Christmas, Easter, and the Book of Mormon

The birth of Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection are prominently featured in the Book of Mormon, even though it was written in the Americas, thousands of miles from where the events took place:

Birth

1. When Nephi prayed to see what his father had seen, an angel showed him a tree representing the tree of life. Then, he saw two scenes which explained the meaning of the tree: (1) a virgin in the city of Nazareth, and (2) the same virgin holding a child in her arms. The angel explained that this child was “the Lamb of God, even the Son of the Eternal Father” (1 Nephi 11:13-21).
2. Alma taught that Jesus would be “born of Mary…she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God” (Alma 7:10).
3. Five years before the birth of Jesus, Samuel the Lamanite prophesied that on the night of His birth, there would be “great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day” (Helaman 14:3). He was very clear that the people would see the sun set and rise again the next morning, but it would be light all night long.
4. Five years later, it happened: “There was no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid-day. And it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning again, according to its proper order; and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born, because of the sign which had been given” (3 Nephi 1:19).

Death and Resurrection

1. Nephi saw that Jesus was “lifted up upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world” (1 Nephi 11:33).
2. Nephi’s father Lehi taught that Jesus would be rise from the dead, making the resurrection possible for all of us. (See 1 Nephi 10:11, 2 Nephi 2:8.)
3. An angel told King Benjamin that Jesus would be scourged and crucified and would “rise the third day from the dead” (Mosiah 3:9-10). He also taught that the Savior would bleed “from every pore” as He suffered on our behalf (Mosiah 3:7).
4. Alma prophesied that Jesus would “take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people” (Alma 7:12). He also said that Jesus would suffer “according to the flesh” in order to “take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions” (Alma 7:13).
5. Amulek testified, “The death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death” (Alma 11:42).
6. Samuel the Lamanite prophesied that, when Jesus died, there would be three days of darkness and large natural disasters. He testified, “Behold, this death bringeth to pass the resurrection, and redeemeth all mankind from the first death…and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord” (Helaman 14:16-17).
7. When Jesus visited the Nephites and Lamanites following His death and resurrection, He invited them to “thrust [their] hands into [His] side” and to “feel the prints of the nails in [His] hands and in [His] feet,” so they would know that He had been “slain for the sins of the world” (3 Nephi 11:14).

Last April, Elder Gary E. Stevenson quoted New Testament scholar N. T. Wright, who wrote, “Take Christmas away, and in biblical terms you lose two chapters at the front of Matthew and Luke, nothing else. Take Easter away, and you don’t have a New Testament; you don’t have a Christianity” (Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (2008), 256, quoted in “The Greatest Easter Story Ever Told,” General Conference, April 2023).

In that same conference, President Russell M. Nelson said, “[Easter Sunday] is the most important religious observance for followers of Jesus Christ. The main reason we celebrate Christmas is because of Easter…. Find every way you can to thank our Heavenly Father for sending us His Only Begotten Son. Because of Jesus Christ, we can repent and be forgiven of our sins. Because of Him, each of us will be resurrected” (“The Answer Is Always Jesus Christ,” General Conference, April 2023).

Today, I will express my gratitude to God for the gifts I have received because of the suffering, death, and resurrection of His Son. I will be grateful for His birth in mortality, which made possible His infinite sacrifice on our behalf.