The Knowledge of Their Redeemer

Elder Kyle S. Mckay recently spoke at a devotional at BYU-Idaho and made this statement about the Book of Mormon: “Sometimes, in studying the Book of Mormon or presenting it to others, we are tempted to bypass its primary purpose and jump straight to the collateral conclusion that if the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith is a prophet and this is God’s church. These are logical, accurate conclusions, but I invite you to read the book for its primary purpose—to convince the people of this earth that Jesus is the Christ. I promise that as you do this with an honest, open heart, you will have an experience with Jesus that you have never had before. It will be sweet, convincing, and lasting, and you will become converted unto the Lord, with a naturally occurring desire to unite with His Church.” Indeed, Moroni wrote this in the title page of the book stating that its main purpose, in addition to showing the house of Israel what God has done for their fathers, is this: “To the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations.” The Book of Mormon, above all else, should help us come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. While certainly it is instrumental in gaining a witness that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Savior’s church has been restored, its most important message is that Jesus is the Christ.

                The Book of Mormon speaks often of people coming to the knowledge of the Redeemer. Those who were baptized in the waters of Mormon “there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer” as they made a covenant with Him (Mosiah 18:30). The sons of Mosiah were “instruments in the hands of God in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth, yea, to the knowledge of their Redeemer” (Mosiah 27:36). Alma spoke to his son about how the Lamanites came to know the Savior through the testimony of the scriptures: “These records and their words brought them unto repentance; that is, they brought them to the knowledge of the Lord their God, and to rejoice in Jesus Christ their Redeemer” (Alma 37:9). Nephi wrote of a future day when his children would come to know the Lord: “And at that day shall the remnant of our seed know that they are of the house of Israel, and that they are the covenant people of the Lord; and then shall they know and come to the knowledge of their forefathers, and also to the knowledge of the gospel of their Redeemer, which was ministered unto their fathers by him; wherefore, they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved” (1 Nephi 15:14). Jacob similarly spoke of a future day when many would “come to that which will give them the true knowledge of their Redeemer” (2 Nephi 10:2). He also wrote of how “the Lord will be merciful unto them, that when they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer, they shall be gathered together again to the lands of their inheritance” (2 Nephi 6:11). Samuel the Lamanite likewise spoke of how future generations “shall again be brought to the true knowledge, which is the knowledge of their Redeemer, and their great and true shepherd, and be numbered among his sheep” (Helaman 15:13). When the Savior was among the Nephites He likewise spoke of how later generations would come to a knowledge of Him: “Through the fulness of the Gentiles, the remnant of their seed, who shall be scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of their unbelief, may be brought in, or may be brought to a knowledge of me, their Redeemer” (3 Nephi 16:4). All these passages affirm that what the Lord wants for His people is to come to a knowledge of their Redeemer. For each of us that can happen as we study the words of all the prophets of the Book of Mormon who testified of Him. In so doing we too can be “brought out of obscurity and out of darkness; and [we] shall know that the Lord is [our] Savior and their Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel” (1 Nephi 22:12).