The significance in a Mesoamerican world was not in the dying and resurrecting God, but in the concept that there was a spiritual death as well as a physical one. The Messiah’s atonement serves a dual function: overcoming physical death, and reconciling spiritual death. Samuel gives this second aspect of the atonement the greatest attention because his audience could understand it least. Even apostate Nephites would understand a resurrection made possible by a dying God, but they would still miss the reconciliation of Yahweh and humankind that comes through the remission of sin, especially to the extent that they had embraced Nehorism. Therefore, this message is the most critical for them to understand.