My brothers and sisters, here present, those on the air, and our friends who may be listening: It is with a deep sense of the responsibility which rests upon me by virtue of my position that I stand before you this morning and with a prayer in my heart that the Lord will bless me and help me to say something that will be useful and upbuilding to you. And to that end may I ask that you be good enough to mingle your prayers with mine that we may accomplish this purpose.

For many years I have tried at this particular season of the year to have in mind some of the essentials of that great, last three days of the Savior's mortality. I have tried to run over in my mind some of the chief events, the death, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of him who has given us the plan by which we may come back into our Heavenly Father's presence. With your permission, I should like to run over this account, as briefly as may be, because it is the crucial incident in the life of the world.

The Last Supper

I shall adopt that time we now celebrate in commemoration thereof which is usually accepted by Christendom, and therefore I will go forward beginning on Thursday night, the night of the Last Supper in the Upper Chamber, begun by an unseemly controversy  Luke 22:24 as to precedence and signalized by the institution of the Sacrament  Luke 22:19-20 which occurred, I feel, after Judas had left the Chamber to arrange to betray the Master  Luke 22:3-6 That was a great Supper. There were great sermons preached by the Master.

The Mount of Olives

When they had finished they went out to the Mount of Olives  Matt. 26:30 where he preached again, and then a little later they retired to the Garden, and the Savior, taking Peter, James, and John, left the rest of the Disciples and went a little farther on.

The Garden of Gethsemane

Then the Savior left them and went still farther on, and asked them to wait and watch while he was gone. He went, and the burden of his prayer was: "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me  Matt. 26:39 . . . nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done"  Luke 22:42

He returned and found his three Disciples sleeping. Reproving them gently, he went away again, and gave the same prayer. He knew what was ahead of him  John 18:4 He knew the end was near. He returned to find the three Disciples sleeping again. Again a slight reproval, and the third time he went, the third time he prayed, and then came back and, finding them again asleep, said: "Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand"  Matt. 26:40-45

The Arrest

And shortly after that, Judas returned with the crowd that was to arrest the Savior and did arrest him. When they came up, Peter drew his sword and struck off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the high priest  John 18:10 The Savior restored it and then gave utterance to that great principle: ". . . they that take the sword shall perish with the sword"  Matt. 26:52

The Trial

He was arrested. He was taken first, in what they say was an illegal examination, to Annas, the real high priest, the father-in-law of Caiaphas  John 18:13 the titular high priest, who had been installed by the Roman Government. From Annas he went to Caiaphas, and it was Caiaphas who, in an agony of fear and apprehension, said, "I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God." And the Savior said to him, "Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power"  Matt. 26:63-64

The Sanhedrin

From Caiaphas he was sent to the Sanhedrin, later on in the morning (it was now early morning), and the Sanhedrin passed what apparently was a formal judgment that he was to be crucified  Matt. 27:1  Luke 22:66-71

Before Pilate

As the Jews could not impose the death penalty, from the Sanhedrin he was taken to Pilate, against whom Christendom has for nearly two thousand years vented its dislike, and yet, as I read the record, Pilate did practically all that the law under which he operated as stated in the Gospels, permitted him to do. Pilate came back to the multitude on at least five occasions and sought to secure the release of Jesus. At first he returned merely saying, "I find no fault in this man"  Luke 23:1-4 And the multitude renewed their demand for his crucifixion.

To Herod

Then Pilate sent him to Herod, and Herod sent him back  Luke 23:7-11 and Pilate began again the examination of Jesus. This time, and from then until the end, he pleaded that they take Barabbas and release Jesus. Three times at least this was done and each time they said, "Release unto us Barabbas"—it was their right, apparently, to demand the release of one man on this occasion—"Crucify him," Jesus  Luke 23:17-23

Pilate's Wife

During this latter examination it was that Pilate's wife sent to him a letter beseeching him not to do anything to this man. The result of one of the latest examinations was that Pilate took a basin and washed his hands and said, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it"; and the multitude cried, "His blood be on us, and on our children"  Matt. 27:15-25 It is my faith that this has been so for nearly two thousand years.

The Crucifixion

Then Jesus was turned over to be crucified. He was scourged, had a wreath of thorns placed on his head. He was stripped of the royal trappings they had mockingly placed upon him; reclothed in his own raiment; then started for the place of crucifixion  Matt. 27:26-31 They picked up Simon, a Cyrenian, and forced him to carry the cross  Matt. 27:32 When they came to the place of crucifixion, they, of course, made the necessary preparation.

It is said that this crucifixion was perhaps the cruelest way of taking human life that was practiced by the Romans. A hole was dug as you dig a post-hole. The cross was laid down, and the Savior was laid upon it and nailed with his hands and his feet. Two thieves were likewise crucified, and they were put one on each side.

First Words on the Cross

As apparently they raised the cross to let it slip down with a thud into the hole that had been dug, the Savior cried out, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do"  Luke 23:34 It is said that this dropping of the cross into the hole was the most painful part of the entire crucifixion. Modern revisionists have cast doubt on the verity of this divine invocation for love and forgiveness and yet it seems as well attested by ancient manuscripts and sources as any of Jesus' divine utterances.

