In the beginning, before the world was, Jesus, under the direction of the Father and with the help of those who were noble and great, began the work of creation (see Abr. 3:22-25).

On the first day of creation, they divided the light from the darkness. For the five days that followed, they created new heavens, a new earth, and all living things in them.

On the sixth day, the Father and the Son created man and woman—Adam and Eve, after Their own image (see Gen. 2-3, Moses 2-3, Abr. 4-5).

After setting them in a garden in Eden to dress and keep it, the Father and the Son commanded them—

Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Genesis 2:15-17, see Abr. 5:11).

They then left them alone so that they could act for themselves according to the commandments They gave them.

On the seventh day, They rested from Their work and said that “it was very good” (Moses 2:31, see Gen. 1:31).

Before bringing Adam and Eve into this world, the Father and the Son cast down Satan because of his rebellion. They allowed him to tempt Adam and Eve in the garden.

The adversary enticed them to disobey the Father’s commandment by partaking the forbidden fruit. In their innocence and ignorance, they partook (see Genesis 3, Moses 4). From that moment, Adam, Eve, and all their posterity, which includes you and me, were placed under bondage and sentenced to death, spiritually and physically.

Through the prophet Lehi we learn that because of Adam’s transgression and our transgressions, we were all “lost,” “cut off,” “perish from that which is good,” and “miserable forever” (2 Nephi 2:5, 21). Lehi’s son, the prophet Jacob, taught us that in this hopeless state—

[O]ur spirits must have become like unto [the devil], and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself (2 Nephi 9:9).

Our future appeared to be ruined forever by the Fall of Adam and our own sins. Fortunately, for Adam, Eve, you, me and everyone, our beloved Heavenly Father, from the beginning, foresaw all of this and planned a sure way out of it. The prophet Jacob declared—

O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit (2 Nephi 9:10).

He continued by saying that the Holy One of Israel held the power of resurrection and redemption. Because of the Savior’s resurrection, He gained power to deliver us from death and hell.

Before the Redeemer could have this power, He had to first experience physical death Himself. His crucifixion opened the door for Him to conquer death.

After crying for the release of a murderer, His people cried exceedingly to Pilate to “[c]rucify him” (see Mark 15:13-14, Luke 23:21, John 19:6, 15). This was not only to put Jesus to death, but it was also to put a permanent stain and stench on all those who followed Him.

On that cross on Calvary, Christ “despised the shame of it” to finish the Father’s work (see 2 Nephi 9:18). On the third day, while lying covered in a borrowed tomb, Jesus rose up to gain victory over death. Because of Him, we will all resurrect in perfectly immortal and incorruptible bodies (1 Cor. 15:52-55, Alma 41:4).

As wonderful as a gift a perfect body that is free from disease and death will be for all of us, on its own, it fails to fill us with the hope and happiness we need and want now and forever. We are still subject to spiritual death. This death is an eternal separation from the love and presence of the Father, the Son, and all those we know and love in this life.

Our all-knowing and all-loving Father in Heaven also factored this in when He sent His Beloved and Only Begotten Son to suffer the agony of the Atonement. In Gethsemane, though He pleaded to the Father for a way out from drinking the “bitter cup,” Jesus partook (D&C 19:18-19).

By partaking the cup filled with our sins, sorrows, and sicknesses, Jesus “tremble[d] because of pain,” “[bled] at every pore,” and “suffer[ed] both body and spirit” (v. 18). Through His awful and incomprehensible suffering, He was now able, through His rights of mercy and His love for us, to forgive us, to succor us, and to heal us. All this was done to glorify the Father and to suffer His will “in all things from the beginning” (see 3 Nephi 11:11, D&C 19:19).

Because of His perfect love for His children, which includes you and me, our Father’s will and glory is “bring[ing] to pass [our] immortality and [our] eternal life” (Moses 1:39). To make this possible, our Savior can set us free from anything and everything that so “easily beset[s] us” and separates us from returning home to Them (see Heb. 12:1, 2 Ne. 4:18, Alma 7:15).

In this fallen world, it is easy for each of us to feel fallen, broken, and captive to those things that destroy our peace, faith, and self-confidence. Whether it’s pride, envy, anger, lust, idleness, selfishness, or slothfulness, any and all of these things, if unresolved and unrepented, will keep us from being embraced eternally in the arms of the Savior’s love. Yet, His love and mercy are available anytime, anywhere, and to anyone who will come to Him.

Though His divinity as the Only Begotten of the Father made Him resistant to sin, Jesus still felt the rawness of temptation (see Heb. 4:15, Mosiah 3:7, Mosiah 15:5, Alma 7:11, D&C 20:22). He sees us as we struggle with temptation and sometimes fall into sin. He extends His grace to us with the hope that we will reach out and grasp it. Hand in hand, He will lift us up and walk with us toward the tree with the fruit of His life and love.

When we have faith in Him, repent of our sins, obey His commandments, keep His covenants, and love and serve our brothers and sisters, the Redeemer will give us a new heart and a new spirit as we become new creatures in Christ (see Eze. 36:26, 2 Cor. 5:17).

As His covenant people, when we always remember Him everywhere we go and among everyone we are with, He has covenanted with us that the companionship of the Holy Ghost will be our gift and our guide to always lead us through our trials and our troubles.

