27 But behold, it was not so; but it was aappointed unto men that they must die; and after death, they must come to bjudgment, 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
aangels 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
aconversed with men, and made known unto them the
bplan of redemption, which had been prepared from the
cfoundation of the world; and this he made known unto them according to their faith and repentance and their
dholy works.
31 Wherefore, he gave
acommandments unto men, they having first transgressed the
bfirst commandments as to things which were temporal, and becoming as Gods,
cknowing good from evil, placing themselves in a state to
dact, 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
aknown unto them the plan of redemption, that they should not do evil, the penalty thereof being a second
bdeath, which was an everlasting
cdeath as to things pertaining unto righteousness; for on such the plan of redemption could have no power, for the works of
djustice could not be destroyed, according to the supreme
egoodness of God.
33 But God did call on men, in the name of his Son, (this being the
aplan of redemption which was laid) saying: If ye will
brepent, 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
amercy through mine Only Begotten Son, unto a
bremission of his sins; and these shall enter into my
crest.
35 And whosoever will harden his heart and will do
ainiquity, 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
aprovoketh him that he sendeth down his
bwrath upon you as in the
cfirst provocation, yea, according to his word in the last provocation as well as the first, to the everlasting
ddestruction 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 aprovoke 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 brest of God, which is prepared according to his word. THE BOOK OF ALMA
THE SON OF ALMA
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
aordained 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
aorder of his Son, in a
bmanner 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 acalled and bprepared from the cfoundation of the world according to the dforeknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to
echoose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great
ffaith, are
gcalled 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
acalled 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
bblindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great
cprivilege as their brethren.
5 Or in fine, in the first place they were on the
asame 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—
6 And thus being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to teach his commandments unto the children of men, that they also might enter into his
arest—
7 This high priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the world; or in other words, being
awithout beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from
beternity to all eternity, according to his
cforeknowledge of all things—
8 Now they were aordained after this manner—being called with a holy calling, and ordained with a holy ordinance, and taking upon them the high priesthood of the holy order, which calling, and ordinance, and high priesthood, is without beginning or end—Wow! There is a lot of valuable and straightforward doctrine throughout chapter 12 that is really important to understand. In this chapter Alma describes the 3 pillars of the gospel - The Fall, The Atonement, and The Resurrection. I have had a lingering question for a long time about The Fall. It was 'Why would Adam and Eve would be commanded not to eat the fruit if the fruit was the only way to keep the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth? How is it fair that the Lord would give Adam and Eve two conflicting commands?' I have talked to many people and they often given answers to me in a way that seemed obvious to them but always left me still wondering. Today I found this marvelous and succinct quote that REALLY explains the answer: “I’m very, very grateful that in the Book of Mormon, and I think elsewhere in our scriptures, the fall of Adam has not been called a sin. It wasn’t a sin. . . . What did Adam do? The very thing the Lord wanted him to do; and I hate to hear anybody call it a sin, for it wasn’t a sin. Did Adam sin when he partook of the forbidden fruit? I say to you, no, he did not! Now, let me refer to what was written in the book of Moses in regard to the command God gave to Adam. [Moses 3:16–17.] “Now this is the way I interpret that: The Lord said to Adam, here is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you want to stay here, then you cannot eat of that fruit. If you want to stay here, then I forbid you to eat it. But you may act for yourself, and you may eat of it if you want to. And if you eat it, you will die.
“I see a great difference between transgressing the law and committing a sin” (Joseph Fielding Smith, “Fall—Atonement—Resurrection—Sacrament,” in Charge to Religious Educators, 124).
I am so happy to finally understand this issue I feel like celebrating! (Don't laugh!)
The other subject from these verses that must be discussed is the priesthood power and fore ordination. Alma is explaining how the Lord called on priesthood holders before they came to earth to carry His power on the earth. Here are two thoughtful quotes that help me understand this concept:
“The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that ‘Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the grand council of heaven before this world was.’ [Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 365.] So likewise declared the Apostle Paul, ‘For whom he did foreknow . . . them he also called.’ (Romans 2:29–30.) But do not misunderstand that such a calling and such foreordination pre-determine what you must do. A prophet on this western continent has spoken plainly on this subject, ‘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.’ (Alma 13:3.) This last passage makes the others preceding more understandable. God may have called and chosen men in the spirit world or in their first estate to do a certain work, but whether they will accept that calling here and magnify it by faithful service and good works while in mortality is a matter in which it is their right and privilege to exercise their free agency to choose good or evil.
“. . . I fear there are many among us who because of their faithfulness in the spirit world were ‘called’ to do a great work here, but like reckless spendthrifts they are exercising their free agency in riotous living and are losing their birthright and the blessings that were theirs had they proved faithful to their calling. Hence as the Lord has said, ‘there are many called but few are chosen.’” (Harold B. Lee, Decisions for Successful Living, pp. 168–69).
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