That Ye Might Believe That Jesus Is the Christ

To my daughter,

                Have you ever wondered how we got the scriptures? Each book of scripture that we have came to us in a slightly different way, but we owe all of them to the hard work of prophets who sacrificed in order to preserve the word of the Lord for us. Jacob in the Book of Mormon wrote this about the efforts of the Nephites to leave their words for us: “Now behold, it came to pass that I, Jacob, having ministered much unto my people in word, (and I cannot write but a little of my words, because of the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates) and we know that the things which we write upon plates must remain; But whatsoever things we write upon anything save it be upon plates must perish and vanish away; but we can write a few words upon plates, which will give our children, and also our beloved brethren, a small degree of knowledge concerning us, or concerning their fathers—Now in this thing we do rejoice; and we labor diligently to engraven these words upon plates, hoping that our beloved brethren and our children will receive them with thankful hearts” (Jacob 4:1-3). So the Nephite prophets would, with difficulty, engraven their record upon metal plates so that they would last for many centuries. They painstakingly wrote character after character upon the plates to that future generations could have God’s word through them. And so, as he says, we should have “thankful hearts” for the words that he left behind which teach us of Jesus Christ and the dealings of God with the Nephite people. Another passage in the Book of Mormon alludes to the incredible labors of the Jews over many centuries to bring us the words of the Bible. Speaking of people in our day, the Lord said, “[The Bible] shall proceed forth from the Jews, mine ancient covenant people. And what thank they the Jews for the Bible which they receive from them? Yea, what do the Gentiles mean? Do they remember the travails, and the labors, and the pains of the Jews, and their diligence unto me, in bringing forth salvation unto the Gentiles? O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people?” (2 Nephi 29:4-5). It took great travails, labors, pains, and diligence for the Jews to preserve the record throughout the centuries that we now call the Bible. And how blessed we are to have the words of all the prophets!     

                So why did the prophets go to all this labor to give us their words? Nephi summed up his purpose in these words: “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God” (2 Nephi 25:23). He and so many others labored diligently to write to help us believe in Christ and come unto Him. John similarly gave his purpose in recording the life of the Savior that we now have in the New Testament this way: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 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 20:30-31). John wrote his testimony of Jesus so that we would believe in Him and gain eternal life through His name. Amaleki gave a similar purpose for the brief account he was writing as he finished the small plates in the Book of Mormon: “I shall deliver up these plates unto [King Benjamin], exhorting all men to come unto God, the Holy One of Israel,… And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved” (Omni 1:25-26). The goal of all prophets in recording their words was to invite us to come unto Christ and ultimately to receive salvation through His name. We are so blessed to have thousands of pages of scriptures from ancient and modern prophets that help us to come to know the Savior and find salvation through Him. I hope that you and I will always be filled with gratitude for the words of the scriptures and never take them for granted. 

Love,

Dad