Mosiah 3:3-13
Nephi passed the sacred record to his brother, Jacob, to write “a few things which I considered to be most precious” which included “preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying” for, as Jacob explained it, “…we also had many revelations, and the spirit of much prophecy; wherefore, we knew of Christ and his kingdom, which should come” (Jacob 1:2, 4, 6). The plates continued to be passed down to sons and brothers until about 420 years after Jacob had received them, when the current caregiver, “having no seed, and knowing king Benjamin to be a just man before the Lord” gave the records to the righteous king of the Nephite people (Omni 1:25).
Before his death, King Benjamin gathered his people together and exhorted them to remember the Lord. He recounted the words of an angel that had visited him the night before, focusing on the mission of Christ, our indebtedness to Him, and then he encouraged them to “rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them” (Mosiah 3:3-13, entire sermon found in chapters 2-5; see also Alma 4:14).
These children of God, far from the land of Jerusalem, and struggling through their own unique trials and challenges, were dependent – as we are – on God’s word through His chosen prophets in their midst. These people, still living after the law of Moses (yet looking forward with faith to the coming of Christ and the fulfilling of His law), offered sacrifice and burnt offerings and thanked the Lord for delivering them out of the hands of their enemies and appointing “just men to be their teachers…that they might rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men” (Mosiah 2:3-4; see also 5:2-5).
We know of Christ in the same way: by God’s word through His chosen servants, the prophets (see Amos 3:7) and the confirmation of these words by the power of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; Galatians 5:22-23). Though they lived 100 years before Christ’s coming and we live over 2,000 years after His miraculous birth, the message is the same, the method is the same, and our God is the same. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He promised on the last pages of the Old Testament, “For I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6) and the apostle Paul confirmed, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).
We can have joy in God’s promises and in His unchanging plan of salvation – that Christ’s power of redemption is available to all! All will be resurrected and live again, and all who heed His words may have eternal life.
Nephi passed the sacred record to his brother, Jacob, to write “a few things which I considered to be most precious” which included “preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying” for, as Jacob explained it, “…we also had many revelations, and the spirit of much prophecy; wherefore, we knew of Christ and his kingdom, which should come” (Jacob 1:2, 4, 6). The plates continued to be passed down to sons and brothers until about 420 years after Jacob had received them, when the current caregiver, “having no seed, and knowing king Benjamin to be a just man before the Lord” gave the records to the righteous king of the Nephite people (Omni 1:25).
Before his death, King Benjamin gathered his people together and exhorted them to remember the Lord. He recounted the words of an angel that had visited him the night before, focusing on the mission of Christ, our indebtedness to Him, and then he encouraged them to “rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them” (Mosiah 3:3-13, entire sermon found in chapters 2-5; see also Alma 4:14).
These children of God, far from the land of Jerusalem, and struggling through their own unique trials and challenges, were dependent – as we are – on God’s word through His chosen prophets in their midst. These people, still living after the law of Moses (yet looking forward with faith to the coming of Christ and the fulfilling of His law), offered sacrifice and burnt offerings and thanked the Lord for delivering them out of the hands of their enemies and appointing “just men to be their teachers…that they might rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men” (Mosiah 2:3-4; see also 5:2-5).
We know of Christ in the same way: by God’s word through His chosen servants, the prophets (see Amos 3:7) and the confirmation of these words by the power of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; Galatians 5:22-23). Though they lived 100 years before Christ’s coming and we live over 2,000 years after His miraculous birth, the message is the same, the method is the same, and our God is the same. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He promised on the last pages of the Old Testament, “For I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6) and the apostle Paul confirmed, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).
We can have joy in God’s promises and in His unchanging plan of salvation – that Christ’s power of redemption is available to all! All will be resurrected and live again, and all who heed His words may have eternal life.
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