Jesus Christ

By Rhett. For me, no testimony found in scripture can project the power of the Savior, Jesus Christ, His sacrifice, and the potential to access His guiding hand in our life more than Jacob’s witness in 2 Nephi 9, a chapter of the Book of Mormon, a record of scripture that chronicles the writings of prophets as witnesses of Christ in the ancient Americas. As one of such prophets, Jacob spoke of the ability that the Savior’s Atonement– His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, along with His crucifixion and resurrection on the third day– has to guarantee our very own resurrection, as the apostle Paul testified in a letter to the Corinthians when he said, “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). Through Adam and Eve’s choice to give into the temptation of eating the fruit of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, we are all privy to physical death. But it is our Savior’s own resurrection... Read the rest of this entry »

The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ “embraces, sustains, supports, and gives life to all other gospel doctrines.  It is the foundation upon which all truth rests and all things grow out of it and come because of it.”1 “The wondrous and glorious Atonement was the central act in all of human history.”2 Because of these statements, all things also point to Christ and His atonement.  Those who lived before Christ looked forward to Him and His infinite and eternal sacrifice.  Those who live after Christ look back to this greatest of all events and “remember what was done.”3 There were many different ways in which the blood sacrifices before Christ were types and shadows of the great and last sacrifice.  Note a few of the details: First, like Christ, the [sacrificial] animal was chosen and anointed by the laying on of hands. (The Hebrew title Messiah and the Greek title Christ both mean “the Anointed One.”) Second, the animal was to have its life’s blood spilt. Third,... Read the rest of this entry »

Because Jesus’ name-titles are symbolic, one might analyze them in order to both gain a greater appreciation of and learn who He really is.  One of the titles of Jesus Christ that has a very profound level of symbolism is when he is called “the Lamb of God.”  I will attempt a basic explanation of what this name-title means, and why of all creatures, a lamb was chosen to represent the Savior. Long before the Lamb of God was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger, Isaiah likened the Savior of all men and women unto a lamb when he wrote, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7).  The lamb is therefore a symbol of meekness, humility, and of willingness to submit to the will of the master.  It is true that Jesus is all of these (humble, willing to submit to the Father) but the level of symbolism goes much deeper than this. But... Read the rest of this entry »

Death has come to be the universal heritage; it may claim its victim in infancy or youth, in the period of life’s prime, or its summons may be deferred until the snows of age have gathered upon the hoary head; it may befall as the result of accident or disease, by violence, or as we say, through natural causes; but come it must, as Satan well knows; and in this knowledge is his present though but temporary triumph. But the purposes of God, as they ever have been and ever shall be, are infinitely superior to the deepest designs of men or devils; and the Satanic machinations to make death inevitable, perpetual and supreme were provided against even before the first man had been created in the flesh. The atonement to be wrought by Jesus the Christ was ordained to overcome death and to provide a means of ransom from the power of Satan. As the penalty incident to the fall came upon the race through an individual act, it would be manifestly unjust, and therefore impossible as part of the... Read the rest of this entry »

The Greek term (kerygma) means “proclamation” and refers to the early preaching tradition about Jesus the Christ, particularly his salvific death and resurrection. The speeches of Peter and Paul in Acts and the letters attributed to them reveals traces of this tradition, which may have been important source material for the writers of the Gospels. Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Tell a friend  Read More →