Jesus Christ

If you sense that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, why not do so now? For in the coming of that collective confession, it will mean much less to kneel down when it is no longer possible to stand up! (Ensign, November 1974, p. 13.)

Some crusaders without a cross have actually removed the divinity of Jesus Christ from the center of their doctrines-only to see all the other doctrinal dominoes tumble too. (Ensign, May 1976, p. 26.)

The Atonement not only rescues us but also exemplifies Jesus' character. His character can guide us, beacon-like, in the midst of our own afflictions, since these constitute the necessary crucible for the further refining and confirmation of our own character. (Lord, Increase Our Faith, p. 17.)

[The prophet] Jacob said that we will see "things as they really are, and as they really will be." That is how we should view Jesus, and because of His character He makes that possible. The more you and I come to understand God and Jesus, the more we want to be like Them and to be with Them. That yearning takes on a strength and an intensity that dims other things in comparison. Their character is so marvelous. No wonder the Prophet said, "If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves." How can we know who we are if we don't know who He is? How can we understand what our character should be like if we do not understand His? Christ's character is without flaw, and He is perfect in His love and empathy so you and I can trust Him completely. If He were not, imagine where we would be. ("'Lord, Increase Our Faith.'")

The more we know about the character of God and Jesus, which ensures their desire to help us, and also about their capacity to help us, the more we will have faith that the Lord's "grace is sufficient" to see us through our personal trials and troubles (see Ether 12:26-27.) (Lord, Increase Our Faith, p. 19.)

I thank Jesus for foregoing fashionableness and for enduring not only the absence of appreciation but also for speaking the truth, knowing beforehand that misunderstanding and misrepresentation would follow. I thank him for his marvelous management of time, for never misusing a moment, including the moments of meditation. Even his seconds showed his stewardship. (Ensign, May 1976, p. 27.)

How dare some treat His ministry as if it were all beatitudes and no declaratives! How myopic it is to view His ministry as all crucifixion and no resurrection! How provincial to perceive it as all Calvary and no Palmyra! All rejection at a village called Capernaum and no acceptance in the City of Enoch! All relapse and regression in ancient Israel and no Bountiful with its ensuing decades of righteousness. (Ensign, November 1981, p. 8.)

We can wait, as we must, to learn later whether … Matthew's or Luke's account of Jesus' Davidic descent is correct. (See Matt. 1; Luke 3.) Meanwhile, the Father has, on several occasions, given us Jesus' crucial genealogy: "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" (See Matt. 3:17; 17:5; 3 Ne. 11:7; JS-H 1:17; italics added.) (Ensign, November 1984, p. 11.)

Though crucified briefly between two thieves, Jesus now sits eternally on the right hand of God! (See Luke 22:69; 1 Pet. 3:22.) He is the Lord of the constructed universe, yet He was known merely as "the carpenter's son." (Matt. 13:55.) (Ensign, November 1988, p. 33.)

Christ never brushed aside those in need because He had bigger things to do! (Ensign, November 1990, p. 16.)

Each of us is an innkeeper who decides if there is room for Jesus! (Ensign, November 1992, p. 66.)

As Jesus begins to have a real place in our lives, we are much less concerned with losing our places in the world. When our minds really catch hold of the significance of Jesus' atonement, the world's hold on us loosens. (See Alma 36:18.) (Ensign, November 1992, p. 67.)

Consider, what if Jesus' Mortal Messiahship had consisted only of remarkable sermons? Or was further enhanced with healings and other miracles-but without Gethsemane's and Calvary's awful but consecrated hours of the Atonement? How then would we regard Jesus' ministry? Where would mankind be? (Ensign, November 1992, p. 67.)

Christ on the cross gave out the cry "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" That cry on the cross is an indication that the very best of our Father's children found the trials so real, the tests so exquisite and so severe, that he cried out-not in doubt of his Father's reality, but wondering "why" at that moment of supreme agony-for Jesus felt so alone. ("But for a Small Moment," p. 445.)

We may turn from Him, but He is still there. We may feel that He is hidden from us because of the cloud cover of our concerns, but He is still close to us. We-not He-let something come between us, but no lasting eclipse need ensue. Our provincialism cannot withstand His universalism. Our disregard of Him is no match for His love of us. Yes, Jesus of Nazareth lived! He lives now! He guides His Church! ("'All Hell Is Moved,'" p. 181.)

Unlike servitude to sin, by wearing his yoke we truly learn of the Yoke Master in what is an education for eternity as well as for mortality. ("'Meek and Lowly,'" p. 53.)

Though he was actually the Creator of this world, the earth being his footstool, Jesus' willingness to become from birth a person of "no reputation" provides one of the great lessons in human history. He, the leader-servant, who remained of "no reputation" mortally, will one day be he before whom every knee will bow and whose name every tongue will confess (see Philip. 2:10-11). ("'Meek and Lowly,'" p. 55.)

