I was listening to NPR this week, and this guy, who was a Jew but obviously only as a nationality and not as a religion. After listening to him for a couple minutes I just had to turn it of, because he was so anti-religion, and speaking irreverently about Christ; but before I turned it off he mentioned that in the Jewish tradition the Messiah wasn't expected to be a God. My initial reaction to this was "What!? What are you even saying? you're ridiculous." Then I thought about it for a minute and decided it may be a valid description of Jewish belief, after all, he is a Jew, and I'm not. So in my scripture study the next couple days I read up on some of the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Lookingthrough some of the Messianic prophesies there is very little refference to the Messiah being a God, or the Son of GOd, and what is there for the most part is actually quite hidden, if you're not reading it with the perspective already in mind that the Messiah was the Great Jehovah of the Old testament coming to earth to Atone for the sins of the world. It helped me understand why Isaiah and Jeremiah were continually lamenting about the blindness of the people, and the passages about how the Lord blinded them because of their wickedness - I didn't read all of the prophesies in the Old testament, but I did read a good handful, and the only one I found that explicitly referred to the Messiah as being a God was Isaiah 9:6. Shortly after that I was reading Abinadi's prophecies, as he talked about how the Son of God would come to suffer for the sins of the world, how salvation didn't come through the law of Moses, and that the law of Moses was given to point the people towards Christ. It was like I was reading those words for the first time, and understanding more the full import of what he was saying, and the context in which he was saying it. It was so powerful. It makes me want to go through the scriptures and just read all of the prophesies of Christ.
I realized also, as I was reading the words of Abinadi that day, how truly remarkable, unique and powerful the Book of Mormon is in it's testimony of Christ: all of the prophets which have testified, have testified of coming of Christ and His Divinity, but none (at least that we have record of) so powerfully as those in the Book of Mormon. the Divine Sonship is first preached by Nephi. Nephi was exceedingly fond of plainness in prophesy, and prophesied very clearly that the Messiah who was to come was the Son of God, coming to earth dwell in the flesh, and to Atone for our sins. The Atonement, I've noticed, is another aspect - that even modern Christianity doesn't really understand - that the Book of Mormon testifies of so often and so clearly. I love the Book of Mormon, it is so beautiful and so powerful - I am so grateful for the precious truths it contains that otherwise would have been lost to the world. (Except through modern revelation, of course, but they both kind of came in the same package. :) We take those truths for granted, though, especially the truth about Christ. I am grateful I was able to see a little more of their significance this week, and I hope I can continue to do so. And now that I think about it, I think most of what I've been doing as I've been studying to know the character of God is not learning new facts, just understanding the significance of what I've already been taught.
Moral of the story? Sometimes it's good to listen to atheistic Jews blaspheme on National Public Radio for a few minutes and challenge your beliefs, because it helps you see your beliefs in a new light. Just kidding, the real moral of the story is that God is merciful and uses unexpected circumstances to help us draw closer to Him
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