hello there my name is Tyler Griffin and this is scripture study insights by scripture Central today the Christmas episode as we've now finished an entire year of come follow me curriculum in the Book of Mormon uh this is the final episode of the year so this is kind of a significant opportunity to Bear testimony one more time of Jesus Christ of the reality of his birth his miraculous life his perfect atonement and his glorious resurrection and at this glorious time of year I would encourage everybody to link in with the church's initiatives surrounding the light
the world campaign there are so many beautiful opportunities to serve and to turn outward and to experience true Christmas Joy during this uh this beautiful time of year now what I what I would like to do with this last uh Christmas episode is go through a couple of examples in the Book of Mormon that we've covered this year but now we do them in in Rapid succession all focused on the Glorious good news the Glad Tidings of great joy which are are given to to to the Earth before we dive into any of the scriptures
in the Book of Mormon picture going back in time to that night when Jesus Christ was born and going into the stable and seeing the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger and then consider this this one very significant question What Child Is This there have been billions of babies born on this planet you and and me being some of those but there's never been a baby like this one What Child Is This who laid to rest in Mary's lap is sleeping you can picture looking at that little uh newborn babe and contemplate
what he was what what he was accomplishing shortly before he was born and then to realize that he has fully become one of us to take upon himself our our Human Condition uh it's it's an amazing exercise to Think Through what it would be like to hold him as a newborn babe and to consider who he really is What Child Is This the answer in the chorus of that song is this this is Christ the King the Lord and as we as we dive in to our scripture examples today uh let's keep that at the
Forefront this was a birth unlike any other that would ever have taken place or ever will take place because our savior had condescended to come down to Earth from heaven from the Royal courts on high let's begin with first Nephi chapter 1 in that very first chapter Nephi introduces us to Lehi who is teaching the people in Jerusalem and in verse 19 it says it came to pass that the Jews did mock him because of the things which he testified of them for he truly testified of their wickedness and their abomination and he testified that
the things which he saw and heard and also the things which he read in a book manifested plainly of the coming of a messiah and also the Redemption of the world that's beautiful because Lehi shifts from teaching about their wickedness and crying repentance to them to now declaring the doctrine of the coming Messiah and verse 20 says when the Jews heard these things they were angry with him even as with the prophets of old whom they had cast out and stoned and slain and they also sought his life that they might take it away but
behold I Nephi will show unto you that The Tender Mercies of the Lord Are Over All Those whom he hath chosen this sets the stage for us in the Book of Mormon to talk about all these people who are affected by the coming of the Messiah by Jesus Christ being born Lehi being the first one introduced here if we go over to chapter 11 of first Nephi Nephi gets to see the coming of Jesus Christ the birth of Jesus Christ experience in in chapter 11 he sees Mary the mother of Jesus and then the Angel
asks him this really significant question verse 16 and he said unto me knowest thou the condescension of God and I said unto him I know that he loveth his children nevertheless I do not know the meaning of all things and he saith unto me behold the Virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God after the manner of the flesh so here's this beautiful doctrine of condescension that God would come down and become a man and for many that is seen as blasphemy H how dare you make God bring God down to
our level so you can see why they would justify themselves in trying to kill Lehi and why it would be jarring for for many people in the Old Testament time to to hear that Doctrine they had different Messianic expectations and it wasn't going to happen like this and so back to our question What Child Is This this child is a God he was a god before he was born he was a God who created worlds without number and and to tie in this this uh idea of who he was before he came down we go
over to mosiah King Benjamin speech where he also speaks about the coming of the Son of God the the newborn babe mosiah 3 verse 5 for behold the time cometh and is not far distant that with power the Lord omnipotent who reth who was and is from all eternity to all eternity the these are the the astronomically big descriptors the adjectives for who the great Jehovah was before his birth and now Watch What Happens he shall come down from heaven among the children of men and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay and he 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 then it goes on he continues to share the words of the Angel who gave him these Glad Tidings of great joy King Benjamin as he's sharing them now with his people in chapter 3 so we see this incredibly powerful being who gave all of that up to now condescend and come down and be born so those hands that that
