“Our Lord and Savior,” New Era, Dec. 1994, 21
Our Lord and Savior
Like those He first called, these prophets and Apostles are sure witnesses of Christ.
At this time of year as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, we hear again the words of our Church leaders testifying to the divinity of Jesus Christ. Called as special witnesses of Christ, they add their testimonies to the words of the prophets from the beginning of time.
From the great faith of Adam, to the beautiful and poetic words of Isaiah, to the simple power of the Prophet Joseph and down to present Church leaders, all the prophets have declared that God lives and His Only Begotten Son is our Savior.
Now, when the world needs it most, the words of modern-day prophets declare that Jesus is the Christ and that through him we will find eternal life.
President Howard W. Hunter
“How grateful we should be that God sent his Only Begotten Son to earth to do at least two things that no other person could have done. The first task Christ did as a perfect, sinless Son was to redeem all mankind from the Fall, providing an atonement for Adam’s sin and for our own sins if we will accept and follow him. The second great thing he did was to set a perfect example of right living, of kindness and mercy and compassion, in order that all of the rest of mankind might know how to live, know how to improve, and know how to become more godlike.
“Let us follow the Son of God in all ways and in all walks of life. Let us make him our exemplar and our guide. We should at every opportunity ask ourselves, ‘What would Jesus do?’ and then be more courageous to act upon the answer. We must follow Christ, in the best sense of that word. We must be about his work as he was about his Father’s. … To the extent that our mortal powers permit, we should make every effort to become like Christ—the one perfect and sinless example this world has ever seen” (Ensign, May 1994, p. 64).
President Gordon B. Hinckley
“I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal, Living God. … None so great has ever walked the earth. None other has made a comparable sacrifice or granted a comparable blessing. He is the Savior and the Redeemer of the world. I believe in Him. I declare His divinity without equivocation or compromise. I love Him. I speak His name in reverence and wonder. I worship Him as I worship His Father, in spirit and in truth. I thank Him and kneel before His wounded feet and hands and side, amazed at the love He offers me. God be thanked for His Beloved Son who reached out long ago and said to each of us: ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’ (Matt. 11:28)” (Ensign, Nov. 1986, p. 51).
President Thomas S. Monson
“As you and I walk the pathway Jesus walked, let us listen for the sound of sandaled feet. Let us reach out for the Carpenter’s hand. Then we shall come to know Him. … We will discover He is more than the Babe in Bethlehem, more than the carpenter’s son, more than the greatest teacher ever to live. We will come to know Him as the Son of God, our Savior and our Redeemer” (Ensign, May 1986, p. 39).
President Boyd K. Packer
“Through his willing act, mercy and justice could be reconciled, eternal law sustained and that mediation achieved without which mortal man could not be redeemed.
“He by choice, accepted the penalty for all mankind for the sum total of all wickedness and depravity; for brutality, immorality, perversion and corruption; for addiction; for the killings and torture and terror—for all of it that had ever been or all that ever would be enacted upon this earth” (Ensign, May 1988, p. 69).
Elder L. Tom Perry
“We know His son, Jesus Christ, stands at the head of this Church, and mankind has not been left alone to find the way by himself in a troubled world. … God lives. Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world. His kingdom will prevail. The greatest joy we can find on this earth is conforming our lives to His law” (Ensign, May 1979, p. 14).
Elder David B. Haight
In 1989, Elder Haight became critically ill and was rushed unconscious to the hospital. He later reported in the October 1989 general conference that while unconscious, he found himself “in a calm, peaceful setting … conscious of two persons on a hillside. … I was conscious of being in a holy presence and atmosphere. During the hours and days that followed, there was impressed again and again upon my mind the eternal mission and exalted position of the Son of Man. I witness to you that He is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, Savior to all, Redeemer of all mankind, Bestower of infinite love, mercy and forgiveness, the Light and Life of the world. I knew this truth before—I had never doubted nor wondered. But now I knew, because of the impressions of the Spirit upon my heart and soul, these divine truths in a most unusual way” (Ensign, Nov. 1989, pp. 59–60).
