In part one, I outlined Alma’s four fundamentals of spiritual rebirth.

“And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? (1) Have ye received his image in your countenances? (2) Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? (3) Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? (4) Do you look forward with an eye of faith” (See Alma 5:14-15)? We talked about the first fundamental of spiritual rebirth, that of receiving Christ’s countenance in our image. Now let’s discuss the third fundamental of spiritual rebirth.

Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do we have perfect confidence that in Christ is found the power to remit sins and heal souls? Redemption is synonymous with exaltation and eternal life. It comes by the grace of God coupled with good works and includes redemption from the effects of both the temporal and spiritual falls. Those so redeemed become sons and daughters in the Lord’s kingdom and inherit all things. And this is the chief sense in which the term redemption is used in the scriptures. (See Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 2, pp. 9-13)

Nephi explained that though “the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, [yet] he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins. And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer unto the salvation of their souls” (Hel. 5:10-11).

In the following story titled “The Bird Cage,” we are reminded of the sacrifice that the Savior made for us. A pastor in a small New England town entered his church one Easter morning with a rusty, old, bent bird cage. He set the bird cage on the pulpit causing a few raised eyebrows. Then he began to speak. “Yesterday morning, I came across a young boy who had 3 scared birds in a cage shivering from the cold. I asked him, what do you got there? ‘Just some dumb old birds!’ ‘What are you going to do with them?’ ‘Tease em, play with em, and pull out all their feathers!’ ‘Then what are you going to do?’ ‘Feed em to my cat, he likes birds!’”

I went silent for a moment and asked, ‘How much would you like for those birds?’ ‘Oh, you don’t want these, they’re ugly and can’t even sing!’ ‘How much?’ came my definite reply. The boy thought for a moment and then said, ‘$10.’ I reached into my pocket and gave the boy $10. The boy took the money and then vanished. I then picked up the cage, walked to the end of the alley where there was a tree and a small grassy spot. He opened the door by gently tapping the bars to the cage, and coaxed the birds out into the grass.” That explained the bird cage on the pulpit. Then he proceeded to tell this story: “One day, Satan and Jesus were walking and Satan had just come out of the Garden of Eden. He was gloating and boasting. ‘Yes sir, I caught me a whole world full of people. Set a trap that they just couldn’t resist. Yep, got them all.’ ‘What are you going to do with them,’ came the reply. ‘Gonna have some fun with them; teach them to hate, hurt, and kill each other.’ ‘Then what are you going to do?’ ‘Oh, then I’ll destroy them and bring them down into my kingdom.’ Jesus paused. ‘How much do you want for them?’ ‘Oh, you don’t want them. They’ll just hate you, spit on you, mock you and kill you. They don’t want you.’ Jesus paused and looked straight at Satan, ‘how much?’ Satan suddenly realized, looked at Jesus and sneered, ‘All your tears, all your blood, all your footsteps, all your strengths, all your life.’ Jesus paid the price, picked up the cage and opened the door” (Author Unknown).

Do we apply the atonement of Christ in our lives? Do we allow His suffering to go unnoticed?

“I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,
That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.
I think of his hands pierced and bleeding to pay the debt!
Such mercy, such love, and devotion can I forget?”

(”I Stand All Amazed”, Hymns, #193)

Posted by John in Feature Articles