In the Book of Mormon, we learn of a father and a son who were lost on forbidden paths early in their lives and who later were “born of God” (see. Mosiah 27:25, Alma 5:14; 22:15; 36:5, 23-24, 26; 38:6). When the prophet Abinadi preached repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to King Noah and his wicked priests, the Holy Ghost pricked Alma’s heart to lead him to forsake his sins.

After his repentance, those who followed him wanted to make him king. In refusing this request, he reminded them of his redemption that came through a remission of his sins. Alma told them—

But remember the iniquity of king Noah and his priests; and I myself was caught in a snare, and did many things which were abominable in the sight of the Lord, which caused me sore repentance;

Nevertheless, after much tribulation, the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers, and has made me an instrument in his hands in bringing so many of you to a knowledge of his truth (Mosiah 23:9-10).

Later, as he pled with all his heart to know what to do for those members of the Church caught in serious sin, the Lord blessed him by saying—

Blessed art thou, Alma… because thou hast inquired of me concerning the transgressor, thou art blessed.

Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep (Mosiah 26:15, 19-20).

One of those members he worried and prayed about was one of his sons. Alma the Younger, named after his father, and his friends, who were the sons of King Mosiah, were not only breaking the commandments, but they were also seeking to destroy the Church of Christ.

Due to his father’s prayers on his behalf, an angel of the Lord visited and warned Alma the Younger. Because of this, Alma the Younger, who had been numb to his sins, became dumb and fell to the earth because of their awfulness.

For three days and nights, he said he was “racked with eternal torment, for [his] soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all [his] sins.” He recalled that he “remember[ed] all [his] sins and iniquities, for which [he] was tormented with the pains of hell” and “racked…with the pains of a damned soul” (Alma 36:12-13, 16).

In that quagmire of shame, misery, and guilt, the “very thought of coming into the presence of [his] God did rack [his] soul with inexpressible horror” (v. 14). He wondered if he “could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that [he] might not be brought to stand in the presence of [his] God, to be judged of [his] deeds” (v. 15).

Captive to those thoughts and feelings, he remembered that his father, who once was similarly “caught in a snare” of sin, after being born of God, taught the people “of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world” (v. 17).

With his thoughts now focused on this, Alma cried out, “O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death” (v. 18).

He then testified what he felt after the Lord forgave him of his sins. He said—

[W]hen I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! (v. 19-20)

When he awoke from his deep sleep with a new commitment to follow Christ, Alma told his father and his people—

I have repented of my sins, and have been redeemed of the Lord; behold I am born of the Spirit.

…I was like to be cast off. Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God (Mosiah 27:24, 27-28).

His spiritual rebirth was so powerful that Alma “labored without ceasing, that [he] might bring souls unto repentance; that [he] might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which [he] did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost” (v. 24).

The Lord would later send the same angel that He earlier sent to Alma, while he was on his way to destroy the Church, to Amulek. He told Amulek that Alma, who was once described as a “very wicked man” by the prophet Mormon, was “a holy man, who is a chosen man of God” (Alma 10:7, see Mosiah 27:8).

Many years ago, I fell away from the Lord and His Church. Through the love and mercy of the Father, the Son, and those who love and serve Them and Their children, I received the power to return to the covenant path. I am thankful for those who were kind, loving, and gentle with me. They were sent by God to me to be my angels. I hope I can be the same for others the rest of my life.

When we wander off the covenant path and attempt to come back, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve taught us

Our Heavenly Father will run to us, His heart overflowing with love and compassion. He will embrace us; place a robe around our shoulders, a ring on our finger, and sandals on our feet; and proclaim, “Today we celebrate! For my child, who once was dead, has come back to life!” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “The Prodigal and the Road That Leads Home,” October 2023 General Conference, Sunday Morning Session).

President Dallin H. Oaks, our beloved prophet, testified to us—

Because of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, when we fall short in this life, we can repent and rejoin the covenant path that leads to what our Heavenly Father desires for us (Dallin H. Oaks, “Kingdoms of Glory,” October 2023 General Conference, Saturday Morning Session).

Our Heavenly Father and Savior want us to stay on the covenant path because it leads us back home to Them.

Like Alma and his son Alma, you and I can be born of God and become new creatures in Christ. We will experience the peace and joy of repentance and forgiveness today through the love and mercy of the Father and the Son.

Through the prophet Isaiah, later reiterated through Lehi’s sons, the prophets Nephi and Jacob, the Lord asked a question–

Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? (Isa. 49:25, see 1 Ne. 21:24, 2 Ne. 6:16)

His response to His own question serves as a sign to all of us of His willingness to deliver each and every one of us from anything and everything that seeks to destroy us.

The Lord, whom the prophet Isaiah prophesied was sent “to proclaim liberty to the captives⁠, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound,” declared—

But thus saith the Lord: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for the Mighty God shall deliver his covenant people. For thus saith the Lord: I will contend with them that contendeth with thee… all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob (2 Ne. 6:17-18, see Isa. 49:26-27, Isa. 61:1, 1 Ne. 21:25-26).

My dear beloved brothers and sisters, on this Palm Sunday, at the start of Holy Week, I testify that Jesus Christ is our Savior, Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob, and the Holy One of Israel. He lives. He is risen.

Because of Him who is the Way, our loving and forgiving Father in Heaven has prepared the way that will deliver us from sin and death and lead us home to Their life and love. I testify that these things are true and are real in the sacred and holy name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.