Lesson 18: “God Himself Shall Redeem His People”
Mosiah 12-17
Purpose: To help class members appreciate the importance of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and stay true to their testimonies of the Atonement.
Lesson Development:
1. Abinadi calls Noah and his priests to repentance, exhorts them to keep the commandments, and teaches of the Atonement.
2. Abinadi quotes Isaiah, testifies of the Atonement, and exhorts Noah’s priests to teach the people that redemption comes through Christ.
3. Abinadi seals his testimony of the Savior with his life.
SCRIPTURE DISCUSSION AND APPLICATION
Two weeks ago we talked about some ideas that came from King Benjamin’s sermon from the tower near the temple. I’ve been bothered ever since by the way that discussion went – I am sorry that we focused on narrowly on panhandling. The discussion probably went in that direction because Benjamin refers to “beggars putting up their petitions” (Mosiah 4:16).
I want to suggest that we have a too-narrow view of the gospel and what is required of us if we equate Benjamin’s “beggars” solely with today’s panhandlers.
Benjamin asks rhetorically in Mosiah 4:19, “Are we not all beggars?” and in that verse he lists a few of the material things we could not enjoy except God gives them to us.
Mosiah 4:19
19 For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?
But Benjamin doesn’t stop there, with material goods.
Mosiah 4:20
20 And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy.
If we are beggars, sustained by the gifts of God in both material and spiritual ways, let’s think again about what are obligation is, according to Benjamin, toward those who “put up their petitions” to us.
Mosiah 4:16
16 And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.
What “succor” do you have to offer to those in need? Is it limited to money, or material goods?
What other gifts do you have that might be classed as your “substance,” to be shared for the benefit of others? [time? talents? respect? dignity? friendship? comfort? the gospel?]
How many of these things you’ve just mentioned can you find in this verse, now that we’ve broadened the definition of “substance” a little?
26 And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you—that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God—I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.
These are the things I had hoped to discuss in that lesson. Thank you for going back with me to end that lesson better than we did the first time.
Now let’s go ahead with Lesson 18.
Do you know what it means to proof-text? (It is taking a small passage of scripture – a verse, or an isolated line – and using it to prove a point or understand an idea or teach a doctrine without any regard for the larger context – the whole chapter, or the whole story – of the scripture.)
This plucking of isolated passages from scripture can be a useful shortcut, in some cases: If you’re giving a 10-minute talk in Sacrament Meeting about the duties of the people of God toward all people, you might quote one of the verses of King Benjamin’s discourse without using up your entire 10 minutes to explain who Benjamin was and why he was preaching and to analyze his entire multi-day discourse. As long as you’re using those few words from King Benjamin to represent accurately the point he was teaching, then it’s fine to quote just the key verse.
But proof-texting can also be abused, when we take something out of context and don’t consider the overall argument that the full scriptural story is telling.
Ecclesiastes 8:15
15 Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry; for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.
Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? But reading more than the isolated verse makes it clear that the Preacher is condemning this philosophy of the wicked, not recommending it to the righteous.
The Book of Mormon is subject to proof-texting, too, of course. Things are not always what they seem, if we focus on the surface and fail to take into account the larger context … sometimes even the context of the entire Book of Mormon. Let’s do a rapid recap of the movements of the Nephites: [briefly and quickly sketch on board, showing movements of the people to remind class who the characters are in today’s chapters]
First Landing
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Nephi and Nephites flee to Land of Nephi
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Mosiah and some Nephites flee to Land of Zarahemla – meet and join with Mulekites
Circa 200 B.C., Zeniff leads group from Zarahemla to Nephi; makes peace with Lamanites (perhaps former Nephites) they find there) Zeniff is king of his colony. After about 40 years, Zeniff confers kingdom on his son, Noah.
Early in his record, Zeniff tells us this:
Mosiah 10:11-12
11 Now, the Lamanites knew nothing concerning the Lord, nor the strength of the Lord, therefore they depended upon their own strength. Yet they were a strong people, as to the strength of men.
12 They were a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people, believing in the tradition of their fathers, which is this—Believing that they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem because of the iniquities of their fathers, and that they were wronged in the wilderness by their brethren, and they were also wronged while crossing the sea;
The Nephites, by contrast, are the good guys, the people of God. Oh, they go through pride cycles and fall into iniquity and repent and all that, but overall they are the ones with the prophets, the ones who maintain the sacred record, the ones we cheer for in their battles with the Lamanites – that “wild, and ferocious, and blood-thirsty people.”
What kind of men are King Noah and his priests, overall? What do they eventually do to the prophet Abinadi? Oh – and were they Nephites or Lamanites?
The priests of Noah later flee the city, then kidnap and rape a group of Lamanite girls. Priests of Noah: Nephties or Lamanites?
