INFINITE MESSIANIC PROPHECIES

 

This will blow you away….

“How many Messianic prophecies have there been? In the real and true perspective of things, ten thousand times ten thousand is not a beginning to their number. They are in multitude like the sand upon the seashore. Obviously, all the prophetic utterances about Christ and the plan of salvation were Messianic in nature. But such teachings merely introduce the subject. For instance:

“Every proper and perfect prayer uttered by a righteous man, woman or child, from the day Adam stepped through Eden’s portals into his lone and dreary habitation, to the day the angelic hosts acclaimed the birth of God’s own Son, was in fact a Messianic prophecy. The mere saying, with sincerity and understanding, of the words of the prayer itself constituted a Messianic affirmation.

“Why? Because all the prophets, saints, and righteous hosts prayed to the Father in the name of Christ, thus witnessing that they knew that salvation came through him and his atoning blood. Similarly, every true prayer today is a reaffirmation that Jesus is the Lord and that through his blood the believing saints are redeemed.

“Every shout of praise and exultation to the Lord Jehovah was Messianic in nature, for those who so acclaimed worshiped the Father in the name of Jehovah-Messiah who would come to redeem his people.

“And so with every baptism, every priesthood ordination, every patriarchal blessing, every act of administering to the sick, every divine ordinance or performance ordained of God, every sacrifice, symbolism, and similitude; all that God ever gave to His people – all was ordained and established in such a way as to testify of his Son and center the faith of believing people in him and in the redemption He was foreordained to make.”

-          Bruce R. McConkie, “The Promised Messiah” p 27-8

We, the saints of God, are living and breathings testaments of the Saviour Jesus Christ if we live in the way that was ordained for members of His Church to live: every prayer we utter, every testimony we bear, every ordinance we participate in, every sacrament emblem we take affirms our allegiance and loyalty to the Saviour.

And I would add that through every worthy thought of Him we cultivate, every worthy action in example of Him we execute, every unrighteous temptation we resist through our obedience to His commandments, we ultimately increase the spirit of belief throughout the world.  

We are the living scriptures some people will ever read.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Jesus by Joseph Brickey)

THE LIVING WORD

 

I did some research on why the scriptures are called ‘the living word of God’ and here is what I have found: they are given by revelation and understood by revelation and revelation cannot be dead for as long as God lives; they are given to men by a living God; they possess a dynamic and the transformative power that continues to speak to men from every time and culture to convince, inspire and guide; they possess a power to penetrate to the core of a person’s being to induce personal transformation.

I have a close friend who has told me more than once that if it wasn’t for the Book of Mormon, she would no longer be alive. I assume the Book of Mormon gave her the will to live in her darkest moments. I can relate to this and I can testify of the power of the entire sacred canon of scripture to help us survive the darkness. This is what the living word of God means to me.

There was a time 30 years ago when I thought my life was over. I was in the darkest abyss and wanted to end it. Then I made a decision that liberated me from the most painful situation I have ever been in and I turned to the scriptures to understand how to come to God who could deliver me from the excruciating pain I was in.

In my searching of the scriptures, I found the Christ, of whom they testify, at a much deeper level than ever before (John 5:39; 3 Nephi 23:5). I learnt who He really is as the Saviour of our souls and what power He has to restore us to life. I learnt all about the Atonement and how it can save us from adverse situations in mortality and how through it we can be raised to immortality through the power of the resurrection.  I learnt that my life was not over but that it was just beginning. The scriptures gave me life.

The more I studied, the more I craved the power to live that it gave me. It is a life line I still cannot do without. Not only did it give me a desire to live but it brought me to one person I now cannot live without. In my 30 years of scripture study, I have seen the Saviour on every page. I have seen who He is and what He is like.

In the Old Testament I see the merciful Jehovah; in the New Testament I see the loving Saviour; in the Book of Mormon I see the promised Messiah; in the Doctrine and Covenants I see the powerful God and in the Pearl of Great Price I see the dutiful Son and Redeemer of all mankind. And in all this I see life……given by the living Christ.

 

I stand in awe of Your sacrifice

And Your soul’s pain;

The body freely given

For nothing of You to remain.

 

I ache, I ache,

Knowing the cost;

Then I hear Your living word

And I am comforted

Knowing nothing is lost. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Living Word by Danny Hahlbohm)