5 For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant,
that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all
eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of
men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men,
working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing
the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and
curing all manner of diseases.
6 And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits
which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.
7 And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of
body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be
unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his
anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.
Mosiah 3:5-7
After explaining to the
congregation he had been visited by an angel, King Benjamin began to tell the
people about the contents of his vision.
In the not too distance
future, the Lord Omnipotent, “who was, and is from all eternity to all
eternity,” will come down to earth and “dwell in a tabernacle of clay.” In Revelation, we read…
“Behold, he cometh with
clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all
kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
“I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is
to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:7-8).
Nephi wrote, “And as I spake
concerning the convincing of the Jews, that Jesus is the very Christ, it must
needs be that the Gentiles be convinced also that Jesus is the Christ, the
Eternal God” (2 Nephi 26:12). After
Ammon’s party found the people of Limhi, Limhi gathered the people
together. He told them, “And because he
said unto them that Christ was the God, the Father of all things, and said that
he should take upon him the image of man, and it should be the image after
which man was created in the beginning; or in other words, he said that man was
created after the image of God, and that God should come down among the
children of men, and take upon him flesh and blood, and go forth upon the face
of the earth” (Mosiah 7:27).
He will go out among the
people and work miracles. Paul called
upon the people, “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man
approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by
him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know” (Acts 2:22).
Examples of His miracles
include healing the sick, raising the dead, healing the lame so they can walk,
give sight to the blind, make the deaf hear, and curing diseases. During his great vision, Nephi saw “the Lamb
of God going forth among the children of men.
And I beheld multitudes of people who were sick, and who were afflicted
with all manner of diseases, and with devils and unclean spirits; and the angel
spake and showed all these things unto me.
And they were healed by the power of the Lamb of God; and the devils and
the unclean spirits were cast out” (1 Nephi 11:31).
During His ministry we read
about the numerous times Christ ministered to the people. His works spread among the people.
“And Jesus went about all
Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom,
and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.[1]
“And his fame went throughout
all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with
divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and
those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy [GR paralysis]; and he
healed them” (Matthew 4:23-24).
The “Lord Omnipotent” will also
cast out devils and evil spirits.
“And at even, when the sun
did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were
possessed with devils.
“And all the city was
gathered together at the door.
“And he healed many that were
sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils
to speak, because they knew him” (Mark 1:32-34).
Talking about evil spirits,
M. Catherine Thomas wrote, “How important it is for us to know that the spirits
who followed Satan in the great rebellion in Heaven got here before even Adam
and Eve and are still here. What are they doing? They are influencing you and
me. They dwell in the hearts of the children of men (see Mosiah 3:6). We
are their victims until we learn to discern what is of God from what is not of
God.”[2]
King Benjamin taught about
the eternal nature of the mortal Christ.
“[King Benjamin’s] words
focus on the eternal nature of the mortal Christ. His mortal nature and
ministry must be understood in terms of his eternal nature and ministry. His
mortality was, however, neither adjunct nor ancillary to his eternal nature,
but absolutely essential. Indeed, the focus of all the faith that came before
and all the confirmation that came after centered on what he was and did in
mortality. Conversely, at no point did his mortality either restrain or eclipse
his eternity. He never ceased being God, the Eternal God, at any moment.
Further, the whole thrust of his mortal ministry focused on eternity and on
eternal lives. His actions and teachings were not calculated to bring women or
men into the terrestrial or telestial glory but into everlasting life.[3]
The Lord’s mortal existence
will not be simple. In fact, it will be
the opposite. He will experience temptations.
“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil” (Matthew 4:1). “For in
that he himself hath suffered being tempted [GR tried, subjected to trial], he
is able to [aid] them that are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18). “Though he were a Son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).
He will suffer pain, hunger,
thirst, and fatigue, “even more than man can suffer.” During Joseph Smith’s imprisonment in Liberty
Jail, he suffered many indignities. When
he prayed to the Lord for an end to his trials, he received this response.
“If thou art called to pass
through tribulation; if thou art in perils among false brethren; if thou art in
perils among robbers; if thou art in perils by land or by sea;
“If thou art accused with all
manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee
from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with
a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine
offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to
thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with
us? O, my father, what are the men going
to do with you? and if then he shall be
thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies
prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb;
“And if thou shouldst be cast
into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed
upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire
against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather
blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if
the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my
son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy
good.
“The Son of Man hath
descended below them all. Art thou
greater than he” (D&C 122:5-8).
In the end, He will suffer
great anguish, so much so that he would sweat drops of blood. “And being in an agony he prayed more
earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to
the ground” (Luke 22:44). This what
Isaiah referred to in one of his Messianic prophesies.
“Surely he hath borne our
griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of
God, and afflicted.
“But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:4-5).
All of this anguish and
suffering will be because of “the wickedness and the abominations of his
people.”
Dennis Largey explains how
Latter-Day Saints view the atonement.
“Luke recorded that the Master
sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane (see Luke 22:44). King Benjamin added
that the anguish that caused our Lord to bleed from every pore was due to his
suffering for the wickedness and abominations of his people (see Mosiah
3:7). With only the New Testament as a guide, the Christian world looks
predominantly to the cross for the remission of sins. The Latter-day Saint,
knowing the words of King Benjamin and having a further witness of the Savior’s
suffering recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants, believes the suffering began
in the Garden of Gethsemane and was consummated on the cross (3 Nephi 27:13,
14).”[4]
Elder Maxwell also commented
on the Savior’s suffering. “The apogee of Benjamin’s address is the atonement.
Benjamin’s foretelling of Jesus’ ministry revealed that Christ would bleed at
every pore, ‘so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness . . . of his
people’ (Mosiah 3:7). It was real blood, pore by pore, removing any reason to
think of the precious liquid as only being symbolic sweat.”[5]
Hugh Nibley explains the
emphasis on the blood. “But why the emphasis on blood? Benjamin goes to the
limit here. Answer: The blood makes it clear that (a) it is a real sacrifice
and (b) it goes all the way … Benjamin tells us that the Lord would sweat blood
from every pore, not from the physical brutality of the Roman soldiers, but
because ‘so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and abominations of
his people’ (Mosiah 3:7). There is a limit to physical suffering but not to
spiritual. And this answers the final questions.”[6]
[1] “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their
synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of
sickness and all manner of disease among the people which believed on his name.”
(JST Matt. 4:22).
[2] Alma
the Younger (Part 2) Man’s Descent, M. Catherine Thomas, Maxwell Institute,
accessed July 21, 2014.
[3] The
Mortal Ministry of the Savior as Understood by the Book of Mormon Prophets,
Richard Draper, Maxwell Institute, accessed July 21, 2014.
[4] The
Book of Mormon, an Interpretive Guide to the New Testament, Dennis Largey,
Maxwell Institute, accessed July 21, 2014.
[5] King
Benjamin’s Sermon: A Manual for Discipleship, Elder Neal A. Maxwell,
Maxwell Institute, accessed July 21, 2014.
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