My Redeemer

In the most recent general conference, Elder Aaron T. Hall spoke about the words of Nephi. He said this, “As the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi concludes his teaching, he bears this powerful witness: ‘I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell.’ That short phrase, ‘I glory in my Jesus,’ beautifully captures Nephi’s loving relationship with the Son of God, the Messiah, the Redeemer. In the books of 1 and 2 Nephi, there are over 60 different names for Jesus Christ. Each name reveals something of His majesty, His character, and His mission as the Savior of the world. Yet in this expression of love, Nephi refers to Him in a familiar and endearing way: ‘my Jesus.’” It struck me as I read this that part of Nephi’s words in that verse came from his father Lehi. Lehi said to his sons near the end of his life, “But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love” (2 Nephi 1:15). Both of these prophets testified at the end of their lives that the Savior had redeemed their souls from hell. Nephi learned about how the Messiah would be a Redeemer from his father. Nephi recorded how his father taught about this at the beginning of their journey: “Yea, even six hundred years from the time that my father left Jerusalem, a prophet would the Lord God raise up among the Jews—even a Messiah, or, in other words, a Savior of the world. And he also spake concerning the prophets, how great a number had testified of these things, concerning this Messiah, of whom he had spoken, or this Redeemer of the world. Wherefore, all mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer.” He prophesied that one day the house of Israel would “come to the knowledge of the true Messiah, their Lord and their Redeemer” (1 Nephi 10:4-6, 14). In the 1828 dictionary, one definition of the word redeem is this: “To purchase back; to ransom; to liberate or rescue from captivity or bondage, or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to be forfeited, by paying an equivalent.” Perhaps this idea of being redeemed was particularly important to Lehi and Nephi who had given up all their worldly possessions in order to venture into the wilderness. They found indeed that the Lord redeemed them, not just spiritually but also physically as they were taken to a promised land and received more than “an equivalent” recompense for all they had given up.

            Elder Hall also said this: “Today I glory in our Redeemer. His arms of mercy are extended toward us. He sends an invitation to all, saying, ‘Repent, and I will receive you.’ We are engraved upon the palms of His hands. I rejoice in the gift of repentance and the promise of forgiveness.” Nephi likewise gloried in his Redeemer, and he used this title frequently for Jesus. In describing the vision he had of the meridian of time, he wrote, “And I looked and beheld the Redeemer of the world, of whom my father had spoken; and I also beheld the prophet who should prepare the way before him. And the Lamb of God went forth and was baptized of him; and after he was baptized, I beheld the heavens open, and the Holy Ghost come down out of heaven and abide upon him in the form of a dove” (1 Nephi 11:27). He rejoiced in the future day when the house of Israel “shall they know and come to the knowledge of their forefathers, and also to the knowledge of the gospel of their Redeemer, which was ministered unto their fathers by him; wherefore, they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved” (1 Nephi 15:14). He declared that his purpose in writing was this: “And I, Nephi, have written these things unto my people, that perhaps I might persuade them that they would remember the Lord their Redeemer,” and he read the words of Isaiah to his brothers so “that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer” (1 Nephi 19:18, 23). He said again before writing several chapters of Isaiah for his people, “And now I, Nephi, write more of the words of Isaiah, for my soul delighteth in his words. For I will liken his words unto my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children, for he verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him” (2 Nephi 11:2). Just as he spoke of “my Jesus,” he also described Him as “my Redeemer,” for the prophet had seen Him and knew that He was indeed redeemed. He was both saved from his sins and bountifully compensated for all his sacrifices and suffering. His words invite us to come to a knowledge of the Redeemer and to “do the things which [Nephi has] told [us he has] seen that [our] Lord and [our] Redeemer should do” (2 Nephi 31:17).