In addition to the accounts in Matthew and Luke, we are blessed to have prophecies in the Book of Mormon that confirm the most important facts about the coming of Jesus and also focus our minds more clearly on who Jesus is and how and why He came into the world.
For instance, 1 Nephi 11:16–21 teaches that Mary was a precious virgin from Nazareth. Caught away by the Spirit, she divinely conceived and later returned as a virgin now holding a child whom the angel identified as the Lamb of God, the Son of the Eternal Father. Not only does this passage confirm the message of Gabriel to Mary at the Annunciation, it also teaches in more detail the doctrine of the condescension: that God literally became the Father of the mortal Jesus and that the divine Jehovah became the Babe of Bethlehem. Mary’s role, and the fact that Jesus would be born near Jerusalem, the scene of His later atoning sacrifice, are also confirmed by Alma 7:10–13.
This emphasis on the divine identity and work of Jesus is also found in Mosiah 3:5–11, where Jesus Christ is called “the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning” (v. 8). But this glorious fact is also framed by prophecies concerning His healing ministry, His suffering for us, His Crucifixion, and His Resurrection. Indeed, prophecies of Jesus in the Book of Mormon focus more on His saving work than they do on His promised nativity.
As a result, as we commemorate and celebrate the birth of our Lord, we should also focus on what Jesus did at the end of His mortal life and ministry. President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) wrote:
“This is the wondrous and true story of Christmas. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judea is preface. The three-year ministry of the Master is prologue. The magnificent substance of the story is His sacrifice, the totally selfless act of dying in pain on the cross of Calvary to atone for the sins of all of us. …
“There would be no Christmas if there had not been Easter. The babe Jesus of Bethlehem would be but another baby without the redeeming Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary, and the triumphant fact of the Resurrection.”3
During this joyous season when we celebrate the miraculous birth of our Savior, reading these familiar stories can help us better understand the circumstances and significance of our Lord’s birth. But as we read them with Book of Mormon prophecies in mind, and as we consider them in the light of a modern prophet’s admonition, we will strengthen our testimony of the vital truth of what Jesus, the promised Son of God, came to do: suffer, die, and rise again that we might all have eternal life.
Matthew portrays Jesus as the fulfillment of ancient prophecy. For example, when the Savior gave the Sermon on the Mount, He filled a role as a new Moses.
The Sermon on the Mount, by James Tissot
The visit of the Magi supports Matthew’s testimony that Jesus came for all the peoples of the earth.
The Journey of the Magi, by James Tissot
When Elisabeth’s baby leaped in her womb when she heard Mary’s greeting, Elisabeth declared Mary to be “the mother of my Lord” (Luke 1:43).
Mary’s Visit to Elizabeth, by Carl Heinrich Bloch
At Jesus’s presentation at the temple, Simeon gave thanks for the light and salvation the Savior had brought to Israel and Gentiles alike. Anna the prophetess gave thanks for the redemption of Israel.
The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, by James Tissot
Mary and the Angel, by Carl Heinrich Bloch
He Is Risen, by Del Parson
1. Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah (1993), 69–70, 74–81.
2. While it is not clear that Luke’s genealogy (Luke 3:23–38) is that of Jesus through Mary, the fact that Joseph and Mary were apparently relatives supports the fact that Jesus was a literal, as well as adoptive, descendant of David. See James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, 3rd ed. (1916), 85–86, 89.
3. Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Wondrous and True Story of Christmas,” Ensign, Dec. 2000, 5.
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