The Chastisement of Our Peace

Alma taught this about the Savior to the people of Gideon: “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11-12). The important principle here is that in addition to suffering for our sins, the Savior also suffered to give us help in our pains and sicknesses and infirmities. He died to both save us from the effects of our transgressions if we would repent and to help us overcome all the other challenges of mortality unrelated to sin. I realized today that Alma likely learned this from the words of Isaiah who prophesied this about the Savior: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:3-4). The ancient prophet taught here that the Messiah would help us in our griefs and our sorrows, offering us peace not only from the effect of sin but also from all the struggles of mortality. So when we have sadness and sorrows, no matter what the source, we can find peace through Jesus Christ who suffered all so we could be healed.

                And how do we obtain this peace? I think Isaiah gave us an answer to that question in another passage: “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee” (Isaiah 54:10). Peace comes from our covenant with Him, and so we can find healing as we hold fast to our covenants we have made. This is expressed very simply in the sacrament where we covenant to keep His commandments, take His name upon us, and always remember Him. As we do that His covenant is that we will always have His Spirit to be with us. In other words, we will have the comforting, guiding, sustaining, enlightening, edifying, strengthening power of the Holy Ghost to bless our lives. That is what our covenant to Him gives us, and it encapsulates all of the blessings Isaiah and Alma promised us through the Savior: healing from sin, sickness, sorrows, pains, and griefs. And it is through the atonement of the Savior that we can be cleansed enough to have the presence of the Spirit in our lives. The Nephites understood the power of this supernal gift when “they did pray for that which they most desired; and they desired that the Holy Ghost should be given unto them” (3 Nephi 19:9). They understood that it would sustain and support them in all aspects of their lives—there is no greater gift that we can have in mortality, and the Savior enables us to receive that Spirit through our covenants with Him. I love the connection that President Eyring made between the atonement of Jesus Christ and the reception of the Holy Ghost to help us: “If you have felt the influence of the Holy Ghost during this day, or even this evening, you may take it as evidence that the Atonement is working in your life. For that reason and many others, you would do well to put yourself in places and in tasks that invite the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Feeling the influence of the Holy Ghost works both ways: the Holy Ghost only dwells in a clean temple, and the reception of the Holy Ghost cleanses us through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.” We know that the atonement of Jesus Christ is helping us as we feel of the Spirit, for that is His promise in the sacramental covenant each week. So as we seek to keep our covenants and invite the Spirit into our lives, we can indeed obtain the peace of the Savior to help us overcome both sin and suffering, finding strength from Him in all the challenges of mortality.