Rhetorical: Alma is carefully crafting his discourse to move from topic to topic. His introduction praises the Gideonites while allowing him the opportunity to warn them against the specific problems of the Zarahemlaites. In this verse he picks upon on his last line from the previous verse: “and that ye look forward for the remission of your sins, with an everlasting faith, which is to come…”
Alma picks up the idea of this remission “which is to come” to highlight his theme of the Savior. He notes that “there be many things to come…” It would not be surprising if some of the Gideonites had heard rumors of impending wars, and perhaps civil wars. Certainly the rest of the book of Alma will show us that they are clearly coming. What Alma tells them is that of all the things that might come, the one that is most important is the Savior. Alma takes the assumption that “things to come” would be real things to increase the understanding that the coming of the Savior will also be a very real and literal thing.