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The story of the Savior's birth is one of prophecy, preparation, inspiration, and miracles.
From the time Adam offered sacrifices, the Lord's prophets have known that God would send a Savior—the Messiah and Redeemer who would overcome the Fall and prepare the world for the kingdom of God. Indeed, a heavenly messenger explained to Adam the reason for sacrifice upon the altar:
"This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth.
"Wherefore, thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore" (Moses 5:7—8).The plan of salvation with Jesus Christ at its center has always been the message of the prophets. For example, Abinadi taught that, some 1,350 years before the Savior's mortal birth, Moses prophesied to the Israelites concerning the Messiah's coming. Abinadi added that even all the prophets have [thus] prophesied ever since the world began" (Mosiah 13:33; emphasis added). Some 550 years before the Savior's birth, Nephi testified that "according to the words of the prophets, and also the word of the angel of God, his name shall be Jesus Christ, the Son of God (2 Ne. 25:19). Later, Nephi's brother Jacob also testified: "For, for this intent have we written these things [our testimonies], that they [our posterity] may know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming; and not only we ourselves had a hope of his glory, but also all the holy prophets which were before us" Jacob 4:4; see also Hel. 8:22).
Prophets not only knew that the Messiah was "the Son of the Eternal Father" (1 Ne. 11:21); they also knew that Jesus Christ was "the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning" (Mosiah 3:8; see also 4:2) and that "the Lord hath created the earth that it should be inhabited; and he hath created his children that they should possess it" (1 Ne. 17:36).
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