3 Nephi 1:13-14

During this season, I feel it appropriate to write on my favorite Christmas scripture. It is frequently left out of Christmas Eve traditions, and rare is the occasion that the powerful principles taught therein are properly understood and appropriately applied. Let us all remember, the shepherds were not the first on earth to learn of our Savior’s birth.

Prior to His coming, the Savior called Samuel to testify of His arrival (Helaman 14:1-18). These prophecies included a time frame. The Savior was to enter the world in five years time.

As the days began to be accomplished and with “greater signs and greater miracles [being] wrought among the people,” it was no joyous season for the believers (3 Nephi 1:4). Samuel’s prophecy was met with both great anticipation and great scorn. For as the believers prepared themselves for His coming, those who saw it as foolishness prepared a day “that all those who believed in those traditions should be put to death except the sign should come to pass” (3 Nephi 1:9).

On the eve of the execution of his people, the Lord’s chosen prophet Nephi bowed himself upon the earth and cried mightily unto God for wisdom. On that first Christmas Eve in the Americas, he was answered:

“Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.

“Behold, I come unto my own, to fulfil all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will, both of the Father and of the Son—of the Father because of me, and of the Son because of my flesh. And behold, the time is at hand, and this night shall the sign be given” (3 Nephi 1:13-14).

What marvelous peace must have filled the heart of Nephi that night. Hours later and a continent away, a group of unsuspecting shepherds were privy to a similar announcement:

“Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

“And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:10-14).

Back in America, the signs prophesied of Samuel began to be completed. The first Christmas Eve on the American continent knew no darkness (3 Nephi 1:19), and a new star appeared in the heavens, announcing the arrival of the Savior (3 Nephi 1:21).

Appropriately, with even His first breath, Christ saved His Nephite followers from death and despair.

However, the most amazing Christmas miracle was not the night without darkness or even the emerging of a new star in the Astros, but the fact that Christ’s birth has the same effect on us today as it did on Nephi, the shepherds and everyone else who has entered into this world.

Paul described ours as “perilous times,” and indeed they are (2 Tim. 3:1). But it is important to note the words of the Savior:

“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

The first Christmas was marked with trials, tribulations and even heavy taxes. From death in the morning to no room in the inn, the Lord’s most chosen vessels indeed faced perilous times in their lives as well.

This Christmas let us better understand the Lord’s promise to Nephi. The Savior is ever watching over us. Like the Nephites of old, we are oft times pushed to despair only to be miraculously rescued on the morrow. He proved Himself with the people of Nephi, the shepherds and He will do the same with us. It does not always come when we want, and it never does come easy, but it comes, and Christmas always has been and forever will be, a time of miracles.