2
Ne 9:5 he suffereth himself to become subject unto
man…that all men might become subject unto him
It
is amazing to Jacob and Nephi that the being they know as Jehovah, the creator
of the heavens and the earth, will be subject to Jewish and Roman political
authority. There is a tone of incredulity in Nephi’s statement, The Son of the everlasting god was judged of the world;
and I saw and bear record (1 Ne 11:32). The events near the end of the
Savior’s life reflect the fact that He had power over those who became his
judges in mortality. He said to Pilate, Thou
couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from
above (Jn 19:11). Of his power over death, Christ
said, I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me,
but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to
take it again (Jn 10:18). Therefore, the Jewish and Roman authorities
would have had no power to take the life of Jesus Christ unless he allowed them
to. He was the One who was to lay his own life down, that
all men might become subject unto him.
“Modern
revelation speaks of our Lord as he that ‘ascended
up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all
things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth ‘
(D&C 88:6). Christ's rise to the
throne of exaltation was preceded by his descent below all things. Only by submitting to the powers of demons
and death and hell could he, in the resurrection, serve as our exemplar of a
saved being, one who had placed all things beneath his feet. ‘I am Alpha and
Omega,’ he said, ‘Christ the Lord; yea, even
I am he, the beginning and the end, the Redeemer of the world. I, having accomplished and finished the will
of him whose I am, even the Father, concerning me—having done this that I might
subdue all things unto myself—retaining all power, even to the destroying of
Satan and his works at the end of the world, and the last great day of judgment.’
(D&C 19:1-2.)” (McConkie and Millet, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of
Mormon, vol. 1, p. 234)