Volume One of this four volume serious of the life an ministry of Jesus Christ "Come learn of me," the Savior invites. "Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me. I am Jesus Christ; I came by the will of the Father, and I do his will." These words, spoken by the Savior in ancient and modern times, provide the challenge with which Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, begins this four-volume work on the mortal life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who was Jesus of Nazareth? What was his mission? What do we know of his birth, his early life, and his ministry? Who were his disciples? What were the conditions in Palestine in the Meridian of Time, when he walked the earth and mingled with men? In his earlier work, The Promised Messiah, Elder McConkie discussed the prophecies concerning the Messiah. Now, in The Mortal Messiah, Book 1, he writes about how the prophecies were coming to pass as the Advent of the Messiah approached the conditions in Palestine and among the Jews at that time: the birth of the forerunner, John the Baptist, and of Jesus himself: his childhood; his baptism and early ministry.