The suffering of our Savior Jesus Christ not only encompasses the power of reconciliation and atonement, but also enables Him to nurture us in times of trials and adversity, understanding as He does our mortal condition (see D&C 19:15–18; Alma 7:11–12). Elder Henry B. Eyring explains the suffering Christ:
Now, for me, at the right moment, I can begin to feel the pain the Savior felt for sins, yours and mine. His groan within himself came after he had paid the price for us, after the Atonement. His being troubled was not some abstract grief for our sins and those of the house of Israel. His was real pain, recently felt, as he took upon him the sins of the world. I can’t experience that, but I can sense it enough to have sorrow for what I have added to it. I can resolve to add no more. And I can feel determination that I will help offer the full blessings of the Atonement to as many as I can, because that passage helps me feel, in a small way, what taking upon him the sins of all mankind cost the Savior. (To Draw Closer to God: A Collection of Discourses [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1997], 69–70)
Receiving the blessings of the Atonement in our lives requires living by faith unto repentance, receiving the life-saving ordinances, and continually pressing forward with steadfastness in Christ. The Savior has done His part, having suffered the pains of all men. Now we must do ours.
Jacob’s remarkable sermon on the Atonement calls for a pattern of behavior that will bring us closer to the Savior and generate a condition in which joy and peace can abound. King Benjamin put the truth in plain terms: “And now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them” (Mosiah 4:10).