The Keystone In Our Witness of Jesus Christ

To my daughter, 

               The Prophet Joseph Smith declared, “I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.” President Ezra Taft Benson expounded on that statement and taught this, “There are three ways in which the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. It is the keystone in our witness of Christ. It is the keystone of our doctrine. It is the keystone of testimony.” He continued, “The Book of Mormon is the keystone in our witness of Jesus Christ, who is Himself the cornerstone of everything we do. It bears witness of His reality with power and clarity…. Its testimony of the Master is clear, undiluted, and full of power. But it does even more. Much of the Christian world today rejects the divinity of the Savior. They question His miraculous birth, His perfect life, and the reality of His glorious resurrection. The Book of Mormon teaches in plain and unmistakable terms about the truth of all of those. It also provides the most complete explanation of the doctrine of the Atonement. Truly, this divinely inspired book is a keystone in bearing witness to the world that Jesus is the Christ.” My own testimony of Jesus Christ first came from reading in the Book of Mormon and feeling the power of the testimony of those ancient Nephite prophets. I want to encourage you today to keep reading from the Book of Mormon each day and to focus on the testimony of Jesus that you find throughout its pages.

               I want to share with you several of the passages that have meant the most to me concerning Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon. Nephi wrote, “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” I hope that you too know where to look for a remission of your sins and for divine help. Whenever you wonder what the “right way” to go is in your life, remember these words of Nephi: “And now behold, 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 25:26, 29). The right way is always to do that which will bring us closer to Him. And we have to come to Him with all our heart and put Him first just as Amaleki taught, “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 1:26). Through fasting, prayer, and trying to devote our thoughts to Him, we can have in our lives His power to help us. Some of the most poignant teachings about the life of Jesus are those given by the angel to King Benjamin. We read, “And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people. And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary. And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name” (Mosiah 3:7-9). It is incomprehensible for us to understand how much He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross to pay the price for our sins and for our salvation. Whenever you feel that you are suffering, know that He suffered more and can succor you. Not only did He suffer for your sins but also to help you with your weaknesses and trials. Alma declared, “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people” (Alma 7:11). When He appeared to the Nephites as a Resurrected Being, He declared to them: “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning” (3 Nephi 11:10-11). He always did exactly what His Father asked Him, and He is our light and life because He drank out of that bitter cup to suffer for us.

               Perhaps my favorite invitation in the Book of Mormon is this one from Moroni towards the end of the book: “And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever” (Ether 12:41). I invite you to take that to heart and seek Jesus as you read in the Book of Mormon every day. Nothing else is more important each day—not schoolwork, not sleep, not food, not sports—than drawing close to your Savior through reading the words of the Book of Mormon.  

Love,

Dad