Come Follow Me LDS- Alma 5-7, Book of Mormon, (Jun 1-7)
May 30, 2020
'Alma's Questions'
- Alma preaches repentance and the Doctrine of Christ in Zarahemla
- Mass dissension and apostasy in the church
- Alma's testimony comes from the Holy Ghost, not the magnificent visit from the angel.
- Intellectual, Experiential and Spiritual testimony
- All women are Eve
Raw Transcript
all right in this come follow me
episode we are going to be covering Alma
chapters 5 through 7
mostly 5 here that's where most of the
meat is in this in this episode but
let's set the stage first right what are
we looking at here
Alma the younger has become the high
priest and the chief judge they've done
away with the king right and the royalty
they're trying to bring everybody more
into a democratic state of government
representatives at the local level with
their judges there and then coming up
higher up into Zarahemla and maybe a
something like a great Sanhedrin but
that's dangerous right it is very
dangerous because it opens up more
possibility for volatility you also have
to be more responsible and you have to
hope for a more mature and wise people
and this coincides with a mass exodus
from the church right especially from
the younger generation so it's not a
good scenario here they could lose their
freedom just within a couple years here
of receiving it so then a black eye or
if I follow the pronunciation guide a
Masai or the Amla sites or Amalekites
almost overpower the Nephites both by
vote and by force but once that is
settled now Alma the younger as chief
judge and high priest needs to spend all
of his time out preaching the word
because the church is in trouble
there is a lot of urgency with the
church and Alma feels that he can do
what he feels called to go out there
full time so he gives up the chief judge
seat and starts in desert homeland so in
chapter 5 what we get are his words to
those in Zarahemla now I think it's
interesting that he starts in the
capital so to speak right he's right
there in a sense he's kind of cleansing
the inner vessel we hear about later on
it's probably less strategic to go out
to the other smaller towns and cities
and try and convert them and change
things there and then come back to sera
Hema and have it maybe be even worse
where a lot of the power is wielded so
Alma starts in Zarahemla now think about
how we might apply that today
right there are several of the younger
generation that are having trouble right
there having a faith crisis they are
drawn away from the church because of
specific doctrines or policies or
history or whatever it might be whatever
plants that seed of doubt especially in
a younger person how would you go about
trying to change that right what could
you do if there is a mass exodus from
the church well Alma tells us that he is
commanded to go do this and he's going
to focus on a couple of things here of
course it's the doctrine of Christ it's
got to be put forward more the doctrine
of Christ don't lose this number one
that's number one and number two is
remembering right and awakening from a
deep sleep that kind of work together
here and it really applies I think to us
individually
on how his words might work directly
with us as as we read through this or if
we were hearing him live today he
doesn't hold back right the the idea of
judgment is definitely brought up and it
should be right we're a little more
leaning a little bit more toward the
gray side of things these days we don't
like judgment we like tolerance on
everything that's where society is
starting to move toward right we've been
on the other side of the pendulum in the
past you know you earn yourself there
you do this every day all this is what
matters are you good enough you know and
now we're starting to move in my sense
right what I sense is that we're
starting to move that pendulum kind of
past an equilibrium maybe and so there's
not a whole lot of judgment that's the
put out there but Alma puts it out there
he talks about it a little bit so he
starts off here in verse three of
chapter five showing his authority right
you see this a lot with Paul in his in
his letters as he writes out to the
different churches right he he is going
to say who he is and why he has this
Authority we get something similar with
Nephi this is who he is
right he's putting across his bona fides
he's introducing himself to you so he
says here in verse 3 I Alma having been
consecrated by my father
Alma to be a high priest right he's got
the priesthood over the Church of God he
having power and authority from God to
do these things we don't hear exactly
where he gets this from he just says
from God so from the priesthood holder
but we don't know where Alan the elder
received his priesthood from and he
starts talking about his father who
established a church in the land which
was in the borders of Nephi yeah the
land which was called the land of Mormon
and he did baptize his brethren in the
waters of Mormon so this is how he
introduces this he's going to go back
and say this is who I am I have the
authority I'm drawing on the experience
of my father and his people and what
they went through now why would you do
that why do you give up examples of that
we do this all the time when we give
talks at church right we give examples
what are examples examples are faith
