King Benjamin teaches many things that relate with young people. The truth that we cannot pay the Savior Jesus Christ back for what he has done for us is an important truth to stress with those we teach. King Benjamin said, “If ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day… if you should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants” (Mosiah 2:21).
His teaching in Mosiah 3-4 relates to the Savior, his suffering, and how forgiveness and grace are operative in our lives. Many young people desire to know if they are forgiven of their sins, and how the Atonement works and is applicable to them personally.
Mosiah 3: Who Jesus Suffered For
King Benjamin taught his people in Mosiah 3:11 that the Savior has suffered and atoned for those who have “ignorantly sinned.” Later he said that little children are saved through the Atonement: “Even if it were possible that little children could sin they could not be saved; but I say unto you they are blessed; for behold, as in Adam, or by nature, they fall, even so the blood of Christ atoneth for their sins” (Mosiah 3:16). The third group he mentions are those who put off the natural man and yield to the promptings of the Holy Ghost (Mosiah 3:19).
There are other notable passages of scripture that teach that the Savior suffered for all of us. In D&C 19:16-17 the Savior says, “I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I…” Many young people do not realize that the Savior’s suffering, if not accepted by us, means that Jesus suffered for something that we must also suffer for, thus causing our transgression to be paid for twice. When put in this light, many see the importance for accepting his offering on our behalf!
The apostle John taught that Jesus “is the propitiation for our sins: and not ours only, but also for the sins of the world” (1 John 2:2). Abinadi, quoting Isaiah, said that “All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all” (Mosiah 14:6). Paul’s teaching states that the Savior suffered for all of us in 2 Corinthians 5:14, and Amulek let us know that the Savior suffered for all “those who believe on his name” (Alma 11:40).
It is important to make note that if we do not repent that it is as if “there had been no redemption made, except it be the loosing of the bands of death” (Alma 11:41). In other words, everyone will benefit from the Atonement of Jesus Christ, but not all will receive the maximum benefit if they choose to reject Christ and remain in their unrepentant state. Only those who accept Jesus and his Atonement, repenting of their sins and enduring to the end will receive the full benefit of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
There Is No Other Way
King Benjamin also reinforces the truth that only in and through Jesus Christ is salvation possible. He said, “There shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent” (Mosiah 3:17). He restates this again in Mosiah 5:8, as well as other prophets teach this truth in 2 Nephi 2:8, and Moses 6:52.