Scripture Chain: The Plan of Salvation
Premortal life
Mortal life
Life after death
My little family just talked about the plan of salvation in a lesson for family night. My middle son told everyone that he had hidden an object in the room that they needed to find. He didn't tell us what the object was so we didn't know what we were looking for. We immediately started asking questions - what it this? what is that? what are we looking for? My son just answered that we need to find it. Then, because we were frustrated, we started rapid-fire questions trying to identify the object. When we finally figured out that the object was a ball of yarn just sitting out on the counter, my son asked us how we liked looking for something we didn't know. We all agreed that it was confusing and frustrating. My son said that it is always more helpful and efficient when we have a plan or goal to work towards, which is why Heavenly Father has given us a plan. A plan to help us avoid spiritual harm. Then we talked about some of the components of the plan, which I will discuss here.
The plan of salvation extends from life before this world to life after this world. This plan must first be thought of as an overview to get the value and peace that comes from it, and then it can be thought of in the here and now which will bring peace to whatever you are experiencing now (if you let it). One piece of information that must be understood in order to grasp the plan of salvation is that our spirit, our internal (not necessarily physical) identity, existed before we were born. We lived as spirits, with God, in a premortal realm before we came to the life we know now, as evidenced by these scriptures:
God asks Job the question: Where we you before I laid the foundations of the world? In a place where the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy (at the presentation of a plan where we would have a change at salvation).
The Doctrine and Covenants reference is particularly instructive on the existence of a pre-mortal world:
55 I observed that they were also among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God.
56 Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.
Not only did we exist, but we were tutored and prepared to come to the earth at the prescribed time the Lord, Jesus Christ gives. This scriptures talks specifically about the rulers in the church of God, but this is a universal truth for all.
In our pre-mortal tutoring, we learned the purpose of coming to this earth:
24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;
25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;
26 And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.
27 And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.
28 And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him.
The one who "stood among them" was Jesus Christ. He expressed that the purpose for dwelling on earth is to "prove (test) them, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them". In our proving/testing, the Lord knows that we will not always make good choices, so a Redeemer would be necessary to help them correct mistakes, learn and make better choices. The first to respond to "whom shall I send?" was Jesus Christ, who really did want to help all spirits. The second to respond was Lucifer, who only wanted glory for himself. The first was sent and the second one was angry about that and became there after, Satan, or the devil, who works in opposition to the salvation of humans.
So, now we come to our mortal life. Mortality began with the fall of Adam, which means that Adam and Eve were once in the presence of God, but made a choice when tempted by the opposition (Satan), which consequence brought separation from God (Alma 42:9, 14):
9 Therefore, as the soul could never die, and the fall had brought upon all mankind a spiritual death as well as a temporal, that is, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord, it was expedient that mankind should be reclaimed from this spiritual death.The soul (body and spirit identity together) is still alive, but we are separated from God. So there needed to be a way to reclaim spiritual death (be reunited with God again). Now seen from the point of view of the here are now, you might curse Adam and Eve for separating them, and therefore us as their descendants, from God. However, seen in an overview that the plan of salvation offers, we see that a separation from God was necessary in order to prove whether we really wanted to be with Him in the first place. A separation from God, puts us in the realm of hard justice, that is, our actions create reactions and consequences that we must experience according to laws (not just human laws, but eternal laws). God's plan though provides a way to learn from our consequences and use them to progress in an upward spiral, instead of just experiencing the consequences, adding mistake upon mistake in a downward spiral (which is what Satan would have us believe). DC 29:43 lets us know that this plan (upward spiral) was appointed by God:
14 And thus we see that all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice; yea, the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off from his presence.
43 And thus did I, the Lord God, appoint unto man the days of his probation—that by his natural death he might be raised in immortality unto eternal life, even as many as would believe;When I say upward spiral, I don't mean constant good choices. There are bad choices along the way of a upward spiral and you would think that those choices would make you descend the spiral. However, if one uses the atonement of Jesus Christ in reaction to the bad choices (repentance), the effect is still upward motion, or progress on the spiral. Article of Faith 3:
3 We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.Now that we know that this life is a testing period, it goes to follow that there will be a grading, or judgment on how we did. DC 76:111
111 For they shall be judged according to their works, and every man shall receive according to his own works, his own dominion, in the mansions which are prepared;At death, our bodies are laid to rest in the earth, but our spirits remain intact (as they always will). Our spirits go to rest in one of two realms Alma 40:11-12:
11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.
12 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.
13 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil—for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold, they chose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house—and these shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this because of their own iniquity, being led captive by the will of the devil.
These two states, spirit paradise or spirit prison are not the final resting place of the soul. It is only the resting place of the spirit until the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when all, no matter how they lived on earth, will be resurrected - that is, their spirit and their bodies will be reunited.
14 Now, verily I say unto you, that through the redemption which is made for you is brought to pass the resurrection from the dead.
15 And the spirit and the body are the soul of man.
16 And the resurrection from the dead is the redemption of the soul.
In this state, each spirit and body begin reunited, all will see God and be judged or proved by their behavior on earth according to laws of God.
The next Sunday School lesson discusses what happens at judgement, where resurrected being go, which will conclude this discussion of the plan of salvation.
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