Subject Unto Christ

In his great discourse on the plan of salvation, Jacob said, “O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more” (2 Nephi 9:8).  Without Christ and His atonement we would have had to become subject to the devil, and if we don’t choose to follow Christ we still will come under the adversary’s power according to Amulek:  “If ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his” (Alma 34:35).  On the other hand, as Jacob said a few verses before the above reference, “It behooveth the great Creator that he suffereth himself to become subject unto man in the flesh, and die for all men, that all men might become subject unto him” (2 Nephi 9:5).  That’s an interesting contrast: we can either choose to become subject to Christ or subject to the devil.  Being “subject” to someone else is not something the most people want, but ultimately we must choose which master we want to serve. 

As the angel told King Benjamin, to choose the Lord we must become “a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord” and become “as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father” (Mosiah 3:19).  Here again we have this same idea of subjecting or submitting to the Lord as a requirement for following Him.  King Benjamin finished his great discourse with this invitation: “Therefore, I would that ye should be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in good works, that Christ, the Lord God Omnipotent, may seal you his” (Mosiah 5:15).  So putting all of these verses together, we can either become subject to Christ and let Him seal us as His, or we can become subject to the devil and let him seal us as his.  That’s ultimately the choice before us in this life. 
                Another equivalent way to think of this dichotomy is to consider whether or not we have hardened our heart.  We learn from Alma that “If we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful” (Alma 12:13).  On the other hand, we can turn to the Savior and let “his Spirit soften our hearts” like the Lamanites who were converted and became clean before the Lord.   We can become purified and sanctified if we will “[yield our] hearts unto God,” but if we let Satan get “great hold upon [our] hearts” then we “yield [ourselves] unto him that he may have power over [us]” (Helaman 3:35, Alma 10:25).  Ultimately it comes down to having the humility to turn to and depend upon the Savior as opposed to hardening our hearts and refusing to follow the path of the Savior.  Our desire and offering as disciples of Christ should be as is expressed in these words of a famous hymn: “Here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above” (Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing).  Then we will be indeed “subject” to Him and ultimately become “joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).