TESTIMONY
The Passover meal
had already been carefully arranged and prepared in the upper room of the
house. The twelve guests were invited to
partake of the supper with Joseph and Mary, and the Child. Joseph welcomed each man with a kiss as he
entered the room. He gave them water to
wash their hands and their feet. Mary
poured perfumed oil on their heads and had them take their places.
The
year old Child watched and carefully observed everything that Joseph and his
mother did.
The meal was eaten
with ceremony and ritual. Joseph served
and offered prayers. He led in the
recital of the Hallel, and they all repeated after Joseph the final phrases.
“Blessed
be he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.
God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light:
bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the
altar.
“Thou art my God, and I will praise thee:
thou art my God, I will exalt thee.
O give thanks unto the Lord;
for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
When the meal was about finished, the Child was
tired and Mary placed her Son in a small crib located in the corner of the
room. She sat down next to Him and
watched over Him and sang softly to Him as He fell asleep. She also listened quietly to the men who
conversed nearby.
Perhaps the simple furnishings of this room contrasted
with the ornate decorations of Herod’s palace.
Or maybe the symbolic supper after a tiring day of travel provided
comfort and rest. But for whatever
reason, this particular evening became one of spiritual unity for everyone
there. The spirit of testimony filled
the room so powerfully that everyone felt it down to the marrow of their bones
and in every fiber of their bodies.
The twelve travelers had not had much of a chance to
become acquainted with each other before this.
They had not talked much about themselves, either at the temple or at
Herod’s palace. Now, in this holy
environment, each person had a chance to share his story.
Although each of their stories was
different, each story had a similar theme.
The stories they told spoke of faith, miracles, prophecy, and a desire
to be a witness for the truth. Speakers
and listeners were one in spirit. And by
being one in spirit, they were also of one heart and one mind. They each spoke with the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Simon and Cleopas spoke first. They shared their joy for the knowledge of
their Redeemer which they had gained on their journey to Jerusalem. They expressed how grateful they were that
the scriptures they had studied, previously misunderstood, were now so much
more meaningful to them. All things
testify of Christ they said, and everything in the scriptures could be viewed
as bearing record of Him. They said they
would return to their people as witnesses for the truth. Since they had seen Him themselves, they could
now testify as eyewitnesses for others and share with them the truth of His
reality in fulfillment of the many marvelous prophecies.
Noah and Zenos told of the northern
lands where their ancestors had been led by the Lord. They bore testimony of the goodness and the tender
mercies of God experienced by exercising faith in Him. And they alone did not speak of these things,
but Zenoch also spake, saying:
“The Lord our God brought us to a good land, a land
of brooks of water, of fountains, and depths that sprang out of valleys and
hills; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates;
a land of much oil, and honey. Our land
was a land wherein we ate bread without scarceness, and lacked not anything in
it; and a land whose stones were iron, and out of whose hills were dug brass
and gold in abundance. We could eat
until we were full, and at first our ancestors blessed the Lord for the good
land which He had given us, and remembered to praise God for bringing us out of
bondage and captivity.
“But then we forgot the Lord, and no
longer kept His judgments, and His statutes, which He had commanded us. Our hearts began to be lifted up, and we
began to walk after other Gods, to serve them and to worship them, instead of
the God of our fathers. And people said
in their hearts that their own power and their own might had gotten them their
wealth. In time our flocks and our herds
ceased multiplying, and our silver and our gold ceased getting dug up, and our
oil did evaporate, and all that we had dried up.
“So I preached to them that we should
remember the Lord our God, for it is He that giveth unto us power to get
wealth, that He may establish His covenant for which He sware unto our
fathers. I preached to them to remember
Who had led our fathers through the wilderness, wherein were fiery flying
serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; Who brought
forth water out of the rock of flint; Who fed them in the wilderness with
manna; that they might be humbled, that they might prove to do good at the end.
“Most people rejected my message, did not repent and
remained disobedient, and persecuted those that did believe; saying to me that
I was foolish to worship an invisible God that can never be seen, or that if
there ever had been such a God, he must no longer have power to grant riches,
let alone have power to save.
“But I will return to them now and
say: Thou art angry, O Lord, with this people, because they do not understand
thy mercies which thou hast bestowed upon them because of thy Son. And now, my brethren, ye see that I will add
my testimony to the prophets of old; yea, I shall testify of the Son of God,
and that He is not an invisible God to those who do not harden their hearts. And if they would merely look, just as those
who did look upon the serpent raised up in the wilderness by Moses did not
perish, so it is that those who would but cast about their eyes and believe in
the Son of God shall not perish.
