THE BOOK OF ALMA
THE soN OF ALMA
The words of Alma which he delivered to the people in Gideon, according to his own record. Comprising chapter 7.
CHAPTER 7
Christ shall be born of Mary—He shall loose the bands of death and bear the sins of his people—Those who repent, are baptized, and keep the commandments shall have eternal life—Filthiness cannot inherit the kingdom of God—Humility, faith, hope, and charity are required. [About 83 B.C.]
[ The people who are addressed here are the people of Gideon who from the overall message must be doing a better job of keeping the commandments that those in Zarahemla to whom chapter 6 was addressed. The message is different because the need and acceptance of the people is different. ]
1 BEHOLD my beloved brethren, [ So who is he talking to here? The members of the church. He might be just addressing the priesthood holders. See vs 22, 27 ] seeing that I have been permitted to come unto you, therefore I attempt to address you in my language; yea, by my own mouth, seeing that it is the first time that I have spoken unto you by the words of my mouth, I having been wholly confined to the judgment-seat, having had much business that I could not come unto you.
2 And even I could not have come now at this time were it not that the judgment-seat hath been given to another, [ He was not able to visit them before because he was the chief judge and now that he has given up that position it made it possible that he could visit them now. ] to reign in my stead; and the Lord in much mercy hath granted that I should come unto you.
3 And behold, I have come having great hopes and much desire that I should find that ye had humbled yourselves before God, and that ye had continued in the supplicating of his grace, that I should find that ye were blameless before him, that I should find that ye were not in the awful dilemma that our brethren were in at Zarahemla.
4 But blessed be the name of God, that he hath given me to know, yea, hath given unto me the exceedingly great joy of knowing that they are established again in the way of his righteousness.
5 And I trust, according to the Spirit of God which is in me, that I shall also have joy over you; [ Why does he joy over them? or is happy for them? See vs 6 because they are in a state that they are trying to worship God. ] nevertheless I do not desire that my joy over you should come by the cause of so much afflictions and sorrow which I have had for the brethren at Zarahemla, for behold, my joy cometh over them after wading through much affliction and sorrow.
6 But behold, I trust [ Notice how he will use the words "I trust" as a teaching method. By doing so he is suggesting to them that should they not be doing as he is suggesting that they are better than that and he just flat out is expecting more of them. Teaches them by painting for them a picture of who he sees them as in a hope that they will see themselves in that same light. ] that ye are not in a state of so much unbelief as were your brethren; I trust that ye are not lifted up in the pride of your hearts; yea, I trust that ye have not set your hearts upon riches and the vain things of the world; yea, I trust that you do not worship idols, but that ye do worship the true and the living God, and that ye look forward for the remission of your sins, with an everlasting faith, which is to come.
7 For behold, I say unto you there be many things to come; and behold, there is one thing which is of more importance than they all—for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people.
8 Behold, I do not say that he will come among us at the time of his dwelling in his mortal tabernacle; for behold, the Spirit hath not said unto me that this should be the case. [ Alma preaches what he does know about the coming of the Savior; that he will come into the world; and how and where that will happen. ] Now as to this thing I do not know; but this much I do know, that the Lord God [ Hebrew - Yahweh ( or Jehovah which means "to become" or "to exist") translated as Lord; Elohim translated as God ("the Gods") which together the words mean "He will cause Gods to be". ] hath power to do all things which are according to his word.
9 But behold, the Spirit hath said this much unto me, saying: Cry unto this people, saying—Repent ye, and prepare the way 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 [He
is not the son of Joseph. He is not the son of a man. This title the
son Of God means that his Father is literally God our Father in Heaven
] cometh upon the face of the earth.
10 And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at [ The word “at” has changed over time. Today, when you say you are “at” the mall or “at” the chapel, it means you are in the mall or chapel, or at least in the parking lot. If you said you were “at” the office when you are really 15 blocks away, that would be considered a dishonest statement. But not in the early 1800s. According to the 1828 Dictionary, “at” means near. Thus, the above verse does not mean that Jesus was born in Jerusalem—only that he was born near it. ] Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the son of God.
