Abinadi: Not One of Us

In "Lion King II," some attack and nearly killed King Simba. He assumed that the questionable love-interest of his daughter Kiara, Kovu had something to do with the incident and banished him from the pride/kingdom.

Not unlike King Simba, King Noah was deceived and ended up banishing Abinadi. As heart-wrenching of an experience it is to be rejected by the people that you love and care for, it happened to Abinadi and Christ, as described in "Abinadi: Bearer of the Message." It happened to Abinadi for testifying of Christ's central role in the Law of Moses as its fulfillment. It happened to Jesus Christ as He proclaimed His Sonship to God. Unlike Kovu, Christ and Abinadi's banishment included loss of life.

The list of seven things below shows how the lives of Abinadi and Jesus parallel making Abinadi a shadow of what was to come with Christ's life. Christ rose from the dead after three days. Unfortunately, that would not be Abinadi's experience. Abinadi did cause a man to rise up from his sleepy existence to become a follower of Christ. In this article, I will continue the listing of how Abinadi's life testified of his coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.

1. Both Abinadi and Christ preach to an apostate society.
2. Neither Abinadi or Christ were authorized by local priesthood guilds.·
3. Both Abinadi and Christ informed the people to repent.·

4. Both Christ and Abinadi were rejected.

5. The priests of both societies accused Christ and Abinadi of treason.

6. The king for both men could have released them from bondage, but did not.
7. Both men were martyred for their preaching.

The words Abinadi spoke to the Zeniffites were rejected as false and provocative from the very beginning. He did not have the luxury to teach his people the way Christ did; so, there is no shadow/type regarding that aspect. The rejection was by the priestly leaders than the people.

Twice did Abinadi go before the people trying to teach them what the Lord had revealed to him about their wicked behavior. The people cast him out and sought to kill him at the command of the king.

Abinadi returned two years after his first appearance to warn his brethren in disguise with the same message.

Apparently, he was not interested in keeping his identity a secret since he identified himself to the public in a statement I think is humorous:

Abinadi came among them in disguise, that they knew him not, and began to prophesy among them, saying:

Thus has the Lord commanded me, saying—Abinadi, go and prophesy unto this my people, for they have hardened their hearts against my words; they have repented not of their evil doings; therefore, I will visit them in my anger, yea, in my fierce anger will I visit them in their iniquities and abominations. (Mosiah 12:1)

I laugh each time I read this because Abinadi is a wanted man, yet he self-identifies while he is yet in disguise. What is the disguise for in such an event? The people knew him. They took him bound before the king where he met his doom; I should say where it appeared that he met his doom.

Christ was similarly betrayed by the people, Judas in particular, and taken before the priests and Governor eventually. The leaders at Jerusalem feared that the teachings of Christ would cause political changes that would upset the establishment. It is interesting how those changes occurred despite the rejection the leaders of the Jewish sects offered. This new sect of Judaism, the Nazarenes would not be silenced. The leaders of the popular Jewish sects of the day would not accept Jesus as a King.

Because Abinadi was pegged as a treasonous man he had to wait to deliver the revelations God had given to him. His hiatus landed him in prison when he surfaced.

Once King Noah and his priests had him in prison, the priests sent the accusations a-fly. No doubt, he suffered as the Savior did who also stood accused of those who did not know Him.

The priest put Abinadi on display and stood before him questioning him on ways to make a charge stick where they could justify ridding their community of him. The people worried them. If the people believed Abinadi, then that might cause no small stir.

The people's memory was short, but the words of Abinadi might just help them recall the time before King Noah, a righteous time. The same happened with the Savior.

Caiaphas urged the Savior to claim His status as King of the Jews so that he could present him to the Romans as an inciter. The funny thing about that situation is Christ inflamed them even more by what He did admit to in that den of accusers. He basically told them that He was equal to their God.

All hell broke out in that place when Christ said,

Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. (Matt 26:64)

First, He had the audacity to enter Jerusalem and disrupt the religious life of the people, mostly women, and peasants. Second, He cleared their temple as if it was His own house. Third, He preached on the Sabbath and it was not by any established school of Scribe, Pharisee, or Sanhedrin.

The last straw came when He dared to equate himself to God by sitting on the right hand of power. Caiaphas went into a rage.

...the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. (Matt 26:65)

Jesus taught among them for three years! Finally, He had said enough for at least the Sanhedrin to seek his life as a blasphemous traitor. Jesus gave it to him. Caiaphas held no evidence to justify the nighttime abduction. Deception and libel were his employees to entrap the Savior to get him out of the way so that society could go on and enjoy the "sweet life."

Caiaphas tore his clothes. He had found a reason to kill, kill, kill the traitor of Judaism. To appease the Jews, the Romans would listen.

With the rejection of the priests, the only thing left to do was to present them before the king/governor and have the sordid deed carried out that the priests wanted. Death was what they desired. Death is what they needed so that their craft could not be destroyed--on both hemispheres and in both times explained in "Abinadi: Condemnation by Decree."