These chapters cover the preaching of a prophet named Abinadi. In chapter 11, Abinadi came the first time to King Noah, his priests and people, and told them to repent, or they would be taken into bondage by the Lamanites. They ran Abinadi out of the city and he stayed out for two years. Abinadi returned and told the same group that since they didn’t repent, they would be put in bondage, but if they repent now, they will still be in bondage, but will not be destroyed. If they do not repent, they will just be destroyed from the face of the earth.
During this second visit, after Abinadi accused the King and
priests of many sins, they put Abinadi in prison while they tried to figure out
what to do with him. When they
brought Abinadi out to question him, the priests thought they would outsmart
him by asking him what a passage of scripture from Isaiah meant.
Mosiah 12:21-24
They perhaps thought that they would call Abinadi out on the
bringing good tidings and publishing peace and salvation, since to the message
he gave to them sounded nothing like peace or good tidings – they were being
called to repentance and the wicked take the truth to be hard!
Abinadi informs them that they have misinterpreted the
scripture and applied their own definition of peace and salvation.
“YE HAVE NOT APPLIED YOUR HEARTS TO UNDERSTNADING;
THEREFORE, YE HAVE NOT BEEN WISE”
Abinadi then engages the group with questions to discover exactly what they believe and why and what they are doing/not doing about it
Essentially he comes up with a set of steps they should follow if they really do want to receive salvation:
· Know the law, keep the law, know
why you keep the law, teach the law.
Abinadi has discovered that the law of Moses has become a
tradition, not a symbolic direction.
So, he reviews the ten commandments for them and after the mention of
the first commandment and an attempt to put him in prison again, the power of
the Lord came upon him, they were commanded not to touch him and with power and
authority from God he delivered the rest of the ten commandments and many more
points of doctrine. (see 13:12-24)
Then Abinadi begins to explain the real purpose of the Law
of Moses, helping them to follow the steps he has given them.
·
Yes, keep the law of Moses now, but do it only
by letting it remind you that there is more and better things to come.
·
The law of Moses was given to help them to
“observe strictly from day to day to keep them in remembrance of God and their
duty towards him.” Essentially,
avoiding an idle mind – to keep them busy.
·
But even with that strict guidance, their hearts
were hard and they didn’t want to understand.
·
Keeping the law you’ve been given now will give
you a better understanding of what is to come. Footnote in v32a Psalms
111:10 The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments:
his praise endureth for ever.
As I read through this lesson I realized that I had been thinking about how much better the people of this time are because we have been given the higher law. While there is a little merit to that, we really are operating under the same law of obedience to whatever law we are given. The fact that we live the law of Christ rather than the law of Moses, doesn't make us any better if we don't know the law/don't keep the law.
The law of Moses has been described as a preparatory law, and it certainly was, as it's who purpose was to prepare the people for the coming of Christ. But the law of Christ is also a preparatory law of sorts in that it prepares us for the second coming of Christ. Understanding and living this law is key to understanding our purpose and understanding the purpose of the Savior, so that we will actually know who he is when He comes. Like that reference to Psalms says: "A good understanding have all they that do his commandments." We have commandments and the same rule applies, as we keep the commandments, covenants, ordinances and laws and we will have a better understanding. However, I should not that the law of Christ, is not preparatory in nature with respect to the priesthood and keys that are available. We do have the fulness of the gospel now.
Abinadi then reads from Isaiah chapter 53, in Mosiah chapter 14, which I highly recommend reading as it has a feeling of 'why would you not want to have the Savior in your life?' type of feeling.
Abinadi explains this chapter in the next few chapters and gets to answering their original question of whose feet are beautiful for spreading good tidings and peace:
First, the Savior is, then the holy prophets, then those who believe the holy prophets. Abinadi gives warning to King Noah and his priests because they are not numbered in any of these groups.
My overall question for this lesson is: if the law of Moses was meant to point people to Christ, how much more is the law of Christ to point people to Christ? And how much of what we do really points to Christ? So, much so that we would recognize Him when He comes again?
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