Answering Mormons: What Did Jesus Do?

The Mormon Question About Christ’s Atonement

So, today I have a question pertaining to the atonement of Christ, and how does that coincide with the Mormon faith and the absorption of sin, or if any sin is absorbed from Christ's atonement and his sacrifice?

Yeah. So, classic Mormon theology teaches that the atonement of Christ began in the Garden of Gethsemane. So, where it says that Jesus sweat great drops of blood, Mormonism has taught that that is where the atonement began, that it was completed on the cross, and in Mormon theology the atonement and the resurrection works to make salvation and the general resurrection possible.

So, in Mormonism there are different levels of heaven, the terrestrial, the telestial, and the celestial kingdom. They believe there are different levels of heaven. The celestial kingdom is the goal of every Mormon.

The celestial kingdom is the kingdom of exaltation. It's becoming a god and goddess one day. Now, Mormonism does teach that through the atonement of Jesus Christ all mankind may.

Be saved.

Through obedience, that's the combination, atonement and obedience, those two things.

Together.

Why Mormon Atonement Is Not Biblical

So, the atonement of Jesus Christ in Mormonism is not a biblical atonement. It's not the atonement that's in the Scriptures, where in the book of Hebrews it says that Jesus Christ gave one sacrifice for all, and that it is able to perfect forever those who draw near to God through him.

So, you want to understand how the atonement works. In the Old Testament, the Old Testament, temple sacrifice, the priesthood, all those things were pointing towards Jesus Christ. They were not the thing.

They were the dress rehearsal. They were not the big day. As a matter of fact, the kind of day that the atonement, the Yom Kippur was, the day of atonement, was an annual reminder of sins. They knew that the blood of bulls and goats could never really remove sin, because the blood of bulls and goats is animal sacrifice.

Here's the deal.

Listen, a bull and a goat cannot truly represent you.

Why?

It's a goat.

It's not image of God. Here's another thing. I can't represent you. I'm image of God. You're image of God. And if I said to you, I want to lay my life down for you. I want to give it all up for you. I want to represent you.

You should run in horror, because you don't want my record as your record.

Okay?

The Day of Atonement and the Need for a Better Priest

And in the Old Testament, the Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, that was a day where the high priest had to arise. He had to kill an animal for his own sins first, and then they had the goats. They had the scapegoat and the one that would die to shed his blood.

And they had to repeat this every year, the temple sacrifices with the priest. And guess what you had? You had a priest who was a sinner, who died, and somebody had to take his place. And you had a reminder every year of atonement.

Every year, your sin is still there. Every year, your sin is still there. Every year, new atonement necessary.

Why?

Because the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. But the glory of Jesus Christ. In the book of Hebrews, just read Hebrews, particularly chapters 7 through 10, the difference of Jesus Christ is that he is a better priest, because he is Melchizedek, the high priest,.

Forever.

And by the way, in Mormonism, they teach that they have the Melchizedek priesthood. In the book of Hebrews, chapter 7, it says that Christ is Melchizedek, the high priest, and it says that his priesthood does not transfer from one to the other.

In other words, he has it forever. And by the way, listen, please, that's a good thing, that Jesus is the high priest forever.

You know why?

It qualifies him. And guess what's also beautiful about Jesus? He didn't need to make any sacrifices for his own sins. He was the sacrifice for all of our sins. And it says that he completed that sacrifice, and it was once for all, and that it perfects those who draw near to God through him.

Christ’s Finished Work and Open Access to God

And it says that after he made his atonement, he sat down. Do you know the glory of that? If you know the priesthood system, the temple system, is the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies. You know what he never did?

There was no place to sit, because the work was never done. And he could have died going in. It was all a representation of what Jesus was going to do for us. And you know what another glory is of the atonement of Jesus Christ?

What happened after the death of Jesus Christ?

What happened?

Well, he rose, but I'm talking about immediately after. There was an earthquake, and it says what about the veil? It was torn from floor to ceiling. It ripped in half, Christ passing before, opening up the presence of God to God's people so that we could now, through his atonement, enter into the presence of God with bold, confident access, because you have a perfect atonement that has perfected you and Jesus Christ forever.

Now listen, I don't want to just preach on that, because we can go all night, right? That's glorious. But in Mormonism, the atonement of Jesus Christ of Mormonism is that you have Jesus Christ, the elder brother of Lucifer, Satan, who was one God among many gods, who according to early Mormon prophets and apostles, Jesus was a polygamist.

His atonement began in the garden, was finished on the cross, and it's not enough to perfect you, because you are never ultimately righteous before God, because you don't have a perfect righteousness imputed to you.

It's your righteousness plus the work of Jesus Christ. Let me just say this quickly. Do you know that every religion that apes Christianity has the same message? They'll distort who Jesus is, they'll create a fictional Christ, and then they'll have a gospel that says what?

The Righteousness of Christ Versus Human Merit

His atonement wasn't enough. You must have a righteousness that's acceptable to God in order to be at peace with God, and the glory of the biblical gospel is the righteousness that brings us to peace with God is not ours.

It's His, and His righteousness is imputed to us through faith. And the atonement is the central aspect of it all. It's perfect, it's done forever, and through faith in Jesus Christ, that atonement covers us, washes us, perfects us forever.

The Mormon view of the atonement is an atonement that doesn't cover ultimately our sins before God because it's never done. There's no peace.