Come Follow Me LDS- Alma 13-16, Book of Mormon (Jun 15 - 21)
Jun 17, 2020
"Alma & Melchizedek"
- A possible Feast of Trumpets stage for Alma and Amulek
- Why Alma talks of the Melchizedek Priesthood in Ammonihah
- The Higher & Lower Laws
- "Casting Off" sins
- Melchizedek in the Joseph Smith Translation and Doctrine & Covenants
- Melchizedek as a title - Prince of Peace
Raw Transcript
in this episode we talk about Alma and
Melchizedek here we go alright and this
come follow me
episode we are going to be covering Alma
chapters 13 through 16 we're coming in
here in the exact middle point really of
the sermons given by Amalek and Alma and
as is sometimes the case on this podcast
I'm probably gonna have a very different
take on what is going on here chapter 13
is all about Melchizedek and the
Melchizedek Priesthood and there is a
very good reason why this is brought in
at this point this has everything to do
with the higher and the lower laws it is
likely something that was dictated right
or or rehearsed given as oral tradition
during what possibly could be a specific
time of the year here I'm going to make
a suggestion that just as the speech of
King Benjamin was given at the Feast of
Tabernacles more than likely and it has
also been suggested that Obinna dies
sermon to King Noah and that his priest
was given at Pentecost I'm going to
suggest that the sermons of Amalek and
Alma here are given at Rosh Hashanah or
the Feast of Trumpets which is the
beginning of the ten Days of Awe that
includes the Feast of Tabernacles and
Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement all of
the themes that you would find in in
these days of all the high holy days as
they call them these ten days
are found in the sermons by Amalek and
Alma and we're going to go through some
very interesting cross references here
in the Joseph Smith translation in the
book of Revelation and in the New
Testament that are kind of kind of
codify what is being done here I believe
now I have heard before or read before
that Alma all of a sudden is dropping
Melchizedek in here as some kind of an
extension of repentance on what he's
been talking about I mean that's part of
it yes Melchizedek was a great King and
he helped his people repent and that's
certainly what they are trying to do
here with the people of Ammon aha
with Alma and perhaps a mule ik here as
well as Melchizedek priests acting as
Melchizedek and teaching repentance and
trying to convert this people give them
a chance but there's a bigger message
here I believe a bigger reason why Elm
is doing this and that has to do with
the theme of Rosh Hashanah or the Feast
of Trumpets and the High Holy Days
including the Feast of Tabernacles and
Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement and if
we go through this here you're gonna see
how this starts to fall into place first
of all we should understand that the
Feast of Trumpets is the first couple of
days of the high holy days in the fall
and it's the Feast of Trumpets because
of the shofar right the animal horn that
is blown and even today Jews that gather
together for Rosh Hashanah they have the
shofar and they blow the shofar now the
reason for that is that that trumpet is
a sign of judgment it is the time of
judgment
remember Rosh Hashanah is basically
means a new year it's the Jewish New
Year that's when the new year begins and
so at the new year there is a judgment a
judgment of what while it's the judgment
of everything that's happened in the
previous year right there is a sitting
down at the idea of God sitting on a
throne looking through books and looking
through the deeds of what everybody has
done during the last year
and then from then on through the ten
days the High Holy Days is a period of
repentance until it culminates with the
day of atonement so did a mule akin to
Alma get up on their soapbox in the
middle of a large festival and a large
gathering of all the people of ammon iya
it would give good reason for so many
people to be present and listening and
of course what is the theme of Amalek
and Alma's sermon up to now it's
repentance and judgment and this is
exactly what the people of ammonia don't
believe in so if we follow through there
either what Mormon is doing or what Alma
had put together here in the sequence of
their speeches it looks to me like it
goes right along here with the judgment
and repentance and then coming up to the
day of atonement the other thing to look
at here is of course how would you
present the gospel here to the people of
ammon ayah it would be done first with
the lower law which is the Aaronic law
which is all about judgment and
repentance and then once that was put
into place right prepare either way
that's what has to be done first we even
get that in here then you're allowed to
bring the king in and who's the king the
king is Melchizedek but the procession
the way of the procession has to be
prepared first that's the way the gospel
is taught that's the way our progress is
made and so now that this lower law has
gone being been covered now they can
bring in the higher law and talk about
the Son of God and the order after the
son of God it's interesting that as you
go back to chapter 12 and you just run a
quick search for the word son
you'll see that outside of the summary
at the top it's mentioned four times all
four times are in the very bottom
portion of the end of the chapter right
remember he's gone over the
the temporal death he's gone over the
spiritual death both of these have to do
with judgment and death right got a look
at those are the same I've got another
episode I'm gonna go over on this that I
think is very key to the Garden of Eden
story but death and judgment go together
and then he talks about how the
