When we served as missionaries at the Hill Cumorah Visitor’s Center, one of the most important things we did was to invite our visitors into a beautiful glass room that had a large marble statue of Christ. This Christus is like the one that stands in the Visitor’s Center on Temple Square, but it stands in front of a painting of the Sacred Grove, where Heavenly Father and His Son appeared to Joseph Smith, which is only about 3 miles away from the Hill Cumorah. It is an appropriate setting for the Christus, for it testifies that Jesus Christ did appear with Our Heavenly Father, in what we now call the Sacred Grove, to the 14 year-old boy, Joseph Smith. From that sacred experience, the Church of Jesus Christ was restored in its fullness, through the authority of the Holy Priesthood of God. I joyfully bore testimony of this truth.
In that beautiful Christus room, we played an audio recording of some of the words of our Savior Jesus Christ. After the recording, we had the opportunity to bear testimony of Jesus Christ. Even though I had a testimony of our Savior, it was a very scary and intimidating thing for me and I didn’t do the greatest job for a while. But over time, this is where the greatest growth came for me as a missionary and for me personally. It still was an awesome responsibility to testify, but this is where I came to know my Savior as I never had before and my testimony and understanding the Atonement increased each time I bore my testimony.Listening with our visitors, I heard Christ’s words, “I was with my Father from the beginning. I came to do the will of my Father….” I know that the will of Our Father in Heaven is summarized in this brief statement, “For behold, this is my work and my glory- to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (Moses 1:39) I know that through Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice, He did will of his Father, and that the only way for us to realize the blessing of immortality and eternal life is through Our Savior.
Christ stood before us in the Christus Room, with his hands outstretched, inviting all to come unto Him. The greatest lesson of the Historic Sites was (and is) that Christ is the central message of the Restoration. Our mission and all that we did at the Sites was to invite Our Heavenly Father’s children to come unto Christ. Especially in the Christus Room, I understood this great responsibility and opportunity and I rejoiced in testifying of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His Gospel to the earth.
One of the striking details of the Christus is the clarity of the prints of the nails in Christ’s hands and feet. I often reflected on and sometimes shared Isaiah’s words, “… yet will I not forget thee… Behold, I have engraven thee upon the palms of my hands…” (Isaiah 49:15-16 and 1 Nephi 21:15-16) I know that our Savior will not forget us, for we are engraved upon His hands, His heart, and His whole being, through his atoning sacrifice. Elder Jeffrey Holland once said of this scripture, “The Savior reminds us that He has ‘graven us upon the palms of His hands.’ Considering the incomprehensible cost of the Crucifixion and the Atonement, I promise you He is not going to turn his back on us now.” I know that this is true.
Tears often came to my eyes as I bore testimony of this great sacrifice, one that is almost overwhelming to consider. I once read a pretty amazing thought, probably by Elder Neal A. Maxwell, that even though Christ knew from the beginning what would be required, He did not know how hard it would be to go through it. He did not fully understand the pain, the sorrow, and the agony that He would have to endure. And yet, He did. This same comment included the thought that Satan did not think that Christ could “pull if off,” that He could do it, and yet, He did. His suffering was incomprehensible- the greatest upon this earth- but He did it.
I came to understand why. It was because of love- his great love for His Father in Heaven and his great love for us. It was a love that “passeth understanding” and it was the enabling power that gave Christ the strength to “tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore,” for us, for me, because of His great love. Another thought, whose source I do not know, speaks of how significant it is that Christ’s will was to do the will of His Father, because the whole Plan of Salvation depended upon it: “Incredible aloneness lay at the heart of the Great Atonement, and Jesus endured it, because He let His will be swallowed up in the will of the Father.” That is awesome to consider. I also came to understand the love of Our Father in Heaven in sending His Beloved Son and then having to witness the agony His Son endured in Gethsemane and Calvary, without being able to intervene. Neal A. Maxwell has said of this experience, “There was no ram in the thicket at Calvary to spare Him.” Our Father, the author of the Great Plan of Salvation, knew that only through the suffering of His Son would the opportunity of Eternal Life for all His children be forged. It was all because of love. Gratitude overwhelms me. Love of my Father in Heaven and my Savior fills my heart and my being.
I often think, as well, of the suffering He endured during the experiences surrounding the Great Atonement. I think of the Last Supper, of Jesus knowing what lay ahead and knowing that soon He would leave his beloved Apostles as He suffered alone. I think of the physical abuse He endured- no sleep, probably no food, being pushed, dragged, spat upon, smote upon, scourged, stripped, beaten, crowned with thorns, and made to carry the tremendous weight of the cross, after all this. And then, there was the agony of the nails and the cruelest method of execution- the Crucifixion. I think of the emotional abuse, as well- the ridicule, the rejection, the taunts and challenges (“If thou be the Son of God…” Matthew 27:40), and the denials. And, I think of the greatest trial of all, being left alone by His Father, (“My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46).
These things I came to understand as I testified of my Savior Jesus Christ in the Christus Room at the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center. I count this understanding as one of the greatest blessings I received as I served as a missionary at the Historic Sites. My understanding has grown and my testimony has increased and intensified over time as I have studied and pondered and prayed. It is time that I shared it, for that is another way to strengthen my testimony. So, I share my testimony with you whom I love.
As I stood beside the Christus, I often shared a great scripture from The Book of Mormon, which has the power to direct our thoughts to what we must do with this testimony of Christ, especially as we live in these last days of wickedness, evil, and peril. It has become my favorite scripture and I share it with the hope that it will become your rock of strength as you weather the storms of life that may lie ahead and that it will be your central focus, your foundation, and your joy in the exciting and glorious days before the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. The scripture is found in Helaman 5:12: “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storms shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”
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