It must be understood that all prophets before Christ testified of His mortal ministry. The Book of Mormon clearly and plainly prophecies of the Christ's mortal ministry. King Benjamin, a prophet-king who lived about 125 years before Christ's birth, prophecied to his people about the Son of God's ministry,
"For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.
And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.
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; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him.
And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men." (Mosiah 3:5-10)
This prophecy is not alone in the Book of Mormon. Nephi, the leader of the first Nephites and a prophet who lived 600 years before Christ, had a vision of the tree of life. He desired to understand what it meant, so an angel of God showed him what the love of God meant. Nephi later wrote,
"And I looked, and I beheld the Son of God going forth among the children of men; and I saw many fall down at his feet and worship him....
And I looked [again] and beheld the Redeemer of the world, of whom my father had spoken; and I also beheld the prophet who should prepare the way before him. And the Lamb of God went forth and was baptized of him; and after he was baptized, I beheld the heavens open, and the Holy Ghost come down out of heaven and abide upon him in the form of a dove.
And I beheld that he went forth ministering unto the people, in power and great glory; and the multitudes were gathered together to hear him; and I beheld that they cast him out from among them.
And I also beheld twelve others following him. And it came to pass that they were carried away in the Spirit from before my face, and I saw them not.
And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me again, saying: Look! And I looked, and I beheld the heavens open again, and I saw angels descending upon the children of men; and they did minister unto them.
And he spake unto me again, saying: Look! And I looked, and I beheld the Lamb of God going forth among the children of men. And I beheld multitudes of people who were sick, and who were afflicted with all manner of diseases, and with devils and unclean spirits; and the angel spake and showed all these things unto me. And they were healed by the power of the Lamb of God; and the devils and the unclean spirits were cast out.
And it came to pass that the angel spake unto me again, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he was taken by the people; yea, the Son of the everlasting God was judged of the world; and I saw and bear record.
And I, Nephi, saw that he was lifted up upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world." (1 Nephi 11:24, 27-33)
Though the Old Testament again and again testifies of the coming of the Messiah, the Book of Mormon makes very plain what the Messiah would do in the meridian of time during his mortal ministry. The testimony of these ancient prophets, though carefully recorded, were rejected by men who refused to believe and did not want to know of redemption or the path back to our Father. Indeed, all prophets have testified of Christ, and their testimonies were eventually rejected.
While I will not recount the entire New Testament at this point, I will highlight some very important points as if we had been there and witnessed these acts for ourselves.
We would behold and bear witness that He performed mighty miracles, such as we have never seen before, and all this was due to the faith of those being healed.
We would hear his mighty sermons concerning what we should do in our lives to live His Gospel and these would cause our hearts to burn within us and utter, "Never spake any man like this!"
We would see Him submit to the will of the Father in all things and "leaving us an example, that [we] should follow his steps" (1 Peter 2:21).
We would see Him have the experiences of mortality and see the great Jehovah as a man, walking on the dusty roads of the Holy Land, hungering and thirsting as a mortal, and truly marvel that the God of Israel would desire to have such common experiences.
We would behold that those twelve men Nephi saw were called to be apostles of the Lamb and were given authority to preach the Gospel and perform the saving ordinances of the Gospel. (see Matthew 10:1-10)
We would behold that Christ further promised the keys of the Kingdom to the Apostles and testify that the rock of revelation would be the foundation upon which His Church is built and see that promised fulfilled by angels and by Christ being transfigured (Matthew 16:13-20; Matthew 17:1-13).
We would see Christ showing compassion on the weak and poor in spirit, showing mercy to those who were without hope, being an light to those who were in darkness and marvel, "Surely this must be the promised Messiah".
We would behold him exercise His mighty power over the elements in calming the raging seas, feeding of the multitudes and walking upon His footstool here and marvel, "What manner of man is this; that even the winds and seas obey him?"
We would behold Him institute the sacrament, in remembrance of his Atonement. In that sacred garden of Gethsemane, we would see our Lord suffer under a burden far greater than we could fathom. We would silently weep as we see him sweat great gouts of blood from every pore for our sins so we might live with God on conditions of repentance.
We would see a man despised and rejected of men as the rulers of the day unlawfully try him and find him worthy of death. We would see Him sent to Roman leaders to be scourged and mutter, "By His stripes, we are healed," as we watch Him suffer from pain and agony. Finally on the cross, we would see a God die and give His life willingly. We would mourn as He suffered, bled and died.
We would see Him rise from the grave on the third day and rejoice in the messianic word that our Lord would rise from the tomb and live again. We would shed tears of gratitude in knowing His resurrection grants each man the chance to live again. We would feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and cry, "My Lord and my God!" as we bathe His feet in our tears.
Finally, we would behold Him ascend into Heaven and hear the angel bear record that He would return again in like manner and we would pray that day would be soon.
I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. His ministry and life are unlike anything else that has occurred in history. He cannot be a mere moral philosopher nor a great moral man. We must come to know that He our Messiah, our Savior and Redeemer and He desires us to follow after Him in the paths of righteousness. I know that God so loved the world, that he sent His only begotten Son, that whoso believeth on him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. May God grant that we might be able to better study the life of our Lord and be inspired to follow Him is my plea, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
For further and for more in depth reading on Christ's life from an LDS persepective, refer to Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage and to The Messiah series by Bruce R. McConkie
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