He is and Shall Be the Savior

In gospel doctrine our instructor highlighted an intriguing phrase in the book of Moses.  We read these words given from God to Moses, “Mine Only Begotten is and shall be the Savior” (Moses 1:6).  This was spoken to Moses before the atonement was wrought by Christ in the meridian of time.  At this point Christ had yet to take upon Him a body and had yet to suffer in Gethsemane and on the cross for our sins or save us from death through the resurrection.  So what did God mean when He said that Christ “is and shall be” the one to save us?  Was the Savior already the Savior before He performed the saving act of the atonement?  We have a similar concept even in the fact that He is referred to as the “Only Begotten” here before He was ever begotten in the flesh.  In the same vein, Noah taught, well before Christ had been born, that Jesus Christ was already “the Son of God,” a term clearly used throughout the scriptures to denote the fact that He was born in the flesh of the Father, and not that He was a spirit child of the Father like the rest of us (Moses 8:24).    

               Perhaps there are a few different ways to think about the fact that the Savior took upon Him these names and titles related to His mortal ministry before even coming to the earth.  When Abinadi was speaking to the priests of King Noah, He described the sacrifice of the Savior this way: “And now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there could have been no redemption.  And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection” (Mosiah 16:6-7).  Basically, he seemed to be saying, “I know Christ hasn’t come yet to take on His mortal body and perform His atoning act, but He is going to, the promises are sure, and we can speak of it as if He already had come.”  Or, we might use the statement of Alma to help us understand Christ being the Savior and Son of God and Only Begotten even before coming to earth: “All is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men” (Alma 40:8).  In some way we certainly cannot understand, God does not measure time like the rest of us.  In the same verse in which He said Christ “is and shall be” we have this mindboggling statement: “all things are present with me, for I know them all.”  Somehow to God what is past, present, and future are the same to Him because He knows them.  Another way we might understand these premortal statements about Christ is that His atonement and sacrifice was infinite and therefore stretched forward and backward through time.  For example, even in the premortal realm His sacrifice gave power to us.  John described how Satan was cast out and how those who fought against him “overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (Revelation 12:11).  The sacrifice of the blood of the Lamb had power even before the Lamb had a body or blood to shed.  How it all works is beyond mortal comprehension, but somehow the atonement and resurrection of the Savior were so powerful that they extended back before the earth began and will continue forward until the end of time.  He is, and shall always be, the Savior.