A Study of the Book of Mormon

Mosiah 3:1-4 This new chapter is a continuation of King Benjamin's remarks to his people. Having just preached obedience to the commandments of God, my first thought was, "Why not conclude there?" The answer that I find in chapter 3 is, "Because he is now about to preach unto them Christ Jesus." In verse three , the phrase "the glad tidings of great joy" has two footnotes on it. One for "glad" and the other for "joy."  The first reference for "glad" takes me to Isaiah 52:7-10 : " How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! " Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. " Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the ...

Mosiah 2:18-41 And again, the words that I have chosen for the title of this post (from verse 41 ) I find to be timely and profound. King Benjamin's reminder to remember was exactly what I needed. Having recently done battle with the "super flu" which had me laid up for more than a week, I have also had a spiritual battle of sorts with some false notions that I had permitted to get planted just a little too deep. What had resulted were feelings of blackness and uneasiness, a loss of peace generally, which peace was as real and significant as any physical blessing of health. What King Benjamin lays out in the last half of this chapter is a recipe for perfect peace and happiness in this life. After concluding that no degree of praise or thankfulness would be enough to resolve our indebtedness to God (though praise and gratitude are important ingredients of discipleship), King Benjamin concludes that the best thing that we can do to show our appreciation towards God is to ke...

Mosiah 2:17 Just typing the title phrase this morning has brought a great deal of peace to a presently weary mind. King Benjamin in this part of his discourse to his people is sharing a profoundly unique perspective, which was the source of peace to him as king, and most likely the source of peace for his nation . Since a week ago Sunday, I've been much impressed by the Savior's injunction to "take [his] yoke upon [me], and learn of [him]," ( Matt 11:29 ).  In the class where this was presented to me, the general discussion hovered around how Christ could make our burdens light. However, we then began to discuss the symbolism of the yoke. A yoke is what an ox uses to carry its load. We, like the oxen, have loads that we carry. What impressed me about Christ's invitation, is not that he is inviting us to let him carry our load. No not at all! The paradox of the invitation is that to the burdened and the weary he says in effect "Come and labor in my vineyard....

Mosiah 2:1-14 A historic occasion is recorded in these opening chapters of the book of Mosiah.In the first few verses of chapter 2, we get a glimpse in the heritage of the Mosaic law that had been preserved and honored by this people. Verse 3 explains that they offered sacrifices to comply with the law of Moses. Verse 4 is where the Spirit brings the law to life. It explains that they also saw this as a means of expressing their gratitude to God for the blessings that they enjoyed, namely: Having been brought out of the land of Jerusalem Having been delivered from their enemies Having just men appointed as their teachers Having a just man appointed as their king Having peace established by their king throughout their land Having been taught by their king to "keep the commandments of God, that they might rejoice and be filled with love towards God and all men". In light of all these blessings, it strikes me as very important the perspective that King Benjamin sees himself in...