D&C 76

As this "heavenly vision" was opened, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon witnessed the two opposites of all God's children, first they " beheld the glory of the Son, on the right hand of the Father, ...And saw the holy angels, and them who are sanctified before his throne, worshiping God, and the Lamb, who worship him forever and ever." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 76:20 - 21).

Then they .".. saw also, and bear record, that an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved and who was in the bosom of the Father, was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son,
26 And was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him—he was Lucifer, a son of the morning." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 76:25 - 26) And Satan "...that old serpent, even the devil, who rebelled against God, and sought to take the kingdom of our God and his Christ—
29 Wherefore, he maketh war with the saints of God, and encompasseth them round about." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 76:28 - 29)

The prophet "... saw a vision of the sufferings of those with whom he made war and overcame, for thus came the voice of the Lord unto us:" But of those that were overcome, there was a select group whom the Lord describes as "... those who know my power, and have been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves through the power of the devil to be overcome, and to deny the truth and defy my power—

These are they who are born who side with the opposition of Satan for -

"They are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have been born;
33 For they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels in eternity;...Having denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father, having crucified him unto themselves and put him to an open shame.
36 These are they who shall go away into the lake of fire and brimstone, with the devil and his angels—" Doctrine and Covenants Section 76:30 - 36)

Of these the Lord said - "...there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come—
(Doctrine and Covenants Section 76:34)

And then comes the most revealing saying -

"...And the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power;
38 Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath."(Doctrine and Covenants Section 76:37 - 38)

If they are the only ones not redeemed, then that means everyone else will be redeemed. As the vision continues, we learn that all (except those so mentioned) are redeemed in various levels of glory and bodies for as the Apostle Paul wrote - "All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead..." (New Testament 1 Corinthians 15:39 - 42)

As we ponder this, we come to realize that all are redeemed, for some maybe "after the sufferings of his wrath", "...through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 76:69)

For all "...shall come forth; they who have done good in the resurrection of the just; and they who have done evil, in the resurrection of the unjust." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 76:17)

I started this blog with the two great opposites. How we fit in between these opposites will depend upon ourselves and our faith.

"2 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." (New Testament Revelation 20:12)

Can words even describe the magnitude of the gift of our Savior's infinite atonement!