The coming atonement is the foundation of the ability to repent. It is the “power of the redemption and the resurrection.” Thus, Jacob’s emphasis is on this particular belief. The Nephites are not being encouraged to live the law of Moses better, but to accept the teaching of this atoning Messiah who is to come. That is the unique Nephite message.
The final verse has the feel of a termination. Jacob says: “I bid you farewell, until I shall meet you before the pleasing bar of God.” We know that Jacob will continue to live in the same place, but this farewell until the time when they meet before God suggests that he is leaving a position of authority and, therefore, leaves this as a final statement that will stand to possibly condemn them at the bar of God. It is possible that Jacob is being removed from any position of authority by those against whom he has preached. In the previous sermon, those were the more wealthy, and perhaps, therefore, the more socially powerful. The allegory’s separation of the wicked and the righteous might have been seen as being acted out in Jacob’s city.
The phrase “pleasing bar of God” is somewhat unusual, and Royal Skousen has suggested that it might have been intended to be the “pleading bar of God,” as a more logical legal reference for the translator.