commandments another hadith hyeme right
that's also DBR or DVR are brought out
to the world and the commandments what
Commandments is he talking about well
the well the Feast of Trumpets is
basically celebrating the law coming
after the 40 days that Moses has been on
Sinai so of course that runs right into
the theme that I'm talking about here
with a Feast of Trumpets but at the
bottom of of chapter 12 here starting in
verse 33 that's where we start talking
about the son I almost starts bringing
up the son but God did call on men in
the name of his son because we're about
to go over the order after the son of
God right and then will I have mercy
upon you through mine only begotten Son
he shall have claim on mercy through
mine only begotten Son unto a remission
of his sins so this is something that's
being set up for the next chapter here
we can't just look at 13 in a vacuum and
then down in 37 he starts saying he
starts to talk about a set of second
commandments and if you look up earlier
in chapter 12
the first Commandments were the ones
that were given to Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden and we can even look at
that probably as ourselves as well and
in the premortal life the second set of
Commandments are the ones that were to
follow and for them it would have
specifically been the law of Moses which
they would be celebrating at the Feast
of Trumpets so as we get into chapter 13
here now that we've set this stage a
little bit we're going to be fulfilling
the progression from the lower law to
the higher law we're moving from
Commandments repentance and judgment up
into the Son of God and mercy and the
milk
Priesthood and that would make sense as
you pass through the theme of the Days
of Awe as we move toward the Day of
Atonement so he jumps in here now that
he's gone over these lower law things
and he says I would cite your minds
forward to the time when the Lord gave
these Commandments I was tying in the
last chapter here these Commandments
unto his children well that's the day of
trumpets for the Feast of Trumpets and I
would that you would remember that the
Lord God ordained priests after his holy
order which was and by the way order
again DBR right which was after the
order of his son to teach these things
unto the people and these would be the
prophets and those priests were deigned
after the order of his son in a manner
that thereby the people might know in
what manner to look forward to his son
for redemption in other words again just
like with King Noah and his priests who
only relied on the lower law the only
they said the law of Moses was it there
are those that are assigned that there
there are those that are deigned in
logistic priesthood a priesthood which
administers holy heavenly spiritual
things so that the most law of Moses can
look forward to these things and can
look forward to the son again think
about preparing either way right
crying repentance in the wilderness
right the icon of John the Baptist and
he's clearing the path of the procession
the royal procession for the triumphal
entry that has to be done first and then
Melchizedek can come through or the Son
of God can come through in many ways
that's the same thing and that
represents the logistic priesthood
what is that triumphal entry all about
it's about the king it's about
Melchizedek coming in and ending up
we're at the temple Jesus is the
Melchizedek as a title now what do I
mean by that it's important to
understand this
if you fold the podcast for a while
you've heard me explain some of this
before but Melchizedek is a title as
well as a person it's kind of like this
there's a reason why we have Davidic
Kings right they are all Davidic Kings
that were called with Jew for with Judah
right for the kingdom of Judah after
David so Solomon was a Davidic King
right why are they called Davidic Kings
because it's a title of David it's very
similar I believe to why the Nephite
Kings were all called Nephi right
there's there's a reason for that it's
because it represents something beyond
just me find the Davidic Kings Jesus was
in a sense a Davidic King it's a
representation of Melchizedek and
Melchizedek is a person the person that
Abraham paid tithes to but it's also a
title Melchizedek has several different
interpretations one of them being king
of righteousness or my king of
righteousness but we get some other
titles that fit in very easily with that
that we get from Isaiah for example
Prince of Peace and who's the Prince of
Peace well it's Jesus Christ
so Jesus Christ is a Melchizedek figure
because he is the king of kings the
whole book of Hebrews talks about this
right and that this is that Jesus Christ
is the Melchizedek the new milk acidic
and in fact in Christianity broadly
speaking they'll tell you that he is
milk acidic and he is but he's not the
monistic that Abraham paid tithes to
Melchizedek is a title it is a royal
title and a spiritual title for a high
priest a kingly high priest and that is
something that is centered in the temple
and that's why it is the name of the
priest the priesthood after the order of
the son to offer
severence right in a very important way
really it's offering reverence and it's
replacing the order of the Sun with the
order of melchizedek which is a title so
it is named after the person but it
becomes a title and a parallel to the
Son of God now let's go over a little
bit more over Melchizedek here we go all
the way down to verse 17 now this
Melchizedek was a king over the land of
Salem Salem anciently is Jerusalem
so before Jerusalem was called Jerusalem
it is Salem and Melchizedek is the king
there so when we talk about the Davidic
kings right when David sits on the
throne in Jerusalem he is Melchizedek
