20 And moreover, I say unto you, that the time shall come
when the knowledge of a Savior shall spread throughout every nation, kindred,
tongue, and people.
21 And behold, when that time cometh, none shall be found
blameless before God, except it be little children, only through repentance and
faith on the name of the Lord God Omnipotent.
22 And even at this time, when thou shalt have taught thy
people the things which the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, even then are
they found no more blameless in the sight of God, only according to the words
which I have spoken unto thee.
23 And now I have spoken the words which the Lord God
hath commanded me.
24 And thus saith the Lord: They shall stand as a bright
testimony against this people, at the judgment day; whereof they shall be
judged, every man according to his works, whether they be good, or whether they
be evil.
25 And if they be evil they are consigned to an awful
view of their own guilt and abominations, which doth cause them to shrink from
the presence of the Lord into a state of misery and endless torment, from
whence they can no more return; therefore they have drunk damnation to their
own souls.
26 Therefore, they have drunk out of the cup of the wrath
of God, which justice could no more deny unto them than it could deny that Adam
should fall because of his partaking of the forbidden fruit; therefore, mercy
could have claim on them no more forever.
27 And their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone,
whose flames are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up forever and ever.
Thus hath the Lord commanded me. Amen.
(Mosiah 3:20-27)
King Benjamin continues to teach his people about the
Savior.
The time will come when the knowledge of the Savior will
spread. “Nevertheless, my work shall go forth, for inasmuch as the knowledge of
a Savior has come unto the world, through the testimony of the Jews, even so
shall the knowledge of a Savior come unto my people” (D&C 3:16).
This knowledge will spread through the world to all people. “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 salvation
of the Lord; when every nation, kindred, tongue, and people shall see eye to
eye and shall confess before God that his judgments are just” (Mosiah 16:1).
“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew
24:14).
“And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased
not to teach and preach Jesus Christ” (Acts 5:42).
“Again I say, hearken ye elders of my church, whom I have
appointed: Ye are not sent forth to be taught, but to teach the children of men
the things which I have put into your hands by the power of my Spirit” (D&C
43:15).
“[R]emain steadfast in your minds in solemnity and the
spirit of prayer, in bearing testimony to all the world of those things which
are communicated unto you” (D&C 84:61).
“Ancient prophets foresaw a
day ‘when the knowledge of a Savior [would] spread throughout every nation,
kindred, tongue, and people.’ That day has come. And it is our turn to
thrust in our sickles and help with the harvest. That we are here now is no
accident. For aeons of time our Father watched us and knew He could trust us when
so much would be at stake. We have been held in reserve for this very hour. We
need to understand not just who we are but who we have always been.”[1]
When the time comes, with the exception of little children,
the only way we can found blameless before God is through faith in Christ and
repentance.
After having taught his people these things, they are “found
no more blameless in the sight of God, only according to the words which I have
spoken unto thee” (Mosiah 3:22).
What King Benjamin taught them, he taught them because the
Lord commanded him to teach these things.
His words will stand as a testimony of this people. They
will be judged according to their works, be they good or evil.
“Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest
to every man according to his work” (Psalm 62:12).
“I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give
every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings”
(Jeremiah 17:10).
“For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father
with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works”
(Matthew 16:27).
“For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the
doers of the law shall be justified” (Romans 2:13).
“[E]ventually you (and I) are going to die, be resurrected,
be judged, and be awarded a place in eternal realms. With each passing sunset,
you are closer to that inevitable day of judgment. Then you will be asked to
account for your faith, your hopes, and your works. The Lord said:
‘Every man may act in doctrine and principle … according to
the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable
for his own sins in the day of judgment.’
“As all will be resurrected, your physical body will then be
restored to its proper and perfect frame. The day of your resurrection
will be a day of judgment that will determine the kind of life you shall have
hereafter.
“That judgment will consider not only your actions, but also
your innermost intent and heartfelt desires. Your everyday thoughts have not
been lost. Scriptures speak of the ‘bright recollection’ and ‘perfect
remembrance’ that your mind will provide in times of divine judgment.
