Before we ever came to earth, and before the world was even created, a plan was put into place by which every one of God’s children could be brought back into His presence.

Living there in the pre-earth life with the Father was a glorious thing.  We knew our Heavenly Parents intimately.  We learned from them.  We were loved.  We loved Them.  We were like Them.  We were happy.  There was no evil.  There was no sin.  It was an infinitely better place and an infinitely better situation than anything we have here in mortality except for one hugely irritating frustration.  That frustration was that although we looked like our Heavenly Parents we could never be truly like Them, know what They knew, or do what They did because our spirits were not housed in bodies as Theirs were.

Though we were happy, we could not experience joy.  Though we were family, we could not have children of our own.  Though we were children, we could not be parents.  We could not be married.  We could not procreate.  We could not create and populate worlds.

Though we loved our Parents and declared our love and allegiance to Them, that allegiance had never been tested.  We were not sure how deeply our allegiance ran.  We were not sure that we could be faithful to Them through every circumstance because our allegiance had never been tried.

Though we had great knowledge we didn’t know if we were capable of always using that knowledge for righteous purposes.  We couldn’t appreciate the light we lived in because we’d never experienced darkness.  We couldn’t appreciate our bliss because we’d never experienced pain or sickness or rejection or depression or loneliness.

There was much about ourselves that we didn’t know.  We didn’t know if we were capable of overcoming selfishness.  If we were ever to be truly like our Heavenly Parents, we would have to be selfless.  There was no way for us to know if we could be selfless, consistently kind, patient, loving, moral, and loyal because we had never experienced opposition.  We knew nothing about selfishness, cruelty, impatience, hate, immorality, and disloyalty.

We wanted to be like our Parents in every particular, but it was impossible.  Our desires were frustrated until the Plan was announced.  We listened intently.  We were enraptured.  And then we burst forth with unrestrained shouts of joy.  (Job 38:3-7).

What was all the shouting about?  It was because a door and a way had been opened through which each of us could acquire a body, experience, knowledge, and a future.  We would finally be able to prove our loyalty, allegiance, and faithfulness.  We would prove these things to God and to ourselves.  We could progress.  We could become like God.

The way was fraught with peril.  We might not succeed.  We had never known opposition, and that opposition might prove to be too much for us.  Opposition would cause every one of us to sin, and sin would banish us from the presence of our Heavenly Parents.  This was a circumstance that was unacceptable.  None of us would have been willing to go through the ordeal of mortality and banishment from the Father’s presence except that the Plan called for a Redeemer Who would take our sins upon Himself, pay the price, and do the suffering in our behalf.

Our Parents were perfect Beings.  Sin could not be in Their presence.  Sin and God are repulsive to each other.  Neither can tolerate the presence of the other.  The law of justice demands that every sin be erased before it’s possible for its perpetrator to be brought back into God’s presence.  Sins, by their very nature, cause suffering.  Sins can only be erased by allowing that suffering to take place.

Our sins, we were told, would be so heinous in mortality that none of us would be able to suffer enough to make payment for the awful things that we would do.  We would be trying to learn how to properly use our bodies and the gift of agency and choice.  The only way we could learn what we’d need to learn would be through trial and error and the making of mistakes.  We would learn through our mistakes.  We would be given the opportunity to completely erase those mistakes, even when purposely made, if we would abandon them, feel remorse, commit to never do them again, and accept the Redeemer as our Savior.

Accepting Jesus Christ means learning of Him, loving Him, and keeping His commandments.  Keeping His commandments is how we show that we love Him.  (John 14:15).

When we come to understand the magnitude of our lost and fallen state, and the magnitude of what Jesus has done to redeem us from that state, our gratitude and love for Him know no bounds.  His love for us is infinite, as ours for Him should be also.

We became a lost and a fallen people when Adam partook of the forbidden fruit.  (Alma 12:22).  I suspect that all eternity held its collective breath as we waited and hoped for Adam to take that fateful step in our behalf.  His partaking of the fruit opened the way for our birth into mortality.  It also activated the great gift of agency, and brought sin and death into the world.

Both sin and death could only be overcome by a Redeemer who was capable of making an infinite Atonement.  Such a redemption could only be made by a perfectly sinless Person who was a mortal like us, but Who would have Himself under perfect control.  His sinlessness would make Him infinitely strong and able to bear infinite pain and suffering.

He did it!  In the words of Joseph B. Wirthlin, “He paid a debt He did not owe to free us from a debt we can never pay.”  (Ensign, May 2004, pg. 43).

Our futures hinge upon three things:

First was the partaking of the forbidden fruit by Adam.

Second was the Atonement wrought by the Redeemer.

Third is our acceptance or rejection of that Atonement.

The first two things are accomplished facts.  The third is still to be decided.

There are three possible things that we can individually do about the Atonement.

One, we can activate it in our lives by repenting, and by acknowledging and accepting our Savior and Redeemer.

Or two, we can reject Him and the sacrifice He made in our behalf.

Or three, we can ignore Him and His Atonement.  Ignoring Him is little different than rejecting Him, unless it’s done in genuine ignorance.  Provision is made for genuine ignorance.  Genuine ignorance comes from never hearing the name Jesus Christ, and from never being taught what He has done for us.

But wo unto him who rejects or who never activates the Atonement.  The Atonement is a done deal.  Our sins have already been paid for.  The suffering for our sins was accomplished before we ever committed them, but only if we activate the Atonement by our repentance, and by having them washed away through the ordinance of baptism.

Amulek taught, “And he shall come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else.

“Therefore the wicked remain as though there had been no redemption made, except it be the loosing of the bands of death... (Alma 11:40-41).

The Savior Himself said:

“Therefore I command you to repent—repent lest … your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.

“For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;

“But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;

“Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit ...”  (D&C 19:15-18).

The pains He suffered were my pains and your pains.  How tragic it would be if we came to the winding-up scene and were still in possession of our sins!  How needless!  How short-sighted!  How foolish!  How ignorant!

“...Remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him.  Therefore he is as though there was no redemption made...”  (Mosiah 16:5).

When Jesus appeared to the Nephites He first identified Himself.  Then, so that all would know that He was “the God of the whole earth” and that He had “been slain for the sins of the world” (3 Nephi 11:14), He had all 2,500 people there present come forth to feel the wounds in His side, and in His hands, and in His feet.  He called Nephi and 11 others to come forward and gave them power to baptize.  (v. 18-22).  The next 19 verses are the first instructions that He chose to give to the people.  That short, powerful sermon is about repentance and baptism.  He commanded the people to repent and to be baptized.  He then said:

“And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name, or ye can in nowise receive these things.

“And again I say unto you, ye must repent, and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine...”  (3 Nephi 11:37-39).

Again and again and again in those 19 verses the Savior commands all people everywhere to repent and to be baptized.  He could not possibly say it more forcefully.

The Savior’s infinite Atonement covers all mankind.  Every sin committed by every person everywhere has already been paid in full.  Those who follow the Savior’s commandment to repent and to be baptized have their sins erased.  They are redeemed.  They are no longer lost and fallen.  They are eligible to return back into the Father’s presence.

The rest are as though there had been no redemption made—until they take the proper steps.