“And now I have spoken the words which the Lord God hath commanded me.” (Mosiah 3: 23.)
The angel added nothing. He hid nothing. He delivered what the Lord told him to deliver.
These are not merely the words of an angel. Becuase the angel certifies they originated from God, they are the words of God. (D&C 1: 38.)
When anyone, man or angel, is entrusted with a message from God, the message is God’s. God makes no distinction between the messenger and Himself. The words “shall all be fulfilled.” (Id.)
This system of empowering a messenger with a message, and then holding mankind to account may seem too slender a thread to have power. The truth is that the power is in the words, not in who speaks them. It does not matter that they come from a frail, elderly King from another time who has no authority over us today. It does not matter that he was alone at night with an unnamed angel without a second witness to vindicate the words. It is true and binding because:
1. It agrees with and does not contradict any other message from God.
2. It preaches repentance and warns us of consequences.
3. The words are independently corrobrated by the Spirit, if we read with the Spirit.
4. The words have been certified to us by our own inquiry (Moroni 10: 4-5.)
This is how the Lord sends His message. Through a solitary figure like John the Baptist, or Samuel the Lamanite, or Abinadi, or Jonah, or Amos, or Isaiah, or so many others. The message is the credential. It puts us to the obligation of then seeking to know if it is true or not. For that we must turn to God.
The message originates with God, and the message drives us to Him to determine if it is true.
The Lord’s ways are ever the same. We get no less a challenge in our own day.
As you reflect on this you can see why Zion will be a “city” and not an intercontinental, multi-million member organization spread throughout the world. It will be small. It will be local. (D&C 133: 12.) The Saints will be gathered from all the world into Zion. (1 Ne. 14: 14.) This is because once a messenger has delivered “the words which the Lord God hath commanded me,” then we are responsible for how we react and whether or not we repent. If we repent, angels will gather us. (D&C 77: 11.) If we do not, they will not gather us.