The Week of Atoning Sacrifice

Book excerpt: The Week of Atoning Sacrifice: "For This Purpose Came I Into the World" is a stirring summary of the most important week in the history of our Father?s universe. This is the week when Jesus Christ performed His act of mercy and grace that allows all of us to overcome all things and return to our Heavenly Father. The story is told in a chronological narrative that adds context and meaning to the individual events of that final week. Jesus enters Jerusalem triumphant, with crowds shouting ?Hosanna!? But one week later, those same crowds demanded that the Romans ?Crucify Him!? The intervening events show how Jesus ministered to the people, healing and forgiving and teaching. He cleansed the temple, condemned the hypocrisy of Jerusalem?s religious leaders, and prophesied the destruction of the city and temple. On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus met with his disciples, taught them, and instituted the ordinance of the sacrament. Then He retreated to the Garden of Gethsemane, where by some process that is beyond our comprehension, He suffered for the sins, sorrows, disappointments, disabilities, pains, and unjust circumstances of every living child of God in every part of our vast universe in every dispensation of time. Jesus is then betrayed, arrested, and illegally tried. He declares himself to the Son of God, endures hateful and humiliating insults, and is condemned to death. He suffers unspeakable torture, concluding with His being nailed to a cross. He died, ministered to the spirits in the Spirit World, then rose from the dead. He taught His disciples for 40 days, then ascended into heaven with a promise that one day He would return in great power. It was, without doubt, the most consequential week of human history. Dr. Randal S. Chase, a veteran CES and Institute instructor, provides insights into these in a relaxed and understandable style. Readers will find themselves gaining insights and understanding about the week of atoning sacrifice that may have eluded them before. The cover features the stunning image of the crosses on Golgatha, by Carl Bloch.