What if Christ Had Not Come into the World?
Book of Mormon Notes - Wednesday, July 19, 2023, Mosiah 16
As I thought about the question about why King Noah and his wicked priests were offended, I wondered if perhaps King Noah and his people were laboring under some misconceptions about Deity. Perhaps when Abinadi testified that God Himself shall come down, King Noah and his wicked priests attempted to accuse Abinadi of blasphemy or of teaching false doctrine because they were an idolatrous people who worshiped multiple false gods. Whatever the case, King Noah and his wicked priests found something offensive, or at least pretended to find something offensive about God Himself coming down among His people.
Wherever Mormon received Abinadi’s direct words, whether from Alma’s writing or from some other source, Mormon continued to quote Abinadi verbatim, and Abinadi continued to answer the question of Noah’s wicked priest and to interpret Isaiah. Abinadi’s interpretation of Isaiah in Mosiah 16 brings us to events that have yet to be completely fulfilled. Remember, Mormon did not abridge and record Abinadi’s teachings just for his son Moroni, because he, like his son, knew that the Nephite civilization was on the brink of destruction. Mormon recorded these words specifically for his latter-day audience, namely you and me.
Thus we can imagine Abinadi speaking directly to us, interpreting these passages of Isaiah that might sometimes seem cryptic:
And now, it came to pass that after Abinadi had spoken these words he stretched forth his hand and said: The time shall come when all shall see the asalvation of the Lord; when bevery nation, kindred, tongue, and people shall see eye to eye and shall cconfess before God that his djudgments are just.
And then shall the awicked be bcast out, and they shall have cause to howl, and cweep, and wail, and gnash their teeth; and this because they would not dhearken unto the voice of the Lord; therefore the Lord redeemeth them not. (Mosiah 16:1-2)
Have these things been fulfilled yet? No. But we know that all of Isaiah’s words, and Abinadi’s interpretation of Isaiah’s words, shall be fulfilled. This portion of Abinadi’s interpretation of Isaiah points forward, not just from Isaiah’s time or Abinadi’s time, but even from our own time. In the future, the Lord shall return, and everyone shall know it. A passage from “The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles” adds yet another witness to this truth:
We testify that He will someday return to earth. “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” (Isaiah 40:5). He will rule as King of Kings and reign as Lord of Lords, and every knee shall bend and every tongue shall speak in worship before Him. Each of us will stand to be judged of Him according to our works and the desires of our hearts.
The Lord loves us all, and He doesn’t want anyone to perish.
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no apleasure in the bdeath of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye cdie, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 33:11)
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that,
“There is never a time when the spirit is too old to approach God. All are within the reach of pardoning mercy, who have not committed the unpardonable sin.”
Why, then, will the wicked be cast out? Because they would not dhearken unto the voice of the Lord. No wonder, then, that President Nelson and the living apostles have repeatedly emphasized the importance of listening to, and hearkening unto the voice of the Lord, or in other words, to #Hear Him.
Hearing the Lord is the first step toward hearkening unto Him, or listening with the intention to obey Him. King Noah and his wicked priests would not hear Abinadi and they would not hear the Lord, all except for young Alma. King Noah and his wicked priests heard the words that Abinadi spoke, but young Alma was the only one who truly heard.
Abinadi continued his discourse and explained the reality of an adversary, the devil, who beguiled Adam and Eve and caused their fall. The devil is also the cause for which all mankind becomes carnal, sensual, and devilish. Abinadi testified that because of the devil and his temptations, all mankind is lost, and would remain endlessly lost without our Redeemer Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came to redeem us from our lost and fallen state.
But Abinadi warns King Noah and his wicked priests, and he warns us not to persist in our own carnal nature, going on in the ways of sin and rebellion against God, or remaining in our fallen state. He invites us to repent. Like Lehi, Nephi, and other Book of Mormon prophets, Abinadi preaches the truth about Christ by presenting us with a hypothetical negative situation:
And now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come aas though they had already come, there could have been no redemption.
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 asting, there could have been no resurrection. (Mosiah 16:6-7)
Then, like the other aforementioned Book of Mormon prophets, Abinadi resolves this hypothetical situation by testifying of Christ:
But there is a aresurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of bdeath is swallowed up in Christ. (Mosiah 16:8)
Compare Lehi’s teachings about Christ to his sons:
And if ye shall say there is ano law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not bthere is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.
And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and alearning; for there is a God, and he hath bcreated all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be cacted upon. (2 Nephi 2:13-14)
And compare Nephi’s similar teachings:
And my soul delighteth in proving unto my people that asave Christ should come all men must perish.
For if there be ano Christ there be no God; and if there be no God we are not, for there could have been no bcreation. But there is a God, and che is Christ, and he cometh in the fulness of his own time. (2 Nephi 11:6-7)
Think about it. What if there were no God? What if Jesus Christ had not come? What if Jesus Christ had not Atoned for our sins? What would the consequences be? Lehi’s son, and Nephi’s brother, helps us to understand the answer to these questions:
Wherefore, it must needs be an ainfinite batonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the cfirst judgment which came upon man must needs have dremained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.
O the awisdom of God, his bmercy and cgrace! For behold, if the dflesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who efell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the fdevil, to rise no more.
And our spirits must have become alike unto him, and we become devils, bangels to a cdevil, to be dshut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of elies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who fbeguiled our first parents, who gtransformeth himself nigh unto an hangel of light, and istirreth up the children of men unto jsecret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness.
O how great the agoodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our bescape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, cdeath and dhell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. (2 Nephi 9:7-10)
Without Jesus Christ, each one of us would be forever doomed. This is something to ponder.
President Nelson has recently taught in a similar way a hypothetical negative about what our lives might be like without the Book of Mormon.
But Abinadi testifies that there is a resurrection, that the grave has no victory, and that the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He testifies that Jesus Christ is the light and the life of the world. He is a light that is endless, that can never be darkened. He is a life which is endless, that there can be no more death. Abinadi’s testimony reminds me of one of my favorite hymns:
The Lord is my light; then why should I fear?
By day and by night his presence is near.
He is my salvation from sorrow and sin;
This blessed assurance the Spirit doth bring.
[Chorus]
The Lord is my light;
He is my joy and my song.
By day and by night
He leads, he leads me along.
The Lord is my light; tho clouds may arise,
Faith, stronger than sight, looks up thru the skies
Where Jesus forever in glory doth reign.
Then how can I ever in darkness remain?
The Lord is my light; the Lord is my strength.
I know in his might I’ll conquer at length.
My weakness in mercy he covers with pow’r,
And, walking by faith, I am blest ev’ry hour.
The Lord is my light, my all and in all.
There is in his sight no darkness at all.
He is my Redeemer, my Savior, and King.
With Saints and with angels his praises I’ll sing.
Abinadi testifies that we shall each resurrect and be brought to stand before the bar of God, to be judged of Him according to our works. He preaches repentance and urges warns us to depart from our iniquities. Mormon records Abinadi’s warning to King Noah and his wicked priests, which is also a warning to us:
And now, ought ye not to tremble and repent of your sins, and remember that only in and through Christ ye can be saved?
Therefore, if ye teach the alaw of Moses, also teach that it is a bshadow of those things which are to come—
Teach them that redemption cometh through Christ the Lord, who is the very aEternal Father. Amen. (Mosiah 16:13-15)
If we are wise like young Alma, we will hearken unto Abinadi’s warning, and hearken unto the voice of the Lord, and #Hear Him.