In 3 Nephi 27:14 Jesus declares, "My Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross." According to the Works of Ixtlilxochitl, the symbol of the cross was given to the ancient inhabitants of America by Quetzalcoatl. Ancient pre-Spanish Conquest crosses have been found in southern Mexico in ancient Bountiful-land territory. A beautiful example is the famous cross on the stone altar in the Maya temple at Palenque. Atop that cross sits the quetzal bird, another symbol of the resurrected Lord. That the cross and the quetzal bird appear together is noteworthy. Another cross was found by archaeologists at Yachilan on the Guatemala side of the Usumacinta River. The cross was known and used in Yucatan right down to the time of the coming of the Spaniards. According to Mesoamerican histories, "[He was] the first who worshiped and placed the Cross, which some called quiauhtzteotlchicahualizteotl, and others called Tonacaquahuitl, which means god of rains and health, and tree of sustenance or of life. [Milton R. Hunter and Thomas Stuart Ferguson, Ancient America and the Book of Mormon, pp. 210-211]
“My Father Sent Me That I Might Be Lifted Up Upon the Cross”
In 3 Nephi 27:14 Jesus declares, "My Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross." According to the Works of Ixtlilxochitl, the symbol of the cross was given to the ancient inhabitants of America by Quetzalcoatl. Ancient pre-Spanish Conquest crosses have been found in southern Mexico in ancient Bountiful-land territory. A beautiful example is the famous cross on the stone altar in the Maya temple at Palenque. Atop that cross sits the quetzal bird, another symbol of the resurrected Lord. That the cross and the quetzal bird appear together is noteworthy. Another cross was found by archaeologists at Yachilan on the Guatemala side of the Usumacinta River. The cross was known and used in Yucatan right down to the time of the coming of the Spaniards. According to Mesoamerican histories, "[He was] the first who worshiped and placed the Cross, which some called quiauhtzteotlchicahualizteotl, and others called Tonacaquahuitl, which means god of rains and health, and tree of sustenance or of life. [Milton R. Hunter and Thomas Stuart Ferguson, Ancient America and the Book of Mormon, pp. 210-211]
“My Father Sent Me That I Might Be Lifted Up Upon the Cross”
In 3 Nephi 27:14 Jesus declares, "My Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross." According to Warren and Ferguson, shortly before the arrival of the Spaniards in the New World, Chilam prophesied the return of Itzamna-Quetzalcoatl, the bearded, white-robed, white skinned Messiah of his ancient ancestry. When the Spaniards arrived, the Mayas of Yucatan believed at first, as did Moctezuma's people of central Mexico, that the "Fair God" had finally returned as promised (Roys 187). His people thereafter regarded Chilam Balam as a great prophet. Actually, he had merely repeated the ancient prophecy of the Fair God himself who had announced anciently that someday he would return. The prophet Chilam said a number of interesting and important things about Itzamna, the ancient prophecy of Itzamna's return, and Hunab-ku, father of Itzamna:
"There is the sign of Hunab-ku on high. The raised wooden standard [the cross] shall come. . . . Let us exalt his sign on high. . . . The First Tree of the World [the tree of life] is restored; it is displayed to the world. This is the sign of Hunab-ku on high. You shall be converted to the word of Hunab-ku, Lord; it came from heaven. Oh it is he who speaks to you!" (Roys 167-69)
Peter Matyr D'Anghera, an Italian geographer and historian who wrote in 1516 on the discovery of the Yucatan and the Mayas, observed:
They worship idols, and some of them, but not all, are circumcised. They have laws, and are extremely honest in trading, which they carry on without money. Crosses have been seen amongst them; and when they were asked, through interpreters, the meaning of that emblem, some of them answered that a very beautiful man had once lived amongst them, who had left them this symbol as a remembrance of him; others said that a man more radiant than the sun had died upon the cross. (MacNutt 7-8)
[Bruce W. Warren and Thomas Stuart Ferguson, The Messiah in Ancient America, pp. 81-82]
3 Nephi 27:14 My father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross ([Illustration]): Ancient Mesoamerican crosses: No. 1 is a Serpent Cross; No. 2, Cross shown on Quetzalcoatl's tunic; No. 3, Cross from Mayapan, Yucatan; No. 4, Cross of Teotihuacan (near Mexico City) with Life symbol at the top; No. 5, Cross from the tablet of the Foliated Cross temple at Palenque, Chiapas; No. 6, Cross and Tree of Life from Yaxchilan, Guatemala, with serpent-like tail feathers extending from the tail of the bird at the top of the cross; No. 7, Tree and cross from the tablet of the Cross at Palenque, Chiapas. [Bruce W. Warren and Thomas Stuart Ferguson, The Messiah in Ancient America, p. 80]