At no time during the year is it more appropriate to commemorate the mission and Atonement of the Savior than during this spring season, which coincides in general with the revealed anniversary of the Savior's birth and the organization of the Church.

Over the years, President Ezra Taft Benson has been firm in testifying of the Savior's Atonement and in expounding its meaning.In an address delivered in October 1983 general conference while President of the Council of the Twelve, President Benson observed, "The fundamental principle of our religion is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. . . .

"To have any measure of appreciation and gratitude for what He accomplished in our behalf, we must remember these vital truths:

"Jesus came to earth to do our Father's will.

"He came with a foreknowledge that He would bear the burden of the sins of us all.

"He knew that He would be lifted up on the cross.

"He was born to be the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind.

"He was able to accomplish His mission because He was the Son of God and He possessed the power of God.

"He was willing to accomplish His mission because He loves us.

"No mortal being had the power or capability to redeem all other mortals from their lost and fallen condition, nor could any other voluntarily forfeit his life and thereby bring to pass a universal resurrection for all other mortals.

"Only Jesus Christ was able and willing to accomplish such a redeeming act of love.

"We may never understand nor comprehend in mortality how He accomplished what He did, but we must not fail to understand why He did what He did.

"Everything He did was prompted by His unselfish, infinite love for us."

Bearing witness to this divine mission of Jesus Christ is "a high and sacred honor," said President Benson in general conference on April 6, 1964, while a member of the Council of the Twelve.

"I rejoice in this glorious privilege, thank the Lord for this rich opportunity and blessing, and bear solemn witness to the truth of these things," he said.

"The greatest events of history are those which affect the greatest number for the longest periods. By this standard, no event could be more important to individuals or nations than the resurrection of the Master. The eventual resurrection of every soul who has lived and died on earth is a scriptural certainty, and surely there is no event for which one should make more careful preparation.

"Nothing is more absolutely universal than the resurrection. Every living being will be resurrected," he emphasized. " `. . . as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.' (1 Cor. 15:22.)

"Yes, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a glorious reality. He became the first fruits of them that slept. He truly rose from the tomb the third day as He and His prophets foretold, and became in very deed `the resurrection and the life.' He broke the bonds of death for all of us. . . .

"No other single influence has had so great an impact on this earth as the life of Jesus the Christ," he continued. "We cannot conceive of our lives without His teachings. Without Him we would be lost in a mirage of beliefs and worships, born in fear and darkness where the sensual and materialistic hold sway. We are far short of the goal He set for us, but we must never lose sight of it; nor must we forget that our great climb toward the light, toward perfection, would not be possible except for His teachings, His life, His death, and His resurrection.

"On this spring day more than 1,900 years after His resurrection, I give you my solemn witness and testimony that I know that Jesus the Christ lives. He was in very deed raised from the dead as we shall be. . . . He appeared unto many in the Old World after His resurrection, and according to modern scriptures, sacred to me and to Latter-day Saints everywhere, He spent three glorious days before His final ascension with His `other sheep' here in America, the New World.

"What a priceless gift it is that we can know Him through our own prayers and through the sacred and solemn testimonies of those who have seen Him, known Him, felt His presence.

"Yes, this same Jesus has already come to earth in our day. The Resurrected Christ - glorified, exalted, the God of this world under the Father - appeared to the boy Joseph Smith in 1820. This same Jesus who was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Moses, the Creator of this earth, has come in our day.

"Today, thousands of faithful missionaries freely carry this all-important message to the world. Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of Mankind, the Redeemer of the World, the very Son of God."