The email:
Something I’ve been trying to work out that’s affecting me in the immediate: when Christ descended below all things, did he draw on the grace of the Father to do so?
The first thought that comes to mind is his cry on the cross, “why hast thou forsaken me?” Yet, he can do nothing but what he sees his Father do.
I ask because, as our exemplar, it has to say something for the nature of the suffering and course we follow. Is Christ’s suffering unique because he had no example in time, or because he had to draw on his own infinite nature to bind all creation to him?
If it’s the former, then we draw on the grace and power that flows out his atonement. If it’s the latter, then we follow his example in learning to draw on our own infinite nature (because there is no other way than the one he showed). This feels a bit more new-agey, but ultimately our own “infinite nature” isn’t of ourselves, but our connection to an Eternal God.
…Which bring me back to square one. We’re supposed to rely “wholly upon the merits of Christ.” Is this in example only? Or are we rather receiving everything he’s paid for? This makes more sense, but seems to indicate Christ was receiving something the Father gave him… unless Christ is somehow the exception to the pattern, which is contrary to everything I know.
My response:
One way of categorizing the gospel is:
1) What it takes to prepare to make the sacrifice of following the Lord.
2) What it takes to make the sacrifice of following the Lord.
What you are asking about is item #2 above. In my opinion, the only reason #1 matters is because it enables someone to go through #2. Suffice it to say that it seems of the utmost importance to me.
I have 760 pages written, as of right now, on the topic of the Lord's suffering. While I think everything else I have published or will publish has value, and much of it can be practiced without going further, my chief motivation is to prepare people to read, believe, and live what this book will say.
So, I can't reduce that down to an email, nor can I give it to you before giving you everything else that is needed to do all I can to help you read, believe, and live it.
In the brief terms possible here, we do indeed follow the example of Christ in his suffering, and part of that suffering was continuing to live up to his understanding of how the Father was during a period where he felt he had no access to the Father. If you want a scriptural example of what this is like, read Lehi's vision of the tree of life and connect his walking through darkness without a guide to this experience. Dig there, and you'll find more.
There are only two ways in which we cannot follow the example of Christ:
- In those things that require sinlessness from birth, because each of us has sinned at least once.
- In those things that require not having a prior and/or living example, because he has provided a prior example of all, and because he will provide a living example of all in the last days.
When it comes to suffering:
- You can suffer up to the limit of what would kill you, but not beyond. Christ already had power over his life when he experienced his mortal suffering. Those who gain the same do so through their mortal suffering, and therefore will not have it when they go through it.
- You can't suffer as much as one who did not have a living example would. Having an example makes it incomparably easier, even if the intensity could somehow be exactly the same.
-Rob