okay, here is my story/talk/testimony thing:
1 Nephi 11- Nephi desires to see the things that his father had seen in the vision of the tree of life. in the first few verses, the angel seems to be testing Nephi, asking him questions to see if he is truly prepared to listen and hear what the angel has to say.
1 Nephi 11:16 the angel asks: "knowest thou the condescension of God?"
well.... what does Condescension even mean?
in the dictionary it says "stoop" and the definition of stoop is to "lower ones dignity"
I was once asked to consider just why it is that when Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appear to people - they are always, as Joseph Smith said "standing above me in the air" their feet don't touch the ground.
why? because they are perfect beings visiting an imperfect world and they can't touch this ground!
Christ's condescension was his time with his feet on the earth when he walked among us.
why did He need to condescend? why did he need to stoop, or lower his dignity?
I am sure there are many answers to that question, but my favorite answers are in Hebrews 7:25 and D&C 110:4
"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." (Heb. 7:25)
"I am the first and the last; I am he who liveth, I am he who was slain; I am your advocate with the Father." (D&C 110:4)
Just as we in america are judged by a jury of our peers - we needed a judge who could understand and stand with us on a deep and more personal level.
He "stooped" to our level to help us each gain our own dignity. and in Jacob 4:7 it talks again of Christ's Condescension... but this time there is an "s" on the end....
"Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things." (Jacob 4:7)
I don't know hardly anything... but to me this "s" means that he comes down to help us up multiple times. he is repeatedly helping us.... the atonement is not just a one time deal... it is continual and constant and applicable to everything all the time.
now... going back again to 1 Nephi 11 and in verse 17 Nephi answers the angels question saying: "I know that he loves his children"
Christ's life was one of charity and love. his very purpose was one of love. the condescension of God is his birth and his life here with us.
I love my Savior and the gift that he continually gives me. not just the atonement but the continual guidance and support that that act offers me. I am grateful to know that because Christ was born, because he was baptized and lived on earth, he knows me and my trials and he can come down to lift me up.
