Is Jesus Christ the only Savior of all the worlds, etc.?

Question

 

Dear Gramps

It is difficult to comprehend worlds without number created by Jesus, son of God. Is he the only Savior of all those worlds and do they all have to wait for his resurrection and God was once as we are and Jesus is his Son and so are we. Can you think of a time line for this and when was God the Father mortal? Was there only one Satan for all those worlds. Why Jesus here? Please help me .

Brother John

 

Answer

 

Dear Brother John,

That’s a mouthful of questions–all related, of course–so let’s see if we can address your concerns. First of all, I think that we should get this time line stuff out of the way. As the saying goes, we are not mortal beings having an occasional spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a mortal experience. Mortality is the temporary part. Here are a few related scriptures—

Q. What are we to understand by the book which John saw, which was sealed on the back with seven seals?

 

A. We are to understand that it contains the revealed will, mysteries, and the works of God; the hidden things of his economy concerning this earth during the seven thousand years of its continuance, or its temporal existence (Doctrine & Covenants 77:6).

 

And then shall the second angel sound his trump, and reveal the secret acts of men, and the thoughts and intents of their hearts, and the mighty works of God in the second thousand years–

 

And so on, until the seventh angel shall sound his trump; and he shall stand forth upon the land and upon the sea, and swear in the name of him who sitteth upon the throne, that there shall be time no longer; and Satan shall be bound, that old serpent, who is called the devil, and shall not be loosed for the space of a thousand years(Doctrine & Covenants 88:109-110).

So it is apparent that the concept of time is related only to mortality. Alma said it well in Alma 40:8—

Now whether there is more than one time appointed for men to rise it mattereth not; for all do not die at once, and this mattereth not; all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men.

When did the clock start? When Adam was expelled from the Garden of Eden. As we read in Abraham—

But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the time that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Now I, Abraham, saw that it was after the Lord’s time, which was after the time of Kolob; for as yet the Gods had not appointed unto Adam his reckoning (Abraham 5:13).

So when you talk about time lines before “Adam had been appointed his reckoning,” it makes no sense. Now timelessness is a concept that we as mortals cannot understand, but some clues are given. For instance, from Doctrine & Covenants 130:6-7

The angels do not reside on a planet like this earth;

 

But they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord.

God must look across time as we look across space. So God does not have to wait for things to happen in mortality before He would know the outcome. He knows exactly all about it before we perceive that it happens.

Now to your second point–worlds without number. Not only can we as mortals not understand the concept of eternity, we also cannot understand the concept of infinity. There are mathematical definitions of infinity, such as “the limit that a function is said to approach at x = a when (x) is larger than any preassigned number for all x sufficiently near a. Get that? –sufficiently near a. You see, mathematics can’t define it either. Math can only approach it. Perhaps the best definition of infinity is given in the scriptures—

And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still; and yet thou art there, and thy bosom is there; and also thou art just; thou art merciful and kind forever (Moses 7:30).

So let’s try to measure the particles of the earth. In a bucket of sand there are about two million particles. Now think of all the sand on all the seashores of all the oceans of the earth. How many particles would that be? Now remember that we are just talking about a line on the surface of the earth! So, can you even imagine of how many particles the earth is composed? But now reflect that it would not be a beginning to the number of [His] creations! And yet [He] is there! And [His] curtains are stretched out still !!.

Now, if you can get some sort of a concept of the infinite, limitless number of creations (earths) that have been formed and brought into existence by God, consider the following scripture—

Behold, I am God; Man of Holiness is my name; Man of Counsel is my name; and Endless and Eternal is my name, also.

 

Wherefore, I can stretch forth mine hands and hold all the creations which I have made; and mine eye can pierce them also, and among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren (Moses 7:35-36).

According to the word of God this earth is the most wicked earth in the universe! Of course that is the reason that the Savior chose this earth for his mortal sojourn. The scriptures tell us that the Savior descended below all things!, not just below all things in the environment in which He lived—

This Comforter is the promise which I give unto you of eternal life, even the glory of the celestial kingdom;

 

Which glory is that of the church of the Firstborn, even of God, the holiest of all, through Jesus Christ his Son–

 

He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth (Doctrine & Covenants 88:4-6).

We don’t know much about the other earths and their inhabitants, but they know about us. Their Savior was born here, and here He worked out the great atonement that provided salvation for ALL our Father’s children. Again, a related scripture—

For all flesh is corrupted before me; and the powers of darkness prevail upon the earth, among the children of men, in the presence of all the hosts of heaven–

 

Which causeth silence to reign, and all eternity is pained (Doctrine & Covenants 38:11-12). (See also D&C 88:42-61)

So the Savior is indeed the Savior of all the worlds. But you ask, “do they all have to wait for his resurrection?” Again you are bringing in the concept of time. So the answer is, No, in the sense of some intergalactic date. However, Christ was the first fruits of the resurrection. Until He was resurrected, no one in the universe had been resurrected. (Now we have violated our own concept of no time outside of mortality, but when we “cross over the bar” we will understand that the resurrection of the Savior was essential for the resurrection of everyone and everything else)

And now to your final question–was God once as we are? We could probably write you a page on this topic, but suffice it for now to quote Robert L. Millet and Joseph Fielding McConkie, in The Life Beyond , p.147)

“God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible,-I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form-like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another.”

 

 

Gramps