“O How Great the Goodness of Our God”

“O How Great the Goodness of Our God”

2 Nephi 6-10

By Breck England

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.[1]

In this lesson, we consider one of the greatest discourses ever given on the subject of the Atonement of Christ. The speaker is Jacob, Nephi’s younger brother, who at Nephi’s invitation interprets certain passages of Isaiah that speak of Christ.

The purpose of Jacob’s discourse is to help us understand what the Savior has done for us, to “bring us to a knowledge of the Redeemer.”[2] Jacob introduces to us the concept of the “infinite atonement”[3]—the central concept of the Gospel and the keystone of the great plan of God.
Infinite Atonement

The phrase “infinite atonement” does not occur in the Bible; therefore, this concept is unique to the teaching of the Book of Mormon. The book of Job in the Bible does teach, however, that man’s iniquities are infinite.[4] In this passage, the word “infinite” is a translation of a Hebrew phrase meaning something like “without limits.”

The word “infinite” also appears in the Psalms in describing the understanding of God[5], and with much the same meaning: “immeasurable, without borders, unlimited, innumerable.”
Therefore, when Jacob speaks of an infinite atonement, he probably means that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ has limitless, immeasurable scope. The Atonement is absolutely unlimited in its effectiveness for those who are righteous.

Elder Spencer J. Condie explains:

The Book of Mormon teaches us of an infinite atonement, an atoning sacrifice by Christ that is unbounded by time, ethnicity, geography, or even kinds of sins, save for the unpardonable sin of denying the Holy Ghost. The Resurrection includes all people “from the days of Adam down” to the end of time, those “both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female.”

The Atonement is also infinite in the sense that the Savior not only overcame death and sin, but he also took upon himself “the pains and the sicknesses” and the “infirmities” of his people (Alma 7:11–12). The Atonement is infinite, too, in that because of the redemption made possible by his beloved Son, our Heavenly Father is able to forgive us “as often as [we] repent” (Mosiah 26:30–31; see also Moro. 6:8).[6]
With his phrase “infinite atonement,” the prophet Jacob thus emphasizes the universal nature of the Atonement: with the exception of deniers of the Holy Ghost, it applies to everyone, everywhere, regardless of what they have done.

Escape from Death of Body and Spirit

To begin with, the Atonement provides “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.”[7] Without the Atonement, there would be no escape from the grave. “This flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.”[8]
Physical death, which is infinite in its scope — “death hath passed upon all”[9] — can only be reversed by an Atonement which is likewise infinite in scope.

The Atonement also provides a way to escape from “the death of the spirit,” which Jacob describes in wintry terms:

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.[10]

The infinite Atonement provides much more than escape: it also provides for infinite restoration. “The grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other ... and all men become incorruptible, and immortal.”[11] Elsewhere in the Book of Mormon, the prophet Alma explains what this infinite restoration consists of: “The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea; even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.”[12]

Restoration to a Perfect Knowledge

Along with this restoration to a perfect and incorruptible body, we will also be restored to a “perfect knowledge.” If we have been wicked, we will be restored to a “perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness.”

Those who have been righteous will be restored to a “perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea even with the robe of righteousness.”[13]
Obviously, to have a perfect recollection of every sin, every thoughtless remark, every hurtful action we have ever done would be excruciating. The problem with sin is its infinite effects. Some scientists theorize that the flapping of a butterfly’s wing in Brazil can set off a tornado in Texas: they call this phenomenon “sensitivity to initial conditions.”

Our sins have the same effect. A harsh word to a child can echo in that child’s heart for a lifetime. A home-teaching visit omitted can lead a lonely soul to believe no one cares. A simple lie can lead to unending deception and pain.

Forty years ago when I was a Boy Scout, I watched a Church leader scold quite harshly one of the other Scouts for some thoughtless but minor thing he had done. His feelings hurt, that young boy ran from the meeting and swore he would never come back. Today that boy is a man who has been out of the Church for decades. The mission he never served, the family he never had, the good he never did — who is responsible for the virtually infinite consequences of those few cruel words so long ago?
I don’t absolve the boy of his responsibility for his situation; still, this action of a thoughtless Church leader has haunted me for a long time and helped me understand that a single sinful act can echo through eternity.

