The keenest of all intellects to ever grace this planet endured sufferings that were worse than even he, with his unexcelled brilliance, had ever imagined. Hence he was "sore amazed" or, in the Greek, "astonished," "awestruck" (Mark 14:33).
He became "very heavy," which, in the Greek means, "depressed and dejected."
When in the garden, he issued "the Abba cry" (Mark 14:36; Psalms 22:1). It was the most intimate, familial cry of a child in the deepest of distress for his father.
All the cumulative weight of our sins--the whole human family--fell upon him. He, and he alone, bore them! Thus he is able to say, "I have overcome and have trodden the wine-press alone, even the wine-press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God" (D&C 76:107; 88:106). This would include all the penalties that a God who cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance would require (see D&C 1:31). Could there be any wrath more fierce than divine wrath? Especially as Jesus encountered cumulative, mortal grossness including the vilest of all human sins? Jesus bore them.
Indeed, Christ was alone, for "there was none with me" (Isaiah 63:3; D&C 133:50). His astonishing, personal triumph was complete. Yet he who premortally had promised he would give glory to our Father kept that promise, saying after accomplishing the Atonement, "Nevertheless, glory be to the Father" (D&C 19:19; Moses 4:2).
-"In Him All Things Hold Together" Neal A Maxwell BYU Speeches March 31, 1991 Click Here
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