and he had the monk hesitate priesthood
he is a royal figure in the priesthood
and what does Salem mean from Shalom it
is peace so the king of Salem is the
king of peace or the Prince of Peace so
the Davidic King was the Prince of Peace
and that makes all the sense in the
world when you think about Temple drama
and you understand that those kings
those Davidic kings acted not only as a
temporal king for the people of the land
of Judah or all of Israel anciently but
they also acted at times in the role of
Jehovah of the Melchizedek of the King
of Kings and so they would be the
Melchizedek they held the Melchizedek
Priesthood and we get that right here in
verse 18 it says therefore he was called
the Prince of Peace for he was the king
of Salem see our parallel right there
and he did reign under his father
interestingly here in verse 21 he says
and now it came to pass that when Alma
had said these words unto them he
stretched forth his hand unto them and
cried with a mighty voice saying now is
the time
to repent for the day of salvation
draweth nigh is he talking about the 10
days here with yom kippur the day of
atonement coming in the next several
days just to add a little punch to his
words we get a very small amount of
information about Melchizedek in the Old
Testament we can first go to Psalms 110
and this would be a temple text right
this is a temple text and here's what we
get the Lord said unto my lord sit thou
at my right hand until I make thine
enemies thy footstool we've talked about
the footstool right this is the throne
of God in the Holy of Holies with the
Ark of the Covenant as the footstool
which will represent her
the Lord shall send the rod of thy
strength the rod of rule the king
sitting there out of Zion rule thou in
the midst of thine enemies and then down
in verse 4 the LORD hath sworn and will
not repent thou art a priest this is
talking about the king sitting on the
throne thou art a priest forever after
the order of melchizedek now from
everything I've read here from from
Hebrew scholars this is this this Psalm
especially as is completely garbled and
doesn't make a lot of sense and there
are a lot of different interpretation of
what's really going on here but what we
can say with a high level of certainty
here is that this is a temple text
referring to the Davidic King sitting on
the throne representing Melchizedek and
saying that he is ordained after the
order of Melchizedek now a little bit
further back we get one other mention of
Melchizedek in the Old Testament and
that is in Genesis 14 but it's very very
small it just so happens not
surprisingly that in the Joseph Smith
translation we get our largest section I
believe it's our largest translated
section of the Old Testament right here
in Genesis 14
and you ought to go take a look at that
if there's nothing else that you do as
far as an additional study and reading
here go to Joseph Smith translation
Genesis chapter 14 verses 25 to 40 and
and it's going to explain a lot to you
about Melchizedek and about the higher
and lower laws if you pay attention
let's just review that quickly
verse 26 now McKissack was a man of
faith who wrought righteousness and when
a child he feared God and stopped the
mouths of lions I'll do another episode
on that that's pretty fascinating and
quenched the violence of fire are we
about to see fire here in 27 and thus
having been approved of God he was
ordained and high priest after the order
of the Covenant which God made with
Enoch that's the new and everlasting
covenant that was made with Enoch right
and what a meaning to Enoch you know we
had the whole city of Enoch that was
lifted up well the same thing happens
with Melchizedek and Salem it being
after the order of the son of God and
then we get a little description here
let me get this also in Alma 13 this is
what it says which order came not by man
nor the will of man neither by father
nor mother neither by beginning of days
nor end of years but of God this is
important
because what it's saying is that it is
eternal it is a spiritual priesthood
that is not the case with the Aaronic
priesthood the Aaronic priesthood is the
carnal priesthood we're used to hearing
that term carnal in completely negative
sense but if we think of the higher and
the lower laws the carnal is the lower
law the carnal is the Aaronic priesthood
and what it administers it is the
temporal law and it has a beginning and
an end right because it's mortal but the
Melchizedek Priesthood is an eternal
priesthood is a spiritual priesthood
it's not handed down from father to son
necessarily through a lineage it can be
we've got Abraham Isaac Jacob Joseph etc
but it is an eternal priesthood a
spiritual priesthood and the ironic
priesthood represents more things that
we do right the carnal things been
called carnal things or the temporal
things of the commandments of obedience
of repentance that would go along with
the ordinance of baptism by water but
the holy ghost spiritual things the
baptism of fire is a Melchizedek
Priesthood ordinance and so all of us as
members of the church we go through
those two phases right away as we become
members of the church we pass through
the ordinance of the lower law with the
baptism of water where we are lowered
down into the water as if it were death
right and then raised up and then the
spiritual law the spiritual ordinance of
the milk is decreasing with a gift of
the Holy Ghost then of course here in
verse 34 God having sworn into Enoch and
done to his seed with an oath that is
the oath and covenant of the priesthood
remember that the oath of the oath and
covenant of the priesthood doesn't come
from us I've heard that sometimes where
people are talking about the olden
