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 5:20-25
You
will recognize a priest by his white robes. Only priests and the very rich can
afford such clothing. Imagine what it means for these priests if their robes
get stained, as is often the case when they perform their sacrificial duties.
With no laundromat or laundry detergent available, stains remain on clothes.
This is an additional reason why white cloth is not used much and gives added
insight to scriptures that talk about having our robes white or washed white in
Christ's blood (see Alma 5:21). Getting clothes this white is particularly
difficult, if not impossible, especially if they are stained.[1]
Having asked the people if they actually believed they could
be saved with garments soiled by sin, Alma informs them that won’t happen. Only those whose garments are washed white
can be saved. It is through the blood of
Christ that all garments are purified.
This was representative of what occurred in the old world.
As they got the bloody filth on
their garments, so by the blood on the priest's garments [they were atoned].
Notice it says the blood on our garments testifies. We're told in Leviticus and
Deuteronomy that when the priest and his sons come out, having performed the
sacrifice, their garments are spattered with this blood. That blood testifies
that the sacrifice has been made, and the other garments are washed clean. The
other blood is off then. So there's no contradiction in having garments washed
clean by the blood of the Lamb. It testifies that they have been cleansed. Of
course, we say this is all symbolic, but these symbols were very real to these
people. Alma 5:21: It's the Lamb's blood on the garment of the high priest
that makes your garment white. So that's what he's talking about here. Notice
this rich symbolism. It will testify against you. We can't apportion guilt,
because we're all guilty. We must all be purified. All our lives we have to
repent.[2]
The white garment representing purity has often been found
in the Book of Mormon. For example:
“And
these twelve ministers whom thou beholdest shall judge thy seed. And, behold, they are righteous forever; for
because of their faith in the Lamb of God their garments are made white in his
blood” (1 Nephi 12:10).
“Therefore
they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments
were washed white through the blood of the Lamb. Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy
Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could
not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence; and there were many,
exceedingly great many, who were made pure and entered into the rest of the
Lord their God. And now, my brethren, I
would that ye should humble yourselves before God, and bring forth fruit meet
for repentance, that ye may also enter into that rest” (Alma 13:11-13).
“And
no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into
his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because
of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness
unto the end. Now this is the
commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized
in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that
ye may stand spotless before me at the last day” (3 Nephi 27:19 - 20).
In President Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the hereafter
during Christ’s visit after his crucifixion, he saw “[t]he dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the
ordinances of the house of God, And after they have paid the penalty of their
transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their
works, for they are heirs of salvation” (D&C 138:58-59).
How, Alma asks, do you think you will feel standing before
God with filthy garments from sin?
Isaiah wrote, “But your iniquities
have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from
you [OR have made (him) hide], 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. None calleth for
justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they
conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity” (Isaiah 59:2-4).
Standing before the Lord with these garments filthy, stained
in blood, will be a testimony against you.
This concept of ridding garments of
the blood (sins) of others is repeated by Jacob in Jacob 1:19 and pronounced by
King Benjamin (who assembled his people in order to rid his garments of their
blood [Mosiah 2:28]), by Alma (who asks his brethren how they will feel at the
bar of God with their "garments stained with blood and all manner of
filthiness" [Alma 5:22]), and by Mormon and Moroni—whose testimonies help
them "rid [their] garments of the blood of [their] brethren" (Mormon
9:35; Ether 12:38).[3]
These filthy garments will testify they are guilty of all
types of sin. “For 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).
There will be no place for the sinner to sit in God’s
Kingdom with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as well as the holy prophets. Unlike the sinner, their garments are pure
and white. “But he shall say, I tell you,
I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There 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 13:27-28).
The only way the wicked can be saved is to make God a lair
from the beginning. He has made it clear
the wicked have no place in His kingdom and will be cast out and become
children of the devil. “And our spirits
must have become alike 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).
“Years ago, my adventurous son Jeff
and I found ourselves on an old bus bouncing along on a dirt road in Central
America at 1:00 A.M. We took the early, early bus because it was the only bus
that day. A half hour later, the driver stopped for two missionaries. When they
got on, we asked them where in the world they were going so early. Zone
conference! And they were determined to do whatever it took to get there. At
2:00 A.M. two more elders boarded the bus and enthusiastically hugged their
fellow missionaries. This scene repeated itself every half hour as the bus
climbed the remote mountain road. By 5:00 A.M. we had 16 of the Lord’s finest
as fellow passengers and were basking in the Spirit they brought on board.
“Suddenly, we screeched to a halt.
A massive mud slide had buried the road. Jeff said, ‘What do we do now, Dad?’
Our friends Stan, Eric, and Allan had the same concern. Just then, the zone
leader shouted, ‘Let’s go, elders. Nothing is going to stop us!’ And they
scrambled off the bus! We looked at each other and said, ‘Follow the elders,’
and we all sloshed through the mud slide, trying to keep up with the
missionaries. There happened to be a truck on the other side, so we all hopped
aboard. After a mile, we were stopped by yet another mud slide. Once again the
elders plowed through, with the rest of us close behind. But this time there
was no truck. Boldly, the zone leader said, ‘We will be where we are supposed
to be even if we have to walk the rest of the way.’…
“Although we overcame the mud
slides, we were all spotted with mud. The missionaries were somewhat nervous
about standing before their president on zone conference day when he and his
wife would be carefully checking their appearance.
“As you and I slosh through the mud
slides of life, we can’t help getting a few mud spots on us along the way
either. And we don’t want to stand before the Lord looking muddy … Alma warns
us about some of the ways we become spotted with mud: ‘For our words will
condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless;
and our thoughts will also condemn us’ (Alma 12:14)…
“He also tells us about ‘all the
holy prophets, whose garments are cleansed and are spotless, pure and white’
(Alma 5:24)…
Because of repentance and the
Atonement of Jesus Christ, our garments can be spotless, pure, fair, and white.
Moroni pleads, ‘O then ye unbelieving, turn ye unto the Lord; cry mightily unto
the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be found spotless, pure,
fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, at that great
and last day’ (Morm. 9:6).[4]
[1] Glimpses
of Lehi's Jerusalem – Culturegram: Jerusalem 600 BC, John W. Welch &
Robert D. Hunt, Maxwell Institute, accessed February 7, 2015.
[2] Teachings
of the Book of Mormon, Semester 2 – Lecture 46: Alma 5, Maxwell Institute,
accessed February 7, 2015.
[3] Feasting
on the Word – "Know the Covenants of the Lord" – Sermons, Maxwell
Institute, accessed February 7, 2015.
[4] Standing
Spotless before the Lord, Elder Clate W. Mask Jr., April 2004 General
Conference.
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