Alma 5:22-28

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 5:22-25 (Emphasis mine)

If we do not repent, we will stand before God, our “garments stained with blood and all manner of filthiness.”   Our garments will testify of our iniquities. 

Isaiah taught, “your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.  For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness” (Isaiah 59:2-3).  He continued “[f]or our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them” (Isaiah 59:12).

What would it be like to stand before God, wearing garments that testify we “are guilty of all manner of wickedness?”  We will know of our sins.  We will know we are not worthy to be in the presence of God.

Alma(2) asks, “do ye suppose that such an one can have a place to sit down in the kingdom of God?”  Will we be able to sit, “in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, Isaac and with Jacob, and also all the holy prophets?”  He responds with a clear response – “No!” 

There must have been those present who thought God would overlook these things.  There will be a place for them at this table.  Alma(2) tells them that there is no way you can believe these things “except ye make our Creator a liar from the beginning, or suppose that he is a liar from the beginning.  The Savior clearly taught that there would be no place for them at the table.  Instead, “[t]here shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out” (Luke 13:28).

The truth is, there is no place in the kingdom of heaven for the wicked.  “[T]hey will be cast out for they are the children of the kingdom of the devil.”

Jacob warned us if we are wicked, “our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness” (2 Nephi 9:9).

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? ²⁸ Behold, are ye stripped of pride?  I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God.  Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.

Alma 5:26-28 (Emphasis mine)

Here, we learn what it means to be a Christian, a true follower of Christ.  First, we have to experience a change of heart.  This change of heart occurs only in the truly converted.  This change of heart makes us want to do what is right.  We find sin deeply abhorrent.    We cannot imagine committing sin.  We want to rejoice, to “sing the song of redeeming love.”

M. Catherine Thomas explained “[a]s a result of the mighty change wrought in their hearts (see Mosiah 5:2), they received Christ's image in their countenances; they could ‘sing the song of redeeming love,’ their hearts having been ‘stripped of pride’ and enmity (Alma 5:26, 28; see 5:12, 19).” [1]

The multitude who listened to King Benjamin’s sermon, proclaimed “we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2).

By accepting the Lord and experiencing that mighty change of heart, we make a covenant with the Lord.  We “shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters” (Mosiah 5:7).

Kent Jackson wrote, “I was spiritually reborn, according to these descriptions and definitions in the Bible. I experienced ‘a change of heart’ (Alma 5:26) ‘through faith on his [Christ's] name,’ and I was ‘born of him’ (Mosiah 5:7).” [2]      

After reminding them of what happened to them when they accepted Christ, Alma(2) asks, “can ye feel so now?”  This is what matters.  If they can’t “feel so now,” they’ve moved away from Christ.

Then he asks a question we should be asking of ourselves, “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? Behold, are ye stripped of pride?” (verses 27 and 28).  

Then he tells them “if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God.”  He warns them that they “must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.”

---

[1] Benjamin and the Mysteries of God, M. Catherine Thomas, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed March 6, 2012.

[2] Am I a Christian?, Kent P. Jackson, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed March 6, 2012.