Latest / Scripture Central / Easter | Mar 25-31 | Book of Mormon Matters with John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson

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Easter | Mar 25-31 | Book of Mormon Matters with John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson · Scripture Central

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Hello and welcome to Scripture Central and happy Happy Easter
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Time to you. We're so excited to be able to
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share with you some thoughts from the Scripture Central team.
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We are so happy to be here and hope you have a wonderful Easter
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week, especially as we can appreciate better what the Book
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of Mormon tells us about what happened really at Easter time.
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I I just have to tell you for a minute a conversation that
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happened a little while ago. I said, Jack, I want to talk
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about Easter not just from third Nephi, but how everything about
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the whole week of Easter from the Last Supper and everything
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working up to the death and resurrection in the tomb, are
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any of these prophecies in the Book of Mormon.
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And Jack said, Oh yes. And he listed off scripture and
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verse on at least eight different points and I was blown
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away. It's powerful.
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I've been. I've been blown away during this
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study. It's been a great week and I
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hope it motivates you to jump into your scriptures and study
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the same. And it's it's not just that it
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talks a lot about it, but it adds insight.
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I think if people had had the text that we have from the brass
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plates and from Nephi and Alma, they would not have had such a
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confusion as to Christ's purpose and his mission.
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And we hope that as people study this week and live through the
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the the Easter week, they'll include the Book of Mormon more
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extensively than we usually do. But you were the one that said
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that's what we should do today. And you know, if you don't have
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the right question, you're not going to get the right answer.
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So let's say let's see what we can do with this.
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And usually when we start with Easter, we start with the
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wonderful triumphal entry. And as they come in for that
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last week of the Lord's life, I couldn't find anything on the
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triumphal entry in the Book of Mormon.
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I don't think there's anything direct, although it's certainly
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prophesized, doesn't it, that Jesus will come to his people?
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Yes. And this has to be a public
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coming. But the but the triumphal entry
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is a time where they're they're recognizing Jesus as the
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Messiah, and so they're calling him King of David and Hosea.
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They're they're using names for him.
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That's right. This is a royal recognition that
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as he comes into Jerusalem, he's doing what the kings used to do
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as they approached the holy city.
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And as each of the four Gospels describe this, they have a
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little bit of differences, but there's a lot of continuity that
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he is the king, He is the promised Messiah.
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That goes way back to in the gospel approach in the New
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Testament to Jesus's genealogy. He's a royal leader.
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He comes with that blessing, among many others.
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But the one thing that the Book of Mormon does add is a whole
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list, a complete range of terms, names for Jesus.
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And there are some of them that are quite unique, and many of
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them deal with Jesus's kingship. So as you go through and just
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think about all the different ways that the people and the
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prophets address the Lord. And so when you look at these
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names, I King Benjamin calls Jesus the heavenly king
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recognizing his royal role problem that has been created
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and the Lord God omnipotent. And it's interesting to me that
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Benjamin is himself a king. And so King Benjamin uses
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terminology for Jesus that ties in with Jesus's royal functions
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and his power. Of course Jacob and Alma will
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echo this, but will now call Jesus the King of Heaven, which
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is not just the King of Jerusalem or King of the Jews,
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which is what will be put on the cross, but the King of Heaven.
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One other is Samuel the Lamanite calls Jesus the great and
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eternal head. Now that means the head of State
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or the head of the people. And Nephi himself also liked
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using the phrase the Mighty One of Israel.
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And that's a royal term. So that reassures us that Jesus
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is powerful. He has, of course, spiritual
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power. He has teaching power.
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He has priesthood power. But he's also the King, our Lord
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and master. I love this idea of looking at
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our names for the Lord in an Easter context, because then our
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prayers, our worship, our hymn singing all can become triumphal
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entry types where we are welcoming the Lord into our
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lives. We want to worship Him for us,
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so it's not just that one day in Jerusalem.
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That's a wonderful statement. The Book of Mormon is doing it.
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Yeah, we'd all like to be there at that gate, welcoming him and
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we can. And we can.
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We can lay down our baggage before him and our sins and
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allow him to cleanse us. Yeah, OK, so we have the
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triumphant entry, and then we've got four or five days, or three
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or four days, depending on how you're which gospel you're
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counting of the Lord teaching and performing things.
