The message of Mosiah 3.19 is not that mankind is an enemy to God. Rather, the message that King Benjamin is working to drive deep into the hearts of his listeners is the very message of the Fall Festival. The message is that without God, we are nothing. Remembering our dependence on God during this time was critical as a new king was enthroned. Yet the real king that Benjamin is emphasizing in his sermon is Yahweh, or Jehovah as we call him today. This would be the God that would come down to earth and die for all mankind, because of his love for us and his submitting his will to his father.
Jesus set the example of submission, and by emphasizing this truth, Benjamin is inviting all of us to do the same. Instead, it is usually our “natural” tendency to exercise our desires in opposition to God. By exerting our wills in opposition to God’s will, we become enemies to his purposes and plans. By “yielding” our hearts to God, we humble ourselves, and like children, become children of Christ through the covenants that we make with him. Like these early followers of the Messiah, we too can become saints, or holy ones, through the Atonement of the Messiah Jesus. This yielding our hearts to God was a central theme in the chiasmus of Mosiah 3.18-19.