The covenant of baptism is here aptly described as “a witness and a testimony” that we are willing to serve God with all our hearts. In turn, it is our right to expect the powers of heaven-contingent upon our worthiness-to sustain us at all times and in all places we may be in (see Mosiah 18:9).
“They Were Willing to Serve God with All Their Hearts”
Having rehearsed the sufferings of the children of Israel during their wilderness wanderings, the Apostle Paul wrote: “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” (1 Corinthians 10:11).
Such obviously is the Lord’s purpose in the preservation of the kind of story being presently told in Mosiah. How singularly significant it is that as the people of the city of Nephi humble themselves, turn again to their God, and then enter into a covenant to honor and serve him, events began to happen that would bring them the freedom they had been unable to obtain by their courage and their swords.