9 And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him.
10 And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men.
As the angel teaches King Benjamin about the coming of Jesus Christ in Mosiah 3, he places special emphasis on the Savior’s suffering, death, and resurrection. He explains that Jesus did all of this in order to ensure that we will experience a “righteous judgment.” What did he mean by that?
- We all want to live in a universe of order. We want to know that “the wrong shall fail, the right prevail.” (Hymns, #214, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day“). We also want to know that God’s house is “not a house of confusion” (D&C 132:8, 1 Corinthians 14:33). Unresolved issues and inappropriate outcomes are distasteful to us. We want the universe to harmonize with our intuitive sense of right and wrong. As Alma taught his son Corianton, we have such a universe, and a fundamental characteristic of God is His perfect justice (Alma 42:22-23).
- Although we all have the potential to become like our Father (Romans 8:17), none of us can do this on our own. “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Without God’s grace, the natural and just consequence of our disobedience would be to exclude us from His presence and from the glory that He desires us to inherit (Alma 42:11-12). The only way to compensate for this inequity was for a perfect and infinite Being to pay the price for our sins and for us to willingly allow that gift to change us (Alma 34:11-12, Mosiah 27:25).
Our fundamental sense of fairness is offended when consequences are inappropriate. It is also offended when a person is placed in a situation where they cannot succeed. Because of our sins, we would have been in that situation if the Savior had not suffered, died, and risen from the dead. Because of His Atonement, we all have the opportunity to return to God’s presence and be exalted. A righteous judgment is both just and merciful (Alma 42:15). It maintains the fundamental order of the universe while only holding people accountable for the things they can control. Where there is a gap between our capabilities and the demands of justice, the Savior fills it.
Today, I will remember the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I will be grateful that, because of the Atonement, we will all be judged fairly. I will remember the terrible price our Savior paid in order to ensure a righteous judgment.