Third: Since the Nephites, then, in this collection of brass plates, had the five books of Moses and the writings of the prophets down to the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, it is to be expected that in their own record-making frequent reference would be made to the brass plates and their contents, and this is the case. The first Nephi speaks of Israel's passage of the red sea, under the leadership of Moses; and the destruction of the Egyptian army.[[5]] Subsequently the same writer refers to the captivity of the children of Israel in Egypt, and the grievousness of their bondage; of their escape from their slavery; their being fed with manna in the wilderness; their being miraculously provided with water from the smitten rock; the visible presence of God in the cloud by day and the pillar of light by night; the blind and rebellious spirit of the people; the judgment of God upon them in the fiery-flying serpents, and the healing provided for them by looking upon the brazen serpent erected by Moses.[[6]]
The prophet Lehi, near the close of his life, when blessing his son Joseph, refers to Joseph, the son of Jacob, of Egyptian fame, and speaks of a prophecy uttered by that patriarch concerning the deliverance of the people under the leadership of Moses; and also of a future seer of the same lineage as himself, (i. e. Joseph) who would be mighty in bringing forth the word of God unto the remnant of Lehi's seed.[[7]] In the book of Helaman will be found further reference to many of the same things.[[8]] Special reference is made also to the prophecy of Moses concerning the future coming of the Messiah, saying, "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that all those who will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among the people." Nephi follows this passage with the declaration that this prophet of whom Moses spake is the Holy One of Israel, the Messiah.[[9]] The ten commandments are quoted in the book of Mosiah, substantially as they are found in the book of Exodus.[[10]] And thus throughout the Nephite record frequent references are made to these ancient things of the scriptures, all of which, found as they are in an ancient record, though revealed to the world through the prophet Joseph Smith in modern times, confirm the authenticity and credibility of the Bible.
Fourth: It is the Book of Mormon as a whole, however, in which its greatest value as a witness for the truth of the Bible, and the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, most appears. I mean the Book of Mormon considered apart from any reference to an abridgment of the ancient records of the Jaredites; and the transcriptions from the ancient Hebrew scriptures carried by Lehi's colony to the western world. In the Book of Mormon, so considered, we have the record of the hand-dealings of God with the peoples that inhabited the western hemisphere. We have in it the record of those things which occurred in a branch of the house of Israel that God was preparing for the same great event for which he was training the house of Israel in the eastern world; viz., the advent of the Messiah, and the acceptance of the gospel through which all mankind are to be saved. This branch of the house of Israel, broken from the parent tree and planted in the western hemisphere, brought with them the traditions and hopes of Israel; they brought with them, as we have already seen, the Hebrew scriptures, the writings of Moses and of the prophets down to the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah; but what is more important than all this, they came to the western world with the favor and blessing of Israel's God upon them, and Israel's peculiar privilege of direct communication with God, through inspired dreams, the visitation of angels, and the voice of God. Lehi's colony was led to the western world by prophets, inspired of the Lord, their journey being marked by many and peculiar manifestations of his presence with them. After their arrival in the western world, to them a land of promise, the Lord from time to time raised up prophets among them, who instructed them in the ways of the Lord; who reproved them when overtaken in transgression; who pronounced judgments against them when persuasion was of no avail for their correction; who warned them by the spirit of prophecy of approaching disasters; and who held continually before them the hope of Israel, the advent of the Messiah, who, by his suffering and death on the cross, would redeem mankind.