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He does a couple of miracles with the fig tree.
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And prophesying about the destruction of Jerusalem.
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Yes, the Book of Mormon has a lot of prophecies about the
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Second Coming as well as the First Coming.
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But do you find anything that fits into that week in your
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study of the Book of Mormon, the week of Easter, or those few
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days between the triumphal? Entry Last Supper.
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And the between the triumphal entry and the Last Supper, Yes,
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that's exactly what. I mean, Jesus spends a lot of
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time at the temple and right after the triumphal entry, he
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makes a beeline straight to the temple.
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And that's, I think, important because he knows that's the
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place where you have those who, because of priest crafts and
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because of political situations, people are especially concerned
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about his popularity, having raised Lazarus from the dead.
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That's why in John chapter 12 such a big crowd comes to
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welcome Jesus. They've heard and they want to
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see the one who raised Lazarus. And the priests and the members
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of the Sanhedrin are not real happy with this.
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And we know that right after the raising of Lazarus they have
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already decided that it is better that one man should die,
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meaning Jesus. Then we lose all of our place
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here in the temple. But Jesus?
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He doesn't shy away from that. He goes right to the temple.
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Even though they're probably going to accuse him.
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Well, they do when they come up, and they ask him.
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So by what authority are you doing these miracles?
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Now, there are two options here. Either you're doing it by the
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power of God, or you're doing it by the power of the devil.
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And but they want to know what is your source of power.
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And you remember what Jesus says.
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Well, tell me where John the Baptist got his authority.
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And they say we can't, we can't, we don't know.
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And then he says, well then I can't.
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Tell you. Oh, of course they do.
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Of course they do. But they say we can't tell.
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We're not going to. Answer then, he says.
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Then I'm not going to answer you.
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Exactly. And that's when he tells the
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parable of the two sons how one son was asked by the father to
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go down, and he has to think about it for a little while.
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Meanwhile, the second son is asked, will you go down?
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And the second son says, you bet it's all about me.
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I'll be glad to go down. I'll do this.
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In English it doesn't sound like he's being proudful, but in the
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Greek it says eagle. Yeah, that's right.
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I do it my way. That's right.
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My will not thine will. And so Jesus gives them that
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little parable and asks so which of them did the will of the
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Father. And of course it was a a self
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reference to the first Son. So he's making a a very strong
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statement about who he is. Do we get that in the Book of
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Mormon? Absolutely the same kind of
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understanding. Jesus knows who he is, and he
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discloses who he is, and the Father acknowledges Jesus and
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recognizes him. And the Book of Mormon texts are
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filled with wonderful statements that are not the same as, but
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certainly consistent with what we have in that entry into the
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temple. With all the priests there at
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the Temple and the Sadducees and the Pharisees and their lawyers
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and the scribes who are attacking him, they're trying to
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get evidence to put him on trial.
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That's right. And they want to crucify him.
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So they need to have something legal that the Romans will
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acknowledge, not just the Judaic law.
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And Jesus is very careful in those days in the temple.
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There there are three days where he spends much of the time in
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the temple he does teach. He gives some parables,
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including the 10 virgins, the wise 5 and the foolish 5 he
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which is talking about the coming of the bridegroom.
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And he teaches with the widow's might.
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There's a lot of stories that fall into that period.
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And finally the the teaching of the the parable of the talents.
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And different people will be given different talents, and
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some will go and bury them, but others will magnify them.
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So it's talking about the final judgement.
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What we get in 3rd Nephi is what Jesus probably would have liked
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to have said to a faithful group that received him in the temple
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if they would have recognized him and said Master teach us
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what might he have said? Because where does Jesus appear
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when he comes in 3rd Nephi as a resurrected Lord?
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At the temple in Bountiful to those who had been prepared and
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were gathered. So just as we have in Easter a
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focus on the temple, we also have in the Book of Mormon lots
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of further information about the temple.
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So the Easter Week continues on in the New Testament with the
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most information in John on the Last Supper.
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And we have his beautiful sermon.
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We have the ordinance of the Washington feet.
