In the Spirit of Christmas!
My friend Malia and I took a ride through the Polynesian Cultural Center tonight, where we hopped on a Canoe and had our friend Niki push the back, with 20 other people visiting the place.
We learned about the story of the birth of Jesus in the Celebration of Christmas.
I learned something new in my own personal study. The scriptures in the Book of Mormon, again tell of the birth of Jesus. It's not as poetic, and it's not from a first hand account, because they were not in Bethlehem, therefore they couldn't tell a first hand account. But they had seen the sign of his coming, they had seen the star and they did believe.
3 Nephi 1: 17 "And they began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear; yea, in fine, all the people upon the face of the whole earth from the west to the east, both in the land north and in the land south, were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the earth.
18 For they knew that the prophets had testified of these things for many years, and that the sign which had been given was already at hand; and they began to fear because of their iniquity and their unbelief.
19 And it came to pass that there was no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid-day. And it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning again, according to its proper order; and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born, because of the sign which had been given.
And after reading this, I realized, the faith that they had. To truly believe that a son was being born. Just like the people who weren't in Bethlehem, and saw the star and believed, so did the people in the America's. They too, saw the signs, and they too believed that Jesus had come and was born.
I sometimes wonder, if I was alive at their time, and I had just a "big star" in the sky as proof that the Messiah would be born, would I believe it?
Not only would I believe it, but would I be so astonished that I would "fall to the earth" as they did in this scripture here. Would I truly know in my heart that this was the Messiah. How would I know?
I think some of these same questions come to people today. How do we know there is a God? And not only that, how can we actually believe that he Loves us AND cares for us! And believing that his only begotten Son came and sacrificed for our sins!
Believing without seeing, is that what faith is? Or is it seeing everything, except the one critical piece, and then believing? Because in all honestly, the people saw all the signs. There was the star, and there was no darkness, and it was light, it was "all things, every whit, according to the words of the prophets." Every single thing was exactly one point. Every single thing was exactly what the prophets predicted. They SAW everything, except baby Jesus.
I asked my friend a question once, I asked her why the bible just didn't say straight forward "there will be a book that will come forward, and it will be called the Book of Mormon." I said it didn't make sense to me, that if it said that, then everyone that wants proof, would have proof, and they would know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I desire that so much, for people to understand the Book of Mormon, as I understand it, and I want them to experience the joy that it brings me.
She asked me "Do you think it would be easier to convince people that it's the word of God if it said that in the bible?"
I Said "OF COURSE! Yes! it would be WAYYYY easier"
She explained, that maybe that's why. That God isn't testing our ability to see, hear, read, and analyze all the details to make 'factual information'... but instead, maybe he wants us to learn, that even when we see everything that was predicted from the prophets, and we feel good about it in our heart, that we can choose to go forward with FAITH, because we do see, we do know, all except the one critical important detail of that belief.
And how do we know if that one critical detail is the truth? if there is no book that says it, if we can't see it, how do we know?
How did the people who saw all the signs, but didn't see Jesus, know that Jesus was born, and KNOW that he was the Messiah...
They knew it in their hearts. They prayed, they received answer from God. They knew it will their heart, and because they knew it in their hearts, it became a stronger answer and a stronger "fact" than anything they had ever known before. It meant so much more to them now that they knew it for themselves. They didn't need the "proof" the proof was all around, they just needed to know in their hearts.
And that's how we can know today too.
We can know that with many questions we have in our Heart to God. Especially during this Christmas season. Was Jesus the Son of God? Was Jesus born in Bethlehem? Did he take away the sins of the world?
I know it to be true. I know that Jesus is my Savior, I know that he is the Messiah. I know that he was sent from God, and that God is his father, and that we are all children of God. I know that Jesus loves me, and I know that during this Christmas season, it is the most excellent time of the year to celebrate the birth of our Beloved Savior Jesus Christ, and have gratitude for what he did for us. I know it to be true, because I know it in my heart.
I challenge you to do the same. I challenge you to pray, and to ask God, if Jesus is the Savior, if he is the son of God, if he is the Messiah. Whether you are Mormon, Catholic, Atheist, Buddhist, Agnostic, Jewish, Islamic, Lutheran, or whichever religion or non-religion person you are. I promise that if you ask with a sincere heart, open to the answer, I promise that you will be overwhelmed with the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ. I promise it is worth it.
These things I say, in the sacred name, of Jesus Christ,
Amen
(The sunrise this morning on our morning bike ride 6:30am)
Proof is all around us, we just have to open our eyes to see it
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