have overseen the creation of the heavens and the earth now are wrapped in swaddling clothes that mouth that gave the command and and worlds rolled into existence that mouth can now only cry it it has no words it's very hard to put put into words the significance of this condescension uh event adding to it we go over to abinadi in the Book of Mormon so if we pick up chapter 13 of mosiah abinadi says speaking of all the prophets before him he says have they not said that God himself should come down among the children
of men and take upon him the form of man and go forth in Mighty power upon the face of the Earth yay and have they not said also that he should bring to pass the resurrection of the Dead that he himself should be oppressed and Afflicted and then abinadi gives us Isaiah 53 which is one of the most beautiful chapters ever written uh about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ The Suffering Servant Song this Isaiah 53 is is profound on every level and then after giving that you go to chapter 15 and he concludes it with
his own words by saying now abinadi I said unto them I would that you should understand that God himself shall come down among the children of men and shall redeem his people so abinadi bookended Isaiah 53 with this doctrine of God himself is going to come down and now he finishes it with God himself shall come down down among the children of men so now let's go over to the part in The Book of Mormon where Elma the younger is teaching the members of the church in Gideon after he set things in order in zarahemla
the capital city he goes Eastward into Gideon and it's there where he finds out that they were doing very well and so he says verse 10 then behold he speaking of our Messiah Jesus shall be born of Mary at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers and I need to pause here for a minute The Book of Mormon never said that he would be born in Jerusalem the wording here is he shall be born of Mary at Jerusalem the other place that you get that preposition at in the Book of Mormon story in in
a significant Way is back in first Nephi where Nephi tells you that his father Lehi dwelt at Jerusalem not in which is fascinating because then when the the brothers go back to get the plates they go to the land of their father's inheritance to get the gold silver and precious things and it's not inside of the city it's somewhere in the vicinity or somewhere outside of Jerusalem itself but Jerusalem is the capital city City that everybody would recognize so he in his narrative telling of the story he says yeah my father Lehi having dwelt at
Jerusalem but they go to the house they get the gold and silver and precious things and then come into the city of Jerusalem come through the walls and go into the house of Laban so when when Elma the younger is teaching the people of Gideon here he he's not saying Jesus would be born in Jerusalem he was born at Jerusalem just like Lehi dwelt at Jerusalem somewhere somewhere in the vicinity and Bethlehem is about 5 miles south perfect description to use the capital city as the Anchor Point to help people understand where this is is
unfolding now it says this Jerusalem is the land of our forefathers Mary being a virgin a precious and a chosen vessel who shall be overshadowed and conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost and bring forth a son yay even the son of God but you'll notice that this son of God who is a God who condescends to come down to become a man to take upon Him flesh this Tabernacle of clay he doesn't come with all of the privilege of Heaven he grows very quickly from Grace to Grace we learn in the doctrine of
Covenant section 93 and other places he he quickly grows to understand who he is who his father is and what his true mission in life is going to become eventually but that life is not easy he who is so highly favored of God of Heaven becomes despised and rejected of men on Earth and it goes on to say verse 11 he shall go forth suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people if
you're struggling at this Christmas time of year with anything whether it be something associated with your identity or with your family or with your health or with loved ones who who might be struggling with all kinds of different things whatever those struggles may be the Christmas story is one of companionship Heavenly companionship that Jesus Christ became a man so that he could experience all that we experience in infinite proportions eventually through his infinite atonement to then be able to know perfectly how to sucker us and he goes on to say he will take upon Him
death that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people and He will take upon Him their infirmities that his bowels may be filled with Mercy according to the flesh that he may know according to the flesh how to sucker his people according to their infirmities so Christ condescended he came down and he actually descended below us so that he could then raise up all men and women all children of God to help us to become exalted redeemed back into heaven back into the presence of God it's he would know no how to
