The Way

Jesus told His apostles, “Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” Thomas responded, “Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?” Jesus then responded with this well-known declaration: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:4-6). One of the repeated messages of the Book of Mormon is that Jesus is indeed The Way. Lehi testified, “The way is prepared from the fall of man, and salvation is free…. Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth” (2 Nephi 2:4-6). The way has been prepared for all of us in this life through the Messiah who was sent. Nephi wrote this: “I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and worship him with all your might, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out” (2 Nephi 25:29). Jesus is always the right way through our problems in this life. Nephi also testified, “Ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life. And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God” (2 Nephi 31:20-21). The only way back to the Father is through Christ.

                Other Book of Mormon prophets also confirmed that Jesus Christ is the way for each of us. Jacob, the brother of Nephi, spoke of “the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel” and wrote, “O then, my beloved brethren, come unto the Lord, the Holy One. Remember that his paths are righteous. Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him, and the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel” (2 Nephi 9:41). The way we are delivered is through Jesus Christ. Mormon taught his people how the way to judge was also through Christ: “The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God” (Moroni 7:16). Alma also spoke to his son Helaman about “the way” when he explained how the Liahona did “point the way they should go” just like the “words of Christ” point the way. He summarized, “O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever. And now, my son, see that ye take care of these sacred things, yea, see that ye look to God and live” (Alma 37:46-47). The way has been prepared through Christ, and we must look to Him and live. I love these words of the Lord that we have through the Book of Mormon: “And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led” (1 Nephi 17:13). He prepares the way for us through all our difficulties in mortality and He is the way to happiness now and eternal life in the world to come.