After recounting his encounter with the angel, he tells
Helaman he was experiencing “eternal torment” (Alma 36:12). “Is ‘eternal torment’ (Alma 36:12) a torment
that lasts forever? No, rather ‘eternal’ represents the nature of the torment. Not
the duration, for it ‘comes from God who is Eternal’ (p. 264).[1]
“Eternal punishment is God's punishment. Endless punishment
is God's punishment. Wherefore, I command you to repent, and keep the
commandments which you have received by the hand of my servant Joseph Smith,
Jun., in my name; And it is by my almighty power that you have received them;
Therefore I command you to repent—repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my
mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore—how sore
you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not”
(D&C 19:11-15).
He suffered torment for his sins. “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy
shall compass him about” (Psalms 32:10).
“Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness:
and I looked for some to take pity,
but there was none; and for
comforters, but I found none” (Psalms 69:20).
He was devastated by his knowledge of his sins. “Wo unto you poor men, whose hearts are not
broken, whose spirits are not contrite, and whose bellies are not satisfied,
and whose hands are not stayed from laying hold upon other men's goods, whose
eyes are full of greediness, and who will not labor with your own hands”
(D&C 56:17).
“For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my
sin” (Psalms 38:18).
“Again, they are [di]minished and brought low through
oppression, affliction, and sorrow” (Psalms 107:39).
“Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil
from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are
vanity” (Ecclesiastes 11:10).
He experience the “pains of hell” (Alma 36:13). He had rebelled against God and he did not
keep His commandments. “And it came to pass that Moses began to fear
exceedingly; and as he began to fear, he saw the bitterness of hell. Nevertheless, calling upon God, he received
strength, and he commanded, saying: Depart from me, Satan, for this one God
only will I worship, which is the God of glory” (Moses 1:20).
Alma had led many souls to destruction by destroying their
souls. The Savior warned, “And fear not
them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear
him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). The
thought of facing God “did rack my soul with inexpressible horror” (Alma
36:14).
He feared he would be banished. From his fears, he learned, “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; and in this awful state we shall not
dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the
rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence” (Alma
12:14).
“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich
men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every
free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And
said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him
that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day
of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand” (Revelation 6:15-17).
For three days he experience the pains a damned soul will
experience. “Therefore, O my son,
whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely; and
whosoever will not come the same is not compelled to come; but in the last day
it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds” (Alma 42:27).
“According to their
deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his
enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence” (Isaiah 59:18).
“Yea, verily, to seal them up unto the day when the wrath of
God shall be poured out upon the wicked without measure—Unto the day when the
Lord shall come to recompense unto every man according to his work, and measure
to every man according to the measure which he has measured to his fellow man”
(D&C 1:9-10).
“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he
that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16).
“Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the
ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation”
(Romans 13:2).
While he suffered for his sins, he remember the words of his
father. He had heard him prophesy about
the coming of Christ to atone for our sins. He began to be remorseful for his
sin. He called out to the Lord for
mercy.[2] He knew he was encircled by the chains of
death.
When speaking of evil, sin and being subject to the devil is
frequently referred to as being in chains.
“O, my beloved brethren, turn away
from your sins; shake off the chains of him that would bind you fast; come unto
that God who is the brock
of your salvation” (2 Nephi 9:45).
“And behold, others he flattereth
away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil,
for there is none—and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them
with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance” (2 Nephi 28:22).
“And therefore, he that will harden
his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will
not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it
is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full. And
they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the
word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken
captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of
hell” (Alma 12:10-11).
“And [Enoch] beheld Satan; and he
had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with
darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced” (Moses 7:26).
He feared these chains would leave to death. In Psalms, David wrote about being
cutoff. “For evildoers shall be cut off”
(Psalms 37:9). “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy
spirit from me” (Psalms 51:11). Solomon wrote, “Treasures of wickedness profit
nothing” (Proverbs 10:2) and “But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own
soul: all they that hate me love death” (Proverbs 8:36). And James taught, “Then
when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth
forth death” (James 1:15).
[1] Review
of Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 3, Alma through Helaman
(1991), by Joseph Fielding McConkie and Robert L. Millet, Donald W. Parry,
Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 4/1 (1992): 144.
[2] “And,
behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him,
saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou
Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil” (Matthew 15:22).
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