11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; [ I think that sometimes we over look the suffering of the Savior; we say because he was the son of God; because he was a God that he had it easier. I believe just the opposite; that because he was a God the temptations were greater, the suffering more intense because he could endure them as a God. ] and this that the word might be fulfilled [ Where do we find this being taught in the old testament? But Here Alam clearly states that he is reading from something that says this. Bruce R. McConkie suggests possible Isaiah 53 which is close. However there is such said in the Life Of Adam And Eve 14:4 "God unto Adam, "All this misery that thou hast been made to take upon thee because of thy transgression, will not free thee from the hand of Satan, and will not save thee."
"But I [will]. When I shall come down from heaven, and shall become flesh of thy seed, and take upon Me the infirmity from which thou sufferest" 22:6 "Because thou hast borne fear and trembling in this land, languor and suffering, treading and walking about,** going upon this mountain, and dying [from it], I will take all this upon Myself in order to save thee." ] which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. [ This is our life, the sufferings from our own acts and those from others. ]
12 And he will take upon him death, [ Born as the literal son of God he was born with power over death; he did not have to die as such could have chosen to live forever. However that was not his mission from the Father it was to live perfectly so as to have conquered the temptations of Satan, and then to lay down his life and take it up again overcoming the physical death placed on mankind as a result of the fall of Adam - bring forth the resurrection of all man. See 1 Cor 15:45 ] that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, [ the conditions and laws that govern in mortality - condescendation of God - Christ had to experience suffering~ pain and afflictions that he may know how to succor his people] that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.
13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless [ Interesting to note that Alma testify's that while the spirit does know all things; there is a big difference between knowling something and experiencing it. The Savior is the one who will live it. ] the son of God suffereth according to the flesh [ The conditions and laws that govern in mortality - condescendation of God - Christ had to experience suffering~ pain and afflictions that he may know how to succor his people. ] that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.
14 Now I say unto you [ A command. ] that ye must repent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, [ Baptism is "For" or "Unto" a remission of sin. Websters Dictionary says "unto expresses no more than to". The scriptures use the word "unto" thousands of times in phrases like "unto the sea" meaning until you get to the sea. It is the same with "unto" repentance. Baptism is not for the washing away of sin, which through tradition we have associated the water portion with cleansing, but this is not correct doctrine. (Little children are without sin, Christ was without sin). So Baptism is unto or so that one can move forward in order that they may obtain a remission of sins. This is why Baptism is called the gate? Because sin cannot be removed except through the atonement(the way the path is opened), the atonement cannot be applied without a making a covenant with God that you will be obedient from this time forward and that you are willing to take upon yourself the name of Jesus Christ, through whom the atonement was made possible. After Baptism we have committed to be obedient to Gods laws, to change our character, that we will eventually have our sins washed away.
] that ye may be washed from your sins, [ That this can happen at some point in your life. ] that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, [ That you might develop the kind of faith that is required for God to do this in your behalf. ] who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.
15 Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin,
[ Or in other words declare that you want to keep the commandments of God more than you love your favorite sins. ] which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, [ How is it that sin binds us down? When we are sinning we do not feel good about ourselves; we do not feel that God is happy with us; we maybe even feel that he does not love us. These feelings each and every one cause us to pull away from God; and this pulling away slight as it may be takes us farther from God and closer to destruction. ] yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent [ You are willing to lay down the character of an old person so that you can change and become a new person. (D&C 20:37) ] of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism.
[ And reconfirm that commitment each week when you partake of the sacrament.]
16 And whosoever doeth this, and keepeth the commandments of God from thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life, according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in me.