promoting and why are they faith
promoting because they're reality they
are an experience and so a story that is
reality is going to give a faith
promoting experience if the outcome is
followed is is a reward or a benefit
from following a true principle and what
is what is faith again faith is trust so
if I can trust more on a principle and
maybe not as much with my own experience
if I'm not following that principle
right now I can try and lean on someone
else's experience
and that's what Alma is doing here just
like with the gifts of the Spirit for
some were given the gift of believing on
someone else and some just on the Word
of God right there we're all in
different places and he talks about how
his father's people were delivered out
of bondage and this becomes a big theme
throughout the whole book of Alma
actually and we're going to see this
this idea of bonds and chains and being
held down by force so to speak or by
something that is not good and so he
wants to contrast the idea of being in
bondage being in Chains and then being
delivered out of that bondage out of
those chains and how that happens it's
it's really interesting as I'm saying
this I had a very spiritual experience
that got me on my mission and it hasn't
too exactly with this as I'm thinking
about I've never I've never made that
parallel before quite literally actually
so he says that Alma his father awakened
them out of a deep sleep he says in
verse 7 I love hearing that there are
several verses there's a verse I try to
reread every night from Proverbs it
talks about being in a deep sleep it's
like get out of the deep sleep wake up
kind of ironic when I'm trying to go to
bed I do right before I go to bed but I
want my subconscious you know to be
awake and to be in that kind of a
mentality and so being awake would be
like like coming out of the bondage out
of the chains he says at the bottom of
seven it says they were encircled about
by the bands of death and the chains of
hell and an everlasting destruction did
await them so let's think about this
imagery for a minute why does this
happen why are any of us
bound by death we're all going to die
but why are we bound by death and by the
chains of Hell right is it something
that we can't avoid well certainly it's
something we can avoid but it still
happens right because we fall into a
deep sleep and what that means is is
that we are not remembering so if we
think about the term remembering and and
Joseph Spencer goes through this the
Book of Mormon scholar really well and
he talks about how this is such an
important theme of the Book of Mormon is
remembering right we've got Nephi in in
first Nephi talking about remembering
that our fathers that were taken out of
Egypt and the Exodus and how important
that was to remember those things to
keep those things in mind keep those
things front and center right right
there
right in front of you because as we let
them slide and move away from our
remembrance that's when we fall into a
deep sleep
right we lose gratitude we lose humility
we lose respect and reverence we lose
faith and so Alma here is gonna go over
remembering now being in the bands of
death and the chains of Hell then is two
things number one it's being in a fallen
state right it's it's it's we being
fallen individuals fallen children of a
heavenly father and mother and it's
being in a fallen world and and being in
a place where the rules are different on
purpose right so that we can be tested
but as we lose that remembrance and we
fall into a deeper sleep then that's as
we're sleeping right we are put into
those chains and the chains you think
about the chains and how the imagery
works with that wealth again I'll go
right back to the war in heaven right
you have you have and exactly what we've
just gone over here right we just went
over the whole idea of
freedom and the government being
representative and liberty and how
important that is not just individually
with our agency but that as a society
that it that is a mature righteous form
of government the alternative is is what
Lucifer wanted right tyranny that's what
he wanted in the war in heaven absolute
Tyranny so these themes of liberty and
tyranny or Liberty and force right play
right through in a spiritual manner here
with Alma he's just gone through this
he's seen what's been going on here and
he's got this free agency to deal with
with dissension in the church a mass
exodus from the church well of course
it's their choice what do you do you
don't you don't Institute tyranny you
have to persuade right long-suffering
friendly persuasion charity using the
spirit but just as Alma's father almaty
elder and his people were in bondage and
were then released he's giving us the
parallel spiritually of being in bondage
spiritually and we can think about vices
we can think about any kind of a bad
habit that holds us back any kind of bad
thinking processes depression I would
throw all those things in there right
I'm not saying that that doesn't exist
or that there shouldn't be empathy for
that but all of those things do not come
from the Lord and they are chains right
they're bondage and so how do we get out
of that we were putting put into this
mortality that automatically in a sense
kind of puts us in Chains you know in us
in a fallen state but these chains of
hell that are put on us there are mostly
because of our own decisions and death
oftentimes as we read anciently is not
just a matter of dying physically
it's a matter of dying spiritually it's
a matter of staying in that fallen state
and oftentimes in the scriptures they'll
talk about dying or even murder or
killing in a sense that they're talking
about something spiritually so he says
here in verse 9 and again I ask where
thy bands of death broken and the chains
of hell which encircled them about and
circled them is another theme that he
goes through here
were they loosed I say into you yeah
they were loosed and their souls did
expand and they did sing redeeming love
and I say unto you that they are saved
okay again think about being in these
chains I think that a big part of of
this in understanding this is that this
is based off of faith right I'll say
that from personal experience I think
that as we exercise our faith enough
that that many of these chains that
might hold us back are released from us
right they're loosed and interestingly
as we say that it says here in verse 10
and now I ask you on what conditions are
they saved yay what grounds had they to
hope for salvation right so if we're we
exercise our faith first the chains are
loosed then we have a hope for salvation
there's hope faith hope right what is
the cause of their being loosed from the
bands of death yay and also the chains
of hell what was the cause of this how
did they do that which says right here
in a love and he answers his own
question
behold I can tell you did not my father
Alma believe in the words which were
delivered by the mouth of a Bennett I
what was a very nice primary message it
was about Jesus Christ and in 12 and
according to his faith there was a
mighty change wrought in his heart right
so again we're quite inferior
and this change of heart and so he takes
this change of heart that he has and he
goes out and he preaches to others and
their hearts are changed because they
humbled themselves and put their trust
their faith in the true and living God
and then he asks this question that we
hear about with Jesus and Nicodemus and
now behold I ask of you my brethren of
the church have ye spiritually been born
of God I mean again consider that who
he's talking to this is probably a large
portion of these individuals that he's
talking to have have been part of that
mass exodus from the church and maybe
they've never had that maybe there's
never been enough of an anchoring
experience right an aha moment
spiritually that has helped anchor them
in the doctrine of Christ and anchored
them in the covenant path he says have
ye received His image in your
countenance and have ye experienced this
mighty change in your hearts so he's
asking if if if that you've had anything
like this now again for some people and
most people I think this is not some
overwhelming experience that people have
for some people it's a very small quiet
still voice that pierces their souls
right it still pierces their souls it's
not thunder and lightning right it's
it's more like Elijah's experience and
we're gonna see here even with Alma the
younger in his experience it's still the
still small voice and he asks the end of
the follow up question and here's the
big one do you exercise faith in the
redemption of him who created you so if
we have chains on us and we all do to
one degree or another right there are
things in our lives
that that we have allowed change to hold
us back right to to to hold us down and
Alma's answer to that it's not just
saying well you need to pray more or you
need to you'll read the scriptures more
and the metal hell you know that's
that's kind of a lower law thing right I
mean I'm a saying those things aren't
important but I don't think it's the
best answer the answer is faith the
answer is you need to figure out how to
increase your faith part of his formula
here is to remember the goodness of God
that's part of his formula another part
of his formula here is to look forward
right look forward with the eye of faith
and view this mortal body raised in
immortality and this corruption raised
in incorruption this is part of hope
this is understanding who you are right
we saw often times hear about the
prophets here in the Book of Mormon but
before the time that Christ is born
talking as if he's already gone through
been born and gone through the atoning
sacrifice I can understand that right
it's the same idea about understanding
who you are and you know if you imagine
yourself already resurrected if you
imagine yourself already fulfilling your
potential and that's in your mind's eye
if you can imagine yourself being
encircled by the arms of Mercy and
everlasting love from the Savior and our
Heavenly Father that's part of that
state of mind right that's part of hope
and you can't lose that and part of the
joy in that is understanding judgment
right if you don't understand judgment
enough but there is judgment then you
have no idea how much mercy the Lord has
for you right if you can't if you
dismiss judgment right and say
and don't talk about consequences then
you're dismissing the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ you're dismissing what he has
gone through you're weakening the
importance of the atonement and you're
losing out on the joy of making the
