Christ as the Son of God--A Comparison between His Position Glory,
etc., and Those of other Sons of God--His Recognition by the
Father--Christ called the Very Eternal Father.
It may here be asked, What difference is there between the Son of God,
as the Son of God, the Redeemer, and those who believe in Him and
partake of the blessings of the Gospel?
One thing, as we read, is that the Father gave Him power to have life
in Himself: "For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given
to the Son to have life in himself;" and further, He had power, when
all mankind had lost their life, to restore life to them again; and
hence He is the Resurrection and the Life, which power no other man
possesses.
Another distinction is, that having this life in Himself, He had
power, as He said, to lay down His life and to take it up again, which
power was also given Him by the Father. This is also a power which no
other being associated with this earth possesses.
Again, He is the brightness of His Father's glory and the express
image of His person. Also, He doeth what He seeth the Father do, while
we only do that which we are permitted and empowered to do by Him.
He is the Elect, the Chosen, and one of the Presidency in the heavens,
and in Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, which could
not be said of us in any of these particulars.
Another thing is, that all power is given to Him in heaven and upon
earth, which no earthly being could say.
It is also stated that Lucifer was before Adam; so was Jesus. And
Adam, as well as all other believers, was commanded to do all that he
did in the name of the Son, and to call upon God in His name for ever
more; which honor was not applicable to any earthly being.
He, in the nearness of His relationship to the Father, seems to occupy
a position that no other person occupies. He is spoken of as His well
beloved Son, as the Only Begotten of the Father--does not this mean
the only begotten after the flesh? If He was the first born and
obedient to the laws of His Father, did He not inherit the position by
right to be the representative of God, the Savior and Redeemer of the
world? And was it not His peculiar right and privilege as the
firstborn, the legitimate heir of God, the Eternal Father, to step
forth, accomplish and carry out the designs of His Heavenly Father
pertaining to the redemption, salvation and exaltation of man? And
being Himself without sin (which no other mortal was), He took the
position of Savior and Redeemer, which by right belonged to Him as the
first born. And does it not seem that in having a body specially
prepared, and being the offspring of God, both in body and spirit, He
stood preeminently in the position of the Son of God, or in the place
of God, and was God, and was thus the fit and only personage capable
of making an infinite atonement? Hence we read:
"Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and
offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said
I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do
thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice and offering and
burnt-offerings and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst
pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; then said he, Lo, I
come to do thy will, O God He taketh away the first, that he may
establish the second."--Heb., x, 5-9.
We are told, in the Pearl of Great Price, that when Satan proposed a
plan of his own, promising to redeem every soul of man, but wherein
the free agency of man would be destroyed, and said, "Wherefore give
me thine honor," the Only Begotten said, "Father, thy will be done,
and the glory be thine for ever" "I am prepared to carry out thy
plan." The Apostle above quoted states, "A body hast thou prepared me.
* * Then said I, Lo, I come to do thy will, O Lord." Hence from the
above we learn that though others might be the sons of God through
Him, yet it needed His body, His fulfilment of the law, the sacrifice
or offering up of that body in the atonement, before any of these
others, who were also sons of God by birth in the spirit world, could
attain to the position of sons of God as He was; and that only through
His mediation and atonement. So that in Him, and of Him, and through
Him, through the principle of adoption, could we alone obtain that
position which is spoken of by John: "Beloved, now are we the sons of
God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that
when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he
is." Thus His atonement made it possible for us to obtain an
exaltation, which we could not have possessed without it.
"His name shall be called Immanuel," which being interpreted is, God
with us. Hence He is not only called the Son of God, the First
Begotten of the Father, the Well Beloved, the Head, and Ruler, and
Dictator of all things, Jehovah, the I Am, the Alpha and Omega, but He
is also called the Very Eternal Father. Does not this mean that in Him
were the attributes and power of the Very Eternal Father? For the
angel to Adam said that all things should be done in His name. A voice
was heard from the heavens, when Jesus was baptized by John the
Baptist, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,"
and when the Father and the Son appeared together to the Prophet
Joseph Smith they were exactly alike in form, in appearance, in glory;
and the Father said, pointing to His Son, "This is my beloved Son;
hear Him." There the Father had His apparent tabernacle, and the Son
had His apparent tabernacle; but the Son was the agency through which
the Father would communicate to man; as it is elsewhere said,
"Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son.
And thou shalt repent, and shalt call upon God, in the name of the
Son, for evermore."