Book of Mormon Lesson 23 (Alma 5–7)
May 29–June 4

ALMA THE PRESIDING HIGH PRIEST

Alma 5 is the second-longest chapter in the entire Book of Mormon, and contains an important “conference address” by the head of the Church—Alma the Younger. Alma had been consecrated . . . a high priest over the Church of God by his father (Alma 5:3). Bruce R. McConkie explained, “God’s chief representative on earth, the one who holds the highest spiritual position in his kingdom in any age, is called the high priest. This special designation of the chief spiritual officer of the Church has reference to the administrative position which he holds rather than to the office to which he is ordained in the priesthood.”1

The Requirements for Salvation
Alma spoke of the previous generation, who had been delivered from physical and spiritual bondage (Alma 5:1–9). He described their conversion experience as an awakening from a deep sleep, coming out of darkness, having our souls “illuminated by the light of the everlasting word” (v. 7). He himself had experienced this. Then Alma identified the three conditions of salvation: (Alma 5:10–13)

— Experience a mighty change—a new spiritual birth (v.11)
— Humble ourselves and put our trust in God (v.12)
— Remain steadfast and faithful to the end of our mortal lives (v.13)

ALMA’S SPIRITUAL CHECKLIST

In connection with his theme of faith, conversion, humility, trust in God, and enduring to the end, Alma then asked 19 questions regarding the spiritual status of his listeners. We can use this “checklist” as way of measuring our spiritual standing before the Lord.

Question #1: “Have ye spiritually been born of God?” (Alma 5:14).

Daniel H. Ludlow said, “The baptism of water which qualifies one for membership in the Church does not assure one of the spiritual rebirth necessary to regain the presence of God. The “right” to receive the Holy Ghost is bestowed upon a person when he is confirmed a member of the Church and after he has been baptized by water. But unless a person fully repents of his sins and actually receives the Holy Ghost, he cannot be sanctified and be born again spiritually . . .   Thus Alma correctly asked his brethren of the Church, “have ye spiritually been born of God?”2

Question #2: “Have ye received his image in your countenances?” (Alma 5:14).

—    Image means a vivid representation or likeness of something.
—    Countenance means behavior, demeanor, or conduct
—    Therefore, this means to reflect Christ in our appearance and behavior.

Reynolds and Sjodahl said, “The heart is said to be the seat of spiritual light; the source whence springs our love and our devotion, our likes and dislikes, our joys and our sorrows, and our loyalty and fidelity.”3

Question #3: “Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?” (Alma 5:14).

—    We sometimes call this experience “being converted” (Mosiah 5:2).
—    It is not a single experience but a process (Mosiah 27:24–26).

Bruce R. McConkie said, “Except in . . . unusual circumstances, as with Alma (Mosiah 27), spiritual rebirth is a process. It does not occur instantaneously. It comes to pass by degrees. Repentant persons become alive to one spiritual reality after another, until they are wholly alive in Christ and are qualified to dwell in his presence forever.”4

Question #4: “Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you?” (Alma 5:15)

George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl said, “To exercise faith in the redemption of Christ is to have perfect confidence that in Christ is found the power to remit sins, heal souls, raise the dead, and triumph in all that is right and good. It is to trust the simplicity of gospel answers; it is to seek the sanction of heaven on all that one does. . . . To have an eye of faith is to be believing. It is to see the hand of God in all things. It is the confidence that all things will work together for our good if we walk uprightly and are true to our covenants (Mormon 9:27; D&C 90:24).”5

This kind of faith is exercised when we turn to Christ for forgiveness and redemption, believing that He has the power to save us from our sins.  We also exercise this faith when we believe that Christ has actually forgiven us.

Question #5: “Do you look forward . . . to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?” (Alma 5:15).

For the righteous, the day of judgment will be a happy day—a day to anticipate with joy—since it will be the day of their reward for their faith. Those who dread the day are those who will likely be damned for their unrighteousness. Bruce R. McConkie said, “In our day we look forward with hope and joy to the Second Coming of the Son of Man, and to the setting up of the millennial kingdom of peace and righteousness, over which he shall assume personal rule for the space of a thousand years.”6

Question #6: “Can you imagine . . . the voice of the Lord, saying unto you . . . Come unto me ye blessed?” (Alma 5:16).

