Study of the Book of Mormon is most rewarding when one focuses on its primary purpose—to testify of Jesus Christ.

Interesting as these matters may be, study of the Book of Mormon is most rewarding when one focuses on its primary purpose—to testify of Jesus Christ. By comparison, all other issues are incidental.

When you read the Book of Mormon, concentrate on the principal figure in the book—from its first chapter to the last—the Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God.3 And look for a second undergirding theme: God will keep His covenants with the remnants of the house of Israel.4

The Book of Mormon is a crucial component of that covenant.5 It is holy scripture that encompasses sacred writings from the small and large plates of Nephi, the plates of Mormon, the plates of Ether, and the plates of brass, which contained “the five books of Moses, … a record of the Jews, … and … prophecies of the holy prophets.”6

When Mormon abridged these records, he noted that he could not write a “hundredth part” of their proceedings.7 Thus, historical aspects of the book assume secondary significance.

The Holy Bible has 66 individual books; the Book of Mormon contains 15. Its first book of Nephi—written some six centuries before the birth of Jesus—records that the prophet Lehi8 received a vision of the tree of life.9 His son Nephi prayed to know its meaning. In answer, he was given a remarkable vision. He beheld a virgin bearing a Child in her arms. He envisioned the Redeemer of the world, His earthly ministry, and His Crucifixion. He saw 12 others who would follow the Holy One. And he foresaw the ongoing opposition to the work of God and of His Apostles.10

Other great prophets of the Book of Mormon—in their own way and time—testified of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Among them were the brother of Jared,11 Zenock, Neum, and Zenos.12 Testimonies of Jesus Christ that predated His birth in Bethlehem were also recorded from King Benjamin, Abinadi, Alma the Elder, Alma the Younger, Amulek, the sons of Mosiah, Captain Moroni, the brothers Nephi and Lehi, and Samuel the Lamanite.13 In a seemingly endless sequence of prophetic proclamations—testimonies of “all the holy prophets”14 for “a great many thousand years before his coming”15—the Book of Mormon makes the solemn declaration that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.

Russell M. Nelson, A Testimony of the Book of Mormon, October 1999 General Conference

Fasting An Ancient Practice of Turning One's Entire Being to God

[Fasting--an] ancient practice of turning one's entire being--physically and spiritually--to

Christ and the new covenant: the Messianic message of the Book of Mormon, Jeffrey R. Holland, Deseret Book Co., 1997, p.302

Christ Rightfully Bears the Title of Father

There are ways in which Christ is so united with his Father that in some assignments he rightfully plays a fatherly role and rightfully bears the title of Father in doing so.

Christ and the new covenant: the Messianic message of the Book of Mormon, Jeffrey R. Holland, Deseret Book Co., 1997, p.183

Soil Types and The Vision of the Tree of Life

Just as there were four different soils of varying receptivity to the Gospel of Christ in the New Testament parable, so too were the same four types of people outlined in the vision of the Tree of Life.

Christ and the new covenant: the Messianic message of the Book of Mormon, Jeffrey R. Holland, Deseret Book Co., 1997, p.161

Man or Woman of Christ Defined

"Man or woman of Christ" they who grasp the iron rod and safely walk the way of life, triumphing over Lucifer's deception and efforts to destroy, claiming in the end the principalities and powers promised to the heirs of the covenant.


Christ and the new covenant: the Messianic message of the Book of Mormon, Jeffrey R. Holland, Deseret Book Co., 1997, p.128

Christ Was Born Into Mortality Not Only to Die for Us But To Live Like Us.

Sometimes we forget that Christ was born into mortality not only to die for us but also to live like us. He experienced his infancy, childhood, teenage years, and adulthood so that he might more fully understand the challenges associated with life spent in a world that is not our home.

Christ and the new covenant: the Messianic message of the Book of Mormon, Jeffrey R. Holland, Deseret Book Co., 1997, p.90

Unity With the Prophets

Nephi felt such unity within the brotherhood of the prophets that he generously included in his own text substation portions of the writings of his younger brother Jacob and the Old Testemant prophet Isaiah.

Christ and the new covenant: the Messianic message of the Book of Mormon, Jeffrey R. Holland, Deseret Book Co., 1997, p.45

Could What You Have Written Be That Good?

Consider the withering examination the Book of Mormon and its admittedly extraordinary claims have withstood. Has anyone presently reading these words ever tried to write anything of spiritual, redeeming, genuinely inspiring substance? With university degrees and libraries and computers and research assistants and decades of time, have you ever tried to write anything that anyone could read without tedium or apathy? And if one could produce even a few such inspiring pages, would that slim volume be anything anyone would want to read more than once, to say nothing of scores of times—marking it and pondering it, cross-referencing and quoting it, taking thousands of public sermons and a heart full of personal solace from it? Would it be good enough for people to weep over, to say it changed their lives, or saved their lives, or became something they were willing to give up fortune and future for—and then did just that?

What if your literary piece created enemies for you? What if it were left in the public arena, open to the criticism of your most hostile and learned opponents, for more than 150 years? What if it were pulled apart and minutely examined and held up to the light of history, literature, anthropology, and religion with no other purpose than to discredit it and denounce you? Could what you have written be that good? Would you still be willing to say that it was an inspired piece of wok, let alone hold to your assertion that it was divinely revealed and that its contents were eternally important—that in a very real sense the whole future of the world was linked to your little volume? By this time would either you or your piece still be standing? Would anyone still be reading it?

As a note this entire chapter is an amazing read.

Christ and the new covenant: the Messianic message of the Book of Mormon, Jeffrey R. Holland, Deseret Book Co., 1997, p.346 - 347

Spirit Over Flesh, Discipline Over Tempation, Devotion Over Inclination

Christ's final triumph and ultimate assumption of godly powers on the right hand of his Father came not because he had a divine parent and not because he was given heavenly authority from the beginning, but ultimately because he was, in his own mortal probation, perfectly obedient, perfectly submissive, perfectly loyal to the principle that the spiritual in his life must rule over the physical...spirit over flesh; discipline over temptation; devotion over inclination; "the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father."

Christ and the new covenant: the Messianic message of the Book of Mormon, Jeffrey R. Holland, Deseret Book Co., 1997, p.193