26 And now behold, if
it were possible that our first parents could have gone forth and partaken of
the tree of life they would have been forever miserable, having no preparatory
state; and thus the plan of redemption would have been frustrated, and the word
of God would have been void, taking none effect.
27 But behold, it was
not so; but it was appointed unto men that they must die; and after death, they
must come to judgment, even that same judgment of which we have spoken, which
is the end.
28 And after God had
appointed that these things should come unto man, behold, then he saw that it
was expedient that man should know concerning the things whereof he had
appointed unto them;
29 Therefore he sent
angels to converse with them, who caused men to behold of his glory.
30 And they began from
that time forth to call on his name; therefore God conversed with men, and made
known unto them the plan of redemption, which had been prepared from the
foundation of the world; and this he made known unto them according to their
faith and repentance and their holy works.
31 Wherefore, he gave
commandments unto men, they having first transgressed the first commandments as
to things which were temporal, and becoming as Gods, knowing good from evil,
placing themselves in a state to act, or being placed in a state to act
according to their wills and pleasures, whether to do evil or to do good—
32 Therefore God gave
unto them commandments, after having made known unto them the plan of
redemption, that they should not do evil, the penalty thereof being a second
death, which was an everlasting death as to things pertaining unto
righteousness; for on such the plan of redemption could have no power, for the
works of justice could not be destroyed, according to the supreme goodness of
God.
33 But God did call on
men, in the name of his Son, (this being the plan of redemption which was laid)
saying: If ye will repent and harden not your hearts, then will I have mercy
upon you, through mine Only Begotten Son;
34 Therefore,
whosoever repenteth, and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim on mercy
through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins; and these shall
enter into my crest.
35 And whosoever will
harden his heart and will do iniquity, behold, I swear in my wrath that he
shall not enter into my rest.
36 And now, my
brethren, behold I say unto you, that if ye will harden your hearts ye shall
not enter into the rest of the Lord; therefore your iniquity provoketh him that
he sendeth down his wrath upon you as in the first provocation, yea, according
to his word in the last provocation as well as the first, to the everlasting
destruction of your souls; therefore, according to his word, unto the last
death, as well as the first.
37 And now, my
brethren, seeing we know these things, and they are true, let us repent, and
harden not our hearts, that we provoke not the Lord our God to pull down his
wrath upon us in these his second commandments which he has given unto us; but
let us enter into the rest of God, which is prepared according to his word.
Alma 12:26-37
Alma continues his answer to Antoniah.
Had Adam and Eve been able to partake of the fruit of the
tree of life, they would have lived forever in their sins. Speaking to his brethren, Nephi told them, “And I said unto them: It was a
representation of the tree of life … And I said unto them that it was an awful
gulf, which separated the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the
saints of God … 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. And thus
I spake unto my brethren. Amen” (Nephi
15:22, 28, 36).
Lehi taught, “And to
bring about his eternal purposes in the end of man, after he had created our
first parents, and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and in
fine, all things which are created, it must needs be that there was an
opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition to the tree of life; the one
being sweet and the other bitter” (2 Nephi 2:15).
Alma would later teach, “And
thus, if ye will not nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to
the fruit thereof, ye can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life”
(Alma 32:40).
This would have frustrated the plan of salvation. God’s word would have been invalid. “For it is expedient that an atonement
should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must
be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are
hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be
through the atonement which it is expedient should be made” (Alma 34:9).
Man is supposed to die. “And
as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment”
(Hebrews 9:27). And, when we die we all
must stand before God and be judged.
“He
shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his
people” (Psalms 50:4).
“I
said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is
a time there for every purpose and for every work” (Ecclesiastes 3:17).
“I
said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is
a time there for every purpose and for every work” (Ecclesiastes 3:17).
“He
that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the
word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John
12:48).
“Because
he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all
men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).
Alma showed that what he and Amulek
were teaching was indeed consistent with the scripture that Antionah questioned
and with the assertion that mortality is a preparatory state given in order to
repent and prepare for the judgment and resurrection. Nothing in this scripture
nor in what Alma and Amulek were teaching was inconsistent with the plan and
justice of God.[1]
All these things were appointed to happen, but man needed to
know about these things. Angels were
sent to converse with man and present God’s Message.
“Wherefore,
by the ministering of angels, and by every word which proceeded forth out of the
mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they
did lay hold upon every good thing; and thus it was until the coming of Christ
… And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance, and to
fulfil and to do the work of the covenants of the Father, which he hath made
unto the children of men, to prepare the way among the children of men, by
declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may
bear testimony of him” (Moroni 7:25, 31).
“But,
behold, I say unto you that I, the Lord God, gave unto Adam and unto his seed,
that they should not die as to the temporal death, until I, the Lord God,
should send forth angels to declare unto them repentance and redemption,
through faith on the name of mine Only Begotten Son” (D&C 29:42).
The substantive portion of the
sermon (Alma 12:12—27) describes the judgment of God and tells how man can
avert a second death through obedience to a new set of commandments. According
to Alma's exposition, the fall of mankind was prefigured by Adam violating a
first set of commandments (Alma 12:22); thus men must die in order to come to
judgment (Alma 12:24). Messengers (i.e., “angels,” Alma 12:29) were then
sent, and God conversed with men, making known the plan of mercy through the
Son (Alma 12:29).[2]
As angels visited earth, they taught the plan of redemption.
“Neither
is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
“For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1
Corinthians 15:22).
“And
being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them
that obey him” (Hebrews 5:9).
“For
for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they
might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the
spirit” (1 Peter 4:6).[3]
“My
little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate [GR
intercessor, helper, comforter] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”
(1 John 2:1).[4]
“And
the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of
men from the fall. And because that they
are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from
evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the
punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments
which God hath given” (2 Nephi 2:26).
“For
as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the great
Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must
needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of
transgression; and because man became fallen they were cut off from the
presence of the Lord … O how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God
must deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the body
of the righteous; and the spirit and the body is restored to itself again, and
all men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a
perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be that our knowledge
shall be perfect” (2 Nephi 9:6, 13).
The plan had been adopted in the preexistence, before the creation. It was revealed to man through his faith,
repentance, and holy works. “And that which fell among thorns are they,
which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and
pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good
ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep
it, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:14-15).
The Ways of Life and Death[5]
This chart illustrates the concise but thorough discourse of
Alma, the Younger, as he explains the ways of life and death to the people of
Ammonihah (see Alma 12:31-37). Alma’s
explanation of the first death can be applied to three different situations: Adam and Eve’s transgression in the Garden of
Eden, Israel’s disobedience to the Law of Moses in the wilderness, and personal
sin.
[1] The
Temple in Time and Eternity – Conflicting Orders: Alma and Amulek in Ammonihah,
Thomas R. Valetta, Maxwell Institute, accessed April 18, 2015.
[2] The
Melchizedek Material in Alma 13:13—19, John W. Welch, Maxwell Institute,
accessed April 18, 2015.
[3] “Because
of this, is the gospel preached to them who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the
flesh, but live in the spirit
according to the will of God” (JST
1 Peter 4:6).
[4] “But
if any man sin and repent, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (JST 1 John 2:1).
[5]
Charting the Book of Mormon, John W. Welch and J. Gregory Welch, Chart 73.
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