At the conclusion of Enos’s movingly personal story, he said, “I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality; and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father.  Amen (Enos 1:27).”7 Alma’s question was whether we have the same kind of confidence in the Savior’s response toward us as Enos did.  If we can imagine the Lord being pleased with us, then perhaps we are in good spiritual health.

Question #7: “Do ye imagine to yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord . . . and that he will save you?” (Alma 5:17).

Neal A. Maxwell said, “There are so many ways of keeping back part. One might be giving of money and time and yet hold back a significant portion of himself. One might share talents publicly yet privately retain a particular pride. One might hold back from kneeling before God’s throne and yet bow to a particular gallery of peers. One might accept a Church calling but have his heart more set on maintaining a certain role in the world.”8 Alma was reminding us that the Lord knows and understands the intentions of our hearts and we cannot deceive him.

Question #8: “Can ye imagine yourselves brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled with guilt and remorse?” (Alma 5:18).

Alma could certainly imagine this scenario, because he experienced it firsthand. “From his description of his reaction to his sins, it is clear that he did not see himself as a blameless (Alma 36:13). Alma had certainly experienced ‘remorse of conscience.’ Said he, ‘My soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins. Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell’ (Alma 36:12–13).”9

Question #9: “Can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands?” (Alma 5:19).

Psalm 24:3–5 identifies those who will be exalted: those with “clean hands” and a “pure heart.” These body parts are symbolic, as they always are in Jewish poetry.  The heart symbolizes our core values, beliefs, and desires.  The hand symbolizes our behavior or deeds.

Question #10: “Can ye think of being saved when you have . . . become subjects to the devil?” (Alma 5:20).

Brigham Young said, “How many hundreds and hundreds of times have you been taught that if people neglect their prayers and other daily duties, that they quickly begin to love the world, become vain in their imaginations, and liable to go astray, loving all the day long to do those things that the Lord hates, and leaving undone those things that the Lord requires at their hands? When people neglect their private duties . . . they will go blindfolded, will be subject to the devil, and be led captive at his will. How useless this would be! How unnatural, unreasonable, and unlike the Gospel and those who believe it!”10

Question #11: How will you feel to stand before God “having your garments stained with blood and all manner of filthiness?” (Alma 5:21–23).

George Q. Cannon said, “This is the standard that God has raised for His people. He wants us to come up to this standard—to be pure as angels are pure. And why should not we be? If we are going to dwell with God and Christ and with the holy angels, why should not we emulate on the earth the purity that they possess, which makes heaven the blest abode that it is? I am thankful that this standard has been raised among us. It gives hope for the future of humanity. Otherwise, the fate of this generation is sure. . . . The people are corrupt. They are full of lust and abominable evils.”11

Question #12: “Do ye suppose that . . . [you] can . . . sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham . . . and . . . all the holy prophets?” (Alma 5:24–25).

The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “It is in vain for persons to fancy to themselves that they are heirs with those, or can be heirs with them, who have offered their all in sacrifice, and by this means obtained faith in God and favor with him so as to obtain eternal life, unless they, in like manner, offer unto him the same sacrifice, and through that offering obtain the knowledge that they are accepted of him.”12  “And it is quite as necessary for you to be tried [even] as . . . Abraham and other men of God. . . .  God will feel after you, and He will take hold of . . . and wrench your very heart strings, and if you cannot stand it you will not be fit for an inheritance in the Celestial kingdom of God.”13

Question #13: “If ye have experienced a change of heart . . . and . . . felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?” (Alma 5:26).

Maintaining our change of heart is essential.  Once is not enough. Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley said, “Some of you may say, and especially you returned missionaries, ‘Well, I don’t need to be bothered with all that. I have a testimony. I feel secure in it. I’m okay.’ But let me remind you of the words of President Harold B. Lee: ‘Testimony isn’t something you have today, and you will have always. A testimony is fragile. It is as hard to hold as a moonbeam. It is something you have to recapture every day of your life.’”14

Question #14: “Have ye . . . [kept] yourselves blameless before God?” (Alma 5:27)

