Christ and His Infinite Atonement   The Pearl of Great Price Lecture 06 by Hyrum Andrus
Channel: Light and Truth
Date: 2016-07-20

Hyrum L. Andrus
All rights reserved January 25-27, 1996
LECTURE – 6 CHRIST AND HIS INFINITE ATONEMENT
Our topic this evening, my brothers and sisters, is Christ and His Infinite Atonement, and in this we are getting to the heart of this whole cosmic picture of life. On one occasion the Prophet Joseph Smith was asked the question: “What are the fundamental principles of your religion?” If you ask that question to many modern Latter-day Saints, they would say: “Well, eternal marriage, Word of Wisdom, we believe in the three degrees of glory, pre-earth existence, .....” And I don’t know what other, but here is how the Prophet answered it.
He said: “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the apostles and prophets concerning Jesus Christ. That he died, was buried and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.” [DHC 3:30.]
Do you think of the gospel in that sense? If you don’t, you are off base. Then he added: “But in connection with these fundamental principles, we believe in the gift of the Holy Ghost, the power of faith, the enjoyment of the spiritual gifts, according to the will of God. The restoration of the house of Israel and the final triumph of truth.
I’d like to spend the evening with you on this most sacred topic, “Christ And His Infinite Atonement.” This is the very heart of things, it is the very center of life, it is the center of liberty, it is the center of existence, it is the center of the galaxy. It is the greatest act of this eternity, the act of Gethsemane and Calvary, and it is the heart and the core of the foundation of exalted life in the worlds to come. All existence in the future will focus and center and be based on those two great accomplishments of Gethsemane and Calvary. That is how important it is.
It is centered in the doctrine of the fall. You have to know the fall in order to appreciate why the atonement and to know even that you need it, as President Benson said.
The ancient prophets looked forward to the atonement of Christ for their salvation. You see that in the Pearl of Great Price very clearly. Let me suggest that you turn to Moses, chapter 5. Here, beginning with verse 5, the record says this: “And he gave unto them (that is, God gave unto them, Adam and Eve) commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord.”
Verse 6: “And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord. And after many days an angel of the Lord appeared unto Adam, (And those many days included him growing to be a grandfather. If you read the earlier verses.) “.....saying: Why dost thou offer sacrifices unto the Lord? And Adam said unto him: I know not, save the Lord commanded me.”
Verse 7: “And then the angel spake, saying: This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.”
Verse 8: “Wherefore thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.”
Here then is the great revelation of this central focal act. It shows the relationship of this great law of sacrifice, pointing to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and finding its fulfillment in that. When was it given? It was the first law given to Adam after the law of obedience. The law of obedience, and then the law of sacrifice. All of this actually prior to his leaving the garden, and he left the garden and into the fallen state with those two commandments, those two covenants, of obedience and sacrifice, not knowing fully the reasons, or the ramifications, or the whys, or the wherefores of them, but living faithfully until he was a grandfather.
Now, you talk about the law of integrity, there it is. Sometimes we have to, and too often this is the case, we need to know the where’s and the wherefores, and the whys and the when’s, and the what’s and all those things about a particular issue before we are ready to act upon it, and this because we say we have to preserve our independence.
Well, we don’t preserve our faith that way. We may preserve our independence, and it just may be that that independence has a little false color to it. Sometimes pure obedience, simply because the Lord says so, is the case. Just pure obedience.

The Lord revealed this to Adam and indicates that it is a great similitude of the coming sacrifice of Christ, which is the focal point of his life from that point on and of the very existence that he had even then, because the power of the atonement began to operate at the same time the fall did. He then began to realize the truths of life on that occasion.
In Moses, chapter 6, verse 57, here is another st… Get the full transcription from www.hyrumandrus.com!