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But I want to talk about the sacrament because I was
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surprised to find years ago that only Matthew, Mark and Luke
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include the sacrament, not John. Even though John has so much
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beautiful doctrine in his sermon, he does not include the
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sacrament there. I think he has it in John 5:00
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and 6:00, but the sacrament in 3rd Nephi is so much richer.
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I I counted up the verses, I counted up all the words we
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have. Matthew, Mark and Luke have two
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or three verses each, but they pretty much overlap.
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So you're talking about 35 chapter 18, where Jesus then,
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after he has healed the sick and the wounded and blessed the
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children, he, he, they they don't want to go.
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The day has been a long day, and Jesus says, OK, you're probably
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hungry, let me give you something to eat.
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But spiritually and there he blesses the sacrament.
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But it's so much more than blessing it.
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So we've got two or three verses in the New Testament and then we
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have this beautiful section of at least nine verses explaining
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the sacrament. And I feel like we would never
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have had so much misunderstanding about what the
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Last Supper was or what the the sacrament bread is supposed to
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be. I feel like if this one little
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thing had been known or been shared in our New Testament, we
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would not have had so many misunderstandings amongst
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Christians on the sacrament. Yeah, give an example of what
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you mean by that. Starting in chapter 18, verse
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two, he has them go the apostles or the disciples go and get the
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bread and the wine. And then it says in verse 3,
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when the disciples came with the bread, he took the bread and
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break it and blessed it. And he gave unto the disciples
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and the commandment they should eat.
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Now that sounds very consistent. It's not that different.
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But I love verse 4. When they had eaten they were
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filled. It's a feast and it's not just a
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feast of food as you mentioned. I think it's a spiritual feast.
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He commanded that they should give to the multitude.
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Then the apostles are or the disciples are able to serve the
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multitude also were filled. It says in verse five.
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And then he goes on and he says, I want you to do the same thing
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in the church. But at the bottom of verse five
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he says, all of those who shall believe and be baptized in my
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name. And this shall ye always observe
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to do even as I have done verse 7 This shall ye do in
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remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you, that it
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shall be a testimony of the Father, that you do always
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Remember Me, that ye do always Remember Me.
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And you shall have his spirit to be with me.
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Do those words sound familiar? Jack, this sounds like our
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sacrament prayer in Moroni, but I just feel like he's explaining
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it so thoroughly here. And you know, I I received my I
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studied with the Catholics in my Graduate School and they are so
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different, so many different opinions on what the bread means
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and does it become Christ's body and are we drinking blood?
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And you know, I'm just so grateful for this account in 3rd
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Nephi. I feel like Joseph Smith
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understood more about the sacrament after translating
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third Nephi than he did in all of his earlier years, going to
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all these different churches. And after the His Last Supper,
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he and the 12 or the 11 leave the upper room and walk outside
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down the mount of of Moriah, across the little kidron, the
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Creek there, over to the Mount of Olives, where there is an
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olive orchard and it sounds as if by the name Gethsemane.
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There's an olive press there, and in the New Testament it
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describes him praying there and suffering.
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So as I looked for that in the Book of Mormon, I was so touched
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by the continuity and the depth. But it's really hard for
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biblical scholars if only one gospel says something like Luke
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says an Angel came, Luke says he bled from every poor, they sort
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of throw that out because there's just one.
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So I think it is very significant that as we go
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through all the many, many, many scriptures on the Savior's
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suffering in the Book of Mormon that we find one that also talks
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about he bled from every poor. The Book of Mormon clearly
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understands that Jesus will be a suffering servant.
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Why people in antiquity didn't more readily understand this, I
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don't know. Because it's right in Isaiah 53
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that he will suffer and he will be the the Suffering servant.
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And of course Abinad, I will quote that and use that in the
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context of explaining how Jesus will overcome death and will
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then be resurrected. So those passages in Abinadi are
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very relevant to Easter. I don't know exactly when the
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idea that the servant was Jesus might have gotten lost, but I
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think by the time of Jesus people were sort of thinking of
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the the suffering servant as Israel, the House of Israel, and
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Israel by then had suffered. They they were abused by their
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landlords and. They had been taken to Babylon
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and they had actually been kind of brought back to life as a
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people. And I think they might have been
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seeing Isaiah talking about them as a people rather than as the
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Lord. And when you think about it, it
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is a little bit at least scary and unbecoming to think that a
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Lord that Jesus God could come and suffer and die this way.
