Mosiah 25-28
Mosiah Chapter 25
V5 Now that Limhi's people and Alma's people have joined up with King Mosiah in Zarahemla, Mosiah reads to his people the records of Zeniff. Basically reads them everything we just read from Mosiah Chapter 9 to 24.
V7-11 They were struck with wonder and amazement, filled with exceedingly great joy, shed many tears of sorrow and did raise their voices and give thanks to God.
Again, they just read everything we just read. So ask yourself, did I have the same reaction as they did? If not, what was the difference?
Wonder, amaze, joy, sorrow.. these are their reactions. So let's look at their actions:
V8 beheld
V9 thought
V10 thought
V11 thought
Old English bihaldan, from bi- ‘thoroughly’ + haldan ‘to hold’.
Parallel Germanic words have the sense ‘maintain, retain’.
Behold: To hold thoroughly, or to maintain & retain.
The people of Mosiah beheld the characters in the story. And they thought and pondered on the goodness and power of God. The characters in the story, and the story itself, came alive for them. I hope as you read it, they come alive for you!
V18 Limhi's people finally get baptized. This is 27 years after Alma left Noah's court and baptized his followers in the waters of Mormon. So many blessings that could have been if Limhi had followed Alma that day. Choose whom you will serve this day!
V19 They establish churches. We haven't seen churches thus far in the Book of Mormon.
This was done because of the great number of believers.
To use the cross symbol as a metaphor, the vertical line represents the gospel, or our connection with God. The horizontal line represents the church, or our connection with each other.
CH26
V1 The rising generation did not believe the tradition of their fathers... That's all the gospel was to them, traditions of their crazy fathers. When truths are replaced as traditions, church becomes a social structure, not a place of spiritual rebirth.
And what was it that was hard for them to understand? The resurrection and coming of Christ. 2 things impossible to prove.
In verse 3 their lack of belief led them to a lack of understanding.
12th century theologian Saint Anselm was know for this saying: Fides Quaerens intellectum.
Meaning "Faith seeking understanding".
Anselm explains this as "an active love of God, seeking a deeper knowledge of God".
i know these things are true, i just don't know how it works yet. but my belief in these things are what is driving my desire to make sense of them. my faith is seeking understanding.
The rising generation in Zarahemla had no Fides, so they could not obtain intellectum.
There needs to be a certain level of belief, or even at the very minimum a suspension of disbelief, so that you could entertain the possibility of something long enough to give it the attention it deserves, in order for you to understand the things of God.
"if ye can no more desire to believe, let this desire work in you" - Alma 32:27
V10-13 Previously, the believers in Christ would just separate themselves from the dissenters. This is the first time they have to figure out how to deal with them.
V14 Alma poured out his whole soul to God. I like the imagery here. We have to pour out our soul to make room for His.
V15 God responds to Alma's prayer, but addresses a few different things before getting to what Alma inquired about.
V20 "thou shalt have eternal life". Even after all Alma has done in his time as a priest to King Noah, God reassures him that he is saved. Maybe so that he knows whoever Alma has to judge, can also be saved.
V21 "he that will hear my voice shall be my sheep".
V22 "this is my church". Basically that's it. His church consists of lost sheep, who hear his voice and choose (intermittently at best) to respond.
God is reminding Alma that the church is a hospital for the spiritually wounded, not a country club for the already saved. And a saint is simply a sinner who keeps on trying. "baptized unto repentance" tells me that we are baptized with the idea that we will continue to repent. "and him i will freely forgive".
V23 A lot of possessive pronouns here. God saying "I created them, I can fix them."
V30 God doesn't run out of forgiveness.
V31 If you don't forgive others, you will have burned the bridge which you too must cross.
V39 We saw Abinadi earlier correct himself with his grammar. (Mosiah 16:6). Here is another example:
"...according to his sins, or to the sins which he had committed." I think Alma makes the clarification here to denote that these are no longer our sins. Christ has taken them upon him. They are now just sins that we have committed. I've adopted this phrase in my prayers, no longer asking God to forgive my sins, and instead asking Him to forgive the sins for which I have committed. It's the subtle change that helps me to remember Christ and what He did for me.
CH27
V11-13 An angel appears to Alma the younger
V14 This answer came because of Alma the elder's faith.
- Faith that God can reach his son
- Faith that his son can change
- Faith that sin can be cleansed (this was reinforced by everything that happened in chapter 26)
V18 reminds me of D&C 1:2... every eye shall see, ear shall hear, heart shall know.
V21 Alma the younger is brought to his father, and the younger is struck dumb, weak and helpless. Yet Alma the elder witnessed "what the lord had done for his son", not to his son.
CH28
The sons of Mosiah want to go teach the gospel to the Lamanites. King Mosiah was probably worried they would end up like Zeniff, being over-zealous, so he prayed and inquired of the Lord.
V7 God calms Mosiah's worries and tells him to let them go. God promises they will find success, they will survive, and they will have salvation and eternal life. (Alma 25:17, promises fulfilled)
V8 I like how Mosiah didn't relay this good news to his sons. He simply let them go and exercise their own faith.
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