17 And now my beloved brethren, do you believe these things? [ What things? 1) The son Of God will be born vs10; 2) He shall suffer the pains of man so that he can understand vs 11; 3) He will allow his body to become subject to mortality and die vs 12; 4) He will make an atonement for our sins vs 13; 5) That you must repent to take advantage of his sacrifice vs 14 - 15 ] Behold, I say unto you, yea, I know that ye believe them; and the way that I know that ye believe them is by the manifestation of the Spirit which is in me. And now because your faith is strong concerning that, yea, concerning the things which I have spoken, great is my joy.
18 For as I said unto you from the beginning, that I had much desire that ye were not in the state of dilemma like your brethren, even so I have found that my desires have been gratified.
19 For I perceive that ye are in the paths of righteousness; I perceive that ye are in the path which leads to the kingdom of God; yea, I perceive that ye are making his paths straight.
20 I perceive that it has been made known unto you, by the testimony of his word, that he cannot walk in crooked paths; neither doth he vary from that which he hath said; neither hath he a shadow of turning from the right to the left, or from that which is right to that which is wrong; therefore, his course is one eternal round.
[ This phrase is used five times in the Scriptures, cp. 1 Ne. 10:19, Alma 37:12, D&C 3:2, D&C 35:1. Nephi apparently coins the phrase in 1 Ne. 10:19, unless he got it from some other source presently unknown to us. The spiritual concept is that the Lord is persistent and eternal where man is wavering and temporal. We might assume the idea came from their knowledge of astronomy and the revolution of the sun, moon, and perhaps even planets, cf. Hela. 12:15. But, aside from any injection of astronomy, Semites see things in cycles from a religious standpoint from the Biblically endorsed religious and festal calendar. ]
21 And he doth not dwell in unholy temples; neither can filthiness or anything which is unclean be received into the kingdom of God; therefore I say unto you the time shall come, yea, and it shall be at the last day, that he who is filthy shall remain in his filthiness.
22 And now my beloved brethren, I have said these things unto you that I might awaken you to a sense of your duty to God, [ Who is the audience here? Since he begins with "My beloved brethren" - we might assume that he is addressing the priesthood holders. The additional reference is that they walk after the holy order of God (the priesthood) which we find further discussion later in Alma 13. ] that ye may walk blameless before him, [See Alma 5:27; We need to walk with God at all times as we never know when we might die. ] that ye may walk after the holy order of God, [In Alma 13 starting in verse 1 we are taught what it means to walk after the holy order of God. ] after which ye have been received. [ Compare this verse with Alma 5:27 Here Alma is encouraging them because of the faithful efforts; and not rebuking them as he did in Alma 5. ]
23 And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience [ "Patience is tied very closely to faith in our Heavenly Father. Actually, when we are unduly impatient, we are suggesting that we know what is best-better than does God. Or, at least, we are asserting that our timetable is better than His. We can grow in faith only if we are willing to wait patiently for God's purposes and patterns to unfold in our lives, on His timetable." ~ NEAL A. MAXWELL ] and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.
24 And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, [ True power from God is safeguarded by one attribute alone and that is charity. This is one of the foremost attribues of Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. So when we talk about charity what God is saying is in order to wield my power I need to know that you have an eye single to the glory of God - the immortality and eternal life of man. ] and then ye will always abound in good works.
25 And may the Lord bless you, and keep your garments spotless, that ye may at last be brought to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been ever since the world began, having your garments spotless even as their garments are spotless, in the kingdom of heaven to go no more out.
[ Compare this verse with Alma 5:21-24. Whereas in Alma 5 he gives a hostile question to those whom he is teaching - here it comes across as a blessing for their righteousness. ]
26 And now my beloved brethren, I have spoken these words unto you according to the Spirit which testifieth in me; and my soul doth exceedingly rejoice, because of the exceeding diligence and heed which ye have given unto my word.
27 And now, may the peace of God rest upon you, and upon your houses and lands, and upon your flocks and herds, and all that you possess, your women and your children, [ Again suggesting that he is addressing the priesthood brethren. ] according to your faith and good works, from this time forth and forever. And thus I have spoken. Amen.