Book of Mormon Lesson
# 18 Mosiah 12–17
God Himself-Shall Redeem His People
Introduction
As Moses stood up to Pharaoh and his magician-priests, so did Abinadi
confront King Noah and his priests. Moses contended with the words of the Lord
backed up by plagues to rescue Israel; Abinadi has only the words of the Lord
and the prophets to rescue one man who became the spiritual leader of the
Nephite nation—Israel in the New World. Elder Cree-L Kofford discussed
Abinadi’s influence and example: “What is there that is so special about
Abinadi? Perhaps it was his total obedience as he went, presumably alone, among
those whom he must have known would take his life, to deliver the word of the
Lord and to cry repentance to the people. Perhaps it is the very fact that we
know so little about him, or perhaps it was simply the way with which he faced
the adversities which came into his life in such a straightforward,
‘square-to-the world’ way. Whatever the reason, Abinadi was and is special. His
life, lived so long ago, still has the power to excite the mind and cause the
pulse to pound” (“Abinadi,” in Heroes
from the Book of Mormon [1995], 69–70).[1]
Mosiah 12–13.
Abinadi calls Noah and his priests to repentance, exhorts them to keep the
commandments, and teaches of the Atonement.
I used to wonder why
Abinadi used his own name when he came back after two years, but realized that
he would not have been known to many people and we cannot assume that “Abinadi”
is not a common name among the ex-pat Nephites. Jack Welch has an interesting
take on why he chose that particular time to come back, “When Abinadi returned
to the city of Nephi to preach a second time to the people of king Noah, he
would have understood that he would need to come back in disguise or he would
have been apprehended immediately and taken to the king, as Noah had already
ordered. He also would have wanted to come at a time when there was a large
group of people gathered together to hear his message. A festival day would
have been the ideal time for Abinadi to return and share the message of
judgment the Lord wanted the people, and King Noah in particular, to hear. The
most appropriate festival day to share this message of judgment would have been
the feast of Pentecost/Weeks, the day that the Law was celebrated. A close
study of the words attributed to Abinadi makes evident that the themes and
imagery of Pentecost were in the authors’ minds as this powerful narrative was
laid out.”[2]
Regarding the “as a
garment in a hot furnace” (12:3), John Tvedtnes has given some insight into
this as a simile curse, “I suggest that Abinadi's curse of King Noah, with the
specific mention of fire, was intended to indicate the very serious nature of
Noah's sins. Like the diseased garment in Leviticus 13:52, 57, and the useless
garment in Isaiah 14:19-20 (another simile curse), he is not to be honored with
burial. Instead, he will suffer death by fire, which is the ultimate punishment
of the wicked.”[3]
Question: As
we read Mosiah 12:1–7, how does that apply to us today—what kind of bondage do
we risk if we do not repent?
I think it might have
been Alma who asked Abinadi to explain the scriptures to Noah and his
priests—certainly most of those assembled who, according to vs. 14 didn’t feel
the need to repent, would not have humbled themselves sufficiently to ask for
insight into scripture.
What does Abinadi do?
He goes back to basics and quotes the Ten Commandments. Perhaps we, knowing the
Law of Moses has been fulfilled in Christ, do not think enough about the Ten
Commandments. Here’s Pres. Hinckley, ““[The] Ten Commandments [were] written by
the finger of Jehovah on tablets of stone for the salvation and safety, for the
security and happiness of the children of Israel and for all of the generations
which were to come after them” (Ensign,
Nov. 1991, 51). Question: What do the Ten Commandments mean to you?
Maybe today being Mothers Day, perhaps the 5th commandment is
especially applicable?
One of my favorite
Nibley quotes is regarding Mosiah 13:11: “Here is some of his bitter humor in
verse 11. They are the great scholars who have been asking him questions about
the scriptures. “And now I read unto you the remainder of the commandments of
God, for I perceive that they are not written in your hearts.” I have to read
them to you now because they are not written in your hearts. Oh, you have
studied all your lives, and you are great students of what? Iniquity—you have
studied and taught iniquity all your lives. He commends their study and their
knowledge, but he is going to read a simple thing to them because they don’t
understand it. It is not written in their hearts. Then he says, “I perceive
that ye have studied and taught iniquity the most part of your lives.” They are
great students, but students of iniquity. He gets some dirty digs in here.”[4]
Regarding Mosiah
13:28, Elder Oaks illuminated this verse for us, “Man unquestionably has
impressive powers and can bring to pass great things by tireless efforts and
indomitable will. But after all our obedience and good works, we cannot be
saved from the effect of our sins without the grace extended by the atonement
of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon puts us right. It teaches that “salvation
doth not come by the law alone” (Mosiah
13:28); that is, salvation does not come by keeping the commandments alone.
‘By the law no flesh is justified.’ (2 Ne. 2:5.)
