Mosiah 17:1-4
There is something about the final words of a man's life that serves as a sealing witness or testimony of eternal truth. For some, there is remorse for a lifetime spent in trivial and vain pursuits. For others, fear and uncertainty of what comes next and a failure to prepare for it. And then there are those who have acquired a testimony of the world beyond this one, who have spent their lives in sacrifice and service to others, and in a very real sense, are ready to move on to the next great chapter. Such seems to be the courage and testimony of Abinadi in this final chapter.
Verse 2 introduces a very compelling and new dynamic to the story of Abinadi, for at this point in time we see the turning of just one of the priests of King Noah. Singular as he is, that Alma had been converted by the sacrifice and preaching of Abinadi, this shifts my understanding and reasoning for why Abinadi was compelled by the Spirit of the Lord to do as he had done. Not only did Abinadi give his life so that one soul more could be saved in the kingdom of heaven, but this dynamic witness was the preparation for one of the most dynamic families of leaders in the Church of Christ to follow immediately there after.
This is huge, for what would the church have been without Alma or his son Alma the Younger? Theirs was a missionary spirit and zeal born out of true conversion to Christ. Both were the means of bringing many souls unto Christ, and without Abinadi's testimony, sealed with his own blood, that converted Alma directly, and all those that followed him indirectly, this would not have been so.
Through Abinadi, the Lord was not only condemning a king, He was preparing a prophet. In fact, I think that if Noah hadn't knowingly defile the commandments of the Lord which came from his own father, and if there was a prophet in the making in their presence, I rather suspect that Lord, in his mercy, might have left king Noah to his own demise.
In verse 4, Alma, to preserver his own life, had to hide himself from the armies of the King for many days. In that setting, the Spirit of the Lord surely was working upon Alma. He wrote everything that he had heard and witnessed from Abinadi. This must have been both a period of preparation and repentance.
There is something about the final words of a man's life that serves as a sealing witness or testimony of eternal truth. For some, there is remorse for a lifetime spent in trivial and vain pursuits. For others, fear and uncertainty of what comes next and a failure to prepare for it. And then there are those who have acquired a testimony of the world beyond this one, who have spent their lives in sacrifice and service to others, and in a very real sense, are ready to move on to the next great chapter. Such seems to be the courage and testimony of Abinadi in this final chapter.
Verse 2 introduces a very compelling and new dynamic to the story of Abinadi, for at this point in time we see the turning of just one of the priests of King Noah. Singular as he is, that Alma had been converted by the sacrifice and preaching of Abinadi, this shifts my understanding and reasoning for why Abinadi was compelled by the Spirit of the Lord to do as he had done. Not only did Abinadi give his life so that one soul more could be saved in the kingdom of heaven, but this dynamic witness was the preparation for one of the most dynamic families of leaders in the Church of Christ to follow immediately there after.
This is huge, for what would the church have been without Alma or his son Alma the Younger? Theirs was a missionary spirit and zeal born out of true conversion to Christ. Both were the means of bringing many souls unto Christ, and without Abinadi's testimony, sealed with his own blood, that converted Alma directly, and all those that followed him indirectly, this would not have been so.
Through Abinadi, the Lord was not only condemning a king, He was preparing a prophet. In fact, I think that if Noah hadn't knowingly defile the commandments of the Lord which came from his own father, and if there was a prophet in the making in their presence, I rather suspect that Lord, in his mercy, might have left king Noah to his own demise.
In verse 4, Alma, to preserver his own life, had to hide himself from the armies of the King for many days. In that setting, the Spirit of the Lord surely was working upon Alma. He wrote everything that he had heard and witnessed from Abinadi. This must have been both a period of preparation and repentance.
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