While reading in my scriptures yesterday, I came across Mosiah 15:8.
And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men—
I didn’t think much about this verse yesterday. It seems to be in line with what I believe. It wasn’t until this evening when I read the next verse that Abinadi’s message became clearer.
Having ascended into heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice.
When we read the two verses together, we see there were several acts Jesus needed to perform before he could get to the point where God would let him intercede on our behalf.
- Ascend into heaven
- Have bowels of mercy
- Be filled with compassion towards us
- Stand between us and justice
- Break the bands of death
- Take upon himself our iniquity and transgressions
- Redeemed us
- Satisfy the demands of justice
Having seen this in new light, describing the Atonement as Jesus suffering for our sins and implementing the Resurrection just seems underwhelming.
Thanks for this! Yes, we can look at Jesus too simplistically (or simplisticly?). So I appreciate your last sentence, ending in “underwhelming” — but I don’t reach the point of believing that Jesus had to qualify before being able to be our intecessor — he was ordained to his calling before the foundation of the world, and was already our God from the beginning of the world.