Book of Mormon Feast
An Artistic Tour of 3 Nephi 1-11
3 Nephi 1
BOOK OF MORMON MUSIC
The Time Is at Hand -
Sacred Hymns of the Book of Mormon, 21
At a time when disbelief ran rampant among the Book of Mormon people, the not-
3 Nephi 1 – 17
BOOK OF MORMON CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Testaments – One Fold One Shepherd
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-
This film weaves scenes of Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death, and resurrection in Jerusalem with a fictional account of the history recorded in the Book of Mormon during the same time period. It culminates with the visit of the Savior to His sheep in the New World.
3 Nephi 1:9-
BOOK OF MORMON MUSIC
Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus
Mabel Jones Gabbott and Grietje Terburg Rowley
LDS Children’s Songbook, 36
Prophets throughout the Old Testament had given hints and clues of the coming Messiah. Just five years before His birth, the Lord revealed to His Lamanite Book of Mormon prophet Samuel events that would happen in the New World at the Messiah’s birth, and later at His death.
This song was originally titled “Christmas in Zarahemla.” Illustrated.
3 Nephi 1:15
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Señales del nacimiento de Jesucristo
Jorge Cocco Santangelo
3 Nephi 1:15
BOOK OF MORMON ART
At the Going Down of the Sun -
While in the Old World angels rejoiced and told the good news of the birth of the Savior, the Book of Mormon records that in the New World prophets had foretold a whole night of light in heavenly commemoration of His birth.
“And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold, at the going down of the sun there was no darkness; and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came.”
3 Nephi 1:21
BOOK OF MORMON ART
A Nephite Christmas – Young Nephite Children Looking Toward the Star
Jody Livingston
3 Nephi 3:17,18
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Jody Livingston
3 Nephi 4:7
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Jody Livingston
3 Nephi 4:28
BOOK OF MORMON ART
James H. Fullmer
3 Nephi 4:29
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Jody Livingston
3 Nephi 5:13
BOOK OF MORMON ART
This is a digital painting I did in Photoshop with a Wacom tablet. I got inspiration from the 3 Nephi 5:13 in the Book of Mormon, but I also combined this chapter with the modern days missionaries’s life of faithful belief to the Church and the Lord.
3 Nephi 5:16
BOOK OF MORMON PAINTED CLAY
Carolyn Stromberg, 1999
Mormon introduces himself as a disciple of Jesus Christ, who was named after the land of Mormon. He says that he made this record using the accounts which were written before his time.
Artist’s notes: “Lehi, his wife Sariah representing all faithful strong women of this sacred record, and Nephi, Enos, King Benjamin, Abinadi, Alma the younger, Ammon, Helaman, Samuel the Lamanite, Mormon, Moroni and the Brother of Jared are here in a circle representing eternal truths preserved on golden plates and brought forth for our day, through Joseph Smith.”
BOOK OF MORMON MUSIC
How Oft I Have Gathered You -
Sacred Hymns of the Book of Mormon, 22
When Jesus visited the people of the New World after His resurrection, He lamented the destruction that had just taken place, and reiterated to them, as He did to the people of Jerusalem, that He had been and continued to be willing to gather them to Him in peace.
Marilyn Arnold, lyricist, and Maurine Ozment, composer, created “How Oft I Have Gathered You,” available in their book, Sacred Hymns of the Book of Mormon, 22.
3 Nephi 9:1,13
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Will Ye Not Now Return Unto Me
Elspeth Young
The Book of Mormon records terrible destructions that occurred in the New World, after the crucifixion of Jesus in the Old World. After this, the resurrected Jesus spoke to the people: “O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?”
Symbolism in “Will Ye Not Now Return Unto Me”
Q: How does the composition express the particular moment chosen for the subject?
A: The composition presents a particularly intimate view of the Redeemer. When He first spoke to the peoples of ancient America, as part of His personal ministry among them, they had suffered cataclysm for three days. Their distress was dreadful. They were as yet engulfed in the close and complete darkness that had not only settled over the land, but was so dense that no fire could be kindled nor any light seen.
The Savior—in word, in deed, in every way—dwells above the darkness. He is the light of the world. When He came to the inhabitants of ancient America, He brought that light with Him. In this painting, He looks toward those who dwell in darkness beneath the storm clouds at the bottom of the painting. His countenance is the countenance of peace. He takes no pleasure in the soul that suffers, nor in the misery of anyone who perishes. He searches for those who need the light and life He alone can give.
In all the moments of our travail in the darkness by which we are so often surrounded in this world, He alone fills the heaven of our hope. As we suffer, the expansiveness of our own horizon shrinks until it narrows almost to the snuffing point at which the wick of our souls expires. This is a painting not only of the moment during which His voice was heard by all the inhabitants of the land; it is the moment in any of our lives when hope is all but gone.
3 Nephi 9:15
BOOK OF MORMON SCULPTURE
Dennis Von Smith
Bronze and wood, 2011
3 Nephi 9:18
BOOK OF MORMON SCULPTURE
Gary Lee Price
Bronze statue of Jesus Christ
Let the sky divide its doors
And the gates of the universe be open;
For the Son of
Man descends forth
Coming in His glory through the clouds.
