7 Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them.8 And now I ask of you, my brethren, were they destroyed? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, they were not.9 And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved. (Alma 5)
It is a fruitful exercise to ponder deeply on these analogies and then to ask yourself if your own repentance experience can be accurately described using the same language.
Alma gets you started:
And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? (Alma 5:14)
This verse kicks off a series of questions that Alma asks his audience. Verse 14 and verse 19 act as bookends, with Alma posing and then revisiting the question about having received the image of God in one’s countenance.
I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances? (Alma 5:19)
Seems like “having the image of God engraved upon your [countenance]” is a pretty important thing. What, exactly, would that look like?
In the verses in between, Alma asks his audience how they might “imagine” a future encounter with God based on whether or not they lived and acted according to their honest understanding:
15 Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?
16 I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye 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?
17 Or do ye imagine to yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord in that day, and say—Lord, our works have been righteous works upon the face of the earth—and that he will save you?
18 Or otherwise, can ye imagine yourselves brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled with guilt and remorse, having a remembrance of all your guilt, yea, a perfect remembrance of all your wickedness, yea, a remembrance that ye have set at defiance the commandments of God? (Alma 5)
An encounter like the one described in verse 16 cannot happen so long as we are turned away from God in any way:
I say unto you, can ye think of being saved when you have yielded yourselves to become subjects to the devil? (Alma 5:20)
A future encounter like the one described in verse 16 only happens if we repent, forsake our sins, and then maintain a state of sinlessness, all of which is enabled through Christ.
21 I say unto you, ye will know at that day that ye cannot be saved; for there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins.
Anything less than having our garments “purified until they are cleansed from all stain” is less than what we are meant to attain and will stand as a witness against us:
22 And now I ask of you, my brethren, how will any of you feel, if ye shall stand before the bar of God, having your garments stained with blood and all manner of filthiness? Behold, what will these things testify against you?
23 Behold will they not testify that ye are murderers, yea, and also that ye are guilty of all manner of wickedness? (Alma 5)
Having one’s garments testify of “murders” and “all manner of wickedness,” one cannot reasonably expect a future encounter like the one described in verse 16. It would violate the truth and justice of God:
24 Behold, my brethren, do ye suppose that such an one can have a place to sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and also all the holy prophets, whose garments are cleansed and are spotless, pure and white?
25 I say unto you, Nay; except ye make our Creator a liar from the beginning, or suppose that he is a liar from the beginning, ye cannot suppose that such can have place in the kingdom of heaven; but they shall be cast out for they are the children of the kingdom of the devil. (Alma 5)
Verses 26 and 27 are some of my favorites in all of scripture:
26 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?27 Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins? (Alma 5)
This might seem to be a bit of a tangent, but I just love these scriptures so much! Alma ties past, present, and future up so nicely in these verses (and in other sermons, too), which is so appropriate because the gospel of Jesus Christ transcends time. Through our present repentance, we can obtain forgiveness of our past sins, continue in sinlessness through our continued obedience to whatever God presently tells us as we grow in our association with him, and look forward in hope to a glorious future.
Alma then preaches against pride, envy, and mockery, and that’s all I’ll take the time to say about verses 28-31. I’m going to skip over those verses for now. But I will say that you should look up the definitions for those words and then ask yourself why Alma makes particular mention of them in addressing the people in Zarahemla. It very much ties into the whole idea of “the holy order of God.”
Zooming out from those three specific sins, Alma extends the invitation to repent to “all…workers of iniquity”:
32 Yea, even wo unto all ye workers of iniquity; repent, repent, for the Lord God hath spoken it!
33 Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you.
34 Yea, he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely;
35 Yea, come unto me and bring forth works of righteousness, and ye shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire—
36 For behold, the time is at hand that whosoever bringeth forth not good fruit, or whosoever doeth not the works of righteousness, the same have cause to wail and mourn. (Alma 5)
Such a beautiful invitation! Such beautiful promises made to those who accept it. We are invited to partake of his love and to incorporate into ourselves all of the truth and light that he has to give to us so that we can “bring forth works of righteousness,” which is exactly what he does, is it not? Those who do not accept this invitation “have cause to wail and mourn” because they will never have the joy they could have had in doing so. So many people see God’s invitation to repent as a scare tactic, but it isn’t. It’s an invitation to experience joy!
Alma alludes to this joy and entices unrepentant individuals to partake of it by employing the imagery of a good shepherd and his sheep. He explains that spiritual death—“being dead unto all good works”—is not some arbitrary punishment that God decides to inflict upon us. Those “wages” are simply the natural consequence of turning away from the voice of the good shepherd and of listening to the voice of the devil:
37 O ye workers of iniquity; ye that are puffed up in the vain things of the world, ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice!
38 Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd.
39 And now if ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd, of what fold are ye? Behold, I say unto you, that the devil is your shepherd, and ye are of his fold; and now, who can deny this? Behold, I say unto you, whosoever denieth this is a liar and a child of the devil.
40 For I say unto you that whatsoever is good cometh from God, and whatsoever is evil cometh from the devil.
41 Therefore, if a man bringeth forth good works he hearkeneth unto the voice of the good shepherd, and he doth follow him; but whosoever bringeth forth evil works, the same becometh a child of the devil, for he hearkeneth unto his voice, and doth follow him.
42 And whosoever doeth this must receive his wages of him; therefore, for his wages he receiveth death, as to things pertaining unto righteousness, being dead unto all good works. (Alma 5)
I’m going to skip verses 43-56, too. Those will be discussed after intermission. ;)
Diving back in at verse 57, Alma gives the “good sheep” some counsel and makes some closing remarks before he makes his final appeals (by way of command and by way of invitation) to the people to repent:
57 And now I say unto you, all you that are desirous to follow the voice of the good shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things; and behold, their names shall be blotted out, that the names of the wicked shall not be numbered among the names of the righteous, that the word of God may be fulfilled, which saith: The names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people;
58 For the names of the righteous shall be written in the book of life, and unto them will I grant an inheritance at my right hand. And now, my brethren, what have ye to say against this? I say unto you, if ye speak against it, it matters not, for the word of God must be fulfilled.
59 For what shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock? And behold, if a wolf enter his flock doth he not drive him out? Yea, and at the last, if he can, he will destroy him.
60 And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed.
61 And now I, Alma, do command you in the language of him who hath commanded me, that ye observe to do the words which I have spoken unto you.
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, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life.