Awake to Righteousness

King Benjamin told his people that an angel came to him and said, “Awake.”  He then awoke and the angel stood before him.  The angel then said again, “Awake, and hear the words which I shall tell thee” (Mosiah 3:2-3).  The first command to “awake” appears to be a command to awaken from physical sleep; but the second command to “awake” seems to have been a call to open spiritual ears and to awaken to things of the Spirit.  It was after this that the angel revealed marvelous things to King Benjamin concerning the coming of Christ.  The scriptures use the term “awake” in this same context in many places as a call to turn to spiritual things.  Lehi pled with his wicked sons: “O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep” (2 Nephi 1:13).  Nephi cried out to himself amidst his own struggles: “Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin.” (2 Nephi 4:28).  Jacob implored his people in a time of wickedness: “Shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death” (Jacob 3:11).  When Alma taught the Zoramites he invited them to “awake and arouse [their] faculties, even to… exercise a particle of faith” (Alma 32:27).  And when Moroni left us the final words of the Book of Mormon, he called out across the centuries to us, “Awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion” (Moroni 10:31).  Paul said it perhaps most succinctly: “Awake to righteousness, and sin not” (1 Corinthians 15:34).  We physically awaken every morning, and perhaps there is a type in that we should be sure to “awaken” ourselves to righteousness each day as we strive to keep covenants and put away the sins of the world.