Sacrament Talk: The Book of Mormon and The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

On the last leaf of the gold plates that Joseph Smith translated, there was the Title Page of The Book of Mormon, written by Moroni. On that last leaf, Moroni explicitly states the purpose of the record:

"Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations..."

As we have been reading the Old Testament this year, we are knee-deep in reading about these promises, curses, scattering, and gathering of Israel. To make a long point short and risking oversimplification, I quote this summary from Dr. Jon D. Levenson (professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard Divinity School) on those promises made to Israel:

"Without the restoration of the people Israel … God’s promises to them remained unfulfilled, and the world remained unredeemed... Jewish belief in resurrection was not... about the ultimate destiny of mortal human beings. It was about God’s righteousness, the vindication of those loyal to him, and the establishment of justice. The earth would give up its dead only in the context of the righting of Israel’s wrongs, the punishment of the wicked, the restoration of the lost, the reconstruction of the holy city and the Temple, and the universal recognition of the Lord as the faithful God of justice."(1)

In short, the resurrection of mankind is fundamental to understanding or even believing in God's covenant promises to us, ancient Israel, and the scattered remnants among the nations. This sets the stage for my quick message this morning, namely that The Book of Mormon is the ultimate witness of this truth to us. Even further, it is an unimpeachable witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which fulfilled those ancient promises.

In ancient Israel, one of the methods of learning and thinking about God's promises was to see their types, patterns, and how they would be reaffirmed throughout history. A classic example is how Jesus Christ and others used the symbol of baptism as a repeated symbol of the exodus story and the entrance into the promised land.

In this short talk, my contention is that the coming forth of The Book of Mormon on Gold Plates is reusing the pattern of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The following is a non-exhaustive list of that pattern or the types found in that history, and I note that these are just my observations as an untrained historian:

Christ's Resurrection Narrative	The Book of Mormon
"Where is the evidence?", Only Christ's words are left	"Where are the gold plates?" Only the words are left
Christ is the Word made flesh	The Gold Plates are the words made physical, according to 2 Nephi 27
The Lord is buried after being rejected	The book is buried after being rejected (Ether 4:3)
Joseph places Christ's body in the tomb (Mark 15:46)	Joseph removes the record from the ground
Christ's body lies for a day and a half	Moroni buries the plates, and they come forth a millennium and a half later (see 2 Peter 3:8)
Christ teaches the spirits of the dead (D&C 138)	A voice crying from the dust or the dead (2 Nephi 33:13, Mormon 9:30, & Moroni 10:27)
A stone covered the tomb (Matt 27:60)	A stone secured the box the Gold Plates were found in (JS-H 1:51)
Angels were present when the round stone was removed (John 19:41-42)	An angel is present when the stone was removed from the box (JS-H 1:59)
Empty Stone Tomb in Jerusalem (Mount Zion)	Empty Stone Box in Cumorah, Cumorah means: Rise up, O Light of the Lord (2)
11 and more witnesses of the Resurrection (Matt 28:16)	11 and more witnesses of the Gold Plates (see the Testimony of the 3 and 8 Witnesses)
A woman named Mary, with angels present, is the first known witness of the Resurrected Lord (John 20:11-18)	A woman named Mary, Mary Whitmer, is the first known witness (other than Joseph Smith) of the Gold Plates; an angel was present (3)
Gave sacred teachings after his resurrection (Acts 1:3)	Sacred teachings are sealed within the record (3 Nephi 26:6-11 & Ether 3:27)
Christ ascended to Heaven with angels present (Luke 24:50-51 & Acts 1:9-10)	Gold Plates taken to heaven by an angel (JS-H 1:60)
The promise of Christ's second coming (Acts 1:11)	The Lord promises to bring the whole book forth later (Ether 3:27 & 2 Nephi 27:21)
The Apostles had to grow in understanding about the importance of the miracle of the resurrection (John 20:9)	Joseph, over time, and ourselves continue to grow in appreciating the significance of The Book of Mormon (D&C 84:54-58)
The body of Christ has glory or brightness (Matt 17:2)	The Gold Plates will retain their brightness (Alma 37:4-5)
Those who handled the body of Christ knew of its surety (3 Nephi 11:14 & John 20:24-29)	Those who handled the plates, like Martin Harris, even until death, said they did not believe but knew the record was true.(4)
The Apostle's witness of the resurrection brought life-threatening persecution	The Witnesses of the Book of Mormon had life-threatening persecution
All men are brought back into the presence of God through the power of the resurrection (Alma 42:23)	Joseph Smith taught that The Book of Mormon would get us nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book.
It was thought that the tomb of Jesus was robbed when they found it empty and the apostles mourned over the death of Christ (John 20:2)	Joseph's family understood the coming forth of the Book of Mormon against the backdrop of death, Alvin's death in particular. The Book of Mormon was, in their world, a record that emerged from a grave-like hiding place and proclaimed that death itself would be overcome. Even further, Alvin's grave at one point was thought to have been tampered with by grave robbers. (5)

