The Condescension of God

Arnold Frieberg painting of Nephi's Vision

Every year at Christmas time, I think about Nephi's vision in 1 Nephi 11.  As a part of that vision, Nephi was shown the beauty and purity of Mary, the mother of our Lord.  Wanting to ensure that Nephi understood the message of his vision, the Spirit asked him and important question:  "Knowest thou the condescension of God?" (1 Nephi 11:16)  The youthful Nephi responded the way that many of us respond when we are asked challenging questions as he attempted to answer the question without having a clue what the question had actually meant.  He responded, "I know that [God] loveth his children; nevertheless I do not know the meaning of all things" (1 Nephi 11:17).


Knowledgeable as he was, Nephi did not seem to have understood the meaning of the enigmatic phrase "the condescension of God."  Without really knowing it, however, Nephi provided the perfect answer to his teacher's question, an answer that turned out to be much more guided by inspiration than by desperation.


The condescension of God held a twofold meaning.  First, it was the glorious truth that our perfect Father came down to earth to beget His perfect Son, "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).  Nephi wrote, "And I looked and behind the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms.  And the angel said unto me:  Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!" (1 Nephi 11:20-21) Second, the condescension of God was the merciful decision of our Savior to come to earth and to suffer, bleed, and die in our behalf so that He might know "how to succor [us] according to [our] infirmities" (Alma 7:12) and "draw all men unto [Him]" (3 Nephi 27:13).


Nephi's answer may not have been theologically complex, but it was everlastingly true.  In all of the perplexities and questions of life, we, like Nephi, can rest assured that God loveth His children.  All that the Father and the Son have done, They have done out of their great love and mercy toward us.  As Nephi would later state, "He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his life that he may draw all men unto him" (2 Nephi 26:24).  The whole meaning of this Christmas season is that "[God] loveth his children."  It was that love that caused the Father to send His Son to Earth, and it was that love that prompted the Savior to pay the price of our redemption.


The Prophet Joseph Spoke a great truth when he declared, "Love is one of the chief characteristics of Deity, and ought to be manifested by those who aspire to be the sons [and daughters] of God" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 174).  At this Christmas season, may we contemplate and comprehend more fully the marvelous love of God as manifest in the gift and sacrifice of His Son.  And then, having come to know and experience "the pure love of Christ," may we "pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that we may be filled with this love...that when he shall appear we shall be like him" (Moroni 7:47-48).  And being filled with that love, may we then seek to bless all of our Father's children.


Brett