Keystone Of Our Witness of Christ

One of the themes we see through nearly all the writers in the Book of Mormon is that salvation comes through Christ and only through Christ.  Lehi told his son Jacob, “There is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah” (2 Nephi 2:8).  Jacob then echoed similar sentiments to his people when he taught them: “Remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved” (2 Nephi 9:24).  Nephi likewise taught that it is by the grace of God that we are saved.  He recorded, “We know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23).  Nephi also wrote that there is no hope of salvation for Gentiles “except they shall be reconciled unto Christ, and enter into the narrow gate” (2 Nephi 33:9).  King Benjamin, quoting an angel, probably made the most explicit statement about the means by which we are saved: “And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent” (Mosiah 3:17).  In one of the relatively few instances where a Book of Mormon prophet quoted an earlier Book of Mormon prophet, Helaman referred to this statement by King Benjamin: “O remember, remember, my sons the words which king Benjamin spake unto this people; yea, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come” (Helaman 5:9).  That it is Christ who saves was emphasized by Mormon as well.  In some of the very last words (in the order in our text) we have from Mormon, he said to Moroni, “I recommend thee unto God, and I trust in Christ that thou wilt be saved…. May Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever” (Moroni 9:22,25).  In turn Moroni also finished his words in the Book of Mormon with a testimony of the saving and perfecting power of Jesus Christ: “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him.... by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ” (Moroni 10:32).  All of these witnesses unite to give a clear message from the Book of Mormon: it is only by the grace of Christ that we are saved and perfected.  It’s no wonder that President Benson said, “The Book of Mormon is the keystone in our witness of Jesus Christ” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson, (2014), 129).