The Mortal Ministry of the Messiah

The life and ministry of Jesus Christ has been the most discussed, analyzed, and intriguing periods of history. Indeed, many sermons of Christians and volumes upon volumes of books have been in existence both looking forward to and reflecting back upon the meridian of time in which our Lord lived. While a full analysis of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ is not fully possible, we will discuss the key important details of the life and ministry of our Lord and Savior.

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

This is my Beloved Son

This is My Beloved Son: The Father’s proclamation to the world of the divinity of Christ as the Son of the Almighty Elohim.

One cannot fully comprehend the reality of Jesus Christ as the divine son of God without coming to the knowledge of his relationship with the Father.

Prophets of old had testified tremendously of the coming of a messiah, Jehova God of the old testament. He was the first born spirit son of the Father in the Pre-Mortal life and grew in grace and power until he was as one "like unto God" (Abraham 3:24).There  in those realms a Savior was chosen. The also occurred  what the scriptures call the  war in  heaven in which God uttered these powerful words "But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.  First Glory be unto the father sacrifice for all manking. We learn from holy writ the Bible that Jesus would perform the infinite atonement for the redemtion of the world.

Christ’s birth into this mortal life has been a topic of debate because of the irregularity of His conception. Matthew explains the nature of Joseph and Mary prior to the birth of Jesus". Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph" (Matthew 1:14). Mary and Joseph at this point were unmarried but were promised to each other. Joseph was not the father and, upon knowing of Mary's prospective maternity, chose to take Mary and the child as his. Jesus’s parentage is of a Godly Father from whom He attained the ability to live eternally, and of a mortal mother, whose gift of blood running in His veins gave him the power to die. In His words recorded by (John 10:17-18), Jesus said "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father".
He's absolute obedience to the Father increased as Jesus grew older. Jesus was perfectly obedient and, because he was received all power, both in Heaven and on earth. All this came precept upon precept, line upon line until He received a  fulness of the glory of the Father. His works pleased the Father who utters these words at the Baptism of Jesus "And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:17)


At the mount of transfiguration, the voice of the Father with heavenly messengers was heard, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well please; hear ye him" (Matthew 17:5).

The Nephites, a people who had lived in the western world, heard a voice the voice proclaimend "Behold, I am Jesus Christ the Son of God. I created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are. I was with the Father from the beginning. I am in the Father, and the Father in me; and in me hath the Father glorified.I came unto my own, and my own received me not. And the scriptures concerning my coming are fulfilled" (3 Nephi 9:15)

Later again the Father utters. " Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him." (3 Nephi 11:7)
During the great revival period when many where searching for gospel truths.Joseph Smith was a boy of 14 of age who had a great interest on the welfare of his wanted to know of all the sects at the time which one contained the Gospel in its purety. After much reading he found scripture in James 1verse 5. That scripture led to him seeking out to go and ask God in prayer. In that setting of a groove of trees Joseph received a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith recorded in his on words said, "When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!". ( Joseph Smith History)

God has thus shown to us the divinity, power and authority of Jesus Christ. Nephi wrote of the attitude of the  people both in His and our time " And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men". (2 Nephi 19:9).

Regardless of how motals view him, however there is no other name given under heaven whereby we can be saved. If all the prophets testified of him then how could he, as some aver merely be one of them. Worse consider him a great moral teacher or humanitarian. Certainly neither moral teacher or prophet could break the bands of death as Jesus did and then take the sins of another and then  satisfy the demands of justice. No wonder the Book of Mormon's purpose to us is to testify that Jesus is The Christ.I know God loved and, will continue to love His children. He speaks to us, He's concerned about us. He's shown how much love he has for us by sending Jesus Christ to atone for us. I know Jesus is a ressurected being, He lives is say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.