The second reason for Jacob’s engraving a permanent record on plates that would not perish was that their brethren and their children might “know that we knew of Christ, and we had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming” as well as all the holy prophets before them (v. 4). The holy prophets must have had reference to the Old Testament prophets whose teachings and prophecies were recorded upon the plates of brass. Although Lehi, Nephi, and Jacob were prophets, Jacob is writing about all who “were before us.” Thus, it would extend to before Lehi and Nephi. Even Adam and Eve knew of Christ:
9 And in that day [after being driven out of the garden] the Holy Ghost fell upon Adam, which beareth record of the Father and the Son, saying: I am the Only Begotten of the Father from the beginning, henceforth and forever, that as thou hast fallen thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will.
12 And Adam and Eve blessed the name of God, and they made all things known unto their sons and their daughters. [Moses 5:9, 12]
Enoch knew of Christ: “ Enoch saw the day of the coming of the Son of Man, in the last days, to dwell on the earth in righteousness for the space of a thousand years” (Moses 7:65). Walking with two disciples on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection:
25 Then [Jesus] said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. [Luke 24:25–27]
Later that evening, after eating with the eleven apostles:
44 [Jesus] said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures. [Luke 24:44–45]
Lehi, Nephi, and Jacob quoted freely from the plates of brass. Other prophets worshipped the Father in the name of Christ, i.e. prayed, prophesied, and performed ordinances, but this is a “plain and precious” truth lost from the Bible (1 Nephi 13:28). Jacob’s people likewise worshipped. When Jesus ministered in the flesh among the Nephites, he taught them: “ye must always pray unto the Father in my name” (3 Nephi 18:19).
The law of Moses “pointing our souls to [Christ]” (Jacob 4:5) was later taught by Paul, “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24). However, Nephi had also labored “to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and be reconciled to God” and to know that “the law hath become dead unto us, yet we keep the law because of the commandments” until the law was fulfilled in Christ’s coming (2 Nephi 25:23–27). They kept “those outward performances” (Alma 25:15), but not necessarily all the minutia of the law. Nephi’s explanation of their keeping the law, but fully believing in Christ, exemplifies what Jacob said, the keeping of the law was “sanctified unto us for righteousness” (Jacob 4:5).
Jacob’s reference to Abraham’s offering up his son Isaac as an example of sanctification unto righteousness was confirmed in modern revelation: “ Abraham was commanded to offer his son Isaac; nevertheless, it was written: Thou shalt not kill. Abraham, however, did not refuse, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness” (D&C 132:36). The sacrifice being in similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son (Jacob 4:5), also teaches a very important, often overlooked concept. A similitude is a similar incident, but, in this case, is much more. It is a pattern, a type and shadow of what Christ was to do. As the Lord told Adam, “All things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of [Christ]” (Moses 6:63). Isaac was the only covenant son of Abraham, born of Sarah at age ninety through a miraculous conception. This was patterned after Christ being the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the virgin Mary through a miraculous conception (see Genesis 17:15–19; 18:9–15; Luke 1:26–38). Both were taken to Mount Moriah to be sacrificed (see Genesis 22:2; Luke 23:33). Both carried the wood for their sacrifices (see Genesis 22:6; John 19:17). A ram was provided as a vicarious sacrifice for Isaac (see Genesis 22:8, 11–13), and Christ was “the Lamb of God” sacrificed vicariously for “the sin of the world” (John 1:29, 36). The interjection of the example of Abraham and Isaac may appear to be coincidental, but it was undoubtedly inspired of God.