"And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the Lord stretched forth His hand and touched the stones, one by one with His finger; and the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was like the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear."
You may easily imagine that such a vision would amaze any man. And the brother of Jared, though he was a very good and righteous man, and a prophet of God, seems not to have suspected before this time that God and Jesus Christ had bodies of flesh as material and tangible as man's. What the brother of Jared thought God to be, we do not know. But when the Lord saw that he had fallen to the ground in amazement, He said, "Arise, why hast thou fallen?"
"And he saith unto the Lord, I saw the finger of the Lord, and I feared lest He should smite me; for I knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood."
But much as the brother of Jared was astonished at this marvelous revelation, there remained for him yet greater wonders. The Lord commended him for his great faith, which had made it possible for him to see the finger of the Lord. Then the Lord asked, "Sawest thou more than this? And he answered Nay; Lord, show Thyself unto me."
"Behold, the Lord showed Himself unto him, and said....Behold, I am He who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have light, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters. And never have I shown myself unto man whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast. Seest thou that ye are created after mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in the beginning, after mine own image.
"Behold, this body which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit, and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit, will I appear unto my people in the flesh."
This marvelous vision, the brother of Jared beheld many hundreds of years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Do you think you understand the great truths that Jesus here revealed to the Jaredite prophet? First, it must be evident to everyone that Jesus had existence—that He lived and worked—before He was born in the flesh upon the earth. But what kind of existence was this pre-existence? It was an existence in the spirit state. And the spirit body of Jesus is in form and shape just like the mortal body; so that, when Jesus helped to form man. He formed him after the image of His own body. This is the second great truth we learn from the remarkable vision. And a third is, that Jesus was appointed "from the foundation of the world" to redeem mankind. In the pre-existence He labored for us; there He was chosen to redeem us. His mission upon the earth, and the sacrifice of His noble life, were but the completion of a plan formulated long before He was born.
The spirits of all men eternal.
Now, you may say, "Of course, we know that Jesus lived before He was born in the flesh, and that He had a spirit of the same form and shape as His mortal body, and that He was chosen in that pre-existent life to redeem the world from sin. But it may not be so with man."