Second Words on the Cross

Of the thieves, one began to upbraid him and the other to plead for mercy, and it was then that what was called the second outcry from the cross occurred, Jesus saying to the one who spoke kindly, "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise"  Luke 23:43

Third Words on the Cross

As the Savior looked down into the multitude before him, he saw his mother and John, and "he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!"  John 19:26-27

Darkness Falls

It would seem that at about this time, which was midday, or the sixth hour, darkness fell over the land of Palestine  Matt. 27:45 It is not quite clear, according to some scholars, whether the darkness lasted in Palestine all the rest of the time of the crucifixion, but apparently it did not.

Darkness in America

But the darkness came not only there, it also came on this continent, and the darkness on this continent, which seems to have been coincident with the falling of the darkness there, lasted for three days  3 Ne. 8:19-23  3 Ne. 10:9 The darkness in Palestine lasted only for three hours.

Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Words from the Cross

Apparently when the darkness was over in Palestine, the Savior made that outcry of almost human desperation, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"  Matt. 27:46

A little later, he said, "I thirst"  John 19:28 and those in attendance gave him the sponge saturated with vinegar, which he drank. A little later, he cried out, "It is finished"  John 19:30 apparently meaning that his earthly work was done. He had gone through his life. He had made the sacrifice.

Finally, just before his death, he cried out, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"  Luke 23:46

Thus he became the true sacrifice for the Fall, ordained from the beginning of the world and before.

The Burial

I will not touch upon his burial further than to say that Joseph of Arimathaea had nearby a newly hewn rock sepulchre, to which he and Nicodemus took the body of Jesus  Matt. 27:57-60  John 19:38-42Joseph was recognized as a follower of the Savior; Nicodemus would have been, if he had had the courage, as was so beautifully told yesterday by Elder Kimball. It is interesting to remember that the day that he was buried was the day fixed under the Mosaic law for the gathering of the first sheaf of the harvest, and as some commentators have noted, that while the women who were seated near the sepulchre returned, sorrowful, to their homes in the darkness, for their light had gone out, another group from across the Kedron returned joyously, carrying the sheaf, the first sheaf of the harvest.

That was Friday, yesterday.

The Placing of the Guard

This morning, Saturday, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate and petitioned, saying, "We remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can"  Matt. 27:62-66

That was this morning.

Voice in America

Meanwhile, there was darkness on this continent  3 Ne. 8:20-22 the darkness having cleared, as I have said, about three o'clock the day before in Palestine. There was a voice on this continent, heard all over the land, which declared: "Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God"  3 Ne. 9:1-15 He told of the calamities that had befallen them of this continent during the first three hours of violent storm and earthquakes; he told of his own mission and gave them hope. On this continent they could feel the darkness, it was so dense. They could light no fires.

That was today, Saturday.

The Resurrection

Tomorrow morning, Sunday, while it is still dark, there will be an earthquake, for an angel of the Lord will come down and roll back the stone that closed the sepulchre.

While it is still dark, Mary Magdalene will be coming, and finding the sepulchre open, will rush back to Peter and John and tell them that the sepulchre is vacant. They will run, John outrunning Peter, to the sepulchre, look in and find it vacant  John 20:1-10

Meanwhile Mary will have come and the Savior will appear to her, a repentant and forgiven sinner, a woman, the first witness of the resurrection. You will remember, she will try to touch him and he will say to her, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father"  John 20:11-18

Shortly after, the women from Galilee will come, expecting to go in, the Sabbath now being past, and prepare the body finally for burial. There will be two angels in the sepulchre, and they will say to them: "Why seek ye the living among the dead?  Luke 24:1-10 . . . Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here . . . go quickly, and tell his disciples"  Matt. 28:1-8

And so there will thus be worked out in the morning, the atoning sacrifice, predicted, provided for, before the foundations of the earth were laid.

Salvation, Not Condemnation

I have been interested in reading why the Savior himself said he came here. In that first great sermon of which Brother Kimball spoke to us yesterday, the Savior said to Nicodemus:

"For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved"  John 3:17

When Pilate was questioning the Savior about his Kingship, the Savior said: "Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth"  John 18:37

To them on this continent he said: "Behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the world, to save the world from sin"  3 Ne. 9:21

You know, I have thought about that a bit. He came not to condemn the world, but to save it, to save you, to save me. He has told us there are many mansions  John 14:2 He has told us there is no space without a kingdom  D&C 88:37 He has told us that there are kingdoms with glory and kingdoms without glory  D&C 88:24 He has made a place for all of us, no matter who we are, where we are, how or when we lived.

The Final Judgment

I have a feeling, my brothers and sisters, that when the time comes for passing judgment, that great principle not to condemn the world, but to save it  John 3:17 will be fully operative and that for every good deed we have done, we shall receive the full reward that it is possible to bestow under the rules and laws governing, and having in mind justice. And I have the further feeling that for every ill thing we do there will be imposed upon us the least penalty that may properly be bestowed, having in mind the principles involved—eternal justice seasoned by mercy and love.

In the Passover Chamber, the Savior had said they could not go where he was going  John 13:33,36 but they knew where it was. Thomas said he did not know  John 14:4-5 Where was it? And then the Savior uttered those great words: "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me"  John 14:6

Over and over again in his ministry, he proclaimed those principles. He is the way, he is the life, he is the truth, he is the light. That is the message which comes to us, and may God give to each of us the power to follow him, to live in his light, tread his way, observe his truths, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus, his Son. Amen.