A man, as a man, could arrive at all the dignity that a man was capable of obtaining or receiving; but it needed a God to raise him to the dignity of a God. For this cause it is written, "Now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him." And how and why like Him? Because, through the instrumentality of the atonement and the adoption, it is made possible for us to become of the family of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; and that as He, the potential instrument, through the oneness that existed between Him and His Father, by reason of obedience to divine law, overcame death, hell and the grave, and sat down upon His Father's throne, so shall we be able to sit down with Him, even upon His throne. Thus, as it is taught in the Book of Mormon, it must needs be that there be an infinite atonement; and hence of Him, and by Him, and through Him are all things; and through Him do we obtain every blessing, power, right, immunity, salvation and exaltation. He is our God, our Redeemer, our Savior, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be eternal and everlasting praises worlds without end. Again, Jesus testifies of Himself: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."--John, v, 25-29. It would seem from the above that the Son hath life inherent in Himself, even as the Father hath life in Himself, He having received this power from the Father. Also, that He had power in Himself, as elsewhere stated, to lay down this body, and also to take it up again; and in this respect He differed from others. While man dies and lays down his body, he has not power under any circumstance to raise it again, only through the power of Jesus and His intercession and atonement; for the Redeemer has proclaimed Himself to be the Resurrection and the Life; and it is by this resurrective power which He possesses, as the gift of God through obedience to the will of the Father, that the dead shall hear the voice of God and shall live. Hence He not only becomes the first fruits of those that slept, having conquered death Himself and triumphed over it, but He also becomes the means of the resurrection of all men from the dead. Hence He says: