Christ broke the bands of death and, as the Son of God, he reigns and has power over the dead that he may bring about their resurrection (v. 20). The first resurrection includes those who “have been, and who are, and who shall be, even until the resurrection of Christ” (v. 21). It includes the prophets and those who have believed in their words and kept the commandments. They will dwell with Christ, who redeemed them, and have eternal life (vv. 22–23). The first resurrection also includes those who died in ignorance before Christ came, not having had salvation declared to them (v. 24). Although Abinadi does not expound upon this group, Peter and modern revelation qualify their salvation upon the condition of their accepting the gospel in the spirit world: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water” (1 Peter 3:18–20). Peter commented further: “Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit” (1 Peter 4:5–6). The Prophet Joseph Smith saw in vision and heard:
7 Thus came the voice of the Lord unto me, saying: All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God;
8 Also all that shall die henceforth without a knowledge of it, who would have received it with all their hearts, shall be heirs of that kingdom;
9 For I, the Lord, will judge all men according to their works, according to the desire of their hearts. [D&C 137:7–9]
Abinadi also announces that little children shall have eternal life (Mosiah 15:25). Joseph Smith adds his witness: “And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven” (D&C 137:10).