Abinadi taught us that the Law of Moses could not save us (Mosiah 13:28). Was, therefore, the Law of Moses an imperfect law? Of course not! The Lord gave the law for the express purpose of pointing us to an event which could save us—the great and last sacrifice of the Son of God.
It is incredibly ironic that every whit of the Law of Moses pointed to the Savior, yet those who claimed to understand and abide that law during his mortal ministry did not recognize Him or his transcendent sacrifice. This occurred because they had missed the point. They had missed the whole meaning of the law. Indeed, they had omitted the weightier matters of the law…Making the word of God of none effect through [their] tradition (Matt 23:23, Mark 7:13). Rather than recognize the Redeemer, they would strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel (Matt 23:24). Equally ironic is the perceptiveness of the Roman centurion, who knew nothing of Jewish law, yet exclaimed, Truly this was the son of God (Matt 27:54). Elder Holland explains how the Nephites had not forgotten the whole meaning of the law.
Jeffrey R. Holland
“Unlike the Israelites in the Old World, the faithful Nephites of the New World found it easier to recognize the return of the higher gospel and thereby let go of the ancient law of Moses. For one thing, they seemed to grasp more readily that Christ had not destroyed the law but fulfilled it—given it breadth, dimension, meaning, and reality, just as a prophecy is spoken of as being ’fulfilled.’” (Christ and the New Covenant, p. 155)