Moroni here speaks of a day of consummate righteousness, a day of faith, a day of universal good and brotherhood -surely the day we know as the Millennium. It is a day when the generality of the people exercise faith like Moriancumer, when the Saints possess power with their God sufficient to penetrate the veil and enjoy communion with holy beings.
In that day, when the people of the Lord are living up to their privileges, when those who have come out of the world are basking in the glorious light of Christ the Lord, and when the covenant people have searched and studied and pondered and taught consistently from the scriptures they have been given-then, in that day, the Lord God will bestow new knowledge, vouchsafe new scriptures, confer new and sacred understanding that has been known by but few of the earth’s inhabitants. He will give to the faithful all that the brother of Jared received.
“Ye Shall Offer for a Sacrifice Unto Me a Broken Heart and a Contrite Spirit”
The practice of sacrifice that was fulfilled in Christ was one of rites and rituals, whereas the new practice commanded of the Lord involved inner attitudes that would bring about outward obedience to commandments and ordinances.
Just as the sacrifices of animals were to symbolize the shedding of the blood of Christ and to focus the faith of the people on the Messiah, so must our obedience stemming from a sacrifice of a broken heart and contrite spirit be centered solely on Christ.
What then is a “broken heart and a contrite spirit” that is to be our “living sacrifice” to the Lord? It is, as Paul taught, a “godly sorrow” which “worketh repentance to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10). It is much more than just a repentant attitude; it includes a recognition of total dependence upon the Lord for salvation and a willing submission to him and his laws (see Mosiah 3:19).
Lamoni’s father characterized this sacrifice with his desire to come to know God when he declared, “I will give away all my sins to know thee” (Alma 22:18).
Offering a sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit requires “giving away our sins” through faith in Christ, sincere and complete repentance obedience to the Lord’s commands, and pressing forward with a “steadfastness in Christ” (2 Nephi 31:20; see also D&C 59:8; D&C 97:8).