right decisions to bring the doctrine of
Christ into your life that's how I see
it and that's been my experience right I
feel more fulfilled I have a greater
hope for the future and for Who I am and
for those around me if I can break the
chains off of me if I can be in that
state of mind of looking forward and
understanding who I really am and be
grateful for the mercy and the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ because understanding
what the consequences are otherwise and
then he puts this directly to us and
these are great questions it's kind of
like Stephen Covey right when you're
you're you think he he brings up the
example of remember I don't read that
stuff in a long time but brings up the
example of being at your own funeral and
what would you want people to be saying
there and and what would you hope that
the eulogy would be about right I think
has to do with keeping the end in mind
something to that effect but here's the
questions that Alma gives us he says he
says in 16 I say unto you can you
imagine to yourselves that you hear the
voice of the Lord saying unto you in
that day come unto me ye blessed for
behold your works have been the works of
righteousness upon the face of the earth
I love that he does this he's teaching
us something about ourselves right he's
you can imagine him wanting again it's
not tyranny it's not all fire and
brimstone even though he's gonna have
judgement is definitely there but it's
an understanding in the context of that
judgment and choosing the right I mean
how incredible is the judgment bar
if you're on the right path right how
much joy is there for you if you're on
the right path it's kind of like the war
in heaven you could take away the
judgement and make sure nobody feels bad
but you're also gonna take away all the
joy and all the fulfillment and the
whole purpose of the atonement and the
mercy and love of God so he's asking us
to you know he's asking you maybe
individuals there but us by way of the
scriptures here to do a four little
foreshadowing it's a little self
introspection of our future and just
imagine this right it's kind of like
they teach athletes right to go out and
imagine yourself doing XYZ imagine
yourself running a mile in this time and
what would happen and how that would
feel right remembering it in a sense in
a sense it's kind of like the same idea
it's a you have remembering from
examples of the past and you have
foreshadowing of what things could be in
the future and then he says or if you
haven't thought of that basically do you
imagine to yourselves that you can lie
into the Lord yeah I think it's really
interesting that he uses this term
because I think that with sin right my
own personal experience of needing to
repent of something or trying to change
something to better myself there's
always the lies that go on top of that
who's the father of lies why do we have
that term I think it applies more to us
individually and to God than it does to
lying to somebody else even though
that's a part of it well we can deceive
other people but I think the real key is
deceiving yourself because what you want
to do is if you're if you're doing
something that you shouldn't be doing
right or or you're doing something
that's just holding you back it's a
weakness right what do you want to do
with that you don't want that to be
public you don't want that to be exposed
you want to keep it private you want to
keep it unknown to anybody
and what do you do to do that you you
lie to yourself I I've done this you you
lie to yourself about that specific
issue and you don't want to open it up
maybe through prayer or other ways with
God so in a sense you're lying to him
and you lie to yourself saying that it
doesn't matter or you just put it away
so that you don't have to think about it
so he's saying look you think you can
just lie is if things aren't gonna be
all out in the open you can look at
examples of people that have done
something really really wrong and maybe
ruined their lives in some ways and just
the pain that you go through with that
that what is that pain it's the
uncovering of your decisions it's the
uncovering of your behavior right that
you've lied to yourself about or that
this certain person has lied to
themselves about and lied to all those
around them in in many ways that is part
of the chains right that are holding you
down and then the next question he gives
us can ye imagine yourselves brought
before the tribunal of God with your
souls filled with guilt and remorse
right he's trying to say have you
imagined yourself in a good way right
with hope as to who you are now he's
saying can you imagine yourself being
there without hope and being full of
guilt and remorse having a remembrance
here's your here's where you're meant
remembrance finally comes up having a
remembrance of all your guilt he a
perfect remembrance of all your
wickedness right because everything is
now exposed yeah a remembrance that ye
have set at defiance the commandments of
God that's brutal right but it's such an
important thing to know and to
understand we don't want to think about
that day we don't want to think about
that day but you know what if we can if
we can think about that day in a
positive way because of the way we're
acting and because of our acceptance
of Jesus Christ in the process then you
