19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
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)
Becoming a disciple of Christ
will defeat the natural man. The time will “come when the knowledge of a Savior
shall spread throughout every nation, kindred, tongue, and people” (Mosiah
3:2). The Lord emphasized this in a revelation to Joseph Smith. “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).
Abinadi echoed Benjamin’s
words. “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).
“[Benjamin] prophesies of
Christ’s coming, and he proclaims by authority, speaking ‘the words which the
Lord God hath commanded’ him (Mosiah 3:20, 23). The people are thus awakened to
a sense of their nothingness by a knowledge of the goodness, power, and wisdom
of God.”[1]
We must remember, no one will
be able to stand before God (except little children – “Only little children are
exempt from the command of constant repentance (Mosiah 3:21).”[2]) who
will be able to be held blameless.
We all sin. At times, we all
give into the natural man. Only though repentance and faith in Christ we will
be able to be stand guiltless before God, having put off the natural man. “The
whole purport of Benjamin’s message for the future is that men should be found
blameless before the Great King, who will sit in judgment (Mosiah 3:21),
exactly as the king sat in judgment at the New Year.”[3]
The angel told Benjamin to
teach the people. Once they were taught, they were no longer blameless in the
eyes of the Lord. “Benjamin, of course, did not need to issue a formal
indictment or accusation, for the people all confessed their guilt voluntarily
(see Mosiah 4:2) and agreed that none of them should ‘be found blameless before
God’ (Mosiah 3:21) and that all were without defense or excuse (see Mosiah
3:22).[4]
M. Catherine Thomas further
observes, “Benjamin says, quoting the angel’s words to him, ‘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’ (Mosiah 3:22).
In addition, it may be that Benjamin’s words were especially binding on the
people, because he had a degree of the same power that the later Nephi did, who
ministered with such power and authority that it was ‘not possible that [the
people] could disbelieve his words, for so great was his faith on the Lord
Jesus Christ that angels did minister unto him daily.” (3 Nephi 7:18; cf. 3
Nephi 7:17).[5]
John Welch explains the
importance of Benjamin’s oral testimony. “The Hebrew legal system, which
depended primarily on verbal communication and oral testimony rather than on written
documentation, placed particularly high value on the accuracy and faithfulness
of such deliveries by messengers, spokesmen, witnesses, and officials. In
reading King Benjamin’s speech and other texts in the Book of Mormon, one
senses that the same principle continued to operate in Nephite legal religious
practice. In Mosiah 3:23, for example, Benjamin certified that he had
faithfully and precisely delivered the words given to him by the angel of the
Lord: ‘And now I have spoken the words which the Lord God hath commanded me.’8 Similar
certifications of messengers are found in Mosiah 11:20 and 12:1.”[6]
“King Benjamin bore similar
testimony that his words ‘shall stand as a bright testimony against this
people, at the judgment day’ (Mosiah 3:24). Interestingly, the book is true to
its ancient origins, even down to this concluding element, for it is a
long-recognized principle of Jewish law that a person cannot be convicted
unless he has been warned in advance.”[7]
We will be judged based on our works, be they good or be they evil.
If we reject Christ and His
offer of salvation, we will stand before Him and we will view our guilt and
sins. We will know we are unworthy to stand in His presence. It’s obvious King
Benjamin had access to Jacob’s words. “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” (2 Nephi
9:14, 46). Our sins and wickedness will “cause [the wicked] to shrink from the
presence of the Lord.” We will find ourselves in a state of misery and torment.
We cannot return; “therefore [we will] have drunk damnation for their own
souls.”
John Hilton examines Benjamin’s
use of the words of Jacob. “In speaking of the wicked, King Benjamin, quoting
the Lord, also says that they will have a state of ‘endless torment,’ and that ‘their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flames are unquenchable, and whose smoke ascendeth up forever and ever’
(Mosiah 3:25, 27). Jacob uses the concept of God’s justice to explain why the
wicked will receive endless torment. Unlike other instances in which King
Benjamin uses Jacob’s phrases in differing contexts, in this case he employs
them exactly as Jacob does (see Mosiah 3:26). This demonstrates that King
Benjamin was not simply trying to be creative in his use of Jacob’s material.
Rather, he was willing to accept the content, wording, and intent of Jacob’s
words. We, as readers, are thereby treated to an interesting textual and
doctrinal cohesion, even though these discourses are separated by centuries.”[8]
Alma2 echoed
Benjamin’s words in his confrontation with Zeezrom.
“For our words will condemn
us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our
thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to
look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and
the mountains to fall upon us to chide us from his presence.
“But this cannot be; we must
come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his
might, majesty, and dominion, and acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all
his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is
merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man
that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance” (Alma
12:14-15).
Because of a person’s
wickedness, they will drink from 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” (Psalms 75:8). Through the fall of Adam, mercy could no
longer claim them; they would have to meet the standards of justice. “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).
M. Catherine Thomas explores
the cup of the wrath of God. “Giving them the name forever is equivalent to
causing them to be born again into the family of Christ. Because of the greater
responsibility inherent in the formal taking of the name, Benjamin prefaced
this spiritual endowment with warnings that if they proceeded with taking the
name but then turned away in disobedience, they would have to drink of the cup
of the wrath of God (see Mosiah 3:26) and they would drink damnation to
their souls (see Mosiah 3:18, 25).”[9]
The wicked will suffer
torment. The torment will be like a lake of fire and brimstone, whose smoke
ascendeth up forever and ever.”
Benjamin once again quotes
Jacob. “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).
“Benjamin continued his
prophecy by declaring that the death of Jesus Christ was only temporary and
that he would rise again after three days (Mosiah 3:10) to bring salvation to
his people. The evil spirit would thus be expelled. Benjamin stressed that
during his life Jesus Christ would have great power to “cast out devils, or the
evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men” (Mosiah 3:6) and
that his atoning blood was the only means of salvation (Mosiah 3:27).”[10]
Benjamin ends his words with his oral testimony that he was commanded by the angel to give the people the word of the Lord.
[1] “Know
the Covenants of the Lord” – Sermons, Maxwell Institute.
[2] Last
Call: An Apocalyptic Warning from the Book of Mormon, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell
Institute.
[3] Old
World Ritual in the New World, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute.
[4] Benjamin’s
Speech as a Prophetic Lawsuit, John W. Welch, Maxwell Institute.
[5] King
Benjamin and the Mysteries of God, M. Catherine Thomas, Maxwell Institute.
[6] The
Trial of Jeremiah: A Legal Legacy from Lehi’s Jerusalem, John W. Welch, Maxwell
Institute.
[7] Good
and True, John W. Welch, Maxwell Institute.
[8] Jacob’s
Textual Legacy, John Hilton, Maxwell Institute.
[9] Benjamin
and the Mysteries of God, M. Catherine Thomas, Maxwell Institute.
[10] Maya
Harvest Festivals and the Book of Mormon, Allen J. Christenson, Maxwell
Institute.
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