“The Lord knows the desires of our hearts.”[2]
Those who are evil will know their guilt and abominations.
“Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our
guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect
knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with
purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness…
“Prepare your souls for that glorious day when justice shall
be administered unto the righteous, even the day of judgment, that ye may not
shrink with awful fear; that ye may not remember your awful guilt in
perfectness, and be constrained to exclaim: Holy, holy are thy judgments, O
Lord God Almighty—but I know my guilt; I transgressed thy law, and my
transgressions are mine; and the devil hath obtained me, that I am a prey to
his awful misery” (2 Nephi 9:14, 46).
They will shrink from the Lord’s presence into a state of
misery and endless torment.
“O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell
yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of
God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not
think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which
never dies—because of the praise of the world” (Mormon 8:38).
“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of
temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished”
(2 Peter 2:9).
“Yea, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess before
him. Yea, even at the last day, when all men shall stand to be judged of him,
then shall they confess that he is God; then shall they confess, who live without
God in the world, that the judgment of an everlasting punishment is just upon
them; and they shall quake, and tremble, and shrink beneath the glance of his
all-searching eye” (Mosiah 27:31).
“For, behold, the mystery of godliness, how great is it! For,
behold, I am endless, and the punishment which is given from my hand is endless
punishment, for Endless is my name. Wherefore—
“Eternal punishment is God’s punishment.
“Endless punishment is God’s punishment…
“Wherefore, I command you again to repent, lest I humble you
with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these
punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even in the
least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit” (D&C
19:10-12, 20).
They will never return from their state of misery and
torment. “[T]hey have drunk damnation to their own souls” (Mosiah 3:25).
“The Fall has separated us from our heavenly home. We must
choose which way we will go. Satan, who was separated from God and permanently
lost, would like to see our separation become permanent also … Those who yield
to his enticings are on the way to the same miserable destiny as he. Shut out
from the presence of God, they will be in ‘a state of misery and endless torment.’ As
the Lord said about the wicked, ‘misery shall be their doom.’”[3]
The wicked will have drunk of the cup of the wrath of God. “For
in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of
mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked
of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them” (Psalm 75:8).
“Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at
the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the
cup of trembling, and wrung them out” (Isaiah 51:17).
“And it shall come to pass, because of the wickedness of the
world, that I will take vengeance upon the wicked, for they will not repent;
for the cup of mine indignation is full; for behold, my blood shall not cleanse
them if they hear me not” (D&C 29:17).
Having drunk of the cup, justice cannot deny them any more
than it could deny Adam for taking of the forbidden fruit.
“Behold, he created
Adam, and by Adam came the fall of man. And because of the fall of man came
Jesus Christ, even the Father and the Son; and because of Jesus Christ came the
redemption of man” (Mormon 9:12).
“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and
that it was pleasant [Hebrew idiom meaning “a desirable thing”] to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise [OR desirable as a means to
wisdom], she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her; and he did eat” (Genesis 3:6).
Mercy could no longer claim them.
Their torment is a lake of fire and brimstone with
unquenchable flames. “And assuredly, as the Lord liveth, for the Lord God hath
spoken it, and it is his eternal word, which cannot pass away, that they who
are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be filthy
still; wherefore, they who are filthy are the devil and his angels; and they
shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their torment is as
a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and has
no end” (2 Nephi 9:16).
“And according to the power of justice, for justice cannot
be denied, ye must go away into that lake of fire and brimstone, whose flames
are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up forever and ever, which lake of
fire and brimstone is endless torment” (Jacob 6:10).
“Then is the time when their torments shall be as a lake of
fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever; and then is the
time that they shall be chained down to an everlasting destruction, according
to the power and captivity of Satan, he having subjected them according to his
will” (Alma 12:17).
“Thus hath the Lord commanded me. Amen.” (Mosiah 3:27).
[1] Stand
Tall and Stand Together, Sister Sheri L. Dew, October 2000 General
Conference.
[3] Joy
and Mercy, President Dallin H. Oaks, October 1991 General Conference.
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