sucker his people according to the flesh when I now cont cont late once again where we started What Child is this this this is Christ the lord and he's not just the Lord he's your personal Savior and Redeemer now let's shift gears in the Book of Mormon flow over to third Nephi 1 the chapter where Jesus Christ was actually born this is a a beautiful experience with Nephi pleading in behalf of his people that they won't be destroyed because the unbelievers have marked a day on the calendar when they're going to kill everybody who believes
in Samuel lite's prophecies if the day and the night and the day hasn't hasn't occurred with no darkness and Nephi goes out and it says he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day and behold the voice of the Lord came unto him saying now here's what he said to Nephi on that day but he says the same thing to me and to you on all of the days of our greatest need lift up your head and be of good cheer for behold the time is at hand and on this night shall the sign be
given and on the marrow come I into the world to show unto the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets he up holds and he sustains his profits that was his message to Nephi his Prophet at that time if you're feeling down if you're feeling discouraged if you're feeling depressed or anxious or feeling like a failure or feeling like you're never going to measure up or like you're not Celestial material anymore my invitation to you this Christmas season would be to go
and revisit the word words of some of his living chosen prophets for us today because it's through them that we are going to find this glorious these Glad Tidings of great joy for our life for our struggles for our difficulties now as we shift from The Book of Mormon times now to to our day stop and think about for just a moment what Jesus Christ has done for us he came down as this little babe born in Bethlehem laid in a Manger he grew up lived the perfect life completed a perfect infinite atonement and wrought
the Glorious Resurrection bursting the bands of death and hell for all of us and not only that being able to sucker us in our infirmities in our sicknesses in our trials in our weakness and now he sits enthroned in Yonder Heavens working with us I want you to stop and think for a moment about the significance of of one of the titles given to Jesus Christ in in both Isaiah and Matthew's gospel the title is Immanuel which being interpreted as God with us this this condescension Doctrine the embodiment of the condescension God With Us Now
pause and think for a moment of the most uh meaningful relationships you've had in life the best friends you've experienced what kind of people are they what are some of the attributes of of an ideal friend or somebody who who is just reflecting the Divine in your life they're probably somebody who's always there for you somebody who's a good listener somebody who's not judgmental somebody who gives wonderful advice and at times loves you enough to give you good correction the best friends are those who see your potential and treat you in such a way that
will help you get closer to that potential rather than holding you Hostage to your past to your weakness to your struggles to where you've fallen short and if you keep going with that list of what is the ideal friend you will quickly find that all you're doing is describing attributes of Jesus Christ everything on an Ideal list of of what the perfect friend would be is going to describe Jesus Christ here's the problem the items on on that list don't always describe me they don't always describe how I treat other people let alone how I
treat him because so often what we do is we we approach the Savior either too flippantly or too distantly we don't treat him as our personal Savior and Redeemer with with the due reverence and respect that that should be afforded him to the point where we only think to turn heavenward when we're in crisis mode or when we're in emergencies or when we've lost something and need need help finding it or or need to make a really important quick decision then we seek for his help that's not the ideal friend an ideal friend isn't one
who goes to somebody only when they need help or only when they're in crisis the ideal friend is somebody who goes to somebody else when they're happy when they want to celebrate together when they want to share experiences when they want to think through and counsel together about things when they want to plan something together where am I going with all this this Christmas season my invitation to all of us is to rethink our connection our covenant connection with Jesus Christ how we see him not just as a a a dispenser of Miracles when we're
in moments of of intense need but as eternity's finest friend with one who knows how to sucker us in our moments of need but one who wants to be a part of our life when we're not in a moment of of Dire Straits but we're in a moment of Celebration one who would like to be invited in to our life when we're planning when we're making major decisions and to to counsel with and to not not have us be the kind of friend who does all the talking but none of the listening none of the