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So it was a a striking idea, a a disturbing idea.
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But the Book of Mormon got it. And I Ben and I gets it.
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Well, let's just read some of them.
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I want to start with this beautiful one from Alma, chapter
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seven. He shall go forth, suffering,
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pains, and afflictions and temptations of every kind, and
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this that the word might be fulfilled, which saith that he
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taketh upon him the pains and sicknesses of his people.
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That's not in the Bible. And he taketh upon him death,
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that he may lose the bands of the death which bind the people,
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and he will take upon him their infirmities.
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And His bowels may be filled with mercy according to the
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flesh, that he may know according to the flesh, how to
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succor His people. And the Book of Mormon talks
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about this as an infinite atonement that goes back to
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Jacob. Many of the teachings that Alma
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is crystallizing so well there in Alma Chapter 7.
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Threads of those are being woven together earlier in the Book of
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Mormon, Jacob, he talks about what an Angel told him, that
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Christ will come among the Jews and be crucified, and that no
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other nation on earth would crucify their God.
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I think that's interesting, that that among the Jews, God was
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viewed as so perfect and so transcendent that they couldn't
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imagine him coming down and being among people and
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suffering. And not fitting their their,
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their mold. You know, he he was a poor guy.
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He wasn't the high priest. He he lived in Nazareth of all
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places. You know, he just didn't fit
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their mold. And they weren't willing,
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because of it says, because of wickedness and other interests,
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to kind of change. But I'm sure the devil was
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working overtime on him too. And not only that, but the Angel
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speaking to Jacob actually says that this is the only people
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that were prepared or were able to bring about the death of
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Jesus. And we have to remember that the
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death of Jesus was necessary. It's not a mistake that he dies.
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He must come to complete the atonement that he must take upon
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himself and suffer in all ways, which includes death and pain
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and bleeding from every pore. And my favorite verse on that
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one is in actually Nephi when he starts quoting all these brass
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plates prophets that we don't have.
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First Nephi, Chapter 19. And I want to start in verse
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eight. He cometh according to the words
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of the Angel, In 600 years from the time my father left
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Jerusalem. The world, because of their
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iniquity, shall judge him as a thing of not.
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Wherever they scourge him, they suffer it, and they smite him,
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and he suffereth. Yeah, they spit upon him, and he
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suffereth it because of the loving kindness.
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And then, skipping down to verse 10, the God of Jacob yieldeth
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himself, according to the words of the Angel, as a man into the
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hands of the wicked men, to be lifted up, according to the
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words of Zenik. So we've got a prophet we don't
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know about yet to be crucified, according to the words of Neom.
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And to be buried in a sepulchre, according to the words of Zenus.
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So Zenus, the allegory of the olive tree, knew that he was
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going to be buried. But we've got a lot more from
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Zenus on this. On the death, this is
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interesting, he says, which he spake concerning the three days
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of darkness, which should be a sign given of his death, and to
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those who should inhabit the Isles of the sea.
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So Zennis really had a lot to say about the people that were
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scattered Israel that Jacob grabs onto in chapter five with
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the oligarch of the Olive tree. And then we've got another one
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continuing on down at the bottom of verse 11.
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And Xena talks about the earthquakes and the tragedies
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that are going to come in 11 and 12.
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But these verses were taken out of the scriptures.
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I mean, they're in the brass plates, but they aren't in ours.
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I I'm fascinated that the plain and precious things that would
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take away from the validity of the Book of Mormon are what were
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taken out and also the misunderstanding of who the
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Messiah was. You know the most important
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things Satan knew what to take out?
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Don't identify the Savior, and don't identify his his other
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sheep. That's right.
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But there are still hints, even in the Old Testament, of many of
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these things. Oh.
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Really. That we could talk about another
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time. Right now, we're just focusing
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on the Book of Mormon, but some of them, like in Isaiah 53 that
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we've talked about and other places in prophecies do hint at
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some of these things and the Psalms as well.
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We have to also go to King Benjamin, because he's the one
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that validates the Gospel of Luke with the bleeding of every
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pore. This is in Mosiah chapter 3,
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verse seven and eight. And lo, he shall suffer
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temptations and pain of body, hunger, thirst, fatigue, even
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more than man can suffer, except to be unto death.
