The Mortal Christ in the Pearl of Great Price

In addition to witnessing of the premortal Christ as I wrote about yesterday, The Pearl of Great Price also testifies of the mortal Christ and His great atoning sacrifice for all mankind.  Adam learned from the beginning about the coming of the Savior to the world, for he was told by the Lord: “The name of his Only Begotten is the Son of Man, even Jesus Christ, a righteous Judge, who shall come in the meridian of time” (Moses 6:57).  The angel also taught Adam that the sacrifices he made was “a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth” (Moses 5:7).  Thus the very first man on earth looked forward to the mortal ministry of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He would make.  Several generations later Enoch saw in vision the coming of the Savior to the earth: “Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, even in the flesh; and his soul rejoiced, saying: The Righteous is lifted up, and the Lamb is slain from the foundation of the world.”  Thousands of years before the event the prophet beheld the actual crucifixion of Jesus: “He looked and beheld the Son of Man lifted up on the cross, after the manner of men” (Moses 7:47, 55).  The Joseph Smith—Matthew account also witnesses of the reality of the mortal Jesus as it records the teaching on the Mount of Olives that He gave to His disciples shortly before His death: “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple; and his disciples came to him, for to hear him” (JSM 1:2). The Pearl of Great Price clearly witnesses that the Savior came to earth in the meridian of time, did in reality live and teach among the people, and was lifted up on the cross as a sacrifice for all mankind. 

               Other passages in the Pearl of Great Price attest to the importance and power of His atonement that He made in mortality for all.  Adam learned that we are “cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin…. This is the plan of salvation unto all men, through the blood of mine Only Begotten, who shall come in the meridian of time” (Moses 6:59, 62).  Enoch similarly knew that someday “the blood of the Righteous [would] be shed, that all they that mourn may be sanctified and have eternal life” (Moses 7:45).  In the third Article of Faith we read “that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.”  This truth of the reality of the Savior’s atonement taught in the Pearl of Great Price leads to its invitation for all of us to come unto Him and receive His salvation: “If thou wilt turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, and believe, and repent of all thy transgressions, and be baptized, even in water, in the name of mine Only Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth, which is Jesus Christ, the only name which shall be given under heaven, whereby salvation shall come unto the children of men, ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, asking all things in his name, and whatsoever ye shall ask, it shall be given you” (Moses 6:52).  The Pearl of Great Price indeed stands as another testament of Jesus Christ.