Chapter 13
Men are called as high
priests because of their exceeding faith and good works—They are to teach the
commandments—Through righteousness they are sanctified and enter into the rest
of the Lord—Melchizedek was one of these—Angels are declaring glad tidings
throughout the land—They will reveal the actual coming of Christ. About 82 B.C.
1 AND again, my
brethren, I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave
these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that
the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order
of his Son, to teach these things unto the people.
2 And those priests
were ordained after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people
might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption.
3 And this is the manner
after which they were ordained—being called and prepared from the foundation of
the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding
faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil;
therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called
with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and
according to, a preparatory redemption for such.
4 And thus they have
been called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would
reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness
of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great
privilege as their brethren.
5 Or in fine, in the
first place they were on the same standing with their brethren; thus this holy
calling being prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not
harden their hearts, being in and
through the atonement of the Only Begotten Son, who was prepared—
Alma 13:1-5
Alma continues. God
gave commandments to us. He ordained
priests. After reciting priesthood
heritage, the Lord told Joseph Smith, “Which
priesthood continueth in the church of God in all generations, and is without beginning
of days or end of years. And the Lord confirmed a priesthood also upon Aaron
and his seed, throughout all their generations, which priesthood also
continueth and abideth forever with the priesthood which is after the holiest
order of God. And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth
the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God”
(D&C 84:17-19).
The blessings to back to Abraham. “And I
will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee above measure, and make
thy name great among all nations, and thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed
after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and Priesthood
unto all nations … And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that
curse thee; and in thee (that is, in thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is,
thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this right shall continue
in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the
seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the
blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life
eternal” (Abraham 2:9, 11).
The priests were ordained after the order of the Son. “Why
the first is called the Melchizedek Priesthood is because Melchizedek was such
a great high priest. Before his day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after
the Order of the Son of God. But out of respect or reverence to the name of the
Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the
church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the
Melchizedek Priesthood” (D&C 107:2-4).
Those who were called were ordained and prepared in the
preexistence. “In Alma 13:3, Alma
uses the phrases ‘from the foundation of the world’ and ‘in the first place’ to
refer to premortal events. He speaks in particular of certain people receiving
a calling into the holy order.1 To
understand more about the holy order, we have to understand the house of Israel
and its organization in the premortal world.”[1]
They had the choice between good and evil and chose good. They exercised faith in their calling. “Even before to they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men” (D&C 138:56).
From [Alma 13:3] we learn that
ordinations to the priesthood in mortality are a result of (1) preparation of
the individual in premortality (given that the "world" was
"founded" before it was physically created), (2) faith and good
works, (3) choices of good over evil, (4) the opportunity to exercise faith,
and (5) the provision of redemption. It follows that these stipulations are
part of a plan that was conceived before the earth was created, even a plan to
direct the creation of the earth and the course of its inhabitants.[2]
Those who fulfill holy callings accepted the call from
God. “Behold
it was by faith that they of old were called after the holy order of God” (Ether
12:10).
However, some rejected the Spirit of God. Their hearts were hardened and they were
blind to the call.
“For
the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing,
and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear
with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and
I should heal them” (Acts 28:27).
“And
he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of
God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That
seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not
understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be
forgiven them” (Mark 4:11-12).
“Wo
unto the blind that will not see; for they shall perish also” (2 Nephi 9:32).
“For
behold, the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep. For behold, ye have closed your eyes, and ye
have rejected the prophets; and your rulers, and the seers hath he covered
because of your iniquity” (2 Nephi 27:5).
Of course, as people do in this
world, the maturing spirits in the premortal world advanced at different rates
and to different levels of spirituality, though Alma says that they were
initially on the same standing with each other (Alma 13:5); that is, they had
equal opportunity to advance, but some rejected the Spirit of God "on
account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds" (Alma
13:4) and did not make the progress that would have given them the privilege of
entering the holy order.[3]
Before we came to Earth, we were
all equal in the site of our Heavenly Father.
“For there is no respect [GR
partiality] of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). We all are given the opportunity to partake
of God’s goodness. “Behold, hath the Lord
commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but all men are
privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden” (2 Nephi 26:28).
[1] Alma
the Younger Covenants with the Fathers (Part 1), M. Catherine Thomas,
Maxwell Institute, accessed April 21, 2015.
[2] Echoes
and Evidences of the Book of Mormon – From a Convert's Viewpoint, Alison
V.P. Coutts, Maxwell Institute, accessed April 21, 2015.
[3] Alma
the Younger Covenants with the Fathers (Part 1), M. Catherine Thomas,
Maxwell Institute, accessed April 21, 2015.
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