covenant thinking that we're the ones
making the oath no the old comes from
God and it does not apply to men
exclusively right the olden company of
the priesthood I don't understand I've
never understood sometimes why the men
young men are supposed to go and and and
learn about the oath and covenant of the
priesthood before they become
Melchizedek Priesthood holders and we
don't do that with young women it has
nothing to do specifically with men at
all it has to do with all of us every
woman in the church should study section
84 and understand the oath and color of
the priesthood because it is everything
for all of us has nothing to do with a
priesthood holder as far as the
blessings go as far as the doctrine goes
the oath from God means that we are
given eternal life that's the oath he is
promising a promised land
which goes right along with the whole
thing covenant of the priesthood or the
new and everlasting covenant or the
Abrahamic covenant
you know Abraham's always looking and
wanting to end up with the promised land
that has everything to do is a metaphor
with eternal life that is only possible
through the oath and covenant of the
priesthood that is only possible through
the order of the Son of God because
otherwise we have just judgment and
Commandments and there there's no way to
move beyond that there's no grace
there's no mercy there's no redemption
so here in 33 then we get this and now
mystic was a priest of this order
therefore he obtained peace in Salem
right that is a hebrew ism right there
peace in salem peace in peace so to
speak or the place of peace and was
called the prince of peace so when we
hear isaiah talking about the prince of
peace and referring to that messianic
lee he's referring to the new
Melchizedek he is the new Melchizedek
the essenes a sect of Jews that lived
out in the wilderness up but where we
get the Dead Sea Scrolls from had a
scroll called the Melchizedek scroll or
the Melchizedek text and we know that
they were looking forward to the new
Melchizedek this was a very common thing
to understand at least through certain
sects of Judaism maybe not with the
Pharisees maybe not with the Sadducees
but when we go to the book of Hebrews in
the New Testament it's very clear that
they are talking about Jesus Christ as
the new Melchizedek he is the Prince of
Peace
so if we understand that we are going
from the lower law to the higher law we
can see why Alma is now talking about
the mckissick priesthood and about the
order of the son of God it administers
now in the spiritual things it is a
representation of the atone
of Jesus Christ it is a representation
of His grace and his love and His mercy
and is the natural place to go to once
you have gone through repentance and
judgment and the commandments it is the
opening up of the way it is the clearing
the paths it is making the paths
straight and preparing the way and
crying repentance in the wilderness
before the King Melchizedek comes
through to the temple and this is all
what would be happening during the Feast
of Tabernacles in the days of Days of
Awe up to the Day of Atonement the other
reason you would talk about this is
because with the Nihal rites here
the people of M&I ha the priests were
paid and it is the exact opposite of
what is being spoken of here about those
that are ordained into the order of
Melchizedek that is their spirituality
their pureness of thought their love and
their charity their steadfastness in
having faith in Jesus Christ that brings
them to the point of being ordained as a
priest of Melchizedek now if you're the
nee hoor writes here in a mana ha number
one you don't want to hear that that's
how people are priests and that that is
contrasted directly with all the money
that the priests are receiving right for
them it's the priests are popular as
they call it and they collect money from
everybody and the more they preach
properly and the more they flatter the
members of their church well the more
money they probably get so that's the
exact opposite so he's contrasting that
the other reason that he's bringing it
up here is because it is after the order
of the son they do not believe in the
Son of God and so where the priests of
ammonia ammonia here are nee hoor rights
that do not believe in the Son of God
and in a redeemer
here is contrasting himself at least and
maybe Amalek and others
and Melchizedek as priests after the
order of the son of God
remember what that title means the son
of God right the one who lowered himself
below all of us it is a priesthood of
love it is a priesthood of charity and
grace
lastly in reference to the Melchizedek
Priesthood let's just go over here the
doctrine covenants first in Section 107
says here at verse 1 there are in the
church two priesthoods namely the
Melchizedek and Aaronic including the
Levitical priesthood now why including
the Levitical priesthood because the
Levitical priesthood and the Aaronic
priesthood are not exactly the same
thing sometimes we get confused with
that when we read this they're not
exactly the same thing remember Aaron is
a descendant of Levi as was Moses but
those that were priests were only after
the descendency of of Aaron right not
Levi more broadly Levites could be from
the tribe of Levi but unless you were
directly a son grandson great-grandson
etc of Aaron you could not be a priest
so the way we would distinguish that
today is to say okay well they're both
in a sense the Aaronic priesthood but
when it says it includes the Levitical
priesthood the ironic that he's speaking
of specifically here would be the
priests right and then the Levitical
typically when you think of that the
Levites would be more like the teachers
and the Deacons
and what is the difference there all the
differences is the priests are the ones
that can offer the sacrifices right and
in our day the sacrifice is the
sacrament is the site of the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ and only the priest can
do that and a priest can baptize but a
teacher and a deacon cannot the Levites
cannot only a priest can John the
Baptist was a priest after the order of
Aaron not Melchizedek so when we speak
of the Levitical priesthood we can look
at it more broadly as all of the offices
of the Aaronic priesthood which by the
way would include the bishop
as well but they're not necessarily used
exactly the same way the Aaronic and the
Levitical priesthood verse two why the
first is called the McKissick preachers
because milk is ik was such a great high
priest before his day it was called the
holy priesthood after the order of the
Son of God so again keeping in mind what
Melchizedek Priesthood means originally
right after the order of the son of God
it is the priesthood of God
who came down and lowered himself below
everybody that's what that means that
was includes his sacrifice in verse 18
the power and authority of the higher or
Melchizedek Priesthood is to hold the
keys of all the spiritual blessings of
the church again this is the higher law
to have the privilege of receiving the
mysteries of the kingdom of God think of
the temple to have the heavens opened
unto them think of a seer to commune
with the General Assembly and Church of
the firstborn and to enjoy the communion
and presence of God the Father and Jesus
the mediator of the New Covenant
right so it's again the mystic
priesthood here this is right in the
face of the nee hoor rights they would
believe more in just an ironic
priesthood like the the king and king
Noah and his priests here in verse 20
the power and authority of the lesser or
erotic priesthood is to hold the keys of
the ministering of angels and to
administer in outward ordinances the
letter of the gospel the baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins
agreeable to the covenants and
Commandments okay those are all lower
law things yes Commandments are lower
law doesn't remove their importance but
it's what we do that is the lower law we
obey the commandments and then section
84 it's interesting because it starts
off focused on the temple and that's
where the Melchizedek Priesthood is
anchored in is in the temple a lot of
ways you can look at the organization of
the chorim's in the church there there
it's organized by the temple and the
stakes
the stakes that would be around the
tabernacle holding up the temple right
and of course we hear about the higher
priesthood here and that without this
priesthood and authority no man can see
the face of God even the father and live
that is a temple reference and it goes
right into our wonderful story of the
two different sets of tablets with Moses
on Sinai right where the higher law than
like acidic law is brought down from
Sinai on tablets and then he comes back
and we have the golden calf and the
partying etc again remember for me
that's a historical sleight of hand
that's not the major issue it's a it's a
big issue but it's not it covers up what
is really happening and it's narrative
what's really happening is a denial of
those first tablets right where Moses
has been up there for forty days and by
the way that's also what the Feast of
Trumpets is here right he's supposed to
be coming down after the forty days and
now they're going to be receiving the
commandments and moving forward with a
law of Moses and now that they have the
law they need to repent and prepare
themselves for salvation but what really
happens there is we read here in section
84 is they reject the first set of
tablets they reject Christ they reject
the order of the Son of God they reject
Melchizedek the Melchizedek order and
Moses has to go back up repent for the
children of Israel and come back down
with a lower set of laws which are the
Ten Commandments and and the the law of
Moses which is the lower law the carnal
law so where that is all that the people
of ammon ayah are believing in or a
majority of them that's the exact
opposite here of what Alma is trying to
preach to them the Melchizedek
Priesthood represents the priesthood
after the order of the son of God
and that's what this is all for the law
of Moses is all a looking forward to the
son of God so at the end of chapter 13
Alma surmises things here he's gone
through all of this the lord of the
higher law
the Son of God the priesthood of the son
of God
and he asks everyone to repent then so
you can be ready for all of these things
he says this here in verse 29
having faith on the Lord having a hope
that he shall receive eternal life
that's entering into his rest having the
love of God always in your hearts that
he may be lifted up at the last day and
enter into his rest and may the Lord
grant unto you repentance that she may
not bring down his wrath upon you that
he may not be bound down by the chains
of hell one of his favorite themes here
that ye may not suffer the second death
remember this all started off with
amulet going over the first death or the
temporal death the separation of body
and spirit and the second death the
spiritual death of judgment right the
separation of God and man and he
finishes off you're saying in Alma speak
many more words are DBR there under the
people which are not written in this
book and then he gets over here to
chapter 14 and now that he's gone over
the whole spiel right you have a lot of
people that are beginning to repent and
they go back and what do they do they
search the Scriptures in verse 1 so
there's some time that's going through
all of this here somehow
right there's some period of days maybe
