The Lord continues to answer Alma(1)’s prayer.
25 And it shall come to pass that when the second trump shall sound then shall they that never knew me come forth and shall stand before me. 26 And then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, that I am their Redeemer; but they would not be redeemed. 27 And then I will confess unto them that I never knew them; and they shall depart into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 28 Therefore I say unto you, that he that will not hear my voice, the same shall ye not receive into my church, for him I will not receive at the last day.
Mosiah 26:25-28 (Emphasis mine)
Here the Lord lays out what will happen to those who reject. They day will come where all will stand before Him, even those who “never knew me.” Then they will know who He is. He is the Redeemer, offering redemption to all, but they will not receive redemption.
These people will inherit the telestial glory. In the vision Joseph Smith and Sydney Rigdon received about the salvation of man, they saw “… the glory of the telestial, which glory … These are they who received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus … These are they who are thrust down to hell. These are they who shall not be redeemed from the devil until the last resurrection, until the Lord, even Christ the Lamb, shall have finished his work” (D&C 76:81-82; 84-85).
In the Preface to the Doctrine & Covenants, the Lord proclaimed to the wicked that “… the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people;” (D&C 1:14).
Nephi learned the same principle in his great revelation. “Wherefore, if they should die in their wickedness they must be cast off… wherefore, they must be brought to stand before God, to be judged of their works; and if their works have been filthiness … and if they be filthy it must needs be that they cannot dwell in the kingdom of God; if so, the kingdom of God must be filthy also … wherefore there must needs be a place of filthiness prepared for that which is filthy. And there is a place prepared, yea, even that awful hell of which I have spoken, and the devil is the preparator of it … Wherefore, the wicked are rejected from the righteous, and also from that tree of life, whose fruit is most precious and most desirable above all other fruits; yea, and it is the greatest of all the gifts of God …” (1 Nephi 15:33-36).
Jennifer Clark Love reminds us that the Lord offers redemption to the entire world.
“The prophets of the Book of Mormon teach that redemption is offered to all; however, only those who enter into covenants and are adopted by the Lord, receiving his name, create a family relationship with the Lord where he is able to act as their go'el [1] and deliver them from the bondage of sin.” [2] (Emphasis mine)
29 Therefore I say unto you, Go; and whosoever transgresseth against me, him shall ye judge according to the sins which he has committed; and if he confess his sins before thee and me, and repenteth in the sincerity of his heart, him shall ye forgive, and I will forgive him also. 30 Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me. 31 And ye shall also forgive one another your trespasses; for verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not his neighbor's trespasses when he says that he repents, the same hath brought himself under condemnation.
32 Now I say unto you, Go; and whosoever will not repent of his sins the same shall not be numbered among my people; and this shall be observed from this time forward.
Mosiah 26:29–32 (Emphasis mine)
After laying the foundation and principles of redemption, the Lord gives Alma(1) his law. Anyone who has sinned against the Lord is to be brought before Alma(1) to be judged. If the person confesses their sins and sincerely repents, they are to be forgiven. This is the same concept taught by Peter when he called on the people to “[r]epent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 13:19). If this person sincerely repents, the Lord will forgive then as “often as my people repent.”
That’s not all. The righteous member has a responsibility as well. They are told by the Lord that they are required to forgive their neighbor’s trespasses. If they don’t, they will bring themselves “under condemnation.”
Christ taught this to the Nephites when He appeared on this continent. “For, if ye forgive men their trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you; But if ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (3 Nephi 13:14-15). The Lord revealed to Joseph that we must “… forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men” (D&C 64:9-10).
The principle of forgiving and being forgiven is essential to our salvation. The only way you can be forgiven is to forgive others. If you fail to forgive, you will not be forgiven.
33 And it came to pass when Alma had heard these words he wrote them down that he might have them, and that he might judge the people of that church according to the commandments of God. 34 And it came to pass that Alma went and judged those that had been taken in iniquity, according to the word of the Lord. 35 And whosoever repented of their sins and did confess them, them he did number among the people of the church; 36 And those that would not confess their sins and repent of their iniquity, the same were not numbered among the people of the church, and their names were blotted out.
Mosiah 26:33-36 (Emphasis mine)
Alma(1) recorded the words of the Lord so they were there when he judged the dissidents. He then began the process. The dissidents were offered two choices. Confess their sin and repent or be cut off from the church. Those that confessed and repented were forgiven and continued to be numbered among the church. Those that refused had their names blotted out and were excommunicated from the church.
Confession is an essential part of repentance. Noel Reynolds explains:
“While the necessity of confession as part of repentance was not emphasized by all the Book of Mormon prophets, it was clearly in place. Again, it is Alma the Elder who develops the idea at length. Alma teaches the members of the church to forgive all who confessed their sins (see Mosiah 26:29). Confession of sins and repentance of iniquity were necessary requirements for gaining and retaining membership in the church (see Mosiah 26:35-36).” [3] (Emphasis mine)
37 And it came to pass that Alma did regulate all the affairs of the church; and they began again to have peace and to prosper exceedingly in the affairs of the church, walking circumspectly before God, receiving many, and baptizing many. 38 And now all these things did Alma and his fellow laborers do who were over the church, walking in all diligence, teaching the word of God in all things, suffering all manner of afflictions, being persecuted by all those who did not belong to the church of God. 39 And they did admonish their brethren; and they were also admonished, every one by the word of God, according to his sins, or to the sins which he had committed, being commanded of God to pray without ceasing, and to give thanks in all things.
Mosiah 26:37-39 (Emphasis mine)
As the church dealt with the dissidents, peace and prosperity grew for the church. Members were living their religion; new baptisms were occurring.
Even so, Alma(1) and other leaders did continue to preach and admonish members to remain committed to the word of God. They did this in spite of persecution by those who did not belong to the church.
They were commanded of God to pray continually. This reiterated the word of the Lord given to Nephi(1). He wrote “… if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray. But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.” (2 Nephi 32:8-9).
As Alma(1) “regulate[d] the affairs of the church,” he had to deal with the notion of excommunication.
“ ‘And it came to pass that Alma did regulate all the affairs of the church’ (Mosiah 26:37). This idea of excommunication was obviously wholly new to Alma, who had grown up under the old ideology where one's birth ‘numbered’ one among the people of the Lord—the Nephites—in such a way that one could not be ‘blotted out,’ and where one's primary social identity was national or genealogical rather than, as we might express it, ‘intentional’ or ‘voluntary.’ “ [4] (Emphasis mine)
[1] The person who carries this responsibility is known as the go'el, the present participle of ga'al. The go'el was a person's closest relative who was "responsible for standing up for him and maintaining his rights," a responsibility based on feelings of tribal unity. Basic duties of the go'el were: (1) to buy back sold property; (2) to buy back a man who had sold himself to a foreigner as a slave; (3) to avenge blood and kill a relative's murderer; (4) to receive atonement money; and, figuratively, (5) to be a helper in a lawsuit.
[2] The Lord Will Redeem His People: Adoptive Covenant and Redemption in the Old Testament and Book of Mormon. Jennifer Clark Lane, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed January 29, 2012.
[3] The True Points of My Doctrine, Noel B. Reynolds, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed January 29, 2012.
[4] Authority in the Book of Mosiah, Daniel C. Peterson, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed January 29, 2012.
No comments:
Post a Comment