The Plan of Salvation

To my son,

                This week in scriptures we studied the vision that Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had recorded in section 76 of the Doctrine and Covenants. In it they learned more about God’s plan of salvation, both what happened before we came to this earth, what our purpose is on this earth, and where we go after we day. Today I want to teach you a few details about this great plan of our Heavenly Father. We all lived in heaven together before we came to this earth. The Father created a plan for the progression of His children, and the center of that plan was His Firstborn, even Jesus Christ. The scriptures teach that the Savior was chosen and accepted to completely do the will of the Father: “But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever” (Moses 4:2). He said, “Here am I, send me” and willingly came to earth to provide a way for us to escape the bands of death and sin. What is amazing to think about is the fact that we were all there and accepted Jesus as our Savior. Abraham saw a vision of those who were in the premortal world and how there were “many of the noble and great ones” (Abraham 3:22,27). There were those who were especially valiant to the Savior before they came to earth and from among them the Lord chose people to perform very important duties on earth. I believe that you were one of those whom he saw and you have a great mission here to accomplish!

                As you know, death will come to all of us and that is a natural part of the plan of salvation. Our purpose here in this life is to follow the Savior and show that we will “do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abraham 3:25). When we die we will enter the Spirit World, a place on the earth that is a time of waiting for those who have died. If we have been righteous we will go to a place called paradise in the scriptures while we await for the resurrection. The Savior organized missionary work in the spirit world so the righteous will take the gospel to those who did not accept it in this life: “From among the righteous, he organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men” (Doctrine and Covenants 138:30). So missionary work is continuing in the next life just as it is here. Eventually one day all of those who have lived upon the earth will be resurrected because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And we will obtain some state of glory, either the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial as we have studied this week. Our focus of course is to return to live with the Father, the Savior, and all of our family in the celestial kingdom, and we do that by being valiant in the testimony of Jesus and by living a just life. If we do that then we will be made “perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:69). He prepared the way for us to return to the Father, after our resurrection, if we have received Him and strived to follow His path. Know that my greatest desire is for us as a family to stay faithful and one day return together to be with the Father and the Son again.  

Love, 

Dad