Blameless does not mean perfect.  In mortal life, we cannot and never will be perfect. So what did Alma mean by blameless? Mark E. Peterson explained, “Part of it [is to] ‘serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day’ (D&C 4:2). All of these, you see, show how wholehearted the Lord expects us to be. . . . We cannot just be in the Church in a casual or disinterested way. Indifference has no place in the heart or mind of a Latter-day Saint. . . .  The Lord also said that we are to be ‘anxiously engaged’ in the good work. He has told us that we are to bring forth much fruit. He has told us that we are to thrust in our sickle with our might. In many other ways He has indicated that not only must we be wholehearted in our love for him but that our love must be translated in terms of doing things for him, and, of course, that means we will keep his commandments.”15

Question #15: Have you been “sufficiently humble?” (Alma 5:27)

Ezra Taft Benson said, “Humility . . . does not mean weakness; [it] does not mean lack of courage, lack of faith, lack of self-confidence; but it means the recognition of a higher power upon which we are dependent. . . .”16 Alma took the concept further. He said we need to be not just humble, but “sufficiently humble.”

Spencer W. Kimball said, “When one becomes conscious of his great humility, he has already lost it. When one begins boasting of his humility, it has already become pride—the antithesis of humility. . . .  I would be nothing without the Lord. My breath, my brains, my hearing, my sight, my locomotion, my everything depends upon the Lord. . . . Pray often, and [do] not get up from [y]our knees until [you] have communicated. . . . If it takes all day long, you stay on your knees until your unhumbleness has dissipated, until you feel [a] humble spirit. . . .”17

Question #16: Have your garments “been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ?” (Alma 5:27)

Alma spoke earlier of cleansing our garments of the blood and sins of the world (vv. 21–23).  Now he refers to blood as the cleansing agent—the thing that removes the unrighteous bloodstains of the world.

Question #17: “Are ye stripped of pride?” (Alma 5:28)

Bruce R. McConkie said, “As spoken of in the revelations, pride is the opposite of humility. It is inordinate self-esteem arising because of one’s position, achievements, or possessions. It has the effect of centering a person’s heart on the things of the world rather than the things of the Spirit . . .   As humility, which is an attribute of godliness possessed by true Saints, leads to salvation, so pride, which is of the devil, leads to damnation (2 Nephi 28:15).”18

Ezra Taft Benson said, “One of Satan’s greatest tools is pride: to cause a man or a woman to center so much attention on self that he or she becomes insensitive to his Creator or fellow beings. It is a cause for discontent, divorce, teenage rebellion, family indebtedness, and most other problems we face. . . . In the scriptures there is no such thing as righteous pride. It is always considered as a sin. We are not speaking of a wholesome view of self-worth, which is best established by a close relationship with God. But we are speaking of pride as the universal sin . . . a “my will” rather than “thy will” approach to life. The opposite of pride is humbleness, meekness, submissiveness, or teachableness (Alma 13:28).”19

Question #18: Are you “stripped of envy?” (Alma 5:29)

Ed J. Pinegar said, “Envy is one of the most devastating feelings one can have. When you feel discontent or ill will concerning another’s prosperity or success, you suffer from envy. Envy, which often leads to unrighteous actions, should be avoided at all costs. Envious activities literally take captive those who participate in them, and they become prisoners of themselves—never free, for they are chained by their faults, always wanting more material goods, power, or status. . . . In place of envy and jealousy one should foster both a spirit of gratitude for one’s blessings and gifts as well as a willingness to rejoice with others in the blessings and gifts that are theirs. . . . True love cheers for success of others and their well-being just as Alma did for the success of the Sons of Mosiah (Alma 29:14).”20

Question #19: Do you “make a mock of [your] brother, or . . . heap . . . upon him persecutions?” (Alma 5:30–31).

L. Lionel Kendrick said, “We will be held accountable for all that we say.  The Savior has warned ‘that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment’ (Matthew 12:36).  This means that no communication shall be without consequence.  This includes the slight slips of the tongue, the caustic communications that canker the soul, and . . . vain, vulgar, and profane words.”21

ALMA’S PERSONAL TESTIMONY

Alma extended God’s invitation to all men to hearken to the voice of the Good Shepherd and repent (Alma 5:32–39). He said that all good things come from God and all evil things from Satan (Alma 5:40–42).

Alma then bore his personal witness and testimony. He explained the calling of a prophet— to bear personal witness of the Savior as given to him by revelation (Alma 5:43–49). The “Holy Order” to which Alma referred is the Melchizedek Priesthood (v. 44).

