Why is it significant to you to know that Jesus Christ is Jehovah?
"58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,BeforeAbraham was,I am.
59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by." (John 8: 58-59)
"13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.
15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and thisis my memorial unto all generations." (Exodus 3: 13-15)
"3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my nameJehovah was I not known to them.
4 And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers.
5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant." (Exodus 6: 3-5)
And here's the commentary entitled: "Jesus Christ is Jehovah in the Old Testament." :
"President Dallin H. Oaks taught: “The Father introduced His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior and Redeemer and gave us the command to ‘hear Him.’ From this direction we conclude that the scriptural records of words spoken by ‘God’ or the ‘Lord’ are almost always the words of Jehovah, our risen Lord, Jesus Christ” (“The Teachings of Jesus Christ,” Liahona, May 2023, 102).
When the leaders of the Jews challenged Jesus about His identity, He declared, “Before Abraham was, I am.” These words shocked the people who heard Jesus, and they were ready to stone Him (see John 8:58–59). Consider reading Exodus 3:13–15; 6:3–5 to see why some Jews were so upset at what Jesus said.
Why is it significant to you to know that Jesus Christ is Jehovah?"
It's significant for me to know that Jesus Christ is Jehovah because it makes it clear that He is indeed the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--the forefathers of the Israelites, the Law-giver, and the one to whom the symbols in the Old Testament are pointing to--the lamb, the manna, the brass serpent, etc. The Book of Mormon makes this clearer when Jehovah, the pre-mortal Jesus Christ spoke to Nephi, the night before He would be born, and said: "On the morrow come I into the world."
What references to Jesus Christ in the Old Testament are you already familiar with?
"48 I am that bread of life." (John 6: 48)
"4 ¶ Then said theLordunto Moses, Behold, I will rainbreadfrom heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certainrateevery day, that I mayprovethem, whether they willwalkin my law, or no.
11 ¶ And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
12 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God.
13 And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.
14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small roundthing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.
15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, Itismanna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat." (Exodus 16: 4, 11-15)
"35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." (John 6: 35)
"3 ¶ Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:" (Exodus 12: 3-5)
"29¶ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1: 29)
"4 ¶ And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.
6 And the Lord sent fieryserpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.
7 ¶ Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.
8 And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
10 ¶ And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth." (Numbers 21: 1-10)
"14 ¶ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:" (John 3: 14)
"4 ¶ But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
7 And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?
9 And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
11 ¶ Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
14 Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.
15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.
17 ¶ Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." (Jonah 1: 4-17)
"38 ¶ Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here." (Matthew 12: 38-41)
"Focus on Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and Redeemer, the “mark” to whom we should look, and our greatest treasure.
In 1907 a wealthy Englishman named George Herbert, the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, moved to Egypt and took up an interest in archaeology. He approached a well-known Egyptologist, Howard Carter, and proposed a partnership. Carter would oversee their archaeological excavations, and Carnarvon would provide the funding.
Together they successfully explored a variety of locations. Then they received permission to excavate in the Valley of the Kings, located near modern-day Luxor, where the tombs of many pharaohs had been found. They decided to look for the tomb of King Tutankhamun. Tutankhamun had ascended to the throne of Egypt more than 3,000 years earlier and reigned for 10 years before his unexpected death. He was known to have been buried in the Valley of the Kings, but the location of his tomb was unknown.
Carter and Carnarvon spent five years unsuccessfully searching for Tutankhamun’s tomb. Eventually Carnarvon informed Carter that he was finished with the fruitless quest. Carter pleaded for just one more season of excavation, and Carnarvon relented and agreed to the funding.
Carter realized that the entire floor of the Valley of the Kings had been methodically excavated—except the area of their own base camp. Within a few days of digging there, they found the first steps leading down to the tomb.
When Carter eventually peered into the antechamber of Tutankhamun’s tomb, he saw gold everywhere. After three months of cataloging the contents of the antechamber, they opened the sealed burial chamber in February 1923—100 years ago. This was the most famous archaeological find of the 20th century.
During those years of ineffectual searching, Carter and Carnarvon had overlooked what was literally under their feet. Some five centuries before the Savior’s birth, the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob referred to taking for granted or undervaluing what is nearby as “looking beyond the mark.” Jacob foresaw that the people of Jerusalem would not recognize the promised Messiah when He came. Jacob prophesied that they would be a “people [who] despised the words of plainness … and [would seek] for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness [would come] by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall.” In other words, they would stumble.
