be come from the government. Fortunately, God gave us prophets to guide us back to him.

One such prophet taught over a thousand years ago of Christ. From Alma chapter 34: 8-x

Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

 9 For it is expedient that an ^aatonement should be made; for according to the great ^bplan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are ^cfallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made.

 10 For it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a ^bsacrifice of man, neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and ^deternal  sacrifice.

 Now there is not any man that can sacrifice his own blood which will atone for the sins of another. Now, if a man murdereth, behold will our law, which is ^ajust, take the life of his brother? I say unto you, Nay.

 12 But the law requireth the ^alife of him who hath ^bmurdered; therefore there can be nothing which is short of an infinite atonement which will suffice for the sins of the world.

 13 Therefore, it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice, and then shall there be, or it is expedient there should be, a ^astop to the shedding of ^bblood; then shall the ^claw of Moses be fulfilled; yea, it shall be all fulfilled, every jot and tittle, and none shall have passed away.

Now, Imagine you lived in the time of Christ. Prophets of old had prophesied of His coming:

From Isaiah chapter 7:14-16 :

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a ^asign; ^bBehold, a^cvirgin shall conceive, and bear a ^dson, and shall call his name^eImmanuel.

 15 ^aButter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

 16 For ^abefore the child shall know to refuse the ^bevil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

But what surprised God’s people was his humble beginnings. He was born in a manger to a young unmarried virgin. He was not brought to His thrown, but was threatened by the rulers of His own land.  He was a carpenter’s son in a small town in Judea.  He lived not as a king, but as a common man.  He sought out John the Baptist to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness.  He then fasted, prayed and was sorely tempted as He began his mortal ministry.

In this season as we celebrate the birth of Christ, we can now truly grasp His significance. Many thought that the messiah would come and conquer their enemies and reign in glory.

Through the scriptures and the prophets we learn of Christ’s life and purpose. His virgin birth over two millennia ago, began his mortal ministry. He lived a humble life of service. He shunned sin and chose the good throughout his life. In the end, he knelt down in an olive orchard, prayed to his father and accepted all of man kind’s sin.  He felt pain and anguish and temptation but chose to atone for you and me.  He let himself be taken, scourged and finally crucified, sealing the atonement with his blood.

Christ, through the atonement transformed our lone and dreary world, into a world ruled by a gospel that brings hope and happiness to the full extent of God’s creation.  Through His teachings we know we existed before this mortal life and we have a loving Father in Heaven. We chose to follow Christ and take the risk of a mortal life. We have an eternal soul made up of our body and our spirit both created through God’s power.  Our prophets testify of Christ and we love and follow him. He has given us his Plan of Happiness that leads us back to our father and eternal life.  Because Christ took upon himself my sins and yours and the sins of man’s mortal existence, we can partake of His atonement and be cleansed pure and white.  We can choose to follow him by walking the path he designed, guiding us through the pitfalls of mortality.

In Truth, Christ’s mortal ministry defeated our greatest enemy and through his atonement, He unlocked the gates for heaven for all of us to return to our Father in Heaven and to rule and reign in celestial glory.

Today, we have another test of our faith, instead of trying to comprehend how this normal looking man could be the son of God, we have to have the faith to believe this remarkable story of Christ’s life, death and resurrection.

Here we stand at the cusp of the greatest and last dispensation of time, waiting for our savior’s return, this time to rule and reign as was for told in the scriptures and by prophets of old.

Will man finally accept God’s invitation and fully partake of his glorious gospel?

Through the Gospel we can have a happy life on earth and eternal joy with our Father in Heaven.

It is my prayer that we can have the faith to believe in the true and everlasting Gospel. Christ did come to earth. He was the Son of God. He did take upon himself the sins of the world. He is the only being that could have done so and through him we can return to our heavenly father. I know this. This has be testified to me by the holy Ghost.  I Know that God lives. His son is my savior and he loves each of us. We can return to him through his Gospel.