All Things Bear Record of Me

I recently took an institute class entitled “Finding Christ in the Old Testament.”  We spent the entire semester going through some of the stories in the Old Testament and looking for how they teach us about Jesus Christ.  Now, I know what you’re thinking- The Old Testament doesn’t teach of Jesus Christ!  That was before His time!... Well, you’re wrong.  It does teach of Jesus Christ.  Actually, ALL of the stories teach of Him.  We just have to know how to find Him.

The Book of Mormon prophet Nephi gave us a good clue of where to start looking.  He said:

Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him. (2 Nephi 11:4)

All gifts that God has given unto man, even from the beginning of the world, are types of Christ.  For what was the greatest gift that God ever gave to the world? “His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

The first gift from God to man that we have record of in the Bible is the Creation.  That is where we will start.  The Lord, speaking to Moses said the following,   

And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me. (Moses 6:63)

How is it that every single thing that was ever created bears record of Jesus Christ?  The trees?  The animals?  The sky?  Do all these things symbolize Christ?  How can this be?  Well, the fact is that everything really DOES testify of Jesus Christ.  As we search to find symbols of Christ in the natural world, we will see that this is true. 

We will start by going through the Creation as recorded in Genesis.  As we do this, we will learn more about Him and His plan, and our knowledge of the Atonement will expand, and we will see, as the scripture says, that “all things bear record of [Him].”