“The Great Plan (excerpts),” New Era, May 2020, 12–13.
The Great Plan (excerpts)
[Heavenly Father’s] plan—revealed in the Restoration—began with a Council in Heaven. As spirits, we desired to achieve the eternal life enjoyed by our heavenly parents. …
In the Council in Heaven, all the spirit children of God were introduced to the Father’s plan. …
God’s plan gives us four great assurances to assist our journey through mortality. … The first assures us that through [Jesus Christ’s] suffering for the sins of which we repent, we can be cleansed of those sins. …
Second, as part of our Savior’s Atonement, He took upon Him all other mortal infirmities. This allows us to receive divine help and strength to bear the inevitable burdens of mortality. … The Savior took upon Him “the pains and sicknesses [and infirmities] of his people … that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11–12). …
Third, the Savior, through His infinite Atonement, revokes the finality of death and gives us the joyful assurance that all of us will be resurrected. …
Fourth and finally, modern revelation teaches us that our progress need not conclude with the end of mortality. …
We know that the Savior will return and that there will be a millennium of peaceful reign to wrap up the mortal part of God’s plan. We also know that there will be different resurrections, of the just and the unjust, with the final judgment of each person always following his or her resurrection.
… This judgment will cause all of the children of God to proceed to a kingdom of glory for which their obedience has qualified them and where they will be comfortable. The judge of all this is our Savior, Jesus Christ. …
… We who know God’s plan and who have covenanted to participate have a clear responsibility to teach these truths.