contemplating none of the be still and know that I am God kinds of moments this Christmas what a beautiful opportunity for us to reanalyze as we get ready to start a new curriculum cycle of the church's come follow me uh lessons in the Doctrine and Covenants here to ponder how am I approaching my Covenant connection relationship with Jesus Christ and rather than seeing him as this dispenser of of Miracles when I need them what if we walk the path with him more frequently we turn to him and involve him in all aspects of our life
whatever they may be the the triumphs and the trials the successes and the struggles the the laughs and the cries those dark nights and those Bright Days to share more of them with him the more we turn to him the more we look at him and the more we focus on him the more likely we are to come to know him the more we will come to know ourselves and our loved ones in the process that is that is one of the biggest takeaways for me of studying the the good news of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ in the book of Mor and in all of the scriptures is it's not just about uh a name on a page it's not just about a picture on a wall or a painting it's not just about a statue in a visitor center it's about God's only perfect son his only begotten son who was given to us in a newborn body a tabernacle of clay where he was vulnerable where he had to take upon him all of the infirmities and the sicknesses of of humanity and go through his life living the perfect life so
that he could then perform his infinite atonement with perfection to then be able to now turn and walk that path with us [Music] and until the son of God [Music] to [Music] the of David come and open wide our [Music] heav the way to and the [Music] to re shall come to [Music] the come bright and Morning Star and bring us comfort from [Music] dispel the Shadows of the Night and turn our [Music] Darkness light re re shall come to the [Music] so that brings us to the last thought I want to share in all
of this doctrine of condescension you see that even with the Nephites and the lamanites he he made a promise to Nephi on this night shall the sign be given and on the marrow come I into the world so his very first miracle ever performed actually created a a miracle for these these people in the Americas where he saved them from Death now you would ask those people or you could ask Mary or you could ask Joseph or the Shepherds or months later when the wise men arrive in Bethlehem at the house and see the young
child you could ask all of those people what did it cost you to have this experience with Jesus Christ every one of them are going to be able to give you an answer of of what their discipleship cost them for Mary there was a lot of physical pain associated with pregnancy and labor and delivery to bring the Son of God into this life she shed her blood to give him life beautiful symbol for one day him shedding his blood to give all of us eternal life but here's the point I don't think Mary or Joseph
or any of these people associated with the story in the old world or those who about lost their lives in the new world I don't think they would focus on what was sacrificed or what it cost them or what what it what pains were brought to them either physically or or culturally or emotionally I think something happens when we make sacrifices for other people especially when those sacrifices hurt a little the greater you sacrifice for somebody the greater becomes Your Capacity to love that individual sacrifice opens the door for love Jesus Christ sacrificed everything he
gave everything for you and me the suffering associated with his infinite atonement opens up this infinite amount of Charity and love capacity that he now has for us so when we sing What Child Is This it's a really profound question and if we think pink Celestial as president Nelson has invited us we will see much more than just a little babe in a Manger we'll see our finest friend coming down to join us to walk this path Jesus Christ is there walking that Journey with you and if it's cost you something if it's hurt if
your discipleship has been painful for any reason instead of becoming bitter or angry at him perhaps that's an invitation for us to consider how that sacrifice could refine our soul to the degree where it's actually increased our capacity to love Jesus Christ more than ever before and invite him to be a part of our life more than ever before What Child Is This who later rest in Mary's lapis sleeping the answer is this this is Christ the lord so my Christmas wish for me for my family for everyone is that this year we will find
time to more than ever before contemplate that question What Child Is This and followed up with another question what kind of a disciple and a friend of Jesus Christ do I want to be in this new year how can I how can I be more turned heavenward and outward to become more like him how can I walk this path with him and as we do so my Assurance is he will walk with us and we will fill of his love and of his mercy and of his grace and I leave that with you in the
sacred name of Jesus the Christ amen know that you're loved [Music] to rest [Music] on angels [Music] is Christ the King sheer Angels sing toing in the the of my me the St where Rock [Music] and good [Music] Christ [Music] the is [Music] the cross for you flesh the the of oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] so and and your to the king of king of [Music] the on highy Christ a [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music]