Jacob’s prediction proved accurate. During Jesus’s mortal ministry, many looked beyond the mark, beyond Him. They looked past the Savior of the world. Instead of recognizing His role in fulfilling Heavenly Father’s plan, they condemned and crucified Him. They looked and waited for someone else to bring them salvation.
Like those people in Jerusalem, and like Carter and Carnarvon, we too can be prone to look beyond the mark. We need to guard against this tendency lest we miss Jesus Christ in our lives and fail to recognize the many blessings He offers us. We need Him. We are counseled to rely “wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.”
He is our mark. If we incorrectly imagine that there is a need for something beyond what He offers, we deny or diminish the scope and power He can have in our lives. He has claimed the rights of mercy and extends that mercy to us. He is the ultimate “source [to whom we should] look for a remission of [our] sins.” He is our Advocate with the Father and champions what the Father has wanted all along: for us to return to Him as inheritors in His kingdom. We need to, in the words of the prophet Alma, “cast about [our] eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for [our] sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection.” Jesus Christ is our treasure.
The Savior has given us many ways to focus on Him intentionally, including the daily opportunity to repent. Sometimes we undervalue how great this offered blessing is. When I was eight years old, I was baptized by my father. Afterward, I held his hand as we were going to cross a busy street. I was not paying attention and stepped from the curb just as a big truck came rumbling by. My father jerked me back, out of the street and onto the curb. Had he not done so, I would have been hit by the truck. Knowing my own mischievous nature, I thought, “Maybe it would have been better for me to be killed by the truck because I’ll never be as clean as I am now right after my baptism.”
As an eight-year-old, I had mistakenly presumed that the water of baptism washed away sins. Not so. In the years since my baptism, I have learned that sins are cleansed by the power of Jesus Christ through His atoning sacrifice as we make and keep the baptismal covenant. Then, through the gift of repentance, we can remain clean. I have also learned that the sacrament brings a powerful virtuous cycle into our lives, enabling us to retain a remission of our sins.
Just like the treasure that was under the feet of Carter and Carnarvon, the treasured blessings of the sacrament are available to us each time we attend sacrament meeting. We are promised that the Holy Ghost will be our constant companion if we approach the sacrament the way a new convert approaches baptism and confirmation, with a broken heart and contrite spirit and a determination to live up to that baptismal covenant. The Holy Ghost blesses us with His sanctifying power so that we can always retain a remission of our sins, week in and week out.
Our spiritual foundation is strengthened through repentance and by conscientiously preparing for and worthily partaking of the sacrament. Only with a robust spiritual foundation can we handle the metaphorical rain, wind, and floods that confront us in our lives. Conversely, our spiritual foundation is weakened when we voluntarily skip sacrament meeting or when we do not focus on the Savior during the sacrament. We may unintentionally “withdraw [ourselves] from the Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in [us] to guide [us] in wisdom’s paths that [we] may be blessed, prospered, and preserved.”
When we have the Holy Ghost with us, we will be inspired and guided to make and keep other covenants, such as those we make in temples. Doing so deepens our relationship with God. You may have noticed that many new temples have been announced in recent years, bringing temples ever closer to members. Paradoxically, as temples become more accessible, it may be easier for us to become more casual about temple attendance. When temples are distant, we plan our time and resources to travel to the temple to worship there. We prioritize these journeys.
With a temple close at hand, it can be easy to let little things get in the way of attending, saying to ourselves, “Well, I’ll just go another time.” Living close to a temple does bring greater flexibility in scheduling time in the temple, but that very flexibility can make it easier to take the temple for granted. When we do, we “miss the mark,” undervaluing the opportunity to draw closer to the Savior in His holy house. Our commitment to attend should be at least as strong when the temple is nearby as when it is distant.
After Carter and Carnarvon excavated elsewhere in the Valley of the Kings looking for Tutankhamun’s tomb, they realized their oversight. We do not need to labor unsuccessfully, as they did for a time, to find our treasure. Nor need we seek counsel from exotic sources, prizing the novelty of the source and thinking such counsel will be more enlightened than that which we can receive from a humble prophet of God.