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For behold, blood cometh out of every pore.
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So great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and
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abominations of this people, and he shall be called Jesus Christ,
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the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth.
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You already mentioned that the Creator of the beginning.
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And then he continues on in verse 9 talking about the
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scourging and crucifixion. And I thought, oh, couldn't
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people just say that Joseph Smith borrowed these ideas from
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the book of Morm and from the Bible, And these are all part of
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the Easter traditions and the stories there.
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And crucifixion was what the Romans did.
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But I did a little bit of digging and it sounds to me like
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the Assyrians in 700 BC were already practicing crucifixion.
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This abominable, torturous way of death was part of the
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Assyrians and Persians and Greeks before the Romans took it
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over. Even at Bechayan, Saul and his
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sons are hung on a tree. And so this that goes back very
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early into Jewish and Israelite history.
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But I don't think we can say Abinadai and King Benjamin and
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Nephi and Zenith and all these different people who have
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proseified this are just borrowing from the New Testament
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later when Joseph is translating this, because of the theology.
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When I write out the words side by side, you always get the
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breadth of the message. When you look at the Book of
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Mormon, you see why he had to suffer, and it often takes it
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back to Adam and Eve, which is completely misunderstood by most
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people who believe in the Bible. Both the Judaic and Islamic and
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Christian traditions do not understand the Fall, as members
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of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints do.
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But the Book of Mormon is where we learn it, and I really feel
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like by tying the atonement and the death and resurrection of
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the Lord to the Fall, it testifies of the plan of
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salvation. And you don't get that in the.
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Bible you don't. And validating what you're
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saying, the Angel will continue in.
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That's the question, can we find things that go back that late?
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What will his blood actually atone for?
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And it mentions 3 things. One, it will atone for those who
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have fallen by the transgression of Adam.
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So there you have this expansive view of all of humanity being
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covered by all of. Humanity.
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The resurrection of Jesus. But this was a course correction
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in the 19th century. If Joseph were writing to his
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people, if Joseph Smith were a product of his environment, he
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would have known that the majority of Americans at this
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time believed the Calvinistic thought that the atonement was
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limited to those who were the elect.
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The Book of Mormon tears down every false doctrine that was
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being taught then it wasn't part of their environment.
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This is revealed truth. And here's another one.
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Let's keep going. What else does the Angel say?
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The blood will atone for those who have died, not knowing the
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will of God concerning them. Innocent children, all the
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depravity of man that we the whole messed up idea that
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they're born in sin is gone. That's right.
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And what this will bring about is the resurrection of all
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people. Immortality.
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And there's a third one. The Angel tells Benjamin that he
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will die to atone for the sins of those who have ignorantly
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sinned. That's interesting.
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Now of course most sins are conscious and we think a
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violation of a law. You need to know, but not all.
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A victim should not feel guilty. There is a passage also in back
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in the Torah, in the Jewish law, that talks about ignorance, sin,
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and that if you can show that you didn't know that what was
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being done was in inconsistent with or in violation with the
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the law, the punishment was different.
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Here this is also being recognized that if you have
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sinned ignorantly, if you didn't know better, truly the atonement
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will take care of that and so you don't have to agonize over
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things that you've done. I made a mistake, I didn't mean
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it. I didn't even know about it.
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And how do you fix that? Sometimes you can't fix that,
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but the Savior and the infinite nature of the Atonement can do
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that. And as I look at the next
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section, we've gone through a lot of the suffering of the
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Lord. But we want to talk about the
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trial for just a minute. Jesus does get arrested there at
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Gethsemane, and according to John, there were Roman soldiers
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as well as probably a Temple Guards soldiers from the Jewish
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world. And they take Jesus and they
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they hold him for a little while because I think they arrested
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him a little quicker than they might have thought and they've
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got to stall for a little while. Because you can't go to Pilate
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until sunrise and it's still dark, They're coming with
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torches, so that's when they go to the high priest palace.
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Caiaphas's palace, At least it wasn't.
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He wasn't the High Priest, but. I believe that Caiaphas must
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have talked to Pilate and said this is what we're planning to
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do. We know where he's going to be
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because Judas has told us that and we know that your guards
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there in the Antonia Fortress, we'll be kind of shocked if they
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see us with torches, they'll wonder what's going on.
