7 Lift up your head, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
Psalms 24:7-8 (Emphasis mine)
18 Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.
19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.
Psalms 72:18 - 19 (Emphasis mine)
18 For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
Psalms 89:18 (Emphasis mine)
14 But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.
Malachi 1:14 (Emphasis mine)
14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
1 Timothy 6:14-15 (Emphasis mine)
51 And also the Spirit saith unto me, yea, crieth unto me with a mighty voice, saying: Go forth and say unto this people—Repent, for except ye repent ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of heaven.
52 And again I say unto you, the Spirit saith: Behold, the ax is laid at the root of the tree; therefore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the fire, yea, a fire which cannot be consumed, even an unquenchable fire. Behold, and remember, the Holy One hath spoken it.
Alma 5:50-52 (Emphasis mine)
Alma(2) testifies to the words of the Spirit. Each verse begins with the statement that what he is about to say represents what the Spirit said to him.
Alma(2) testified that the Spirit said:
- All need to repent because the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
- Christ will come in his glory.
- The King of heaven (Christ) will shine forth among all.
- Repent or you cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.
- Every tree that brings forth bad fruit will be cut down and cast into an unquenchable fire.
54 Yea, will ye persist in supposing that ye are better one than another; yea, will ye persist in the persecution of your brethren, who humble themselves and do walk after the holy order of God, wherewith they have been brought into this church, having been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and they do bring forth works which are meet for repentance—
55 Yea, and will you persist in turning your backs upon the poor, and the needy, and in withholding your substance from them?
56 And finally, all ye that will persist in your wickedness, I say unto you that these are they who shall be hewn down and cast into the fire except they speedily repent.
Alma 5:53-56 (Emphasis mine)
Hugh Nibley writes:
"In verse 53 he gets specific on something. You'll notice in verses 40 to 43 he talks in general terms about evil and good ... Here he's specific; he tells what he's talking about in verse 53: 'Can ye lay aside these things, and trample the Holy One under your feet; yea, can ye be puffed up in the pride of your hearts [now this is when he talks specifically about being evil]; yea, will ye still persist in the wearing of costly apparel and setting your hearts upon the vain things of the world, upon your riches?' ... But you're not supposed to wear 'costly apparel and [set] your hearts upon the vain things of the world, upon your riches.' It summarizes all that here. Here we are again on this theme.
"And the next verse, of course, is equality again: "Yea, will ye persist in supposing that ye are better one than another." And then you get a reflection of this persistent tension. As long as Alma's around, you're going to get this tension. You'll notice this tension and this extreme contrast. 'Yea, will ye persist in the persecution of your brethren, who humble themselves and do walk after the holy order of God, wherewith they have been brought into this church, having been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and they do bring forth works which are meet for repentance [two totally different worlds we have here, as we mentioned before]. Yea, and will you persist in turning your backs upon the poor, and the needy, and in withholding your substance from them? [again, the distribution-of-wealth business].hewn down and cast into the fire except they speedily repent.' It's not a stable situation at all." (Emphasis mine)
Lecture 47: Alma 5-10, , Maxwell Institute, accessed August 23, 2011.
2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
1 Corinthians 5:2 (Emphasis mine)
9 Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.
10 Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.
Psalms 62:9-10 (Emphasis mine)
16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.
Psalms 109:16 (Emphasis mine)
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.
Alma 5:57-62 (Emphasis mine)
"Notice he's talking about being sanctified, being hagios, being set apart, being segullāh—people sealed and set apart. He's still talking in terms of the rites of atonement here. 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.' Part of the rite, of course, as we've mentioned before, is that everyone is registered in the book at that time. And if your name was not registered in a book, you were out of the kingdom for three years. That's all there is to it. You had no rights whatever; you were outlawed.
"Then he compares them with sheep. Sheep in the New World? Well, sheep is like silk, if you'll look it up in the dictionary. There are scores of varieties of sheep. Some no more resemble sheep than other [animals] do. The llamas and the vicunas, or anything like that, are all classified as sheep ... But anyway, it's one of those generic terms.
"... You notice the ravenous wolf, which means acquisitive, greedy, predatory, exploitative—the ravenous wolves ... Well, would you admit [to be] the wolf? 'And now I, Alma, do command you . . .' He can command those who belong to the church; the others he simply invites, as he says here ... They're commanded here. '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.' Of course, we invite the world to enter the covenants which we are commanded to obey ..." (Emphasis mine)
6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
2 Thessalonians 3:6 (Emphasis mine)
3 And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.
Philippians 4:3 (Emphasis mine)
4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Revelation 3:4-5 (Emphasis mine)
6 And [the dragon] opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Revelation 13:6-8 (Emphasis mine)
12 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.
Revelation 20:12 (Emphasis mine)
And here Alma(2) ends his sermon.
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