King Benjamin had now fulfilled the commandment of the Lord to announce that his son, Mosiah, would be the new king. Therefore the political aspects of his high office had been completed. Now he needed to turn to his role as a prophet of God. He introduced this phase of his talk by telling the people he wanted to talk about things which were to come. He also wants to explain how he learned of these things.
This beautiful proclamation of “glad tidings of great joy” appears eleven times in the Book of Mormon and it always refers to the coming of the Savior. King Benjamin had been praying to know more about this great event and so the angel told him:
“For the Lord hath heard thy prayers, and hath judged of thy righteousness, and hath sent me to declare unto thee that thou mayest rejoice; and that thou mayest declare unto thy people, that they may also be filled with joy. For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.”