In Similitude of the Son

By R. Val Johnson

As the Alberta Temple neared completion in the early 1920s, the Church sent several artists to Canada to paint the murals for the ordinance rooms. The artists were also given space along the top of the walls in the baptistry, chapel, and terrestrial room to paint scenes focusing on the Savior’s atonement. The murals in the baptistry and chapel featured here are the work of Alma Brockerman (A. B.) Wright, a professor of art at the University of Utah. The scene from the terrestrial room is among the murals done by LeConte Stewart, a talented young artist who later went on to international acclaim as a landscape artist (see Paul L. Anderson, Ensign, July 1977, pages 6–11; July 1978, pages 40–45).

For seven decades now, those murals have inspired temple patrons to anchor their faith in Jesus Christ. Like the Alberta Temple itself, which stands rock-solid on the windswept prairie of western Canada, faith so centered in Christ stands firm against the winds of adversity.

Above: Adam Offering Sacrifice, by A. B. Wright; located in the Alberta Temple baptistry. Obedient to the Lord’s commandment, Adam offered sacrifice in “similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten” (Moses 5:7). (© LDS.)

Below: Moses Leads Israel, by A. B. Wright; Alberta Temple baptistry. When the Israelites were poisoned by serpents, Moses placed a brazen serpent on a pole—a symbol of Christ’s atonement and power to heal (see 2 Ne. 25:20). (© LDS.)

Baptism of Jesus Christ, by A. B. Wright; Alberta Temple baptistry. Christ was baptized by John to “fulfil all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15) and to show “the narrowness of the gate” by which a person receives the Holy Ghost (see 2 Ne. 31:5–13). (© LDS.)

The Resurrected Lord Appears to Mary, by LeConte Stewart; Alberta Temple terrestrial room. The resurrected Lord asked the weeping Mary, “Whom seekest thou?” Mary’s response reverberated with faith and joy: “Rabboni; which is to say, Master” (John 20:15–16). (© LDS.)

3 Nephi, Chapter 18 [3 Ne. 18], by A. B. Wright; Alberta Temple chapel. Just as he had done in Jerusalem, Jesus instructed his disciples in the New World to receive the emblems of the sacrament in remembrance of his atonement. (© LDS.)

Divine Authority Restored, by A. B. Wright; Alberta Temple baptistry. When John the Baptist bestowed priesthood authority on Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in 1830 (see D&C 13), mortals once more had access to the preparatory ordinances of Christ’s plan of salvation. (© LDS.)

Copyright by the Corporation of the President, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; no reproduction authorized or permitted.