can look forward to it right you can
look forward to that day in the
accounting that you will give of your
actions with hope and with joy he says
do you suppose that one like this can
have a place to sit down in the kingdom
of God with Abraham with Isaac and with
Jacob as with all the holy prophets
right so again that's that's something
that we get you know in the parable from
Jesus about the the the poor man who is
Lazarus not the Lazarus that's
resurrected but the poor man are
probably not the same Lazarus but the
parable of Lazarus the poor man with the
rich man right and and the way things
are switched in the afterlife and it's
the poor man Lazarus that ends up going
where to the bosom of Abraham so this is
similar in saying this is are you gonna
be sitting down in the counsel at the
right hand of God along with Abraham
Isaac Jacob and all the holy prophets
another question of introspection could
ye say if ye were called to die at this
time he's laying it out there I mean
this is this is like these are good
questions could you say if you were
called to die at this time within
yourselves that ye have been
sufficiently humble right again what
does this mean this is not a passivity
that's a big mistake I think that we
make at least at least that the world
makes and in what humility is it has
zero to do with accepting weakness other
than saying I know where I fit in the
fluid hierarchy and I know that God is
above me to me as I look at humility
which has a lot to do with lowering
yourself right to the ground you think
of
the word hummus right it's like earthy
if that's the food of the of the earth
it's like the food of the earth and
humbling yourself means that you're
lowering yourself well lowering yourself
how well the Savior lowered himself
below all of us number one the
condescension of God but number two it's
it's it's it's humbling yourself to God
and to eternal principles right so
really I the way I see that is look I am
going to lose my pride and I'm going to
submit myself to God and to his eternal
principles and that is a huge strength
if you can get there right that's a huge
strength he says that your garments have
been cleansed and made white through the
blood of Christ who will come to redeem
his people from their sins again this is
all right he's teaching about Jesus
Christ here this is the key I mean all
the falling away here has to do with
pride has to do with not remembering and
putting up at the top of the values
hierarchy the doctrine of Christ it's
the opposite of what the doctrine of
Christ is he says that right here he
follows immediately up with it and says
behold our yeast stripped of pride right
are you over toward the great and
spacious building or are you over toward
the Tree of Life are you over toward
pride or are you over toward the
doctrine of Christ those are opposites
then he asks this question which I think
is also important he says this is the
opposite in some ways or this is the
this is the maybe the inverse of pride
which is also a sin the double negative
maybe of pride verse 29 behold I say is
there one among you who is not stripped
of envy now we don't talk about that sin
as much as we do pride right we talk
about not getting too puffed up and this
is an important thing Christ talked a
lot about this Jesus did in his mortal
ministry but Envy is also a
horrible sin because it puts chains on
us so we can look at for example the
fights between you know the conflict
between the classes levels of classes
maybe the elite and the rich right and
then you have the poor well can the poor
the sinners also you can be you can be a
sinner who is poor in many ways not just
economically and one of the things I
think that makes you poor is envy it
takes you away from that charity of
covenant between peoples and it limits
yourself by putting you into bondage and
saying you know what I wish I was over
there where the grass is greener right
instead of what can I do to make my
grass greener so Envy takes us away from
personal progression takes us away from
spiritual progression just as pride does
and then he says here to the people he
says behold he sendeth this is Jesus
Christ he sendeth an invitation unto all
men for the arms of mercy are extended
toward them and he saith repent and I
will receive you right so we get this
similar talk from Nephi here in 2nd
Nephi 433 says O Lord wilt thou encircle
me around in the robe of thy
righteousness writer this would be a
common as nibbly goes over a common
greeting right for someone that is gonna
take their their roll over the side and
put their arm around you and like an a
bra so it's a welcoming right do you
think about the robe of Christ and what
that represents its royalty its high
priesthood it's healing think of the
woman who grabs the fringe of his robe
in second Nephi 1:15 it's but behold the
LORD hath redeemed my soul from hell
right so this is maybe something that
Alma's drawing from here I have beheld
his glory and I am encircled about
eternally in the arms of
is love so that's a different kind of
you know you can be encircled about by
the chains of hell and the bands of
death or you can be encircled or about
by the arms of his matchless love so we
can ask ourselves well what is embracing
us what do we allow to embrace us and
and maybe the question Gary gets