Alma warned the people not to persist in evil practices (Alma 5:53–56). He commanded his people to “come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate” (Alma 5:57–58). To have one’s name “blotted out” (v. 58) means excommunication from the Church and elimination from the Lamb’s book of life. (D&C 132:19).

ALMA CALLS THE PEOPLE TO REPENTANCE

The Church in Zarahemla
Many people in Zarahemla repented of their sins and humbled themselves before God.  Others were unwilling to repent of their sins because they were “lifted up in the pride of their hearts” (Alma 6:1–3). The priests mentioned here (v. 1) were high priests of the Melchizedek order (Alma 13:1–20). Alma “began to establish the order of the Church” in Zarahemla, with no compulsion and no exclusivity (Alma 6:4–6).

The Church in the Valley of Gideon
Alma preached next to the people in the valley of Gideon (Alma 7:1–6).  Both the valley and the city within it were named after the faithful man Gideon, who had been killed by Nehor with a sword. The people in Gideon were more righteous, but Alma’s message to them is very similar to the one he preached in Zarahemla (Alma 7:15–20). Alma explained why he preached repentance unto a people who were already striving to do what is right.  And then he blessed them for their faithfulness (Alma 7:21–27).

Alma provided to the people in Gideon a list of 14 Godlike qualities that the “blameless” must acquire: “ . . . be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive. And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works” (vv. 23–24).

THE COMING OF CHRIST

The Conception and Birth of Jesus Christ
Alma testified of the coming of Christ in the flesh and of his visiting the Nephites (Alma 7:7–10). That day was only about 83 years away from the time that Alma was preaching.

Alma provided a number of details of the Savior’s earthly ministry which he had received by revelation.  This provides important details concerning the parentage of Jesus that are not well-explained in the Bible.  While Mary would be overshadowed and conceive through the power of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost will not be the father.  The child is unmistakably called “the Son of God.”

Christ Also Suffered Our Infirmities and Sorrows
Christ suffered not only for our sins, but also bore the weight of our infirmities, sicknesses and sorrows, giving him perfect empathy for our needs (Alma 7:11–12).

Neal A. Maxwell said, “He [Christ] showed condescension when he chose to suffer, not only for our sins, but for the infirmities, sicknesses, and illnesses of mankind. But the agonies of the Atonement were infinite and first-hand! Since not all human sorrow and pain is connected to sin, the full intensiveness of the Atonement involved bearing our pains, infirmities, and sicknesses, as well as our sins.”22 Jesus knows and understands when we are stressed and perplexed. . . . [He has] perfect empathy; He felt our very pains and afflictions before we did and knows how to succor us.”23

Alma then bore his concluding testimony about the Atonement and the absolute necessity of repentance and baptism if we wish to inherit the kingdom of heaven (Alma 7:13–14).

Notes:

1.  Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 2nd ed. [1966], 355–356.
2.  A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon [1976], 195.
3.  Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 7 vols. [1972], 3:78.
4.  Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1966–73], 3:401.
5.  Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 4 vols. [1987–1992], 3:30.
6.  The Promised Messiah: The First Coming of Christ [1978], 457.
7.  Approaching Zion, edited by Don E. Norton [1989], 608.
8.  In Conference Report, October 1992, 90; or Ensign, November 1992, 66.
9.  Alma, the Testimony of the Word, Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate Jr., eds., [1992], 150–151.
10.  In Journal of Discourses,4:298.
11.  Gospel Truth: Discourses and Writings of President George Q. Cannon, selected, arranged, and edited by Jerreld L. Newquist [1987], 434.
12.  Lectures on Faith, Lecture Sixth, 58.
13.  As quoted by John Taylor in Journal of Discourses, 24:197.
14.  “President Harold B. Lee Directs the Church; Led By the Spirit.” Church News [15 July 1972[ 4).
15.  BYU Speeches of the Year [1962], 3.
16.  So Shall Ye Reap [1988], 33–34.
17.  Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball [1982], 233–234.
18.  Mormon Doctrine, 593.
19.  The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 435–436.
20.  “Envy and Jealousy: Joseph Sold Into Egypt,” in Teachings and Commentaries on the Old Testament [2005], 123–124.
21.  “Christlike Communications,” Ensign, Nov. 1988, 23.
22.  “Doctrines of the Book of Mormon,” Sperry Symposium [1991], 87.
23.  Ensign, Nov. 1995, 24.