The Book of Mormon Testifies of Jesus Christ
1 Nephi 1:7–15
7 And it came to pass that he returned to his own house at Jerusalem; and he cast himself upon his bed, being overcome with the Spirit and the things which he had seen.
8 And being thus overcome with the Spirit, he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God.
9 And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day.
10 And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament.
11 And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth; and the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read.
12 And it came to pass that as he read, he was filled with the Spirit of the Lord.
13 And he read, saying: Wo, wo, unto Jerusalem, for I have seen thine abominations! Yea, and many things did my father read concerning Jerusalem—that it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof; many should perish by the sword, and many should be carried away captive into Babylon.
14 And it came to pass that when my father had read and seen many great and marvelous things, he did exclaim many things unto the Lord; such as: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heavens, and thy power, and goodness, and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and, because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish!
15 And after this manner was the language of my father in the praising of his God; for his soul did rejoice, and his whole heart was filled, because of the things which he had seen, yea, which the Lord had shown unto him.
Elder J. Thomas Fyans said:
“My wife, Helen, and I have read the Book of Mormon several times in the past few months. We have asked ourselves, ‘If this is another testament of Jesus Christ, how does it perform this task?’
“We determined to note every reference to the Savior as we prayerfully prepared ourselves for another excursion through this special witness. We had just turned the very first page in this sacred record, and the curtain began to open to a panorama of testimony that Jesus is the Christ.
“Here is the first scene. Lehi, praying with all his heart, had this experience:
“‘There came a pillar of fire and dwelt upon a rock before him; and he saw and heard much. . . .
“‘And it came to pass that he saw One descending out of the midst of heaven, and he beheld that his luster was above that of the sun at noon-day.
“‘And he also saw twelve others following him, and their brightness did exceed that of the stars in the firmament.
“‘And they came down and went forth upon the face of the earth; and the first came and stood before my father, and gave unto him a book, and bade him that he should read’ (1 Ne. 1:6, 9–11).
“What was Lehi’s reaction to this heaven-sent scene? ‘He testified that the things which he saw and heard, and also the things which he read in the book, manifested plainly of the coming of a Messiah, and also the redemption of the world’ (1 Ne. 1:19).
“We were still in the first chapter of 1 Nephi, having barely begun our quest. As we continued, verse after verse, chapter after chapter bore witness of His reality.”
(“The Book of Mormon’s Witness of Jesus Christ,” Ensign, May 1987, 28–29.)
