A MARVELOUS WORK AND A WONDER

I haven't written in my blog since Monday and it is now Friday. The Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi and Nephi and Jacob's commentaries give a lot of information about the last days.  With the parallels I see in my own world today, it is easy to get bogged down in the negative and I did.  Consequently, I had to back away for awhile to clear my head and get some perspective.  While the Book of Mormon is, in many ways, a cautionary tale for us and our doings do parallel what happened to the Nephites, it is primarily a book about Jesus Christ. It answers questions, fills in where plain and precious truths have been lost, and quiets contentions regarding doctrine. The very title page states the book's purpose as to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD. 

In the midst of all the gloom and doom, there are glorious promises made to those who hold fast to the Iron Rod, who seek to serve God and His children with unconditional, Christ-like love. This morning as I pondered, it came to me that I need to focus more on those passages. I see the awful things that are happening in the world and in my beloved nation - things which I thought I would never live to see - but anything I might do to help the situation will be done much closer to home - in my home and in my heart.

Today, I am reading from chapter 27 of 2 Nephi. While there will be darkness, there will also be great Light - the Light that John said shone in the darkness and the darkness perceived it not. I am, of course, talking about the Light of the World, even Jesus Christ, and the light of His gospel. The coming forth of the Book of Mormon is a sign of the gathering of Israel and the Second Coming of our Savior.  It contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel. 


Nephi (and Isaiah) present it this way:  And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book, and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered.  And behold the book shall be sealed and in the book shall be a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof.

Christians refer to the Intertestamental gap as the "Time of Darkness"

Such a time doesn't exist in the Book of Mormon

One of the things that I most appreciate about the Book of Mormon, there is no intertestamental gap between the Law of Moses in the Old Testament and the Higher Law of Christ in the New.  One can see in great clarity the ancient Law being fulfilled in Christ as well as Christ Himself appearing to declare His gospel. One of the huge problems the early Apostles faced in the Old  World was the tendency of new Christians, particularly Jewish Christians, to revert to the old prescriptive ritual of the old Law to the detriment of the Savior.  Nothing like that happens in the Book of Mormon accounts. There is no "time of darkness" in the Book of Mormon.

Nephi wrote that he glories in plainness and he sought to deliver God's word to his people with clarity.  He and the prophets who follow him, speak directly of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the World. Their is no confusion as to whom Isaiah refers when he writes For unto us a son is born; Behold, a virgin shall conceive; He gave his back to the smiters; with His stripes we are healed.  

One of the complaints people frequently make about the Book of Mormon is that, in the words of one Protestant minister, "There is too much Jesus before Jesus."  Such is the narrow perspective of those who see Jesus' life and mission beginning in that stable in Bethlehem.  

Why do the Book of Mormon prophets refer directly to the name Jesus Christ instead of the vaguer references in the Old Testament.  LDS scholar, John Welch explained that the word mashiach in Hebrew means "anointed one." There are many references to someone being anointed in the Bible.  He sons of Aaron were anointed.  The high priests were anointed. . . Messiah was a word that was used in more than one way, but Nephi wanted us to know that there is only one true Messiah - He who would perform the atonement . . . the one we could worship through His holy name. (taken from John Welsh notes found on www.scriptureplus.org and  www.bookofmormoncentral.com.)

When Mormon was abridging the Nephite records, Jesus Christ had already come in the flesh. Both he and his son Moroni were witnesses.  Like Nephi, I'm sure that Mormon wanted to make sure that whenever a reference was made to the Holy Messiah, that his readers would know that meant only one Messiah - Jesus Christ.  BTW, in Greek the word mashiach or anointed one translates as Christ. Therefore there is no "Jesus before Jesus." He is, was, and always has been the one anointed from before the beginning of the world to save his people. Knowing that through the Book of Mormon is truly a marvelous work and a wonder. 

Jesus Christ brought us His light.  It behooves us to share it, not so that people can see our light, but that through our light, they can see the Source of All Light.

© February 2020 Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson