THE ENSIGN OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS • DECEMBER 2002 Christmas on Temple Square, p. 34 Hope in Christ, p. 6 The Birth of Jesus, by Del Parson “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). DECEMBER 2002 • VOLUME 32, NUMBER 12 2 FIRST PRESIDENCY MESSAGE A Testimony of the Son of God President Gordon B. Hinckley 6Finding Hope in Christ Elder Johann A. Wondra 10 A Cloud of Witnesses Stephen K. Iba 14 More Than Lights and Bright Colors Patricia Merlos Finding Hope 16 GOSPEL CLASSICS 6 in Christ The Gifts of Christmas President Howard W. Hunter 20 The Power of Compassion Neil K. and Lloyd D. Newell 26 Little Boy Lost Emmett R. Smith 29 When Children Want to Bear Testimony Elder Carl B. Cook 34 ON SITE In Light of His Birth 42 The Man in the Leather Coat Elder David B. Haight The Power 44 Wanted: Modern Nehemiahs 20 of Compassion Elder Modesto M. Amistad Jr. 47 Ezra Unfolds the Scriptures Brian D. Garner 50 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Using careful judgment in choosing the music we listen to 52 LATTER-DAY SAINT VOICES 56 Living after the Manner of Happiness Elder Marlin K. Jensen 63 VISITING TEACHING MESSAGE Rejoice in the Blessings of the Temple 64 RANDOM SAMPLER In Light A Cloud 66 NEWS OF THE CHURCH 34 of His Birth of Witnesses 71 ANNUAL INDEX 10 THE FIRST PRESIDENCY: Gordon B. Hinckley, TEXT PROGRAMMER: Sally J. Odekirk at 1-800-537-5971. The Ensign Talking Book, for Thomas S. Monson, James E. Faust MAGAZINE GRAPHICS MANAGER: M. M. Kawasaki individuals with visual impairment or physical QUORUM OF THE TWELVE: Boyd K. Packer, ART DIRECTOR: J. Scott Knudsen disability, is available free of charge or through L. Tom Perry, David B. Haight, Neal A. SENIOR DESIGNERS: C. Kimball Bott, donations. Maxwell, Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks, Fay P. 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HINCKLEY little more than 2,000 the temple, declaring, “My house shall be called years ago the Redeemer the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of of mankind was born in thieves” (Matt. 21:13). HEINRICH HOFMANN A BY Bethlehem of Judea (see D&C Jesus was in very deed the great Jehovah of the 20:1). While yet an infant, He Old Testament, who left His Father’s royal courts on was brought to the temple in high and condescended to come to earth as a babe Jerusalem. There Mary and Joseph heard the won- born in the most humble of circumstances. His birth derful prophecies spoken by Simeon and Anna about was foretold centuries earlier by Isaiah, who declared the tiny babe who was destined to become the Savior prophetically, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a CHRIST IN THE TEMPLE, of the world. son is given: and the government shall be upon his He spent His boyhood in Nazareth of Galilee, and shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, when 12 years of age He was brought to the temple Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, again. Mary and Joseph found Him conversing with The Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6). TER RANE; INSET: learned men, “and they were hearing him, and ask- This Jesus Christ of whom we solemnly testify WAL ing him questions” (JST, Luke 2:46). is, as John the Revelator declared, “the faithful BY witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and THE GREAT JEHOVAH the prince of the kings of the earth.” He “loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and Later, as the Master stood on the temple’s pinna- hath made us kings and priests unto God and his cle, Satan tempted Him as He began His ministry. Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and Still later, the Lord drove the money changers from ever” (Rev. 1:5–6). BEHOLD, THE LAMB OF GOD, LEFT: THE ENSIGN/DECEMBER 2002 3 After the agony of Gethsemane came His arrest, His trials, His condemnation, then the unspeakable pain of His death on the cross, followed by His burial in Joseph’s tomb and the triumphant coming forth in the Resurrection. God be thanked for the gift of His son. THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD Added to all of this is the declaration of modern He was and is the Son of the Almighty. He was prophets: “And now, after the many testimonies the only perfect man to walk the earth. He healed which have been given of him, this is the testimony, the sick and caused the lame to walk, the blind to see, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!” the deaf to hear. He raised the dead. Yet He suffered (D&C 76:22). His own life to be taken in an act of Atonement, the No event of human history carries a more magnitude of which is beyond our comprehension. compelling witness than does the reality of the Luke records that this anguish was so great that Resurrection. His followers on two continents testi- “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling fied of it. Uncounted millions of men and women down to the ground” (Luke 22:44), a physical mani- through the ages have suffered, even unto death, for festation confirmed in both the Book of Mormon the witness in their hearts that He lives, the Savior and the Doctrine and Covenants. The suffering in and Redeemer of all mankind, whose Atonement HISTORIC MUSEUM TESY OF NATIONAL Gethsemane and on the cross of Calvary, just a few came as an act of grace for the entire world. How , COUR hundred meters from Gethsemane, included both long and how great is the concourse of brave and physical and spiritual “temptations, . pain, . humble people who have kept alive the name of hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can Jesus and a testimony of His Redemption! suffer,” said King Benjamin, “except it be unto death” Now He has come again, in the latter days, to ARL HEINRICH BLOCH ARL HEINRICH BLOCH/SUPERSTOCK (Mosiah 3:7). bless us and warm our hearts, to quicken our faith BY C BY C After the agony of Gethsemane came His arrest, and bring us sure and certain knowledge of His His trials, His condemnation, then the unspeakable living reality. We, of all people, can sing: pain of His death on the cross, followed by His burial in Joseph’s tomb and the triumphant coming forth in Joy to the world, the Lord is come; the Resurrection. He, the lowly babe of Bethlehem Let earth receive her King! THE BURIAL OF CHRIST, who two millennia ago walked the dusty roads of Let ev’ry heart prepare him room, AND Palestine, became the Lord Omnipotent, the King of And Saints and angels sing. RIGHT: THE DOUBTFUL THOMAS, Kings, the Giver of Salvation to all. None can fully (“Joy to the World,” Hymns, no. 201) OURN; comprehend the splendor of His life, the majesty of His death, the universality of His gift to mankind. We We honor Him, we worship Him, we love Him unequivocally declare with the centurion who said at as our Redeemer, the great Jehovah of the Old KILB DALE , BY His death, “Truly this man was the Son of God” Testament, the Messiah of the New Testament. The PETER’S DENIAL, THE CRUCIFIXION, PETER’S (Mark 15:39). entire thrust of the testimony of the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants declares our living Lord OUR LIVING LORD before whom we kneel in humility and faith.