How Beautiful Upon the Mountains

As Abinadi prophesied of the destructions that awaited the people of King Noah if they didn’t repent, the priests showed that they knew the scriptures at least to some extent.  As they were interrogating him, one of them said, “What meaneth the words which are written, and which have been taught by our fathers, saying: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings; that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good; that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth” (Mosiah 12:20-21).  This was a quotation of Isaiah 52:7, and he was saying to Abinadi, “The scriptures praise those who bring good tidings and speak nice things to us, so why are you all doom and gloom?  Shouldn’t you be preaching nice things to us if you were a true prophet?”  Abinadi did not respond to the accusation right away; rather he suggested if they were true priests they ought to know what the scriptures meant.  But he did come back to these verses from Isaiah when he was preaching to them later, and he taught with power their true meaning.  He bore witness of the Savior who was to come and testified of how all prophets spoke concerning the coming of the Lord.  He then said, “And these are they who have published peace, who have brought good tidings of good, who have published salvation; and said unto Zion: Thy God reigneth! And O how beautiful upon the mountains were their feet!” (Mosiah 15:14-15)  The words of Isaiah did not mean that prophets would only speak pleasant things, but they did mean that prophets would testify of Christ, and that is the “good tiding of good” that prophets preach.  And Abinadi himself brought those good tidings of good to the people of Noah even if they didn’t understand the message he was giving them: the message of repentance is one of good tidings. 

            As Abinadi quoted this passage from Isaiah, he reflected on all of the prophets, past, present, and future, who would declare the message of salvation: “O how beautiful upon the mountains were their feet!  And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that are still publishing peace!  And again, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who shall hereafter publish peace, yea, from this time henceforth and forever!”  All true prophets have testified of Christ, and their messages come to us as if they are upon a mountain above us, seeing further than we can see, and declaring the beautiful message of salvation through Christ.  Many prophets also literally stood on mountains and received the word of the Lord, such as Enoch on mount Simeon, Moses on Sinai, Elijah on Mount Carmel, Nephi in the mountain at Bountiful, the brother of Jared on the mount Shelem, and others.  Abinadi went a step further, though, and applied the scripture to Christ Himself: “O how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that is the founder of peace, yea, even the Lord, who has redeemed his people; yea, him who has granted salvation unto his people” (Mosiah 15:15-18).  Christ is the one who really brought good tidings, for through His life salvation came to us.  And He likewise stood literally upon mountains: He was on a mountain when He gave the Sermon on the Mount, He took Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain for the transfiguration, and He performed the atonement in the Mount of Olives.  He spent other time in the mountain such as in Matt. 15:29, and as the God of the Old Testament He was there in the mountains as Jehovah revealing Himself to His prophets.  We give thanks to the Father for His Son who created the mountains, walked and taught from the mountains, and  will yet return to stand on the Mount of Olives at the time of His coming.