Nephi’s motive for writing was to bring people to Jesus Christ so they could be saved. President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) explained how the Book of Mormon accomplishes this important purpose: “The Book of Mormon brings men to Christ. … It tells in a plain manner of Christ and His gospel. It testifies of His divinity and of the necessity for a Redeemer and the need of our putting trust in Him. It bears witness of the Fall and the Atonement and the first principles of the gospel, including our need of a broken heart and a contrite spirit and a spiritual rebirth. It proclaims we must endure to the end in righteousness and live the moral life of a Saint” (“We Add Our Witness,” Ensign, Mar. 1989, 5).
President Benson explained that the phrase “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” refers to the Savior: “We must keep in mind who Jesus was before He was born. He was the Creator of all things, the great Jehovah, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was and is the Holy One of Israel” (“Five Marks of the Divinity of Jesus Christ,” Ensign, Dec. 2001, 10).