Look to the Great Mediator

As I watched one of the Book of Mormon videos yesterday, I was touched by this invitation from Lehi as he gave some of his final testimony to his sons: “And now, my sons, I would that ye should look to the great Mediator, and hearken unto his great commandments; and be faithful unto his words, and choose eternal life” (2 Nephi 2:28).  His was an earnest plea to all of his sons to look unto the Savior and to keep His commandments.  Knowing of the great contention that had been caused by Laman and Lemuel and their hard feelings towards Nephi, this was a final try at helping his sons be reconciled to each other and to God.  In that effort I believe he was very particular in emphasizing the fact that the Savior is a Mediator for us—he didn’t use that title for Him haphazardly.  He used it in the previous verse as well, inviting them to “choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men.”  His testimony was that through Christ we can find mediation and reconciliation with each other and with God; Christ can offer a way of forgiveness where there has been sin so that we can be one with each other. 

Unfortunately, Laman and Lemuel did not internalize their father’s message and would not receive mediation to reconcile with their brother or with God.  They instead hardened their hearts against Nephi and the Lord and sought to take away their his life until he and many others finally fled.  But Jacob and Nephi clearly heard these words of their father and remembered this counsel as they continued to teach their people.  Nephi emphasized that he wrote their record “to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God” (2 Nephi 25:23).  He also expressed as one of his final wishes for both Jew and Gentile that “they shall be reconciled unto Christ, and enter into the narrow gate, and walk in the strait path which leads to life” (2 Nephi 33:9).  Jacob similarly taught his brethren, “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the grace of God that ye are saved” (2 Nephi 10:24).  He also later invited his people in these words: “Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto him through the atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection” (Jacob 4:11).  This invitation to be reconciled with God was really the same invitation that they had heard their father give: to come unto the great Mediator, Jesus Christ. 

Lehi is the only one in the Book of Mormon to use the title of Mediator for the Savior, but a few other scriptures also use the term.  Paul referred to Christ with this title a few times in his epistles.  He said to Timothy that “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).  To the Hebrews Paul referred to Christ twice as “the mediator of the new testament” as well as “the mediator of a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6, 9:15, 12:24).  It is not surprising that this term would be important for him, for Paul had been bitter enemies with the follower of Jesus until his heart had been softened by the great Mediator and he was reconciled to the truth and the saints of God.  The Doctrine and Covenants also uses this same term in two places, referring to “Jesus the mediator of the new covenant” and how we can be “made perfect through Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, who wrought out this perfect atonement through the shedding of his own blood” (Doctrine and Covenants 107:19, 76:69).  Ultimately our salvation depends on mediation from the Savior, a forgiveness of our sins and a reconciling of our wills to the Father through Him.  Lehi’s invitation to look to the great Mediator is just as important for us today as it was for his sons in the Book of Mormon.