and they've gone back and they start to
search the scriptures and to look
through these things and they repent and
they want to follow the words of Alma
and amalek but the majority of them they
want to cast Alma now me look into
prison so they begin to testify against
them and of course what do they bring up
they testify that they had said that
there was only one God and that he
should send his son among the people and
that he should not save them right
remember our points on that again that's
going to be a major issue to them you're
saying you're not I'm not gonna be saved
you're saying there's a judgment and I'm
going to have to pay for things
God must not love me very much I have to
be just like you these are the things
that would be going on here then we
start getting another theme that starts
coming through all these these chapters
here with Alma amalek in with zis room
here he begins to feel the pains of Hell
as he sees what's happening to Alma and
a meal
and he says behold I am guilty in these
men are spotless before God and he began
to plead for them from that time forth
but they reviled him saying art thou
also possessed with the devil and they
spit upon him and cast him out from
among them and then again all those who
believed in the words which had been
spoken by Alma and AM yulik and they
cast them out and sent men to cast
stones at them so we get the word cast
three times in that verse continuing
with that theme in verse eight and they
brought their wives and children
together so these are the man that we're
believing they cast them out of the city
they took their wives and their children
and whosoever believed or had been
taught to believe in the Word of God the
word they caused they should be cast
into the fire and they also brought
forth their records which contained the
Holy Scriptures and cast them into the
fire also that they might be burned and
destroyed by fire I think in this
chapter we get the word cast twelve
times it is not a coincidence at that
point it is a theme he's writing around
this Mormon or Alma are writing around
this idea here so let's take a step back
here before we talk about what has just
happened here with these wives and
children that were cast into the fire if
we look at the word cast if we go back
and start to think about the idea again
of the Feast of Trumpets
and what would happen at this time still
today it is traditional for Jews during
the Feast of Trumpets to go to water
okay water where it would be flowing
water where they would be able to cast
their sins into the water right and let
it go off now you can look at the water
also as this place where fire and
brimstone would be if you're throwing
all of your sins in there and that would
be a lake of fire and brimstone so to
speak so this idea of casting off is a
big idea of repentance right and what we
can see what's happening here I think
with what Mormon is writing about here
seeing where Alma and amulet are talking
about judgment the judgment of God it
gets reversed here in Amman aha where
it's the judgment of the Nihal rights
that gets put on to Alma and Amalek and
on to the believers of the word of God
where they are the ones that are cast
off they are the ones that are cast into
the fire and again this would be a
perfect theme for the Feast of Trumpets
we can also look at other parallels here
in Scripture a great place to go to is
1st Corinthians 15 this is Paul right
and again if you really read Paul you
really understand when you look at the
Book of Mormon that he is pulling from
ancient sources ancient sources that the
Nephites probably have in the brass
plates that are not necessarily all in
the Old Testament in speaking about
judgment right here's Paul in 1st
Corinthians 15 then we will be changed
you've heard this before we will be
changed in a moment in the twinkling of
an eye at the last Trump for the trumpet
shall sound and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible and we shall be changed so
again we're talking about the
resurrection death and resurrection just
like Alma Nebula especially a mule ik
have been covering 53 for this
corruptible must put on incorruption and
this mortal must put on immortality it's
the same thing it's almost the same
sermon almost so when this corruptible
shall put on incorruption and this
mortal shall have put on immortality
this is the question that anti anti onna
had then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written death is
swallowed up in victory Oh death where
is thy sting o grave where is thy
victory the sting of death is sin and
the strength of sin is the law but
thanks be to God which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ
this is exactly what they have just been
talking about right these two different
deaths now let's take it one step for
here as we kind of pull this together
and let's go to as Joseph Smith calls it
the easiest book to understand the book
of Revelation right yeah right chapter
20 this is talking about the beginning
of the millennium and this is talking
about judgment we get here in the
summary at the beginning of chapter 20
the dead stand before God and are judged
out of the books according to their
works this is a theme of Rosh Hashanah
this is a theme of the Feast of
Tabernacles and let's just quickly
browse down see kind of some of the
topics that are happening here in
chapter 20 verse 5 but the rest of the
Dead lived not again until the thousand
years were finished this is the first
resurrection right so we're talking
about death and resurrection again and
then talking about the wicked in
judgment in verse 10 it says and the
devil that deceived them was cast into
the lake of fire and brimstone
and them again we get the idea
