Jesus is the Christ

Mormon boldly declared this purpose of the words of the Book of Mormon: “And behold, they shall go unto the unbelieving of the Jews; and for this intent shall they go—that they may be persuaded that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mormon 5:14). He also taught his own people that they should “[confess] by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ” (Moroni 7:44). His son Moroni similarly wrote this purpose in the title page of the Book of Mormon: “And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.” Nephi also emphasized the same purpose of his own writings: “And as I spake concerning the convincing of the Jews, that Jesus is the very Christ, it must needs be that the Gentiles be convinced also that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God” (2 Nephi 26:12). One of the great missions of this latter-day book of scripture is to convince all the world that Jesus is indeed the Christ. This is of course the same mission that John described of his own words in the New Testament: “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31). The goal of these sacred texts is that we both know that Jesus is the Christ and believe in Him unto our salvation.

               So what does it mean for us to know that “Jesus is the Christ”? The word Christ means “anointed (Greek) or Messiah (Hebrew)” as the Bible Dictionary states. So to know this means, I believe, that we come to know that the Man called Jesus who came to earth in the meridian of time and walked the roads of Palestine was indeed anointed or set apart by the Father to save us from our sins. He was “the one anointed of the Father to be His personal representative in all things pertaining to the salvation of mankind.” He was the one given power to save us from sin and death. The Book of Mormon and New Testament vigorously proclaim that He was indeed the promised Messiah that the Jews looked for during a period of over 1000 years. Nephi wrote of a future day when the Jews would be “persuaded to believe in Christ, the Son of God, and the atonement, which is infinite for all mankind—and when that day shall come that they shall believe in Christ, and worship the Father in his name, with pure hearts and clean hands, and look not forward any more for another Messiah” (2 Nephi 25:16). To believe the Jesus is the Christ is to not look elsewhere for redemption, to not look to another person to save us, to not look for another with more power to protect us. As modern day prophets and apostles have declared in our day, “We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come.” The scriptures and prophets have always testified that this Jesus who lived among the Jews in Judea was indeed the Messiah and One anointed to bring eternal life to all mankind who will believe and follow Him.