The Savior in Kirtland: Personal Accounts of Divine Manifestations

by Karl Ricks Anderson

April 3, 1836, was no ordinary calendar date. It was a day replete with correspondences. It fell on a Sunday. It was Easter. It was a holy day of Passover. It was one of two Seder (Passover meal) days celebrated throughout the Jewish world.50 It seems that Christ, when He appeared in the Kirtland Temple, desired to establish evidence, both symbolic and literal, for Jews and Christians to see. Jewish Symbolism • In a symbolic message to Israel, the Lord was identified as “Jehovah.”51 • In the prayer dedicating the Kirtland Temple, He identified Himself as “the Lamb.”52 The heart of the Passover was the lamb whose blood redeemed the children of Israel and freed them from bondage. • He identified Himself as “he who was slain.”53 This was another reference to the lamb that was slain, whose blood on the doorposts during the first Passover protected them.