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So can you please help us with your guards?
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They had to communicate because the guards are there.
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You're right. I hadn't put that together, OK?
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But you wouldn't want to go to meet Pilot.
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They must have said we'll we'll see you at the sunrise.
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We'll see you at 5:00. Oh, and and we're not going to
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go into your palace. We don't want to be contaminated
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for the Passover. We'll see.
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We'll be outside. You just come to the window and
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talk to us or the balcony or whatever.
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We will bring him and and this is showing deference to the
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Romans. Yes, it is.
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What Caiaphas more than anything else wants to do is to show that
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he is loyal to the Romans. So they will leave him alone and
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let Caiaphas be in charge of the temple.
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And so Caiaphas takes Jesus there.
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And Pilate of course says, all right, So what is the legal
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cause of action that you have against him?
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And the word in Greek there is very clear.
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What is the idea, the legal cause of action?
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Pilot, Pilot doesn't want to hear about your theological
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problems or, you know, personal problems you might have.
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But what what's the law here? And they say to him, we would
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not have brought him to you if we had not found him doing cock
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on. What's cock on?
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Evil, or the word doing evil, is Cacon Poyos, and a Cacopoyos is,
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in Latin, a maleficus. We wouldn't have brought him to
29:12
you if we hadn't found him working magic wonders.
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Oh his miracles. His miracle workers.
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So they're calling him a miracle worker.
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How is that against the Roman law?
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The two greatest offenses in Roman law #1 being a robber, a
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bandit, a Brig, and and Jesus will be crucified with two
29:33
robbers. By Romans, they're being put on
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the street. They're by the Damascus Gate,
29:38
where people will see that these people have violated Roman law.
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The Romans also had laws that go back into the Roman 12 tables.
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One of these said that if you were using evil spirits, if you
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were a wonder worker, a maleficus, this was a most
29:56
serious issue. And so Caiaphas is aware of
30:00
this. What does he say?
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Pilate, If you don't do something about this, you are no
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friend of Tiberius of Caesar. How?
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How would Jesus be a threat to Caesar?
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Yeah, because they're saying he is working these.
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These miracles. And now, does the Book of Mormon
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say anything about this? Well, it absolutely does.
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OK, I wrestled with this question and biblical scholars
30:29
also wonder why was Jesus crucified?
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And my argument that I've just made is one that you won't find
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very often, that Jesus was basically accused because of his
30:40
miracle working. Well, it's in the text.
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I think you have the evidence in the text.
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And the raising of Lazarus, of course, created legal problems
30:48
as well. We know that.
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But what we learn most? This hit me the strongest when I
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found in King Benjamin's speech, which we've been talking about
30:59
the language that says after he has performed all of these
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mighty miracles, they shall consider him a man and not a
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God, and shall say he hath a devil.
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What does that mean? He has a devil who is his
31:17
sidekick. And they even accused Jesus of
31:20
doing that during his ministry. Is that right?
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Did they really? John Chapter 9.
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Yes, and the the. The driving out of the swine.
31:29
Yes. They send lawyers from Jerusalem
31:33
to Galilee to investigate this case, and they ask him, by what
31:39
authority are you doing this? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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And they say the same thing when he cleanses the temple.
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And it's either by God or by the devil.
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You also have back in the second ephi chapter 10, where it says
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that he will perform mighty miracles and because of those
31:56
miracles he will be put to death.
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So this is Easter. We don't have to dwell on the
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the the negative, the dying, and the death and the crucifixion.
32:06
But it does help to remember that what we have at Easter is a
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victory, the victory of God over the forces of evil.
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And these forces, they are beyond our control.
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We can do our best to have the spirit to keep them at Bay.
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We can put on the armor of God to keep them at Bay, but the
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devil does have power to reign on the earth.
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And ultimately that won't be cured until the very final
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Millennial day where he will be restrained and will have Easter
32:41
for 1000 years. But then, at the end, the
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resurrection and glory will come.
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But let's start about the resurrection that I want to go
32:55
to Samuel the Lamanite. On that one.