As recorded in the Old Testament, when Naaman sought a cure for his leprosy, he was indignant at being asked to dip himself seven times in a nearby ordinary river. But he was persuaded to follow the prophet Elisha’s counsel rather than rely on his own preconceived notions of how the miracle should occur. As a result, Naaman was healed. When we trust God’s prophet on the earth today and act on his counsel, we will find happiness, and we too can be healed. We need to look no further.
Brothers and sisters, I encourage you to remember and always focus on Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and Redeemer, the “mark” to whom we should look, and our greatest treasure. As you come to Him, you will be rewarded with strength to face life’s challenges, courage to do what is right, and the ability to fulfill your mission in mortality. Treasure the opportunity to repent, the privilege of partaking of the sacrament, the blessing of making and keeping temple covenants, the delight of worshipping in the temple, and the joy of having a living prophet.
I bear my solemn and sure witness that God, the Eternal Father, is our Heavenly Father and that He lives; Jesus is the Christ; He is our kind, wise heavenly Friend; and this is His restored Church. Thank you for your faith and faithfulness. I pray that you will be blessed, prospered, and preserved, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen." (Jesus Christ Is the Treasure By Elder Dale G. Renlund Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles)
And here's the commentary entitled: "The Old Testament testifies of Jesus Christ." :
"One way to find rich spiritual nourishment in the Old Testament is to look for the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ (see John 6:48). For example, how do you see the Savior in the following?
What do these examples teach about Him? What other references to Jesus Christ in the Old Testament are you already familiar with?
In his message “Jesus Christ Is the Treasure,” Elder Dale G. Renlund encouraged us to “remember and always focus on Jesus Christ” (Liahona, Nov. 2023, 98). Consider reading his message, looking for things you can do to find Jesus Christ not only in the Old Testament but also in your life.
I'm so grateful that I'm able to wake up a great while before day (4AM) this morning. I woke up about an hour earlier, actually, and tried to sleep some more, but I couldn't. By 4 AM, I was already wide awake, so I decided to get up and do my scripture reading after saying my morning prayer. I already read the passages and Elder Renlund's talk. Answering this question now: How do you see the Savior in the following?
Manna (Exodus 16:4, 11–15; John 6:35) -- Manna is the bread the Israelites were given to eat while they were yet in their journey through the desert towards the promised land. I see the Savior--the Bread of life, in it, as it gives what their physical bodies need in order to live continually in this world; just as the Savior lends us breath continually from one moment to another while we are in this earthly existence, and eventually gives us immortality and eternal life.
The sacrificial lamb (Exodus 12:3–5; John 1:29) -- The sacrificial lamb represents the Savior. The characteristics of the Savior resemble those of a sacrificial lamb-- humble, meek, spotless, male, firstling of the flock. The Savior is the Firstborn Spirit Son of the Father, perfect, meek, and humble.
The brass serpent (Numbers 21:4–10; John 3:14) -- Just as the brass serpent was lifted up by Moses, so was the Savior lifted up on the cross. Just as those Israelites who looked at the brass serpent were healed and saved from dying because of a snake bite, looking at the Savior, and striving to align our lives with His exemplary life will also heal us and save us from death and sin--we will be resurrected just as He was, and we can have eternal life.
Jonah (Jonah 1:4–17; Matthew 12:38–41) -- Just as Jonah stayed inside the belly of a whale for three days and three nights, the Savior's physical body stayed in the tomb for three days and three nights after He died on the cross and before His resurrection. This is the first time I'm able to see the Savior in Jonah's experience of being inside the belly of the whale. Being thrown in the water during a storm is actually kind of like being crucified--Jonah could have died, and being swallowed by a whale could have also killed him. And being able to get out of the whale's belly after three days and three nights is like resurrection. So, just as the Savior did, Jonah died and lived again after three days.
I love Elder Renlund's message in “Jesus Christ Is the Treasure”. We need to look for the treasure no longer. We already have Him. I've been striving to look unto Him in every thought. Remembering that He is the Treasure will certainly help me to look unto Him in every thought more than ever before. Continuing to do my scripture study every morning and writing what I'm learning and sharing it through this blog will also help me and will show how I treasure the Lord.
