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 declare 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. (Alma
13:1-3).
Alma continues his sermon.
He told them to return to the time the Lord gave the
commandments to man. At that time priests were ordained after the order of His
Son to teach to the people.
“Now this same Priesthood, which was in the beginning, shall
be in the end of the world also” (Moses 6:7).
“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).
“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).
Those priests were ordained after the order of His 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).
This was done in a manner which lets the people know they
are to look forward to His Son for redemption. “Now these ordinances were given
after this manner, that thereby the people might look forward on the Son of
God, it being a type of his order, or it being his order, and this that they
might look forward to him for a remission of their sins, that they might enter
into the rest of the Lord” (Alma 13:16).
“When a man is ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood, he
enters into an ‘order’ by which he may be refined through service to others,
especially his own family, and blessed by the constant companionship of the
Holy Ghost.”[1]
Those who were ordained to the priesthood had been called
from before the foundation of the world.
“Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel [GR appointed
plan, purpose] and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands
have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23).
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brethren” (Romans 8:29).[2]
“Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel
according to the power of God;
“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (2 Timothy 1:8-9).
“I observed that they were also among the noble and great
ones who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God” (D&C
138:55).
“But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and
Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory
be thine forever” (Moses 4:2).
After they were called, they were also prepared. “Even
before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in
the world of spirits and were prepared to 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).
This was done before the foundation of the world.
“Now, if it had not been for the plan of redemption, which
was laid from the foundation of the world, there could have been no
resurrection of the dead; but there was a plan of redemption laid, which shall
bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, of which has been spoken…
“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” (Alma 12:25, 30).
“And Aaron did expound unto him the scriptures from the
creation of Adam, laying the fall of man before him, and their carnal state and
also the plan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the
world, through Christ, for all whosoever would believe on his name” (Alma 22:13).
They were chosen through their faith and good works. They
were given the choice between good and evil.
“From this passage [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. This gave me hope that I too was part of a plan; I mattered, and
my being here on earth was not just a convergence of biological events.”[3]
“We approached a grove of uncertainty as we awaited our call
to this earth. It must have been an anxious and rather frightening experience
as we left our loved ones to part the veil. When Spartacus was asked by one of
his followers if he was afraid to die, he said, ‘No more than I was to be born.’
That our preexistence was also a testing period where we were free to choose is
confirmed by our prophets. Alma suggests that it was our exceeding faith and
good works that earned us the right of priesthood.”[4]
“[Y]ou and your fathers were reserved to be born at a time
and in a place where you could not fail to hear the gospel preached and accept
the holy priesthood. Thus, a preparatory redemption was made for you through a
priesthood heritage from your fathers and mothers.”[5]
[2] “For him whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate to be conformed to his own image, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren” (JST, Romans 8:29).
[3] From a
Convert's Viewpoint, Alison V.P. Coutts, Maxwell Institute website.
[5] Salvation
for the Dead – A Missionary Activity, Elder Theodore M. Burton, April 1975
General Conference.
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