Mosiah 3

Mosiah 3:13

“And the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them.”

For King Benjamin, the proclamation of Christ began with the earliest prophets, and the only way to salvation was ever only by way of Christ’s death. And this fact was known throughout time only to those who were to believe. Just as two-thousand years later we speak about the one who was crucified, two-thousand years before Christ they spoke of the one who will be crucified. And they would be baptized in his name, and they would be atoned for their sins in his blood “as though he had already come among them.”

This is a nice thought, as it is a nice example of how to exercise faith. For God to bless you, you must have faith in the blessing as if he had already blessed you.

But this seems to challenge the other idea that before the new testament that began with Christ’s death, there was an old one. That under the old testament salvation worked a little differently. Some denominations of Christianity believe that baptism was not required under the old testament for salvation, because of this the thief on the cross was able to be saved as Jesus said; things worked differently back then. But King Benjamin is saying that things always worked as they do now under the new testament. The plan of salvation and the format of its way to be understood was always the same.

Written 9-23-14