A generation later, Alma the Younger and his missionary companion Amulek preach to people of the Nephite city of Ammonihah. The women and children who are converted there are rounded up and burned alive by the men of the city. Nephite or Lamanite?
Are there any accounts in the Book of Mormon of Lamanites burning people alive, or abducting and raping women?
Are there any accounts in the Book of Mormon of Lamanites receiving Nephite messengers and treating them with great hospitality, even to the point of offering the Lamanite king’s daughter in marriage?
Are there any accounts in the Book of Mormon of great Lamanite prophets?
Why, then, do we have this impression so firmly fixed in our imagination that the Nephites were the good guys, and the Lamanites were “wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people”? We need to be careful about proof-texting, and about taking all statements as if they were absolutely true. We need to look beneath the surface, look at who is speaking and why they might say such things. We need to take the context of the entire Book of Mormon into account.
Let’s turn to Mosiah 11, which recounts the first mission of Abinadi among the people of Noah, in the Land of Nephi. What does Abinadi prophesy concerning this wicked Nephite people?
Mosiah 11:21
21 And except they repent and turn to the Lord their God, behold, I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies; yea, and they shall be brought into bondage; and they shall be afflicted by the hand of their enemies.
What is the response of the people of Noah?
Mosiah 11:28-29
28 I command you to bring Abinadi hither, that I may slay him, for he has said these things that he might stir up my people to anger one with another, and to raise contentions among my people; therefore I will slay him.
29 Now the eyes of the people were blinded; therefore they hardened their hearts against the words of Abinadi, and they sought from that time forward to take him. And king Noah hardened his heart against the word of the Lord, and he did not repent of his evil doings.
Two years later, Abinadi returns to the city for a second attempt to call the Nephites there to repentance.
Mosiah 12:1
1 And it came to pass that after the space of two years that Abinadi came among them in disguise, that they knew him not, and began to prophesy among them, saying: Thus has the Lord commanded me, saying—Abinadi, go and prophesy unto this my people, for they have hardened their hearts against my words; they have repented not of their evil doings; therefore, I will visit them in my anger, yea, in my fierce anger will I visit them in their iniquities and abominations.
We sometimes laugh a little at this: Abinadi comes in disguise, then immediately announces who he is and why he has come. But really, it’s not funny – why does Abinadi wear a disguise? [The answer is apparently in verse 29 of the preceding chapter: All the people of the city were on the lookout for Abinadi. He likely would have been captured the moment he arrived – but the disguise allowed him to come into the city and choose the time and place for announcing his mission, at a time and place that would cause the people to take him before King Noah.]
When Abinadi is finally brought before King Noah and his council, the first thing Abinadi does is to read – not recite (Mosiah 13:11) – the Ten Commandments. Why, of all things he could have preached to them, do you think he began with the Ten Commandments?
Then Abinadi turned to the mission of Christ, teaching them as if these were things the people were familiar with, but had set aside.
Mosiah 13:33-35
33 For behold, did not Moses prophesy unto them concerning the coming of the Messiah, and that God should redeem his people? Yea, and even all the prophets who have prophesied ever since the world began—have they not spoken more or less concerning these things?
34 Have they not said that God himself should come down among the children of men, and take upon him the form of man, and go forth in mighty power upon the face of the earth?
35 Yea, and have they not said also that he should bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, and that he, himself, should be oppressed and afflicted?
Abinadi preaches a great many other things about the mission of Christ – particularly how Christ’s mission can redeem repentant people – even people who have been as wicked as Noah and his priests. *
Mosiah 16:15
15 Teach them that redemption cometh through Christ the Lord, who is the very Eternal Father. Amen.
That “Amen” seems powerful to me. Abinadi is not silenced until he has fully stated what he has come to say. He is not interrupted; the court is not left with any excuse that they didn’t get a chance to fully understand what Abinadi taught. Abinadi delivers his message, then he closes, and awaits the martyrdom that he knows will be his lot.
-oOo-
[* If the lesson goes faster than anticipated, discuss passages from this part of Abinadi’s message:]
Mosiah 16:5-11
5 But remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the devil hath all power over him. Therefore he is as though there was no redemption made, being an enemy to God; and also is the devil an enemy to God.
6 And now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there could have been no redemption.
7 And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection.
8 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.
9 He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.
10 Even this mortal shall put on immortality, and this corruption shall put on incorruption, and shall be brought to stand before the bar of God, to be judged of him according to their works whether they be good or whether they be evil—
11 If they be good, to the resurrection of endless life and happiness; and if they be evil, to the resurrection of endless damnation, being delivered up to the devil, who hath subjected them, which is damnation—
Thanks to Michael Austin, “Those Wild, Ferocious and Bloodthirsty Lamanites” at By Common Consent for material adapted in this lesson.