“I Glory in My Jesus”

By Elder Adolf J. Johansson

Area Seventy

I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell. (2 Nephi 33:6)

One of the most powerful witnesses of Jesus Christ is the prophet Nephi in the Book of Mormon. After hearing the testimony of his father, Lehi, Nephi desired to know the things his father had seen and heard. One of Nephi’s powerful testimonies is found in 2 Nephi 33:6, where he declares with power, “I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell.” I was touched by the phrase Nephi used “I glory in my Jesus”. Nephi could have used the phrase I glory in Jesus. Why did Nephi use the phrase “I glory in my Jesus?” As I pondered this short but powerful phrase, I began to feel that Nephi wanted us to make the Savior our Savior, my Savior, your Savior. This phrase “My Jesus” engages the heart in a personal relationship with the Lord that goes beyond just knowing about Him. The Savior’s invitation to come unto Him is so personal and so powerful that if heeded, it will transform each of us from a state of believing, to state of knowing and a state of becoming like Him.

In the Book of Mormon, Moroni testified of his personal visit with the Lord, “I have seen Jesus, and . . . he hath talked with me face to face.”¹ After such a sacred personal experience with the Lord, Moroni testified again with this invitation: “And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.”²

In the dispensation of the fulness of times, Joseph Smith, the prophet of the Lord testifies to the world, “I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”³ Joseph Smith sealed his commitment to his testimony with these words “For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it.”⁴

The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is a proclamation to the world from His living Apostles.

“We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.”⁵

May we glory in the gift of God’s Only Begotten Son, even Jesus Christ. From the beginning of time to these, the latter days, God has revealed His Son to special witnesses called prophets. The Holy Ghost bears witness to each believing heart that hears the words of God’s prophets. From Adam to President Russell M. Nelson these prophets point the way to Christ. As we follow the example of Nephi, who obeyed the words his father, Lehi the prophet, we too can declare “I glory in my Jesus, for He hath redeemed my soul from hell.”⁶