Sunday, November 16, 2014

Mosiah 3:11 - 3:15

Mosiah 3:11 For behold, and also his blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned.

Because His blood has atoned for all of us who are subject to death of the body and to those who have had no knowledge of God or who has committed evil acts unknowingly.

Mosiah 3:12 But wo, wo unto him who knoweth that he rebelleth against God! For salvation cometh to none such except it be through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.

However, those who have rebelled against God and know that for themselves, will have to atone for their own sins. Forgiveness comes only after one acquires faith in the Lord and repents of their sins.

Mosiah 3:13 And the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them.

To let the children of men know about faith in Jesus and repentance, the Lord has sent prophets to us to preach on these things. Every country, race and language group have had prophets sent to them. They have all received the same message of faith and repentance that they might have the joyful feeling of knowing their sins have been forgiven them. And this to take place even though Jesus had not as yet come to earth to atone for each of us.
[Interesting concept of getting the benefit before the act. The effect of the atonement or the remission of one’s sins could be had even though it was not to be performed for some who may have lived many hundreds or even thousands of years in the past. One did not need to wait for a remission of one’s sins until Christ’s coming into mortality. In that way, one born many years before Christ could not use the excuse why try to be good if no reward were possible while they were alive because they would die before Christ’s birth. If the Lord could not reward immediately for good works why worry about repentance until acquiring a remission of sins was available? This was also available on other worlds as well I’m sure. The work to be done by another on another world for them. What great insight we have of the scope of the atonement in our latter-day scriptures.]

Mosiah 3:14 Yet the Lord God saw that his people were a stiffnecked people, and he appointed unto them a law, even the law of Moses.

Because of the inability or lack of desire to live according to simple rules of behavior, the Lord had to lay down a system of laws that spelled out how one was to treat God and his fellow man or woman.
[Instead of saying “love your neighbor,” the Lord had to tell the children of Israel to not steal his stuff, or kill him, etc. The Lord gave them just the kind of system of laws they wanted. They liked compiling detailed laws of behavior which they could debate. This all lead to the Talmud and Mishnah. It turned out that their debates turned into trying to figure out how to circumvent the laws so they could still do as they liked. In time the learned in the laws became the ones to go to for knowing how to handle the situations of life instead of the Spirit. The lawyers became the leaders because it took so much time to learn what was in the laws and how to interpret them. This was what Jesus faced when he came into mortality among the Jews.]

Mosiah 3:15 And many signs, and wonders, and types, and shadows showed he unto them, concerning his coming; and also holy prophets spake unto them concerning his coming; and yet they hardened their hearts, and understood not that the law of Moses availeth nothing except it were through the atonement of his blood.

All these laws and ordinances pointed to the coming of the Savior and his atonement. However, they did not understand why they were performing these ordinances and refused to try to understand their significance. They became caught up in the living the law and not the reason for the law. Therefore, the purpose of the law of Moses was lost to them and what it was supposed to accomplish in their lives.

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