Mosiah 27:28-31

Alma(2) continues speaking to those assembled:

²⁸ Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God.

²⁹ My soul hath been redeemed

    from the gall of bitterness

        and bonds of iniquity. 

    I was in the darkest abyss;

        but now I behold

            the marvelous light of God. 

    My soul was racked

        with eternal torment;

    but I am snatched,

        and my soul is pained no more.

³⁰ I rejected my Redeemer,

    and denied that

        which had been spoken of

        by our fathers;

    but now that they may

        foresee that he will come,

        and that he remembereth

            every creature of his creating,

    he will make himself

        manifest unto all.

³¹ Yea, every knee shall bow,

        and every tongue confess

            before him. 

    Yea, even at the last day,

    when all men shall stand

        to be judged of him,

        then shall they confess

            that he is God;

    then shall they confess,

        who live without God in the world,

    that the judgment

        of an everlasting punishment

        is just upon them;

            and they shall quake,

            and tremble,

            and shrink

        beneath the glance

            of his all–searching eye.

Mosiah 27:28-31 (Emphasis and formatting mine)

Alma(2) tells us he suffered much tribulation.  He repented and he was “snatch[ed] … out of an everlasting burning and I am born of God.” 

During his great sermon, King Benjamin’s the light of God.  King Benjamin taught that “if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and dieth an enemy to God, the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever” (Mosiah 2:38). 

Alma(2) has experience the torment, pain, and anguish “like an unquenchable fire.”  He rejoices that he has been redeemed “from the gall of bitterness.”  He was “racked with eternal torment” but was snatched from the torment and his “soul is pained no more.”

He declared that he experience “the marvelous light of God.”  The Lord revealed more about the concept of the “light of God.”  He said that “the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit” (D&C 84:45-46).

Richard Rust wrote:

“The process of conversion can be dramatic. Figuratively, Alma the Younger says, those with his father ‘were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word’ (Alma 5:7). This was like his own experience: ‘I was in the darkest abyss,’ he said, and then ‘what marvelous light I did behold’ (Mosiah 27:29; Alma 36:20). While he expressed his conversion symbolically, Alma literally came out of a near-death darkness into light.” [1]    (Emphasis mine)

As he closes his sermon, he affirms that “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess” Christ, that “he is God.” Those “who live without God” will suffer his everlasting punishment.  This reiterates the words of Abinadi that converted his father: “The time shall come when all shall see the salvation of the Lord; when every nation, kindred, tongue, and people shall see eye to eye and shall confess before God that his judgments are just” (Mosiah 16:1).

Alma(2) tells his son Corianton that “all men that are in a state of nature, or I would say, in a carnal state, are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; they are without God in the world, and they have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness” (Alma 41:11).

Richard Rust explains that “[w]hen the children of God have the truth as found in the scriptures, they can accept it and act on it or reject it. Those ‘who live without God in the world’ shall, at the last judgment, ‘quake, and tremble, and shrink beneath the glance of his all-searching eye’ (Mosiah 27:31).” [2] (Emphasis mine)

The Lord has told us He wants us to live in a way where we find true joy.  This is done by obeying His word and following His teachings.  Richard Rust shared his feelings about the Book of Mormon.

“I have found in the Book of Mormon great comfort, for comfort is also an eventual companion of truth.  A missionary friend of mine used to call his Book of Mormon his ‘happiness book.’  He taught me that whenever I got discouraged or lost touch with the essentials, I would find rejuvenation in the Book of Mormon.  Its voices are full of reassurance for the righteous and of hope for the sinful. Over and over again in this book, I learn that the Lord ‘remembereth every creature of his creating’ (Mosiah 27:30), and that he remembers every covenant of his making (1 Nephi 19:15; 3 Nephi 16:11).” [3] (Emphasis mine)

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[1] Light: A Masterful Symbol, Richard Dilworth Rust, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed February 6, 2012.

[2] "Know the Covenants of the Lord" – Sermons, Richard Dilworth Rust, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed February 6, 2012.

[3] Good and True, John W. Welch, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed February 6, 2012.