“And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also. Now, repentance could not come unto men except there were a punishment, which also was eternal as the life of the soul should be, affixed opposite to the plan of happiness, which was as eternal also as the life of the soul.” (Alma 42:15-16). In Alma 42, Alma teaches us that God's Great Plan of Salvation is only possible because there is an Eternal Punishment affixed opposite the Eternal Plan of Happiness. The root of the word affix is the Latin word figere which means "to fix, fasten, drive, thrust in; pierce through, transfix.” It shares that same root with the words crucifix and crucify. In order for the Eternal Plan of Salvation to work, an Eternal Punishment had to be fixed, fastened, driven, thrust in, and pierced through an ultimate and infinite Sacrifice. That Eternal Punishment was affixed to the Eternal Plan of Happiness two thousand years ago through the hands and feet of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Golgotha. A second meaning of the word affix can help explain why it was necessary to affix punishment to the plan of happiness. Affix is a grammatical term for a small number of letters that are attached at the beginning or end or sometimes middle of the word that can change the meaning. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1-3). As the Word, Jehovah was able to create the World. But it was only after an affix of eternal punishment had been added to the Word, altering the meaning and intent of the Word, that Jesus Christ was able to save the world. We can't have salvation without repentance; we can't have repentance without sin; we can't have sin without the Law; we can't have the law without a punishment of sufficient gravity and potency to enforce the demands of justice. And that mercy may lay claim on all of those who would repent, Jesus Christ bound together both Eternal Punishment and Eternal Happiness with His own flesh and blood. God's laws are eternal. Justice demands an eternal punishment for all who break those eternal laws. If we repent, we submit ourselves to our Savior Jesus Christ and take upon us His name. When we sign a legal document, we affix it with our signature. But if we have taken upon us the name of Jesus Christ, then it is His name that is affixed to answer the ends of the Law. In this way, an eternal punishment is affixed to the law, but we are not required to bear the full weight of that eternal punishment alone. That is not to say we get off scot free. If we are to be joint-heirs with Christ, then we must inherit with Him not only glory, but punishment as well. Repentance and submitting our will to the Father is a hard road and a heavy burden, but it is a road we get to walk with our Savior, and a burden we get to bear with Him by our side to share in the load. If we reject this road and this burden, then we will have no name but our own upon which the eternal punishment must be affixed. No one can escape the reality of Eternal Punishment. It has been affixed permanently and irrevocably to the Eternal Plan of Happiness. It has been pierced and driven through the body of God's Well Beloved and Only Begotten Son. But if we repent, and learn of Him, and take His yoke upon us, and become so like Him in our thoughts and our words and deeds, until we have taken upon us His likeness and His countenance and His name and have made room in our hearts for Him to dwell and abide in us as we dwell and abide in Him, we will eventually become so indistinguishable from Him in our goals and choices and actions that, as far as the law is concerned, we are the same person, subject to the same Eternal Punishment and the same Eternal Reward.
