JOEL - Yes. Actually the atonement of Jesus Christ
encompasses His pre-mortal life; His ministry and life
on the earth; his suffering for us in the garden and
on the cross; His death and His resurection.
Everything He did was directly related to the
atonement.
The word "Atonement" is the act of unifying or
bringing together what has been separated. The
Atonement of Jesus Christ was necessary because of the
separating transgression, or fall, of Adam, which
brought both spiritual and physical death into the
world. The atonement brings us back to God both
spiritually and physically because of Christ's
suffering, death, and resurrection.
Perhaps the question you mean to ask is at what moment
did Christ actually suffer for our sins? Christ went
first into the Garden of Gethsemane, there to bear
the spiritual agony of soul only he could bear. He
"began to be sorrowful and very heavy," saying to his
three chief disciples, "My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, unto death" (Mark 14:34). Leaving them to
keep watch, he went further into the garden, where,
according to the Book of Mormon, He would suffer "the
pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living
creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to
the family of Adam" (2 Ne. 9:21). It was there in
Gethsemane that his sweat was "as it were great drops
of blood falling down to the ground" (Luke 22:44) for
he bled "at every pore" (D&C 19:18). Christ then
sealed His payment for our sins as He finally gave up
His life on the cross.
Both His suffering in Gethsemane and death on the
cross were necessary for the atonement to be complete,
but the actual suffering for our sins was mainly
experienced in the Garden. That was where the real
price was paid for our sins because it was spiritual,
voluntary, and directly related to payment for our
sins according to eternal laws.
The suffering on the cross was mostly physical and was
imposed by other men for their own reasons and was
more related to His death, which was also an important
part of the atonement.
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