Although he lived nearly 150 years before the birth of Christ, Abinadi was so certain Jesus Christ was going to be born on the earth that he sometimes referred to the life of the Savior in the past tense. He was aware, of course, that he was doing this. In Mosiah 16:6 he states: ". . . and now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there could have been no redemption." (Italics added.)