He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgressions of my people was he stricken.
This verse contains the prophecy of Christ’s crucifixion and death. In his commentary (Mosiah 15:7–13), Abinadi elaborates on the death of the Savior, speaking of the Resurrection following the Crucifixion and then answering Isaiah’s question: “Who shall declare his generation?” Abinadi first comments on the Savior’s crucifixion and death, “Yea, even so he shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father” (Mosiah 15:7), and then he concludes, “And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men” (Mosiah 14:8). In the New Testament we find the concept of breaking the bands of death and gaining a victory in Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians; however, Paul is quoting what “is written” (1 Corinthians 15:54–55). Where was it written? Some have supposed it to be a quotation from Hosea 13:14, but if so, the Hosea text has been greatly modified. It seems more logical that this quote is a part “of the many plain and precious things which have been taken out of the [Bible]” (1 Nephi 13:29). Nonetheless, it was known to Old Testament prophets that the Resurrection of Christ would break the bands of death, and gain victory over the grave. Abinadi would probably not have coined a phrase so close to what Paul was reading from the Hebrew Bible. Of course the Spirit could have dictated the same words, but it seems most logical that both Paul and Abinadi were quoting from an earlier text which has since been lost.
After speaking of the Resurrection and Atonement of Christ (Mosiah 15:8–9; quoted previously), Abinadi answers the question posed by Isaiah: “And now I say unto you, who shall declare his generation?” (Mosiah 14:8). “And now I say unto you, who shall declare his generation? Behold, I say unto you, that when his soul has been made an offering for sin he shall see his seed. And now what say ye? And who shall be his seed?” (Mosiah 15:10). Abinadi combines his answer to the question, “who shall declare his generation”“ with Isaiah’s declaration that when Christ made “his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed.” The question and the declaration go hand in hand. Those who are “spiritually begotten” of Christ through being born again are adopted as “his sons and daughters” (Mosiah 5:7; see also Galatians 4:1–7; Romans 8:14–17; and the Exposition by the First Presidency and the Twelve cited above). Thus the adopted, born-again sons and daughters of Jesus Christ will declare the message of the gospel that Jesus Christ was sent to the earth to redeem all humankind. Following his death, Christ’s Apostles and others were to take this message to all the world (see Mark 16:15–16). Abinadi explains at some length who these messengers will be, the prophets and those who have accepted and lived their message:
11 Behold I say unto you, that whosoever has heard the words of the prophets, yea, all the holy prophets who have prophesied concerning the coming of the Lord—I say unto you, that all those who have hearkened unto their words, and believed that the Lord would redeem his people, and have looked forward to that day for a remission of their sins, I say unto you, that these are his seed, or they are the heirs of the kingdom of God.
12 For these are they whose sins he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their transgressions. And now, are they not his seed?
13 Yea, and are not the prophets, every one that has opened his mouth to prophesy, that has not fallen into transgression, I mean all the holy prophets ever since the world began? I say unto you that they are his seed. [Mosiah 15:11–13]