traditionally with the Jews that which
is God sitting on his throne
reading through the books and I saw a
great white throne and him that sat on
it from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away and I saw the dead
small and great stand before God and the
books were opened and another book was
opened which is the book of life and the
dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books
according to their works right fits
right in here doesn't it verse 14 this
was right to amulet and death and he'll
were cast into the lake of fire
this is the second death okay so same
thing that's happening here with a Feast
of Trumpets here with Amalek especially
but also Alma and we see all these
themes it's just that it's all turned on
its head it's the believers of the word
of God the believers in the Son of God
that are cast into the fire like the
five the lake of fire and brimstone it
is Alma and Amalek that are bound and
thrown into prison and judged
even though they're the ones speaking
about the judgement of God and instead
of casting away sins here which is what
all the people should be doing
they are casting out the righteous once
the individuals the righteous ones from
the city or casting them into the fire
or into prison now quickly we go back to
that Joseph Smith translation of Genesis
14 where it talked about the McKissack
priesthood remember
Alma's just gotten over this right now
they've been thrown into prison and
again back to verse 26 here in that jst
it says now look his ik was a man of
faith who wrought righteousness and when
a child he feared God and stopped the
mouths of lions and quenched the
violence of fire to me what is going on
here with amulets question we're about
to go over is Mormons specifically
showing this as an attribute of
Melchizedek and the mckissick priesthood
here the people bring Alma and a me look
out and to where all the people are
being thrown into the fire cast into the
fire and it came to pass that they took
Alma and Emmie like and carried them
forth to the place of martyrdom that
they might witness the destruction of
those who were consumed by fire and when
a mule I saw the pains of the women and
children who were consumed who were
consuming in the fire he also was pained
I mean just imagine the scene and he
sent into Alma how can we witness this
awful scene therefore let us stretch
forth our hands right look is it a
priesthood function here and exercise
the power of God what power the
Melchizedek Priesthood which is in US
and save them from the flames right so
this is directly a something
historically they would have known this
that this is one of the powers of the
Melchizedek Priesthood is quenching the
fire but Alma says the spirit constrains
me that I must not stretch forth my hand
and here we get a a real ethical issue
of the gospel right I have somebody
bring this up to me in the study group
about the two things that really
bothered them when they were converted
you know that they had a harder time
with let's just say wine was the killing
of Laban right there was the spirit that
told me fight to kill Laban and the
other one is here right where how do you
not save these people how do you not
stop them from suffering and here's
Alma's answer to that because that's
what Alma Alma like is asking he says
the Lord receiveth them up unto himself
in glory and he death suffer that they
may do this thing or that the people may
do this thing unto them according to the
hardness of their hearts that the
judgments which he shall exercised upon
them in his wrath may be just and the
blood of the innocent shall stand as a
witness against them yay and cry
mightily against them at the last day so
that's pretty hard to take I mean
honestly
how would a again we'll go back to this
question we bring up often but how can a
loving God allow this to happen well the
question is is how does a loving God
allow suffering if we take it more
broadly how does a loving God allow
suffering anywhere at any time and to
some and sometimes at an incredible
level and again it's because of agency
you have to allow for agency and you
have to allow for judgment there has to
be cherubim in front of the Tree of Life
or everything is frustrated nobody has a
chance if there is not suffering and
there are not discrepancies between all
of us in different gifts that we are
given whether economically or culturally
or our backgrounds or intelligence or
health or whatever it might be if there
are not discrepancies in those things
and there's no reason for life there's
no way to develop love there's no way to
develop charity which is the most
important thing to develop of all we
could also ask the question how could a
loving father Heavenly Father allow his
son
to go through much much much more than
what these people in Hamlin ah-ha went
through right and it's because their it
allows for an expression of love and and
think of the you know it's easy for me
to say this because I'm not being thrown
into the fire or my family members
aren't being thrown into the fire but
think of the impact it has on all of us
right an understanding of a couple
things one the testimonies of these
individuals and number two evil that it
really exists and that it really does
play out so you know I don't know the
best way to answer that I don't know
that I have the best answer for that but
that's the way I think of it we must be
able to develop charity we must have
witnesses
- that are put to the very limit
otherwise how precious is the truth
really we need some examples of that
most people don't have to ever do
anything like that but we need some
examples of that it socially even though
it inherently already has the value
obviously of the Word of God but
