Mormon wrote to his son Moroni, “I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end” (Moroni 8:3). This echoes the prayer of the apostles in Jerusalem, “that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus” (Acts 4:30).
There are many ways for us to visualize the Savior: as an adult man healing the sick and preaching the gospel, as God’s suffering servant in Gethsemane and on the cross, as a resurrected being ministering to the Nephites and the Lamanites, or as the King of Kings returning in triumph in a future day. The Living Christ: the Testimony of the Apostles also reminds us that Jesus was “the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament.”
But Christmas reminds us of a most important manifestation of our Savior’s love for us: His willingness to condescend (1 Nephi 11:14-23), to be born as a vulnerable infant just like any of us, and in the most humble of circumstances. (See Luke 2:7, 12, 16.)
As King Benjamin prophesied, “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” (Mosiah 3:5). Abinadi similarly testified, “God himself shall come down among the children of men, and shall redeem his people” (Mosiah 15:1). And Alma declared, “The Son of God cometh upon the face of the earth. And behold, he shall be born of Mary” (Alma 7:10). The fact of His birth is powerful evidence of His love for us. His willingness to live as we live and to suffer as we suffer enables Him to succor us. He seems less distant because He has walked with us. (See Alma 7:11-12.)
On this Christmas Day, I will thank God for the priceless gift of His beloved Son, who created the earth and then came to live among us as God’s “Holy Child.”
Leave a Reply