inverted is to what are we embracing he
says repent and I will receive you yeah
he saith come unto me and ye shall
partake of the fruit of the tree of life
and then it comes down to saying who are
you following
right are you what are you gonna put up
at the top of your values hierarchy here
in 38 he says behold I say unto you that
the good shepherd duck call you yeah and
in his own name he does call you which
is the name of Christ so again we get
all these titles that you get about
Jesus Christ again like a king would get
right they all mean something different
the name of Christ
well the name of what is Christ Christ
is Messiah
what is Messiah Messiah is the Anointed
One so what is the anointed for well
he's the one so to speak who is anointed
to be our King and to be our high priest
so that's the proper order of things
that's who we accepted in the
pre-existence so when we talk about the
Messiah HaMashiach or or or the Christ
Christos we're talking about the one
that we accepted right as the king and
as the high priest as the one who is to
rule over us at the one as the one that
we're gonna look to that's the proper
order of things but a lot of us look to
something else a different King a
different priest teaching a different
religion a different ideology a
different
philosophy those are the other gods
right that are not in his image and then
we get a very important comment on
judgment here and on works right
don't forget about works he says in 42
and whosoever do with this must receive
his wages of him which is the are the
wages of the devil which again means
accuser Diablos
it's the accuser that you're going with
if if you're not going with Christ and
whosoever doing this must received his
wages of him which is chains
therefore for his wages he receiveth
death as to the things pertaining under
righteousness being dead unto all good
works and now he's going to take all of
this and he's going to support it by
saying I'm no different than you this is
kind of like King Benjamin saying I
labor with you right I serve you he's
going to give us a great testimony here
and I think a couple of very very
important principles about truth and
about testimony he says here in 45 to
support all that he's saying do ye not
suppose that I know of these things
myself right he's not just putting out
words the fruit of what is happening
here is something that he has already
experienced he already knows he has a
knowledge of himself too he not suppose
that I know of these things myself he's
not just trying to flatter behold I
testify unto you that I do know that
these things wherever I have spoken are
true and how do you suppose that I know
of their surety as great but he's going
to open up about his own experience he's
not putting himself up on a pedestal and
preaching down to the people here he
says behold I say unto you they are made
known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God
hold on here
these things are made known unto me by
the
holy spirit of god this is the man that
while he was going about prosecco
persecuting the church right was visited
with Thunder in awe so to speak right by
an angel of God he's not even bringing
that up that's incredible to me right
that this is he's not saying that that
has anything to do with his testimony I
mean it probably does because he's in
the right state of mind and in probably
even more than the angel it's what he
went through the following couple of
days that are probably more about his
testimony but that wasn't what he this
is not what he's telling these people
about because they are not going to
experience having an angel visit them so
why put your faith in that but they can
experience the Holy Ghost and so he says
behold I have fasted and prayed many
days that I might know these things of
myself so even after all of his
experience right that's not the deal
that's not the testimony giver so to
speak for for him even then and after
that it is about prayer and fasting to
know about these things for himself when
we get to the time that Jesus Christ
visits the Americas something
fascinating happens to me it's just it's
really goes right along with this what
happens then is that Christ preaches to
everybody so what else do you need than
that here a resurrected a resurrected
being your God Jehovah Jesus Christ
comes to visit you and shows his marks
and preaches to you with power and
authority and with a spirit and what
does he say
I'm done speaking today you need to go
home and pray about this and receive a
witness for yourself the humility there
the the the the beauty of that truth is
is something to me it's just amazing
that's what Alma's doing here they need
to know for themselves they need to fast
and pray for themselves you and I need
to fast and pray for ourselves to know
of these things and for him he says and
now I do know of myself that they are
true that's where we each need to be for
the Lord God hath made them manifest
unto me by His Holy Spirit so you know I
study a lot I read a lot and I get a lot
of intellectual fruit so to speak right
but that's not going to do it that never
does do it that to me sometimes is like
the candy it's not it's not the fruit
and the most crucial thing to know you
know it sometimes that yeah I've said
this before but but you know my
testimony I usually say is built on