We also know that the Holy Ghost bears witness of both the Savior (3 Nephi 11:35) and The Book of Mormon (Moroni 10:3-5). This non-exhaustive list, in my own opinion, makes a compelling case for how we are to view the Book of Mormon. President Ezra Taft Benson once taught:

"The Book of Mormon is the keystone of the doctrine of the Resurrection."(6)

When we understand that the promise of resurrection was the hope of Israel for when God would fulfill his promises to them, we can begin to understand why the Book of Mormon was written for our day to be a witness of that resurrection to the Gentiles and the remnants of the House of Israel.

What I am about to declare is my opinion, but also my witness, given the above material. In a day of doubt, skepticism, and despair, The Book of Mormon is the sure witness we have that Christ lives! In fact, I would go so far as to say that the coming forth of that record is a type of the miracle of the resurrection. The same faith it takes to believe in The Book of Mormon is the same type of faith it takes to believe that the Savior lives. The Book of Mormon is sure witness of that reality.

That means all the loved ones you miss and all the anticipated promises you are currently waiting on can have their ultimate assurance as you hold The Book of Mormon in your hand. The Book of Mormon is not just another testament of Jesus Christ. As President Nelson put it:

"The Book of Mormon is central to the gathering of Israel [see 3 Nephi 5:23–26]. In fact, if there were no Book of Mormon, the promised gathering of Israel would not occur."(7)

The promise of gathering Israel has its ultimate fulfillment in the resurrection, and the way that reality will be accomplished will be through a resurrected book; a book that speaks from the dust. In that sense, those who refuse to be gathered or who seek to make an exit must do so, in the words of Elder Holland, "by crawling over or under or around the Book of Mormon to make that exit."(8) Or, maybe put more lightly, if you doubt your faith, hold onto the sure witness of The Book of Mormon.

Works Cited

1. Quoted in the following: Staples, Jason A. Paul and the Resurrection of Israel: Jews, Former Gentiles, Israelites. India: Cambridge University Press, 2023, p. 100

2. https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/rise-up-o-light-of-the-lord-an-appropriate-and-defensible-etymology-for-cumorah

3. https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/another-account-of-mary-whitmers-viewing-of-the-golden-plates

4. Letter of Elder Edward Stevenson to the Millennial Star quoted in William Edwin Berrett, The Restored Church (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1974), 57–58.

5. https://scripturecentral.org/archive/periodicals/magazine-article/alvin-smith-story-fact-and-fiction

6. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1986/10/the-book-of-mormon-keystone-of-our-religion?lang=eng

7. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/teachings-of-presidents-of-the-church-russell-m-nelson/09-the-gathering-of-israel?lang=eng

I also wish to point out the following material that gave me inspiration for this message:

The Book of Mormon as a Resurrected Book and a Type of Christ by George L. Mitton, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 42 (2021) : 371-396

A Word in Season: Isaiah's Reception in the Book of Mormon by Joseph Spencer, University of Illinois Press

Joseph Smith's Gold Plates: A Cultural History by Richard Bushman, Oxford University Press

In Heaven as It Is on Earth: Joseph Smith and the Early Mormon Conquest of Death by Samuel Brown, Oxford University Press