socially it gives us value to testimony
and to the Word of God so following up
here with casting we go to 14 now it
came to pass it when the bodies of those
who had been cast into the fire were
consumed and also the records were which
were cast in with them coming down a
little further that they shall be cast
into a lake of fire and brimstone behold
you shall see that he had not power to
save those who had been cast into the
fire this is the Nihal rites talking to
element Amalek and down in 17 deliver
them to the officers to be cast into
prison and in 18 and when they had been
cast into prison three days there came
many lawyers and judges again this could
all be during the High Holy Days right
and we get this interesting part here
again this is kind of turning things on
the head remember we talked about
Melchizedek and those after the order of
Melchizedek having the power to quench
fire right look what we get here in 19
this is a chief judge of the neha writes
here who comes to
Elmen am you like in prison and says and
it came to pass that the judge stood
before them and said why do you not
answer the words of this people words
right that's the opposite of the word of
God that's the contrast they're the
words of this people the DBR is
contrasted with the word of God here
know ye not that I have power to deliver
you up unto the flames right again it
says turning everything on its head here
and then just a couple things here at
the end of the chapter is Alman Amalek
are in prison they are going through
kind of a Joseph Smith experience in
Liberty jail right and here's what they
say here in 26 Elma cried saying how
long shall we suffer these great
afflictions O Lord where I think of
section 121 oh lord give us strength
according to your fate our faith which
is in christ even unto deliverance and
they broke the cords that's also
something that is part of the
Melchizedek Priesthood the breaking of
chains and cords think of Nephi
with which they were bound and when the
people saw this they began to flee all
right then there's the earthquake and
they're the leaders are all killed there
and Alma and amulet' come out of the
prison unscathed and what is this
victory due to its the order of
Melchizedek it's the order of the son of
God in 28 and Alma an amulet came forth
out of the prison and they were not hurt
for the Lord had granted unto them power
according to their faith which was in
Christ
macchesney priesthood and then we even
get this at the end here which kind of
ties in with the end of the days of awe
and with the end of their experience
here in mo ni ha which is kind of
interesting I don't know if it's really
part of this parallel or not but it says
in 29 now the people having heard a
great noise came running together by
multitudes to know the cause of it and
when they saw Alma an amulet coming
forth out of the prison and the walls
thereof had fallen to the earth they
were struck with great fear and fled
from the presence of Alma and a mule ik
even as a goat fleeth with her young
from two lions now the day of atonement
right at the end there
no there's just a reference here that
that's just coincidental maybe it is but
if this is that the beginning here of
Rosh Hashanah and the day of trumpet the
Feast of Trumpets going through the Day
of Atonement here where there is a
sacrifice made right in the day of
atonement you would have the sacrifice
of one of the two goats and here there's
a sacrifice of the pure in heart here
who the believers that are thrown into
the fire
but here with the reference to a goat I
think that's kind of interesting that
you would have that at the end here of
this experience with in Amman AHA where
you would have that at the end of the
Days of Awe right that at the high in
holy days with the day of atonement
so then almond amulet go on and continue
to preach the Word of God zis room
becomes sick because he is just so sick
about thinking that almond Amalek are
going to die and he had a hand in it but
Alma comes and heals him and then we
hear about the Lamanites coming in and
invading the lands they come into Amal
and I ha and they destroy the city and
they kill all the people and what do
they call this they call this the
desolation of me horse right because
that would be the end result of those
that don't believe in a judgment that
don't believe in the Son of God and the
majority of them were after the order of
nee hoor not believing in Christ so
summarizing here whole parts whole here
of what we've gone over why is the
mckissick priest had brought up here why
this order of the son of God at this
point where Alma is preaching to the
people of M&I ha it's because it's a
natural progression as he's gone through
the lower law with judgment and
repentance and commandments and then
moves on into the higher law with the
order of Melchizedek after the order of
the son of God
it also appears that this is done
through the High Holy Days from the
Feast of Trumpets especially which is a
time of judgment and there are several
themes found throughout here that we can
bring in parallels through with the New
Testament in other Scripture
the talks about the trumpets and talks
about judgment and a lake of fire and
brimstone these are all themes that
happen during this time with Alma and a
mule again it's probably why there are
so many people gathered around at this
point to be able to hear from these two
men now unfortunately the religion of
nee hoor the order of nee hoor is not
confined to just a mana ha and this
religion had grows and grows and becomes
really the biggest foreign in the side
of the leaders of the church and it's
all about the fight about the doctrine
of Christ I'll talk to you next time
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