Eternal Life and Exaltation

This is a big topic but I’d like to discuss a piece of it here. I could include many more quotes by the prophets but time constraints allow me to mention only a few.

In Alma 7:11-13 we learn more why the Savior came down to a mortal experience and went through what He did. Before mentioning these verses let us remind ourselves what eternal life is. In John 17:3 we learn that, “this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” So, eternal life is to know God and Jesus Christ. That is the great purpose of why we are here. We learn that God’s whole work and glory is to bring about our exaltation or eternal life (Moses 1:39). Since we know this, what can we expect to go through?

Alma 7:11-13 tells us what the Savior went through and why He went through it. Here is what the account says, “11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.
13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.”

He had to experience it even through the Spirit could have taught Him how to succor us, He had to go through it in the flesh to really minister to us appropriately.

President Henry B. Eyring interprets these verses in this way too. He said, “My purpose today is to assure you that our Heavenly Father and the Savior live and that They love all humanity. The very opportunity for us to face adversity and affliction is part of the evidence of Their infinite love. God gave us the gift of living in mortality so that we could be prepared to receive the greatest of all the gifts of God, which is eternal life. Then our spirits will be changed. We will become able to want what God wants, to think as He thinks, and thus be prepared for the trust of an endless posterity to teach and to lead through tests to be raised up to qualify to live forever in eternal life.

It is clear that for us to have that gift and to be given that trust, we must be transformed through making righteous choices where that is hard to do. We are prepared for so great a trust by passing through trying and testing experiences in mortality. That education can come only as we are subject to trials while serving God and others for Him.

In this education we experience misery and happiness, sickness and health, the sadness from sin and the joy of forgiveness. That forgiveness can come only through the infinite Atonement of the Savior, which He worked out through pain we could not bear and which we can only faintly comprehend.

It will comfort us when we must wait in distress for the Savior’s promised relief that He knows, from experience, how to heal and help us. The Book of Mormon gives us the certain assurance of His power to comfort. And faith in that power will give us patience as we pray and work and wait for help. He could have known how to succor us simply by revelation, but He chose to learn by His own personal experience. Here is the account from Alma...” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/04/adversity?lang=eng 

General Conference, April 2009, Adversity).

It now makes perfect sense why we go through similar challenges and experiences as the Savior did. That we might truly come to know Him and thus fulfill the measure of our creation, to become as He is. As we come to know Him, then we can succor those that stand in need of His succor. So, everything that is difficult for us to go through can be explained with a correct understanding of the doctrine of Christ and what eternal life truly is.

When I ask myself, “how can I learn more about the Savior from this experience, then I began to receive real answers about the injustices of life.

Isaiah taught, “3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed“ (Isaiah 53:3-5).

Next time you or I feel hated by men, misunderstood, falsely accused, unjustly treated, or that you are suffering because of the sins of others; look to the example of Jesus Christ and how He handled these same situations. We can learn to handle them as the Savior did and at the same time rejoice that the Lord trusts us enough to allow us to go through these experiences that we might become more like Him and that much closer to eternal life.

I have noticed that if I learn from the experiences the way Christ would have me, that then He sends people to me that are going through similar experiences so that I can turn them to the Savior to learn why they are going through these horrible situations and experiences. The only way to make sense of life is a correct understanding of the purposes of God, to make gods out of us, to help us become as They are.

Joseph Smith explains these principles so well in a funeral sermon, the King Follett discourse. Here is: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1971/04/the-king-follett-sermon?lang=eng

I know God lives and loves us. He will succor us in our afflictions if we turn to Him. He has all the answers and is the truly the great healer. True doctrine understood changes our attitudes and behavior and our reaction to our trials. We can truly be grateful for the excruciating experiences we are allowed to go through by a loving Father and Mother in heaven. They went through them and now They must allow us to go through them that we might learn through experience and thus become a great benefit to our fellow brothers and sisters.