I’m quoting 16 verses below, but
I hope you will take a little time to read through them before going to what I
have to say.
1 And
now, it came to pass that when king Benjamin had made an end of speaking the
words which had been delivered unto him by the angel of the Lord, that he cast
his eyes round about on the multitude, and behold they had fallen to the earth,
for the fear of the Lord had come upon them.
2 And
they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust
of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy,
and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our
sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among
the children of men.
3 And
it came to pass that after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord
came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of
their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith
which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which
king Benjamin had spoken unto them.
4 And
king Benjamin again opened his mouth and began to speak unto them, saying: My
friends and my brethren, my kindred and my people, I would again call your
attention, that ye may hear and understand the remainder of my words which I
shall speak unto you.
5 For
behold, if the knowledge of the goodness of God at this time has awakened you
to a sense of your nothingness, and your worthless and fallen state—
6 I
say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his
matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering
towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared
from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that
should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his
commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean
the life of the mortal body—
7 I
say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which
was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were
since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of
the world.
8 And
this is the means whereby salvation cometh. And there is none other salvation
save this which hath been spoken of; neither are there any conditions whereby
man can be saved except the conditions which I have told you.
9 Believe
in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and
in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in
earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can
comprehend.
10 And
again, believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble
yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you;
and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.
11 And
again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the
knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have
tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth
such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should
remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own
nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy
creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the
name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is
to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel.
12 And
behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be
filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye
shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the
knowledge of that which is just and true.
13 And
ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably, and to
render to every man according to that which is his due.
14 And
ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye
suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with
another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the evil
spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all
righteousness.
15 But
ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach
them to love one another, and to serve one another.
16 And
also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye
will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will
not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him
out to perish. (Mosiah 4:1-16
These verses are very
powerful and very useful, since they describe for us in great detail the things
that are done, said, prayed, felt, remembered, and believed to obtain and
retain a forgiveness and remission of sins. Actions and words are described, but also the very thoughts
and feelings of the heart. We
learn not only what the people did and prayed, but also how they saw themselves,
what they thought and felt about God, their belief, their feelings of relief
from sin and guilt, their joy, and so on.
We can tell that King
Benjamin is intimately acquainted with all they experience and he speaks to
validate all they’ve felt and I suspect he uses his own experience as he tells
them how they can retain those feelings.
I think this section is very
useful for us today because it can show us how far we’ve progressed in
spiritual experience, whether we’re in need of repentance, whether we’re in the
middle of the process, or whether we’re trying to retain it from day to
day. It is wonderful to read and
remember how we’ve felt and check where we are. And if we haven’t felt those things, the account is an
implicit encouragement to experiment on the word so that we can experience those things, to repent
and change so we can feel it. If
we’ve lost the glow, it encourages us to go through those steps so we can feel
it again.
I particularly like v1-4
because it describes not just a prayer of repentance, but the thoughts and
feelings that instigated it, and the relief afterward. I know in church we teach lessons about
the repentance process from time to time, with meticulous steps that we write
up on the board, but for some reason those four verses make it emotionally and
spiritually real for me. (I've felt what is described there, I've prayed as they have prayed, and felt that same consolation. If someone ever asked me about repentance,
those four verses are what I would point them to.
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