It does not surprise me that Satan would thus try to influence the painting of pictures of a Jesus Satan never saw. Satan encountered no effeminate Lord on the Mount of Temptation. Satan did not go up against a frail Lord in the preexistence, nor was he dispatched out of the presence of a fragile Lord. Indeed, the Lord whom Satan often has had represented in religious art is just the opposite of that Being of whom he is so fearfully jealous. There is no truth in Lucifer's art. (Deposition of a Disciple, pp. 59-60.)

Jesus is the only perfect leader to grace this globe, and he was the only individual who was perfect in his love. ("…A More Excellent Way", p. 4.)

The only real veneration of Jesus is emulation of Him. Indeed, striving to become like Him is a special way of bearing and sharing our testimony of Him. (Even As I Am, p. 2.)

Who but merciful and discerning Jesus could be betrayed, arrested, and forsaken, and yet extend to a one-time persecutor, Saul, the great apostolic calling? Later on, the same Creator of this and other worlds stood by a jailed and persecuted Paul in the night. [Acts 9:5; 23:11.] (Even As I Am, p. 30.)

Only when what and who He is begin to dawn more fully upon us-and to fill us with awe instead of respect-will we really follow Him. (Even As I Am, p. 36.)

Jesus refused to be one of "woeful countenance." Not only did He refuse to let the establishment of the time tell Him with whom he might dine; He also refused to insist that people look mournful when they were fasting. Though He was called "man of sorrows," that description refers to His bearing of our sorrows-not His; it does not describe His day-to-day bearing! (Even As I Am, p. 103.)

His duties have long been galactic, yet He noticed the widow casting in her mite. I am stunned at His perfect, unconditional love of all. Indeed, "I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me." I thank Him for His discerning way of loving us without controlling us, for never letting the needs of now crowd out the considerations of eternity. I thank Him, in every situation, for maintaining His grip on Himself, which was also mankind's hold on the eternal future. (Even As I Am, p. 115.)

Did not this good and true Shepherd forgo repose after the glorious but awful Atonement in order to establish His work among the lost sheep who were disobedient in the days of Noah? Did He not then visit still other lost sheep in the Americas? Then still other lost sheep? What can we tell Him about conscientiousness? (Even As I Am, p. 119.)

Jesus lifts us up in a world which so often puts people down. (A Wonderful Flood of Light, p. 115.)

Jesus could not have done the things He did if He had been like some of us-fretting over dominion, fearing the criticism of the world, and seeking glory and praise. In contrast there was Lucifer, whose ascendancy was more important to him than our agency (see Moses 4:1, 3). A ( Wonderful Flood of Light, p. 119.)

In the great premortal council, when Jesus meekly volunteered, saying, "Here am I, send me" (Abr. 3:27), it was a most significant moment: a few words were preferred to many, for the meek do not multiply words. Never has one individual offered to do so much for so many with so few words as did Jesus when, having created this and other worlds, He then meekly proffered Himself as ransom for all of us on this planet, billions and billions of us! (Meek and Lowly, p. 8.)

Christ's remaining possession, a cloak, was gambled for even as He died. (John 19:23-24.) Yet the very earth was the footstool of Him who was meek and lowly! Jesus gave mankind living water so that we shall never thirst again. In return, on the cross He was given vinegar. (Meek and Lowly, p. 11.)

Jesus did not find pleasure in hanging on the cross; joy came after duty and agony. He went to Gethsemane and Golgotha out of a sense of supreme service, not because it would meet his needs. He fulfilled all things by giving all in that remarkable and special act of service. He descended below all-taking more than all of us put together have taken-before being lifted up. (All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, p. 60.)

When Jesus said, "Come, follow me," it was an invitation, not a taunt. Moreover, His firm footprints are especially recognizable. They reflect no hesitancy, and no turning aside; they lie in a straight path. The prints are also sunk inerasably deep into the soil of the second estate because of the heavy burdens He bore. A portion of that depth is attributable to us, individually, because we added to the heaviness of His pressing yoke. ("Not My Will, But Thine", p. 13.)

Each of the Savior's names implies so much! The name Jesus denotes "God's help" and "Savior." The name Christ means "Anointed One," "Messiah." We are to have faith in those names and in their implications for all mankind and for us personally. These names are profound, especially when compared to the understandable but understated appellations "the carpenter's son" or "Jesus of Nazareth." Designations by vocation or location are far too provincial when describing the Lord of the universe. (Lord, Increase Our Faith, p. 9.)

If we do not regard Him highly enough to pay heed to His words about who He is, we will pay less heed to what He says and requires of us. The resulting diminution of regard and comprehension will result in little faith. What "think [we] of Christ" inevitably determines His operative relevance for our lives. (Lord, Increase Our Faith, p. 9.)

Ever observant, in both the first and second estates, consecrated Jesus always knew in which direction He faced: He consistently emulated His Father. (Ensign, November 1995, p. 23.)



(Cory H. Maxwell, ed., The Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997], 179.)