14 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 (Emphasis mine)
Alma(2) is asking the people if they have been truly converted; have they truly accepted the gospel in their lives.
We all must be "spiritually ... born of God." Paul tells us:
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Romans 8:6 (Emphasis mine)
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Corinthians 2:14 (Emphasis mine)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Galatians 5:22 (Emphasis mine)
Then he asks an interesting question - "Have ye received his image in your countenance?" What does this mean. Here are a few thoughts.
"Thus Alma the Younger points to the transformation of his father as he himself pleads for the mighty spiritual change to come into the hearts of his own people.
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)"The Lord's image in one's countenance? Alma had seen it (see Alma 36:5—27, especially v. 22). He knew his father had seen it on a courageous prophet who was willing to suffer in the pattern of his Redeemer to the last moments of his life.
Now it came to pass after Abinadi had spoken these words that the people of king Noah durst not lay their hands on him, for the Spirit of the Lord was upon him; and his face shone with exceeding luster, even as Moses' did while in the mount of Sinai, while speaking with the Lord. (Mosiah 13:5; emphasis added""What Meaneth the Words That Are Written?",
Some murmurers seem to hope to reshape the Church to their liking by virtue of their murmuring. But why would one want to belong to a church that he could remake in his own image, when it is the Lord’s image that we should come to have in our countenances? (See Alma 5:19.) The doctrines are His, brothers and sisters, not ours. The power is His to delegate, not ours to manipulate! (Ensign, November 1989, 83, as quoted in The Neal A. Maxwell Quote Book, ed. Cory H. Maxwell [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997], 69.)" (Emphasis mine)
In the April 1979 session of General Conference, Elder Loren C. Dunn said:
"Alma was making sure that the members of the Church had not just received the gift of the Holy Ghost, but also had truly received the sanctifying and cleansing power of that great Spirit. He said the way you can tell is when you become refreshed spiritually, as if you had been born anew. He said that the feelings and attitudes of your heart will be truly changed for the good. That your very appearance will begin to take upon itself the image of Christ.
"What a great and powerful friend is this gift of the Holy Ghost! Certainly all who will turn to the Savior and abide by his laws will be healed by this Spirit (see 3 Ne. 9:13). They will have the mind of Christ (see 1 Cor. 2:16), they will be 'partakers of the divine nature' (2 Pet. 1:4), they will begin to have the image of Christ in their countenances (see Alma 5:14). Truly the gospel comes, as Paul said, not only in word, 'but also in power,' the sanctifying, cleansing, soul-enlarging power of the Holy Spirit (1 Thes. 1:5)." (Emphasis mine)
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 braised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?
Alma 5:15 (Emphasis mine)
Where is our faith? Do we have faith in God? Do we look forward to the day when we stand before God to be judged?
Alma(2) is telling us the day will come when those questions will have to be answered; we will have to answer as we stand in the presence of God.
7 But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.
8 And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
Psalms 9:7-8 (Emphasis mine)
4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
Psalms 50:4-6 (Emphasis mine)
36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
37 .
Matthew 12:36-37 (Emphasis mine)
1 THEREFORE thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.
2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Romans 2:1-3 (Emphasis mine)
10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
Romans 14:10-12 (Emphasis mine)
Alma(2) then asks the people to imagine a few things.
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 5:16-18 (Emphasis mine)
Imagine, Alma(2) asks, standing before the Lord and hearing those marvelous words - "Come unto me ye blessed" (verse 16). Those have to be the most wonderful words the Lord could say to us directly.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Matthew 25:34 (Emphasis mine)
But then he asks - do you imagine you can lie to the Lord and you will be saved? Imagine being brought before the Lord knowing you had lived a life of wickedness. You will remember your wickedness and you will be filled with guild and remorse.
You will not be able to lie to the Lord because you will know of your unworthiness. The Lord won't have to remind you. You will know.
19 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?
20 I say unto you, can ye think of being saved when you have yielded yourselves to become subjects to the devil?
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.
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?
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 5:19-25 (Emphasis mine)
Alma(2) tells us that the only way we can be saved if our garments are washed white in the blood of Christ. How can garment washed in blood stay white?
Again I turn to Hugh Nibley.
"But we go on; [Alma] is talking about this. As I said, this is very rich imagery. You can imagine these things, and then he says [verse 21]: '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.' Now there is a strange paradox: Washed in the blood of the lamb. Have your garments been washed white in his blood? Well, how can blood wash garments white is the point...
"... After they have ... slain the pascal lamb, then Aaron and his sons appear before the people with their garments splattered with blood, which shows that the atonement has been made. The blood has been shed, after the similitude. That means that the people's own blood has been washed white. This is explained here, how blood can wash you clean. He's going to tell us. Notice that your garments are stained with filth; they're bloody. That's the blood that's washed out. Notice the difference here: ' . . . cleansed from all stain, through the blood of [the lamb].' And the next verse says, '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 [not cleansed] stained with blood and all manner of filthiness?' So we have two kinds of stained garments; the one is the blood and filthiness that stains your own garment. He says the blood will testify against you ... But the interesting point is you don't know how to valuate sin. Who is more guilty than the other? There's no way of knowing that, how guilty a person really is. So everybody must pay, whether it's a woman, child, rich, poor; it makes no difference. Everyone must pay exactly the same amount, because only God knows who the real sinners are..." (Emphasis mine)
Lecture 46: Alma 5,
The wicked, on the other hand, will not only remember their sins, their garments will be filthy because of their sins. They chose not to take advantage of Christ's atonement. They elected to live a life of sin; this decision will be clear in the garments they wear when they stand before the Lord.
2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Psalms 14:2-3 (Emphasis mine)
11 There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
12 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
Proverbs 30:11-12 (Emphasis mine)
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
James 1:20-21 (Emphasis mine)
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