Let angels sound their trumpets
Piercing the veil of darkness on the earth,
The Creator
has left His throne,
Thunder His declaration of departure!
Let the sun burn brightly
Bursting with the illumination of glad tidings,
That all
the faithful
Who witness His fulfillment
May rush forth to greet their Lord.
Let the meek and lowly
Raise their weary voices in jubilation,
Their Friend and Master
has come.
Let the sorrowful and the sick
Weep no more,
The Healer descends from Heaven!
Let the world tremble at His coming,
Charity His chariot,
Mercy His mighty robe,
And love His glory forever!
Alpha and Omega is here!
Let the bells of the millennium ring forth!
Poem by Howard Rainer, Native American Poet
3 Nephi 11, 15
BOOK OF MORMON MUSIC
Things Old Are Done Away -
Sacred Hymns of the Book of Mormon, 23
The Book of Mormon recounts how Jesus appeared to the people of ancient America, and taught them similar to His teachings in the New Testament.
This song celebrates His voice to these people, and the hope that He gives to all.
3 Nephi 11:6-
BOOK OF MORMON MUSIC
This Is My Beloved Son -
Children’s Songbook, 76
Heavenly Father has rarely spoken directly to people. He generally sends angels, commissions His Son the Lord, or speaks through the Holy Ghost. The New Testament tells us that God Himself, with His own voice, commended Jesus as His “beloved Son,” when Jesus submitted to baptism.
The highest point of the Book of Mormon is when Jesus, after His crucifixion and resurrection in the Old World, visited His people in the New World, His “other sheep.” God the Father introduced Him to these people at that time.
This song recalls these two times the Father spoke and introduced His beloved Son, and additionally when God spoke to young Joseph Smith, who was called to restore the fulness of the Lord’s gospel.
3 Nephi 11:8
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Jesus Appears unto the Nephite People
Arnold Friberg
The climax of the Book of Mormon is the wonderful visit of Jesus Christ to the inhabitants of ancient America. This supernal visit, but dimly recalled in the Great White God legends
of many of these peoples, is recorded with crystal clarity in the Book of Mormon.
“And it came to pass, as they understood, they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and they eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them.”
Artist’s Notes:
The pinnacle of the Book of Mormon is portrayed in the next work, JESUS CHRIST APPEARS UNTO THE NEPHITE PEOPLE. Here we witness a glorious scene fulfilling the words of prophets and holy men from all the ages past; the sublime climactic event of the Book of Mormon. It is after the three days of darkness and the terrible destruction upon the whole face of the land that now the darkness lifts, a divine voice is heard, as the figure of the glorified resurrected Lord descends from heaven to an awestruck multitude below. It is truly the time foretold.
Here I sought to express in paint the transcendent spiritual glory of the wondrous thing that happened there that day. I painted the divine figure so high in the air to fulfill the written description, and yet small enough to avoid any criticism of trying to paint a likeness of the risen Lord.
Classic Scenes from the Book of Mormon
3 Nephi 11:8
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Minerva Teichert
“In this piece beloved by Latter-
3 Nephi 11:9
BOOK OF MORMON ART
C.C.A. Christensen (1831-
oil on board, 1903
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Joseph Franklin Brickey
The Book of Mormon records: “He stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying, “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.”
3 Nephi 11:11
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Jorge Cocco Santangelo
3 Nephi 11:14
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Gary L. Kapp
The climax of the Book of Mormon is the wonderful visit of Jesus Christ to the inhabitants of ancient America. He gave the people an invitation and an introduction:
“Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.”
The artist’s sister, Janice Kapp Perry, described a special experience her brother had as he was painting this picture, in an article she wrote for Meridian magazine. (This painting is the 7th of 9 on the page.)
3 Nephi 11:15
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Elspeth Young
Jesus told his ancient apostles, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one Shepherd.” He did not explain to them who he was talking about.
The Book of Mormon answers the question of who these “other sheep” were. They were the people of Israelite descent who the Lord had led out of Jerusalem before the Babylonian captivity. These people lived the Law of Moses, but also understood that it pointed their hearts to their coming Messiah.
After Jesus’s glorious resurrection, He visited these “other sheep” in the Americas, as recorded in the Book of Mormon.
“And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet, and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gove forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.”
Artist’s notes:
The figure of the Savior appears clothed in white, as described in the ancient account. It is devoid of shadow and casts its own light on the figure of the woman. Such powerful whiteness is also described in the ancient narrative: And his countenance did smile upon them, and the light of his countenance did shine upon them, and behold they were as white as the countenance and also the garments of Jesus; and behold the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness, yea, even there could be nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof (3 Nephi 19:25).
The rock upon which the Savior is depicted as standing is intended to remind the viewer that He speaks of Himself as the Rock of Heaven (see Moses 7:53) and, as one ancient American disciple declared: Remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall (Helaman 5:12).
The grasses and wildflowers surrounding the figures bloom in the purest white, typifying the surety of the resurrection and the hope of eternal life.
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Walter Rane
oil on board, 2003. Commissioned.
3 Nephi 11:16
BOOK OF MORMON ART
Jesus Christ Visits the Americas
John Scott (1907-
oil on canvas, 1969