We lived in heaven with Heavenly Father before we came to earth. We were His spirit children and had spirit bodies. We loved Him and He loved us. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, page 354
Heavenly Father had a plan, the plan of salvation, for people to follow to become like Him. According to the plan, we would come to earth and have bodies of flesh and blood. We would be tested to see if we would obey God’s commandments.
Abr. 3:24–25
If we obeyed them, we would go back to Heavenly Father. But we would need help. We would have to have our sins taken away, and we would need resurrected bodies. Because we could not take away our own sins or resurrect our own bodies, we needed a Savior to do that for us.
2 Ne. 2:5–9
Heavenly Father chose Jesus Christ to be our Savior. Jesus loved Heavenly Father. Jesus also loved us, and He wanted to come to earth to show us how to be righteous and to save us. He would suffer to take away people’s sins. He would die and be resurrected. Then we would be resurrected, too.
2 Ne. 2:8–10; Moses 4:1–2
Satan also wanted to be chosen. But Satan did not love Heavenly Father. He did not love us. He wanted to change Heavenly Father’s plan so that he would have His power. Moses 4:1–4
Some of the spirits followed Satan. They did not obey God, which made Him very sad. He banished Satan and his followers from heaven. Satan is the devil. He and the spirits who followed him tempt us to sin. Moses 4:3–4
Heavenly Father told Jesus to make an earth for us. Jesus did. He put plants and animals on it. He made the sun, the moon, and the stars, too. At last we could come to earth and have bodies of flesh and blood! Heb. 1:2; Mosiah 3:8; Abr. 4
National Geographic Photographer
Bishop H. David Burton