“I will testify that He has come to redeem His
people, and that He shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that He
shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection,
that all men shall stand before Him, to be judged at the last and judgment day,
according to their works. And now, my
brethren, I declare that this testimony is as a mighty tree that was planted in
my heart and that has swollen in my breast to the point of overflowing with
everlasting life, insomuch that those who do not understand my words may stone
me to death if they wish, but I shall be glorified through Him.”
The young Child was peacefully sleeping
when Zenoch finished speaking. Mary continued
to sit silently next to where He lay and listened to all the things being said
about Him.
Mary was a young and beautiful woman
whose spirit, grace and intelligence shone from within her. She did not interrupt the stories or ask
questions of her guests. She gazed down
in wonder at her sleeping Son and pondered things over in her heart.
Lumech and Ezias were next to
testify. Lumech began; “Those few of us
in our land who professed to believe in the prophecies of the birth of our
Savior were driven out of our homes like cattle and chased like sheep before
the wolves. And because of the quickness
of our flight, and the urgency and desperation with which we had to flee, we
were unable to bring provisions with us into the wilderness.
“The barren wilderness provided for us no food and
no water. We were about to perish for
want of bread and water. And I said to
Ezias, Alas, my brother! How shall we do?
And he answered me, saying, fear not: for the Lord, our God, He is the
way to life eternal; he who eats of His bread shall never hunger, and he who
drinks of His living water shall never thirst.”
Ezias picked up the story from
there. “And I prayed saying, Lord, I
pray thee, command that these stones be made bread, and it was so. And a voice out of heaven was heard, saying;
Behold, this bread represents my body, which will be broken for you, and as oft
as ye do eat of my body in coming days, ye will remember this hour that I was
with you. And I then prayed again,
saying; Lord, make that this ground becomes a lake of water, and it was done. And the voice came again out of heaven to
say; Behold, this water represents my blood which will be shed for many, and
the new testament which I shall give unto you when I do the will of the Father
and drink the bitter cup. And as oft as
ye drink of my blood in coming days, ye will remember me in this hour that I
was with you and drank with you of the bitter cup, even to the end. Verily I say unto you, of this ye shall bear
record in a future day; when ye shall eat in remembrance of my body and drink in
remembrance of my blood.”
Jared and Zedek also told of
witnessing miracles on their journey to Jerusalem. At one point, an unsurpassable mountain
prevented them from progressing on their way.
So they prayed fervently to know what to do. The Lord answered their prayer by saying to
them, “Verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye
shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall
remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” And the mountain did remove itself at their
command.
These words reminded Nephi of the
exceeding faith that had once been exercised by the brother of Jared when the
Lord had stretched forth His hand to touch the stones prepared by the brother
of Jared to light the barges for his people to cross the many waters. As the Lord touched the stones one by one,
the veil had been taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw
the finger of the Lord; and he saw that it was as the finger of a man, like
unto flesh and blood. And subsequently,
the Lord had told the brother of Jared that He would take upon Himself flesh
and blood.
Nephi looked over to where Mary was sitting and saw
her gently and naturally put her little finger into the hand of her small child
so that He could grasp it and be comforted as He slept. His mother’s single finger was as large as
His entire hand. Yet, there were His
fingers, including the one that once lighted the stones for the brother of
Jared---in the flesh.
Nephi spoke about the land of
Zarahemla where his people now lived after his forefathers left Jerusalem
during the time of Jeremiah. He talked
about knowing that it was God’s will for him to return to Jerusalem and be a
witness of the Redeemer for his people although leaving his family was a great
personal sacrifice.
Hantuman and Lehi told about the trials and dangers they
had to endure for their voyage across the many waters. At one point, they were about to perish on
the water until Nephi called upon the name of the Lord for the sea to be calm. And there immediately arose a great calm which
saved them from destruction. They also
talked about the merchant from Samaria who came to save them after they had
fallen among thieves who stripped them, wounded them, and left them half dead.
After everyone had shared at least one story, Nephi
proclaimed:
“My brothers and my brethren, behold I say unto you,
how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started
from the land of Zarahemla, and ye from thy lands, that God would have granted
unto us such great blessings? And now, I
ask, what great blessings has He bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?
“Behold, I answer for you; and this is the blessing
which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the
hands of God to witness His great work.
Behold, and blessed are ye, for ye did exercise your faith to obtain His
word, and ye have labored with all your might all the day long to declare His word.
