Thou Mayest Rejoice

When the angel visited King Benjamin, he told the king to wake up and then said this: “For behold, I am come to declare unto you the glad tidings of great joy. For the Lord hath heard thy prayers, and hath judged of thy righteousness, and hath sent me to declare unto thee that thou mayest rejoice; and that thou mayest declare unto thy people, that they may also be filled with joy.” This is a powerful introduction to his words and should encourage us to understand what exactly we ought to have such great joy about. The angel proceeded to speak to King Benjamin about the ministry of the Savior, and that surely is a major reason for which we should all rejoice. In particular he and we should have great joy because “the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases” (Mosiah 3:3-5). For King Benjamin this event was in the future and for us it is in the past, but like this ancient king we can rejoice because the Savior came and did all these things. As we study the stories of the New Testament we should find joy in the fact that He did indeed work mighty miracles, He healed the sick, He raised the dead, and He did many other wondrous works. How blessed we are to know that the Messiah did indeed come among His people.

               I believe that there are a few other related things that the angel taught in Mosiah 3 for which we should also rejoice. First, the Savior came to suffer for our sins and complete the infinite atonement: “And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people” (v5). He further explained this, “And the Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them” (13). We can rejoice because Christ’s suffering enables us to receive a remission of our sins, bringing us great joy in overcoming the natural man. We also can have great joy because of the resurrection of Jesus that the angel spoke of: “And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men” (v10). Because He will rise from the dead, a righteous judgment will come upon us; we will not become subject to the devil but will rise from our graves as well because of Him. Surely that is a great reason we have to rejoice. Lastly, we can rejoice in the fact that “the knowledge of a Savior shall spread throughout every nation, kindred, tongue, and people” (v20). That is being fulfilled in our day as the gospel goes forth to the ends of the earth, both to the living and to the dead. As disciples of Jesus Christ we should rejoice in His life and ministry, His suffering for our sins, His resurrection from the dead, and our opportunity to share the knowledge of the Savior with all the world.