Abinadi's Witness of the Resurrection

One of the themes of Abinadi as he taught the priests of Noah was the resurrection.  He testified that the prophets before him had proclaimed “that [Christ] should bring to pass the resurrection of the dead” (Mosiah 13:35).  He detailed how the Savior “breaketh the bands of death, having gained victory over death” and how “the bands of death shall be broken, and the Son reigneth, and hath power over the dead; therefore, he bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead”  (Mosiah 15:8, 20).   He testified of the power of the Savior’s resurrection to overcome death for all of us: “And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection. But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ” (Mosiah 16:7-8).  As he stood on the brink of death he fearlessly taught that because of Christ, death would not be the end.     

Surely knowing that death was soon for him, Abinadi also outlined to the priests of Noah how the righteous would then be resurrected after the Savior.  He taught, “And there cometh a resurrection, even a first resurrection; yea, even a resurrection of those that have been, and who are, and who shall be, even until the resurrection of Christ—for so shall he be called. And now, the resurrection of all the prophets, and all those that have believed in their words, or all those that have kept the commandments of God, shall come forth in the first resurrection; therefore, they are the first resurrection” (Mosiah 15:21-22).  I believe the implication for them here was that Abinadi would soon be among these prophets to come forth in the first resurrection.  He warned them also of the fate that would await them if they did not repent, teaching what the resurrection would mean for them: “Even this mortal shall put on immortality, and this corruption shall put on incorruption, and shall be brought to stand before the bar of God, to be judged of him according to their works whether they be good or whether they be evil—If they be good, to the resurrection of endless life and happiness; and if they be evil, to the resurrection of endless damnation” (Mosiah 16:10-11).  That is surely the kind of resurrection that these unrepentant priests of Noah would receive: the resurrection of endless damnation.  Though they would then seeking to stop Abinadi’s life in mortality, he would go on to a glorious resurrection unto endless life.  They, on the other hand, who would have long lives of gluttony and worldly freedom, would find in the next life that this freedom and kind of life they had in mortality was ended.

               Abinadi’s showed enormous trust in the words that he taught.  It is one thing to speak about the resurrection in some future life; it is another to go to one’s death defending that belief in the resurrection.  He trusted that he indeed would live again and had enough faith in it that he gave his life.  He boldly declared right before they put him to death: “I will suffer even until death, and I will not recall my words, and they shall stand as a testimony against you” (Mosiah 17:10).  His was a powerful witness in word and in deed of the resurrection and ability of the Savior to raise us all up from the dead: “He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death” (Mosiah 16:9).