A Lake of Fire and Brimstone

If this is so — if the consequences of our actions are infinite — then we are all lost. “All have sinned,” says the Apostle Paul, “and come short of the glory of God.”[14] That is the harsh reality. Those who are finally restored to perfect knowledge of the wrongs they have done, to an unlimited understanding of the limitless effects of their sins, will find that “their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and has no end.”[15]

As Jacob says, “The words of truth are hard.”[16]

Is it any wonder, then, that Jacob says: “O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of that awful monster” — that “perfect knowledge of all our guilt”? Because we are all infinitely lost, because our sufferings would otherwise be infinite, nothing short of an infinite Atonement can restore us. And that Atonement has been provided.

The great miracle of the Atonement is that it delivers us from the “perfect knowledge of all our guilt and our uncleanness.” Instead, if we repent of our sins, that knowledge turns to “enjoyment and righteousness.” We will be resurrected with the recollection of our guilt swept from our minds.
Because of the infinite Atonement of the Savior, we can pass in an instant from what Alma called “the pains of a damned soul” to “joy and marvelous light,” as Alma did when his “mind caught hold upon” the Atonement.[17]

Come unto the Lord

Now, Jacob teaches, we can only take advantage of the infinite Atonement on the condition of repentance. “O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him ... and whoso knocketh, to him will he open.”[18]
We come unto the Lord when we realize, as Alma did, that we must repent. We must “cry within [our] hearts: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me.”[19]

The choice is entirely ours, as Jacob says: “Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves — to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.”[20]
The promise of the infinite Atonement to those who repent is limitless comfort. The Prophet Joseph Smith describes it this way:

Those who have died in Jesus Christ may expect to enter into all that fruition of joy when they come forth, which they possessed or anticipated here … I am glad I have the privilege of communicating to you some things which, if grasped closely, will be a help to you when earthquakes bellow, the clouds gather, the lightnings flash, and the storms are ready to burst upon you like peals of thunder. Lay hold of these things and let not your knees or joints tremble, nor your hearts faint; and then what can earthquakes, wars and tornadoes do? Nothing. All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful. By the vision of the Almighty I have seen it.[21]

Because of the infinite Atonement, and through your faithfulness, all your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection.
All of your disappointments, your sorrows, your discouragements, your pains will be made up to you.

If you’ve lost a child, watched a loved one suffer from cancer, been crushed by debt, been abandoned or abused — no matter what you have suffered, it will all be made up to you. Although your suffering may appear infinite to you, the Atonement reaches beyond it.
And even more, the infinite consequences of all your mistakes, the wrongs you have done, the good things you neglected to do, the guilt you bear, the shame of a hurting conscience — no matter what you suffer, it has been paid. The debt has been canceled. The infinite Atonement has answered the demands of justice.

“Lay hold of these things,” says the Prophet, “and then what can earthquakes, wars, and tornadoes do? Nothing.” The source of our infinite comfort is the infinite Atonement of Jesus Christ.

And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off.[22]

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[1] 2 Ne. 9:10.
[2] 2 Ne. 6:11.
[3] 2 Ne. 9:7.
[4] Job 22:5.
[5] Psalm 147:5.
[6] Spencer J. Condie, “The Fall and Infinite Atonement,” Ensign, Jan. 1996, 22.
[7] 2 Ne. 9:10.
[8] 2 Ne. 9:7.
[9] 2 Ne. 9:6.
[10] 2 Ne. 9:8-9.
[11] 2 Ne. 9:12-13.
[12] Alma 40:23.
[13] 2 Ne. 9:14.
[14] Romans 3:23.
[15] 2 Ne. 9:16.
[16] 2 Ne. 9:40.
[17] Alma 36:16-20.
[18] 2 Ne. 9:41-42.
[19] Alma 36:18.
[20] 2 Ne. 10:23.
[21] Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, 50.
[22] 2 Ne. 10:20.

Reference : http://www.ldsmag.com/gospeldoctrine/bom/080220bom8.html