Ready to Die at Jerusalem

One of the repeated teachings of the Book of Mormon before the Savior came to mortality is that He would come to suffer and die. Lehi prophesied that the Messiah would be slain, and Nephi described how he saw this in vision: “And I, Nephi, saw that he was lifted up upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world” (1 Nephi 10:11, 11:33). Nephi also quoted ancient prophets who spoke of the Savior’s future suffering: “And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men. And the God of our fathers, who were led out of Egypt, out of bondage, and also were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself, according to the words of the angel, as a man, into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted up, according to the words of Zenock, and to be crucified, according to the words of Neum, and to be buried in a sepulchre” (1 Nephi 19:9-10). Nephi wrote of this further towards the end of his record: “The Only Begotten of the Father, yea, even the Father of heaven and of earth, shall manifest himself unto them in the flesh, behold, they will reject him, because of their iniquities, and the hardness of their hearts, and the stiffness of their necks. Behold, they will crucify him” (2 Nephi 25:12-13). King Benjamin spoke of this in more detail: “And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people…. They shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him” (Mosiah 3:7, 9). These passages highlight that the Messiah would come to earth in order to suffer and die.

            Other Book of Mormon passages similarly prophesied that the Son of God would face suffering and death when He came to the earth. After quoting Isaiah’s prophecy about the suffering Messiah, Abinadi taught, “And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation, but suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people. And after all this, after working many mighty miracles among the children of men, he shall be led, yea, even as Isaiah said, as a sheep before the shearer is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. Yea, even so he shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father” (Mosiah 15:5-7). Alma also spoke of the Savior’s future suffering when he taught the people of Gideon: “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people” (Alma 7:11-13). Ammon summarized this for the Lamanite king when he said this: “And since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth” (Alma 22:14). Alma similarly said to the Zoramites, “The Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins” (Alma 33:22). Amulek expounded on this when he added, “Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world;… And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal” (Alma 34:8, 14). And to the Nephites shortly before the Savior was born, Samuel the Lamanite prophesied, “For behold, he surely must die that salvation may come; yea, it behooveth him and becometh expedient that he dieth, to bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the presence of the Lord” (Helaman 14:15). Over and over the prophets of the Book of Mormon prophesied that the Savior would suffer in mortality and die for the salvation of mankind.

            It struck me as I thought about these passages that if these Book of Mormon prophets understood that the Savior’s mission was to suffer and die, then the premortal Messiah must have understood this as well. He knew, long before He came to fulfill His mission, that He would suffer and be scourged and be crucified. He knew that He would bleed from every pore and suffer more than a mortal man could. And yet, despite this knowledge, He still came and fulfilled the will of the Father to suffer and die. He loved the Father and all of the children of men so much that He was willing to come despite the unimaginable sacrifice He would make. These words of Paul perhaps could have been His in the premortal realm: “I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord” (Acts 21:13). And that is exactly what He did.