The Word

While studying John 1 this week my thoughts were turned to the many different names of Jesus Christ that are mentioned in just this one chapter (I counted 13!). The one title I was most drawn to studying and thinking about was "the Word."

D&C 93:8 states that "He (Jesus Christ) was the Word, even the messenger of salvation" and "the Gospel of John emphasizes that Jesus Christ is the messenger of the Father to the world. As such, He declares the Father's words." (New Testament student manual)

While studying the talk “This Day” by Elder Rasband, footnote 7 shares the scripture 1 Nephi 15:23-24 which talks about how the iron rod symbolizes the word of god. Because I’d been thinking about “the Word” as another name of Jesus Christ, I read that scripture with new insight… “and whoso would hearken unto the word of God (Christ), and would hold fast unto it (Christ), they would never perish." 

Our scriptures-the "word", lead us to Christ-the "Word"-and it is through Christ that we are saved from the fiery darts of the adversary. So as we sing the words “hold to the rod, the iron rod, Tis strong and bright and true, the iron rod is the word of god, twill safely guide us through”, in addition to thinking of the word as the scriptures, we can also think about holding on to Christ who is strong and bright and true. He is the one who will safely guide us through the trials and challenges of this life.

As I attended my Stake Conference meetings this weekend, one of the speakers asked a question that turned my thoughts again to this particular name of Christ. The question posed was "how do we spend more time with the Lord?" The word that immediately came to my mind was "Word." The Spirit was teaching me that one of the most important ways we can spend more time with the "Word" is by studying His words.