32:58
So Samuel is up on the wall prophesying in Helaman chapter
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14. And after he talks about the
33:05
sign of his birth being light for those day and a night and a
33:10
day, he says another sign I give you This is verse 14, a sign of
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his death. And then he continues on for
33:17
several verses. For behold, he surely must die
33:21
that salvation may come to bring to pass the resurrection of the
33:26
dead, and that thereby men may be brought into the presence of
33:29
the Lord. And then in verse 16 little ways
33:33
down, and he redeemeth all mankind from the first death,
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that spiritual death, that all mankind by the fall of Adam
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being cut off from the presence of the Lord.
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And then in 17 behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth
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mankind, Yeah, even all mankind. You know this is so
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theologically packed and if you don't think it's significant,
33:56
just cut and paste the biblical verses right next to it and
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realize how much more Samuel the Lamanite is preaching here.
34:04
And in the prophecy, Samuel the Lamanite will actually quote
34:09
King Benjamin, and he will be called Jesus Christ, the Son of
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God, the Father of heaven and earth, the creator of all things
34:17
from the beginning. So Samuel knows what we call
34:22
Mosiah Chapter 3. This never could have happened
34:25
from Joseph Smith translating this with a quill.
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And I mean that he couldn't have done this because he didn't even
34:31
have the small plates when he's translating this.
34:33
It's amazing, yeah. What I like to look at, though,
34:36
is to say, all right, So what is it that Samuel's adding here?
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Samuel emphasizes that he will die for all men.
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The universality of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is
34:47
only described in the Book of Mormon that we get it in the
34:50
doctrine comments later, but it is not in the Bible to the same
34:53
degree that we read it here. It's powerful.
34:57
Easter is such a glorious time, and I have never appreciated
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what the Book of Mormon can add to the last week of Christ's
35:05
life. I usually looked at Third Nephi
35:07
as my Easter text, but I feel like the prophets before have
35:11
just enriched my appreciation for my Savior and my Redeemer.
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And they believed in Jesus Christ.
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I think the best place where we have what I would call the
35:24
Nephite Declaration of faith is found in Alma chapter 33.
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Alma 33 is the conclusion of what is really one speech in
35:34
chapter 32 and 33 to the Zoramites where he's been
35:38
talking to them about faith and how you can have faith in Christ
35:44
and perfect. And so he ends by saying this is
35:48
what this will lead you to. And then at the end of that
35:51
statement, by the way, Alma will quote from Zenith.
35:56
And so we know that Alma who actually had the brass plates,
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he is the high priest, he has been reading these and he knows
36:06
these texts as well. And so Alma, who had been
36:10
converted by a vision of Jesus, where he saw Jesus as he called
36:16
upon him to atone for his sins, and that changed his life, He
36:22
now wants to tell those Zoramites You also can be
36:26
blessed by this Jesus if you will simply believe in him.
36:31
And what do you need to do to believe in Jesus?
36:33
In Alma? 3322 Alma says, Believe in the
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Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, that he shall
36:42
suffer and die to atone for their sins, and that he shall
36:47
rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the
36:50
resurrection, that all men shall stand before him to be judged.
36:56
That seven point Articles of Faith, you might call it, is
37:01
something that Alma has I think, pulled together from
37:06
Declarations of Faith by Nephi, by Jacob, by Benjamin, by
37:11
Abinadai. And if you look at these you can
37:15
see these different 7 elements in first Nephi 19 Nephi will
37:21
mention five of them. He will come to redeem his
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people, suffer, die atone, rise from the dead, and bring to pass
37:28
the resurrection. Jacob in second Nephi Chapter 9
37:32
will include all seven of these as well.
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So you can see a standardizing of what I would call the Nephi
37:40
Declaration of Faith, and for me this is a wonderful Easter
37:46
message. And this Easter season, may you
37:49
all rejoice that our Savior is our Redeemer.
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And no matter where we are, morning or night, there is room
37:57
for our Savior's arms to embrace us and to accept us after we
38:01
repent. And we are so glad on this
38:04
Easter week to bear testimony to the world and that Jesus is
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truly the Son of God, our heavenly Lord, who loves and
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blesses us and rejoices when we come unto him, that we may have
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the joy that he would like us to receive from him, that we may be
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one with him and with our Father in heaven, and with all of our
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fellow beings here on this planet.
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In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.