three things in order of importance
right first is the knowledge that I've
gained from looking at things
intellectually and with my own reason
that's important to me not everybody is
the same like that but I I I work that
way
I need the intellectual confirmation I
don't I've learned many times over that
I'm not always going to get that and
it's not what is the driving force for
me but I want as much as possible an
understanding of putting the puzzle
pieces together and to intellectually
approach the doctrine and historical
events and principles and reality and
the laws of the universe and the laws of
the spirit and know these things as much
as poss
and I've done that and put those things
together and I have a testimony from
that right I can see these things it's
it's very reasonable to me that the
church is true that the gospel is true
that Jesus is the Christ right the
second thing and more important than the
former is that I have had my own
experience right that I've gone and I've
tested the principles out of the gospel
so I have tested out faith I have tested
out repentance I have tested out
positive things that the Lord talks to
us about through his prophets you know
from loyalty to obeying the commandments
to not having other gods before me to
serving others and offering charity and
having hope and faith etc and I've
tested these things and you know what
I've seen that they work so I can trust
them I can have faith in those
principles because I've tested them out
I think that's exactly what we get in
Ella 32 and then more importantly I have
a testimony because I have felt the Holy
Ghost right I have the Holy Ghost speak
directly to me
and say these things are true so as long
as I can remember those things and keep
them right in front of me then I can
have a strong testimony but of course I
could fall asleep and stop remembering
those things or start stop working
toward receiving those things especially
the last one and and Alma's trying to go
through something like this I think with
the people that he's talking to
he says moreover I saying to you that it
has thus been revealed unto me that the
words which have been spoken by our
fathers are true so the scriptures that
he has write according to the spirit of
prophecy which is in me he also believes
in the spirit of prophecy what's going
to be happening in the future I know
that Jesus Christ shall come yade the
son right this is he's using the terms
here that are important that would make
sense
the titles the son or the son of God is
him being born into the world this was
talking about here the only begotten of
the
father that's another title that's
different full of grace and mercy and
truth that is something that I don't
know if that's a title but those are
attributes that are oftentimes put
together with the doctrine of Christ and
he says this is the order after which I
have been called so the Melchizedek
Priesthood is all about it's the
priesthood of the son of God right
that's that's what it's really called
the priesthood after the order of the
Son of God and its primary focus is
about the higher law and the doctrine of
Christ then he finalizes this at the end
here saying in in verse 62 I speak by
way of command unto you that belong to
the church and unto those who do not
belong to the church I speak by way of
invitation think of the crowd that he's
speaking with many crowds probably that
ye also may be partakers of the fruit of
the tree of life
I love the imagery obviously of Lehigh's
dream yeah I just think so much of true
principles are seen in that vision in
that dream and then in Chapter six we
don't get a lot here it's a very short
chapter but it's just saying that he's
gonna be going to Gideon another town
here and we'll be preaching about the
testimony of Jesus Christ the Son of God
who shall be coming to redeem his people
from their sins and by the way where we
add at this point here in a timeline
we're at 83 BC right so in 83 years
there's probably some people here maybe
babies or toddlers young people that are
still going to be alive when the sign of
the Savior's birth is given to them in
the Americas so he's saying look this is
this is coming this is coming and we
need to be prepared and what we get here
is more of Alma talking about Jesus
Christ about the condescension of God I
like what he says here in verse 9 he
says repent ye and prepare the way of
the Lord and walk in his paths now we've
talked a lot about the procession
right the royal procession and the best
example of that is given on what is
typically called the triumphant or
triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem
on the donkey right that's really a
royal procession I believe that's what's
really happening there the people with
the palms and everything else they're
they're saying this is the Savior
this is the Redeemer this is the Messiah
this is the king and where does he go he
goes directly to the temple where
normally he would probably go through a
temple drama and be crowned as would the
Davidic Kings there and the paths that
he's talking about here we can look at
that that half of that procession as
being the way right so what do we get
here this is from we get this in Isaiah
also or I repent XI and prepare the way
the path of the Lord and walk in his
paths which are straight for behold the