“And ye have heard His voice and witnessed many
mighty miracles, even to the turning of stones to bread and the removal of an
unsurpassable mountain. Ye have been
imperiled and forced to flee as sheep running from the wolf, and yet the Lord
thy God has saved thee and fed thee. Ye
have sacrificed, and now ye are blessed to be in the very same room with our
Savior while yet in the flesh; and He will raise us up at the last day to be
with Him.
“Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to His
praise, yea, let us give thanks to His holy name, for He doth work
righteousness forever. For if we had not
come out of the land of Zarahemla, and ye from your lands, my dearly beloved
brethren, we could not have done so many mighty works.”
And when Nephi had said these words, his brother
Lehi rebuked him, saying; “Nephi, I fear that thy joy doth carry thee away unto
boasting.”
But Nephi said unto him; “I do not boast in my own
strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is
brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my
strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of
my God, for in His strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty
miracles we have wrought in our lands, for which we will praise His name
forever. Yea, we have reason to praise
Him forever, for He is the Most High God, and has brought us into His
everlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation. Yea, we have been instruments in His hands
of doing this great and marvelous work.
“Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the
Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God
forever. Behold, who can glory too much
in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much
of His great power, and of His mercy, and of His long-suffering towards the
children of men? Behold, I say unto you,
I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.
“Who could have supposed that our God would have
been so merciful as to have calmed the storm when we were on the sea and
destruction threatened? Oh then, why did
He not consign us to that awful destruction and doom? Oh, my soul, almost as it were, fleeth at the
thought. Behold, He did not allow the
destroying elements in the depths of the sea to swallow us up, but in His great
mercy He did bring us safely over the water, even to the salvation of our
souls.
“Now I tell you, my brethren, that we said unto our
brethren in the land of Zarahemla, that the prophecy given by Samuel the
Lamanite was true when he said that a night without darkness would be a sign of
the Savior’s birth, and they laughed us to scorn. For they said unto us: Do ye suppose that ye
can stop the sun in its path? Do ye
suppose that ye can convince us of the truth of your religious traditions, and
that we should believe in the birth of a God in a far away land that we shall
never see, and so we can never know of a surety that He is real? Now my brethren, I tell you that this was
their language.
“And moreover they did say: Let us put them to death
and destroy them that believe in such foolishness, lest they overrun us by
keeping us in ignorance. And they took
us and bound us with strong cords, and cast us into prison; and through the
power and wisdom of God, the sign was given, and we were delivered from
prison. And He has since brought us to
this land and into His very presence.
“Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men
that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my
joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for He has all power, all
wisdom, and all understanding; He comprehendeth all things, and He is a
merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on
His name.
“Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for
this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from
everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name
of my God, who has been mindful of us, who are a branch of the tree of Israel,
and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the
name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land.
“Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of
every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, He numbereth His people, and
His bowels of mercy are over all the earth.
Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give
thanks unto my God forever. Amen.”
Then Mary, who had been sitting in the
corner watching her child sleep, encouraged by what Nephi and the others had
said, rose to her feet and spoke to the men gathered in the upper room. She spoke quietly, but confidently and with
conviction.
Mary testified, “I suppose that my Son
will not need to be taught about you. He
may already know. But I promise to tell
Him about you, about your journeys here from your own lands, and about your
faith in Him.
“Perhaps He will use some of your
stories when He teaches.
“I do not share many details of my story with
you. I do not reveal the circumstances
of His holy conception, only to tell you this --- that He truly is the Son of God.
“My mission, like yours, is one of faith and
sacrifice. I met a man at the temple
shortly after He was born. He told me
that in a coming day a sword shall pierce through my soul also. Before that day comes, I will help my Son do
the will of His Father.
“I will tell my Son your stories. I promise to tell Him for you about the power
of faith as the grain of a mustard seed.
I will tell Him about other sheep that are not in Jerusalem. I will tell Him of the merchant from Samaria;
of making bread from stones to never hunger and water to never thirst; and of a
calm sea after crashing waves. When He
is older, He will remember your stories and may use these things to teach
others. I will tell Him about you and about
this special night.
“And now our night together must
end. You are welcome to stay in the
carpenter’s shop tonight. Joseph has
prepared it for you so you can rest until morning. Good night.
You have blessed us with your presence this night.”
Joseph led the men down the stairs as they left the
upper room and headed for the carpenter’s shop.
Nephi was the last one out the door.
He wanted to take another look at the sleeping child. He looked so innocent, so helpless, so
peaceful while He slept.
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