Even those who serve God with their whole souls are unprofitable servants. (See
Mosiah
2:21.) Man cannot earn his own salvation.”[5]
We talk of the Law of Moses being fulfilled in Christ, but Elder Holland
explains the relationship, “The modern reader should not see the Mosaic
code—anciently or in modern times—as simply a tedious set of religious rituals
slavishly (and sometimes militantly) followed by a stiffnecked people who did
not accept the Christ and his gospel. This historic covenant, given by the hand
of God himself … was … a guide to spirituality, a gateway to Christ. … It
is crucial to understand that the law of Moses was overlaid upon, and thereby
included, many basic parts of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which had existed
before it. It was never intended to be something apart or separated from, and
certainly not something antagonistic to, the gospel of Jesus Christ. … Its
purpose was never to have been different from the higher law. Both were to
bring people to Christ” (Christ and the
New Covenant [1997], 136–37, 147).
Mosiah 14–16.
Abinadi quotes Isaiah. He testifies of
the Atonement and exhorts Noah’s priests to teach the people that redemption
comes through Christ.
The Encyclopedia of
Mormonism tells us that “Isaiah chapters 48-54 are all quoted in the Book
of Mormon, with some passages mentioned a number of times (1 Ne. 20-21; 2 Ne. 6:16-8:25;
Mosiah
12:21-24; 14;
15:29-31;
3 Ne.
16:18-20; 20:32-45;
22).” But here
Abinadi quotes from Isaiah 53. Elder Holland: ““Surely the most sublime, the
lengthiest and most lyrical declaration of the life, death, and atoning
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is that found in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah,
quoted in its entirety in the Book of Mormon by Abinadi as he stood in chains
before King Noah” (Christ and the New
Covenant, 89). In the Teachers Manual, this question is posed: “Abinadi
said that the Savior “satisfied the demands of justice” (Mosiah 15:9).
What are the demands of justice? (See Alma
42:11, 14.) What did the Savior do to satisfy the demands of justice? (See Mosiah 15:9;
Alma
42:12–13, 15.)”[6]
Elder Christofferson:
Justice is an essential attribute
of God. We can have faith in God because He is perfectly trustworthy. The
scriptures teach us that “God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth he
turn to the right hand nor to the left, neither doth he vary from that which he
hath said, therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal
round” and that “God is no respecter of persons.” We rely on the divine quality
of justice for faith, confidence, and hope. But as a consequence of being
perfectly just, there are some things God cannot do. He cannot be arbitrary in
saving some and banishing others. He “cannot look upon sin with the least
degree of allowance.” He cannot allow mercy to rob justice. It is compelling
evidence of His justice that God has forged the companion principle of mercy.
It is because He is just that He devised the means for mercy to play its
indispensable role in our eternal destiny. So now, “justice exerciseth all his
demands, and also mercy claimeth all which is her own.” We know that it is “the
sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom [the Father] wast well
pleased; … the blood of [His] Son which was shed” that satisfies the demands of
justice, extends mercy, and redeems us. Even so, “according to justice,
the plan of redemption could not be brought about, only on conditions of
repentance.” It is the requirement of and the opportunity for repentance
that permits mercy to perform its labor without trampling justice.[7]
Mosiah
17. Alma, one of Noah’s priests,
repents and records the words of Abinadi. Abinadi seals his testimony of the
Savior with his life.
In the introduction I talked about the one person whom Abinadi
converted. We all know the story of the single saved starfish on the beach
strewn with dying starfish, but here is a real life story narrated by Pres. Hinckley:
You don’t know how much good you can do; you can’t foresee the results
of the effort you put in. Years ago, President Charles A. Callis, then a
member of the Quorum of the Twelve, but who previously was president of the
Southern States Mission for twenty-five years, told me this story. He said that
he had a missionary in the southern [United States] who came in to get his
release at the conclusion of his mission. His mission president said to him,
‘Have you had a good mission? He said, ‘No.’ How is that?’ Well, I haven’t had
any results from my work. I have wasted my time and my father’s money. It’s
been a waste of time.’ Brother Callis said, ‘Haven’t you baptized anyone?’ He
said, ‘I baptized only one person during the two years that I have been here.
That was a twelve-year-old boy up in the back hollows of Tennessee.’ He went
home with a sense of failure. Brother Callis said, ‘I decided to follow that
boy who had been baptized. I wanted to know what became of him. . . . ‘I
followed him through the years. He became the Sunday School Superintendent, and
he eventually became the branch president. He married. He moved off the little
tenant farm on which he and his parents before him had lived and got a piece of
ground of his own and made it fruitful. He became the district president. He
sold that piece of ground in Tennessee and moved to Idaho and bought a farm
along the Snake River and prospered there. His children grew. They went on
missions. They came home. They had children of their own who went on missions.’
Brother Callis continued, ‘I’ve just spent a week up in Idaho looking up every
member of that family that I could find and talking to them about their
missionary service. I discovered that, as the result of the baptism of that one
little boy in the back hollows of Tennessee by a missionary who thought he had
failed, more than 1,100 people have come into the Church.’ You never can
foretell the consequences of your work, my beloved brethren and sisters, when
you serve as missionaries” (Teachings of
Gordon B. Hinckley [1997], 360–61).
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