It was much in this manner and for the same purpose that God dealt with his people in the eastern world; and the fact that his course with the people on the western hemisphere was substantially the same as that followed with those of the east, establishes at once his justice and mercy towards his children, and bears testimony to the great truths that God indeed is no respecter of persons, and that in every land he raises up for himself witnesses of his power and goodness.[[11]]
Fifth: It is not alone as a witness for the authenticity and credibility of the Bible that the Book of Mormon is valuable. Great as is its value in that particular, it is still more valuable as a witness for the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Previous to the coming of Messiah to the Nephites,[[12]] prophets testified of his coming; predicted the time thereof and the signs that would accompany his advent. The signs of his birth were, first, that on the night of his nativity there would be no darkness upon the lands inhabited by the Nephites; that is, in the western hemisphere. "There shall be one day and a night and a day," said one of the prophets, "as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born."[[13]] Second: A new star was to rise, "such an one as ye never have beheld," said the prophet to the Nephites, "and this also shall be a sign unto you."[[14]] Third: Many signs and wonders were to be seen in heaven, but the nature of which is not stated by the prophet.[[15]].
Signs of Messiah's death were predicted. First, on the day he suffered death, the sun would be darkened and refuse to give his light, and also the moon and the stars; and darkness would cover the whole face of the Nephite lands, from the time that he suffered death until his resurrection from the dead. Second, at the time of his dying there would be thundering and lightnings; earthquakes would rend the rocks, lay mountains low, and cast up valleys into mountains; the highways would be broken up, and many cities be made desolate. Third, many graves would be opened and yield up their dead, and many Saints would be raised from the dead and appear unto the living, who had not been destroyed in these judgments. These were the signs that were to give evidence to the people of the western world of the birth of the promised Christ, and of his death, and his resurrection; all of which things, in due time, came to pass, even as they had been predicted. But what is better still, after the Christ's resurrection from the dead, and after these terrible judgments had swept over the western land, destroying the more wicked part of the inhabitants, Jesus himself appeared unto the Nephite people, and this in fulfilment of his own declaration to his disciples at Jerusalem, when he said:
Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.[[16]]
The Christ's appearance to the Nephites was first made to a multitude gathered about the temple in what was called the land Bountiful. He descended out of heaven and stood in their midst, announcing himself to be Jesus Christ, whom the prophets had testified would come into the world. "I am the light and the life of the world," said he, "and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning. And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words, the whole multitude fell to the earth, for they remembered that it had been prophesied among them that Christ would show himself unto them after his ascension into heaven." At the commandment of Jesus, the multitude arose and came to him, and beheld the wounds in his side and in his hands. When they had all gone forth and witnessed for themselves that he was indeed the Christ, they cried out with one accord, "Hosanna, hosanna, blessed be the name of the most high God. And they did fall down at the feet of Jesus and worshiped him."
Thus Jesus continued ministering among them for some time. Just how long he remained or how many times he appeared to them cannot be determined from the Book of Mormon. Neither is that a matter of any great importance, but it is important that he chose twelve disciples and conferred upon them divine authority to administer the ordinances of the gospel. He proclaimed himself to be, as will be seen from what has been said, the Son of God. He also taught that his Father, Himself, and the Holy Ghost constituted one God-head; that men to be saved must believe in God, repent of their sins, receive baptism for the remission of sins, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost in order to establish complete fellowship and oneness between themselves and God and his Christ. The twelve were authorized to call to their assistance subordinate officers and organize those who accepted the gospel into the holy Church of Christ. In addition to these doctrinal instructions Jesus delivered also the highly moral and spiritual precepts of the gospel, delivered them, as might be expected, much in the same form as they are to be found in our New Testament scriptures. What is found in the Book of Mormon of his teaching so nearly conforms to the doctrines and moral precepts of the New Testament, that it becomes a mighty witness for the substantial correctness of what is recorded in the New Testament, so that the Book of Mormon is a witness of the truth not only of the Old Testament but very largely also of the New.
Among other things of importance which Jesus declared to the Nephites was the fact that it was his intention to visit "the lost tribes" of the house of Israel, reveal himself to them, and proclaim the same gospel he had delivered to the Nephites, and spoke of the time when the testimonies of the Nephites and the lost tribes of the house of Israel, with the testimonies of those among whom he had labored in Judea, should be brought together in one.