Witnesses of the Pre-Mortal Existence in the Book of Mormon

We don’t have many references to our life before coming to this earth in the Book of Mormon, but there are some.  Moroni tells us that because of the redemption of Christ we “are brought back into the presence of the Lord,” clearly implying we once were with the Lord before this life (Mormon 9:13).  Samuel the Lamanite taught essentially the same thing in Helaman 14:17.  Alma 13 has probably the most detailed description of what happened before this life, describing those who were “prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God” and who choose good and exercised “exceedingly great faith” (Alma 13:3).  I realized in reading today, though, that there is another important indicator of our pre-mortal existence in the Book of Mormon: testimonies of the reality of the Savior’s existence before His birth.  For example, Nephi tells us that the prophet Isaiah “verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him.  And my brother, Jacob, also has seen him as I have seen him” (2 Nephi 11:2-3).  King Lamoni likewise testified after his own vision: “Behold, I have seen my Redeemer” (Alma 19:13).  The brother of Jared’s experience is probably the most convincing evidence of the reality of the Savior’s pre-mortal mission.  He saw and spoke to Jesus Christ in person, centuries before the Savior’s birth.  Said the Savior during the encounter: “Even as I appear unto thee in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh” (Ether 3:16).  He also testified to the brother of Jared: “I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people” (Ether 3:14).  Among the Jaredite people we also have the account of Emer who “saw the son of Righteousness,” one more witness of the reality of the existence of Jesus Christ before He came to earth as Mary’s Son (Ether 9:22).  Mormon testifies simply that Christ “was before the world began” (3 Nephi 26:5).  So while we don’t have great details about what happened in the pre-mortal existence in the Book of Mormon, we have clearly testimony both of its reality and the Savior’s divine role before He came to earth.