Sign of the Christbirth in Western Hemisphere

Day and a Night and a Day Without Darkness Told Story of First Advent.

Not only in the East—the land of Judea—were signs given of the birth of the Christ—the appearance of a great light which shone about the company of singing angels, who appeared to shepherds watching their flocks by night—the finding of the Babe wrapped in his swaddling clothes in the stable near Bethlehem—the three wise men who as Eastern star-led or Jerusalem in the quest of him who was to be born king of the Jews. Not only this—but in the Western world signs of his birth, fitting and beautiful were given.

The story of these signs comes from the prophet and the fulfillment of them in the Book of Mormon. The prophecy of them from of old, but repeated five years before they took place by a Prophet of a wild Elijah-type man, Samuel the Lamanite, who warned all who heard him. Portions of his signs are to occur of the coming Christbirth. His prophecy as told in the simple phrases of the Nephite Record stands as follows:

"Five years more cometh • • • then cometh the Son of God to redeem all those who shall believe on His name; and this will I drive unto you for a sign at the time of his coming. Behold there shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness. Insomuch that it shall appear unto men that it were day. Therefore there shall be one day and a night and a day as if it were one day and there were no night • • • For ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore ye shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night, nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before His birth. And • • • there shall arise such one as ye have never beheld, and this also shall be a sign unto you. • • • And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall believe on the Son of God the same shall have everlasting life."

This prophecy, and now the fulfillment.

Naturally this announcement filled the mind of the believing Nephites, with pleasing anticipation, and they did watch steadfastly for that day, and that night and that day which should come as one day, as if there were no night, that they might know that their faith had not been in vain. But there were unbelievers among the people and they seemed also to be the dominant influence in the community, for having no faith themselves they commanded those who believed to give up their faith on pain of death, holding that the time had passed for the fulfillment of the "foolish tradition" proclaimed by Samuel the Lamanite; and they would not tolerate this perpetuation of a foolish tradition of the fathers. Hence they fixed the time in which the prophecy must be fulfilled or belief in it must be surrendered by those who had received it as the word of God. At this juncture comes Nephi, a descendant of the first Nephi, and a Prophet of God. He took the case, as was fitting, for the believers before God, and pleaded in their behalf. And behold the voice of the Lord came unto him saying:

"Lift up your head and be of good cheer, for behold the time is at hand and on this night shall the sign be given unto the morrow come I into the world to show unto and on the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets. Behold I come unto my own to fulfill all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world, and to do the will both of the Father and of the Son."

"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. * * * And there was no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid-day; and it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning in its proper order; and then knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born because of the sign which had been given; and it had come to pass, yea, every word according to the words of the Prophets, and it came to pass also that a new star did appear according to the word." And this also was a sign unto the people of Messiah's birth according to the prophecy of Samuel the Lamanite.

This sign was the cause of great rejoicing among all the people who believed and of mingled cause of fear and astonishment on the part of the unbelievers, that stayed their hands in persecution.

A fitting sign this, truly, for one who in the same record is proclaimed to be the "Light and the Life of the World." A sign as beautiful as any that is proclaimed in the Jesus or Christ, for scriptures of the Old World. A beautiful prophecy and an equally beautiful fulfillment. The day, then the night in which there was no darkness. Then again the day and the rising sun—"And day of three suns" in the old Aztec tradition. And what a picture this adds to the world's Christology. —B. H. Roberts.