Elder James E. Faust
“I testify, as one of His humble servants called to be His special witness, that He lives. I witness from the depths of my soul that we are engaged in His holy work, to which, if we are faithful, we can be crowned with honor, glory, and eternal life” (Ensign, May 1991, p. 70).
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
“It was for our sake that perfectly remarkable Jesus was perfectly consecrated. Jesus let His own will be totally ‘swallowed up in the will of the Father.’ If you and I would come unto Jesus, we must likewise yield to God, holding nothing back. Then other soaring promises await!” (Ensign, Nov. 1991, p. 32).
Elder Russell M. Nelson
“I thank God for his Son, Jesus Christ, for his mission in mortality, and for his ministry as the resurrected Lord. … His sacrifice and his glory assure that ‘The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time’ (Alma 11:43). Gratefully and positively, I affirm that there is life after life, first in the spirit world and then in the Resurrection, for each and every one of us. I know that God lives and that Jesus the Christ is his Son. … He lives. He is my Master. I am his servant. With all my heart, I love him and I testify of him” (Ensign, May 1987, p. 10).
Elder Dallin H. Oaks
“Our creator and our redeemer is also our teacher. He taught us how to live. He gave us commandments, and if we follow them, we will receive blessings and happiness in this world and eternal life in the world to come.
“And so we see that He whom we should always remember is He who gave us mortal life, He who showed us the way to a happy life, and He who redeems us so we can have immortality and eternal life” (Ensign, May 1988, p. 30).
Elder M. Russell Ballard
“I accepted a call to go to England on a mission when I was nineteen. Because of my … experience, I became anchored to a testimony of the reality of the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ through the Prophet Joseph Smith. … My testimony, obtained a long time ago on the street corners of England, has grown line upon line … until I can testify as a special witness of the Lord Jesus Christ that our Savior lives and that He is the Son of God our Eternal Father” (Ensign, Dec. 1993, p. 52).
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
“Knowing that Jesus Christ is the firstborn Son of God in the spirit and the Only Begotten Son in the flesh gives a far more noble … view of him than if he were just a great teacher or philosopher. He is … the Redeemer of all mankind, our mediator with the Father. Because of his love for us, he has atoned for the sins of the world and has provided a way for the faithful to return to our Heavenly Father’s presence” (Ensign, Nov. 1991, p. 15).
Elder Richard G. Scott
“I testify that Jesus Christ … satisfied the demands of justice for all who are obedient to His teachings. … You will also discover the greatest friend of all, Jesus the Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, full of perfect love and boundless compassion, with the power to forgive and forget. It is difficult for me to speak of Him, for I love Him so deeply” (Ensign, May 1986, p. 11).
Elder Robert D. Hales
“I believe the Lord Jesus Christ is very careful whom He gives His name to. When we go into the waters of baptism, we take upon us His name and promise that we will always be obedient. Every time we take the sacrament, we remind ourselves that we will always remember Him, that we will take His name upon us, and that we will always keep his commandments. For that obedience, we are told that we will always have his spirit to be with us” (Ensign, Nov. 1985, p. 21).
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
“Life has its share of some fear and some failure. Sometimes things fall short, [we] don’t quite measure up. Sometimes in both personal and public life, we are seemingly left without strength to go on. Sometimes people fail us, or economies and circumstance fail us, and life with its hardship and heartache can leave us feeling very alone.
But when such difficult moments come to us, I testify that there is one thing which will never, ever fail us. One thing alone will stand the test of all time, of all tribulation, all trouble, and all transgression. One thing only never faileth—and that is the pure love of Christ. … I testify that having loved us who are in the world, Christ loves us to the end. His pure love never fails us. Not now. Not ever. Not ever” (Ensign, Nov. 1989, p. 26).
Painting The Birth of Jesus by Carl Bloch. Original at the Chapel of Frederiksborg Castle, Denmark. Used by permission of the Frederiksborgmuseum.
Painting Christ Calling Peter and Andrew by James Taylor Harwood
Painting The Consolator by Carl Bloch. Original at the Chapel of Frederiksborg Castle, Denmark. Used by permission of the Frederiksborgmuseum.
Painting Christ in Gethsemane by Harry Anderson
Painting The Second Coming by Harry Anderson
Painting John Baptizing Jesus by Harry Anderson