kingdom of heaven is at hand and the Son
of God cometh upon the face of the earth
okay so again it would be John the
Baptist that would be preparing the way
how by pulling away the stumbling blocks
and making sure the path is straight so
that who can come through the
Melchizedek Priesthood the Melchizedek
the Savior the king so first the ironic
priesthood the priesthood or the
preparatory priesthood the carnal
priesthood and then the Melchizedek
Priesthood would be coming through right
so we get the two priests is there we
get the higher and the lower laws so
first prepare either way so that the
Lord can come through and it says in
verse 10 and he shall be born of this is
interesting
Mary at Jerusalem which is the land of
our forefathers she being a virgin a
precious and chosen vessel who shall be
overshadowed and conceived by the power
of the Holy Ghost and bring forth a son
yet even the Son of God which is exactly
where that title would be
right so a couple interesting things
here says the name Mary before we this
has ever happened how does he know the
name well maybe they're told that this
is Mary right maybe this they're told
that this is Mary and that's going to be
her name very possible very difficult
for someone who doesn't believe in
prophecy to to buy that right but Mary
also means woman so we have just
interestingly right in Jesus Christ we
have the anointed Savior is basically
what Jesus Christ means and with Mary
which is in Hebrew Miriam we get woman
all right so he'll be born to a woman
and you can even go to the Garden of
Eden with that and say that this is
woman what is her name
it's Eve why are you gonna call her Eve
well because she's the mother of all
living
right so a lot packed in there with that
every woman is the mother of all living
every woman is Eve right and says that
he's going to be born at Jerusalem well
that's the way they looked at it they're
there they're across the sea they're far
far away
right so if they're looking back that
it's very natural to say Jerusalem I say
you know where are you from you know I
may say Phoenix right that's where I'm
at I'm in years Arizona but I'm not
actually in Phoenix and we know from
ancient documents that saying that
Bethlehem in fact has been even called
the land of Jerusalem so and then we see
we see that earlier in the Book of
Mormon we see the phrase the land of
Jerusalem from where Jesus is born and
we get here the suffering servant right
this is what he's preaching he's
preaching the doctrine of Christ just
like a Benedict right you might even be
drawing a little bit from a Bennett eyes
playbook here he's going in with a
suffering servant he's gonna be born of
Mary he's going to suffer pains and
afflictions and temptations of every
kind
he'll take upon him death so that he can
loose the bands of death and he will
take upon him therefore infirmities that
his bowels may be filled with mercy
according to the flesh that he may know
according to the flesh how to succor his
people according to their infirmities
now in some metaphysical sense Jesus
Christ or Jehovah could not have done
this without a body he has to do this in
mortality he has to do this in a
position of condescension it says right
here now the Spirit knoweth all things
nevertheless the Son of God suffereth
according to the flesh that he might
take upon him the sins of his people so
apparently he couldn't do this without a
body it's what he tells the people of
Gideon just like he did the people at
Sarah him law he must repent and be born
again you need to be a new creature you
need to have Jesus Christ as your father
in that sense right as his seed because
you believe in him and you believe in
the plan of salvation and then down in
24 he says and a love that we get this
in so many different places in the Book
of Mormon what it says and see that you
have faith hope and charity right and
then you will always abound in good
works again I believe that's an
attribute of progression gotta have
faith first then you'll have hope and
then being chaired the charity swells
with any right so this is Alma's message
right as he goes out and gives up the
secular position of the chief judge his
message is to go out and teach the
doctrine of Christ and he does it with
humility he does it with truth that is
from his own personal experience he does
it with the spirit and inviting others
to do only what he has done
and the only way to turn things around
here is to teach the doctrine of Christ
and invite everybody to come into here
to fast and pray and to know of these
things for themselves I'll talk to you
next time
Come Follow Me
LDS Book of Mormon Alma
"I Take This Every Day!"
Learn more about why I accepted Cardio Miracle as a sponsor and why I take it every day!
- Greg Matsen
Cwic Study Group
Checkout our weekly Cwic Study Group!
Delve deeper!
Stay connected with Study Tips & Updates!
Donate
Be a part of our mission! Help us help others increase their understanding of the scriptures and increase their faith.
Cwic Merch!
Check out our Merch Store! Apparell and Accessories.
Cwic Audio Player
All of the Cwic Media podcast episodes on one page!
Recent Posts
What Happened To Exaltation? The Slippery Slope From Eternal Laws To A Prosperity Gospel
Mar 28, 2024
Isaiah Predicts Our Time With Precision
Mar 16, 2024
