The first time Abinadi preached repentance to the people of King Noah, he told them that they would be put into bondage unless they would repent. Two years later, when he returned, they had not repented and showed not intention to do so. This time Abinadi told them that they had, essentially, passed the go/no go point of the Lord. Because they had failed to repent, they would certainly go into bondage. This was a promise made by God to the people through a living prophet. He did warn them that if they still failed to repent, they would be destroyed from off the face of the land.
Of course, we know the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say. The king and his court tried Abinadi and sought reason to take his life. They rationalized the reason was blasphemy because he said God would come to earth as a flesh and blood mortal. Abinadi sealed his testimony with his death by fire.
We spoke yesterday about the priest, Alma, who was converted because of Abinadi's words and how he led those who followed him to the wilderness where they entered into the covenant of baptism and organized the Church of Christ. When King Noah found out, Alma and his people fled farther into the wilderness while the king had his armies pursue them with the intent of destroying them. They were unsuccessful and returned to their homes disgruntled and angry.
Noah thought Alma the only one who didn't support him, but that was not true. There was a division in the kingdom with part supporting the king and a lesser part who didn't support him. In fact, the breathed out threatenings against him. One man who was key to the plot to overthrown the king was a man named Gideon. Gideon set out to assassinate Noah and chased him to the top of a watchtower. From that tower, King Noah saw the armies of the Lamanites coming. He begged Gideon to spare his life and help him fight the Lamanites.
But Noah was a coward. He didn't fight; he ran. When he realized that the women, children, and old people were slowing them down, he took his priests and told them to leave their wives and children behind. This they did. Among them was Noah's son, Limhi. He knew he couldn't fight the Lamanites, so he entered into a treaty with them.
When the priests of Noah felt safe, they realized that they had lost the people most important to them through following the lead of a cowardly king. It was as if the blinders were off. No more riches. No more wine. No more wives and concubines. They saw Noah for the treacherous, wicked, and weak man that he was and they put him to death by fire.
As they wandered in the wilderness, they happened upon a group of young Lamanite women bathing in a stream. The priests recognized that they no longer had wives and thought to capture the Lamanite women as replacements.
The Lamanites were furious! They immediately broke the treaty they had made with Limhi and put his people into cruel bondage in retribution for their kidnapped daughters.
The Lord had promised them bondage and that is what they got. God didn't put them in bondage; the Lamanites did that. But the people, through their unwillingness to repent, actually put themselves into bondage by putting themselves outside the protective and blessing hand of God. Christ can and will save His people from their sins if they will repent, but he cannot and will not save them in their sins. This bondage was a humbling experience that lasted for 24 years and finally brought the people to their knees, begging for deliverance and the Lord's help. The scriptures tell us that the Lord was slow to hear their words because they were slow to hear His words. It wasn't until they had been humbled enough to truly repent of their sins that their prayers were answered.
~ ~ ~
Not every burden we bear is a result of sin. Some are just growing experiences we need. If we stay close to the Lord, He will comfort us, even in our affliction. I do believe, though, that we as a nation are in serious danger of the fate of these Nephites. The people, as a whole, have strayed so far from God, that we have put ourselves outside His protective tower. He has sent multiple warnings through a multitude of natural and manmade disasters and still the people don't listen. Those of us who are the Covenant Keepers serve as leaven and, thus far, we have kept our nation from total bondage. If we subscribe to the socialist agenda of the liberal media and representative, however, we are courting disaster.
© May 2020 Dr. Kathleen Rawlings
Buntin Danielson
No comments:
Post a Comment