10 And behold, he
shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she
being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive
by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of
God.
11 And he shall go
forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this
that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains
and the sicknesses of his people.
12 And he will take
upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and
he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with
mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor
his people according to their infirmities.
13 Now the Spirit knoweth
all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that
he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their
transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this
is the testimony which is in me.
14 Now I say unto you
that ye must repent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born
again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized
unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith
on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to
save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.
Alma 7:10-14
Alma begins reminding the people of Messianic
prophesies. Before we look at the
prophecies, we need to address a specific statement in verse 10 – “And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at
Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers.”
Critics have jumped on this as evidence the Book of Mormon
is a man-made document. We all know,
they cry, Jesus was born in Bethlehem and not Jerusalem. How could that dumb Joseph Smith make such a
basic mistake?[1]
The claims of the critics hold no water and sow a remarkable
ignorance about the Book of Mormon. Why
would Alma have use that terminology?
Simple. Because that’s the way
geography is referenced in the Book of Mormon.
Let’s look at a few examples (emphasis in the following scriptures is
mine).
·
For the
Lord would not suffer, after he had led them out of the land of Jerusalem and kept and .preserved them from falling into
the hands of their enemies, yea, he would not suffer that the words should not
be verified, which he spake unto our fathers, saying that: Inasmuch as ye will
not keep my commandments ye shall not prosper in the land (Omni 1:6).
·
And I went
in unto the king, and he covenanted with me that I might possess the land of Lehi-Nephi, and the land of Shilom. And he also commanded
that his people should depart out of the land, and I and my people went into
the land that we might possess it. And we began to build buildings, and to
repair the walls of the city, yea, even the walls of the city of Lehi-Nephi, and the city
of Shilom. (Mosiah 9:6-8).
·
I, Zeniff having
been taught in all the language of the Nephites, and having had a knowledge of
the land of Nephi, or of the land of
our fathers' first inheritance… (Mosiah 9:1).
·
Yea, and
it came to pass that they fled, all that were not overtaken, even into the city of Nephi and did call upon me for
protection (Mosiah 9:15).
·
And it
came to pass that the Amlicites came upon the hill Amnihu, which was east of
the river Sidon, which ran by the land
of Zarahemla, and there they began to make war with the Nephites (Alma 2:15).
·
Behold, we
followed the camp of the Amlicites, and to our great astonishment, in the land
of Minon, above the land of Zarahemla,
in the course of the land of Nephi,
we saw a numerous host of the Lamanites; and behold, the Amlicites have joined
them (Alma 2:24)
And thus we see the Nephites used land to represent a large
area and city to represent a city within that land. Alma is speaking nearly 500 years after Lehi’s
party left Jerusalem. Using Nephi
geographical verbiage, saying Christ would be born “in the land of Jerusalem” would be consistent with descriptions
throughout Book. And another one
(anti-Mormon claim) bites the dust.
What I would like to do at this point is to record Alma’s
prophecies and provide scriptures that show its fulfillment.
·
10 And
behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our
forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be
overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a
son, yea, even the Son of God.
o
Therefore
the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and
bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [HEB With us is God] (Isaiah 7:14).
o
And in the
sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named
Nazareth, [t]o a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house
of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said,
Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou
among women … And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a
son, and shalt call his name JESUS (Luke 1:26-27, 31).
o
[JST Matt.
2:1 Now, as it is written, the birth of...] of Jesus Christ was on this wise
[GR in this way] … [Mary] was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph
her husband … minded to put her away privily. [IE He desired to release or
divorce her secretly]. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel
of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David,
fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is
of the Holy Ghost (Matthew 1:18-20).
·
11 And he
shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind;
and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the
pains and the sicknesses of his people.
o
For he
shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground:
he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty
[HEB it is not for his appearance] that we should desire him].He is despised
and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief … and we hid
as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not … [H]e
hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows … [H]e was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our
peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:1-5).
o
Then was
Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. [JST
Matt. 4:1 ... to be with God.] (Matthew 4:1)
o
And he
went a little further [at Gethsemane], and fell on his face, and prayed,
saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless
not as I will [GR wish, desire], but as thou wilt. (Matthew 26:39).
o
THEN
Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown
of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe (John
19:1-2).
o
And being
in an agony he prayed more earnestly: band his sweat was as it were
great drops of blood falling down to the ground. [JST Luke 22:44 ... and he
sweat as it were great drops of blood...] (Luke 22:44).
o
For I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3).
o
And from
Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead,
and the prince of the kings of the earth.
Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood
(Revelation 1:5).
·
12 And he
will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his
people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be
filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the
flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.
o
And when
Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my
spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost [GR expired, ceased
breathing, or died] (Luke 23:46).
o
And the graves
were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept [ GR who had died]
arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy
city, and appeared unto many (Matthew 27:52-53).
o
And when
Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in
his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone
to the door of the sepulchre, and departed (Matthew 27:59-60).
o
[JST Matt.
28:4 And the angels answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye; for we
know...] And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I
know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen… (Matthew
28:5-6).
The Spirit knows all thing, Alma teaches. Christ becomes mortal so he can take upon
Himself the sins of the world. His
sacrifice makes salvation possible.[2]
We must repent and be born again.[3] “When taken by itself, this passage has
sometimes been read to indicate that baptism of water washes away sins, but the
context of the language of spiritual rebirth indicates clearly that it is the
Spirit or Holy Ghost that brings the remission of sins, a teaching consistent
with those of Jesus and Nephi.”[4] We
must be baptized and have our sins washed away through faith in Christ. He will cleanse us all from unrighteousness.
[1]
This is as opposed to the cunning, con man. Joseph Smith. He’s all things to
all critics of the Book of Mormon, depending on their critic.
[2] “For these are they whose sins he has borne;
these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their
transgressions. And now, are they not
his seed?” (Mosiah 15:12).
[3] “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again [GR from above, anew], he
cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born
when he is old? can he enter the second
time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God” (John 3:3-5).
[4] The
True Points of My Doctrine, Noel B. Reynolds, Maxwell Institute, accessed March
1, 2015.
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