Tadd R. Callister, former Sunday School General President wrote in his book, ‘A Case for the Book of Mormon’:
Some have expounded the theory that Christ’s suffering was mitigated by the fact that He was half divine and therefore His divinity protected Him from hunger when He fasted, from exhaustion after a long day’s work, and from suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross. Some have even speculated that Christ did not really bleed from every pour but merely sweat “as [though] it were great drops of blood” (Luke 22:44). King Benjamin refuted these misconceptions with this declaratory statement, “And lo, he shall suffer temptations and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people” (Mosiah 3:7; emphasis added).
The Book of Mormon introduces a phrase not found in the Bible: “an infinite atonement” (2 Nephi 9:7; Alma 34:12), thus revealing the expansiveness, scope, and depth of Christ’s saving powers.
In addition the Book of Mormon teaches that if we embrace the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can be of good cheer regardless of how dire our circumstances may be. Mormon wrote to his son Moroni of the Nephites’ devastating losses in battle, of their depraved and degenerate condition, but then put it all in perspective: “My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his suffering and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever” (Moroni 9:25; see also John 16:33).
We learn a great lesson from this revealed truth. Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we are in the driver’s seat as to our eternal destiny, There is no external force or person or event—no disaster or financial loss, divorce, sickness, or abuse—that can rob us of our exaltation, provided we exercise faith in the Savior and follow Him. We can be optimistic about life because, as Nephi taught: “Cheer up your hearts and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of eternal life” (2 Nephi 10:23, see also 2 Nephi 2:27).
Nowhere is the Savior’s Atonement taught more powerfully, more concisely, and more expansively than in the Book of Mormon. It restores much that has been lost or mystified on those sublime of all gospel truths, In this regard, Elder Jeffry R. Holland has noted: “Much of this doctrine [of the Atonement of Jesus Christ] has been lost or expunged from the biblical records. It is therefore of great consequence that the Book of Mormon prophets taught that doctrine in detail and with clarity. (15) ~ Tad R. Callister, ‘A Case for the Book of Mormon’ (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 2019) p.180-81
(15) Holland, ‘Christ and the New Covenant’, p. 199.
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