Rhetorical: Alma returns to the historical to push home his point to the current audience. He describes the people of his father again in terms of their bondage. This time, however, Alma moves away from the physical bondage to the spiritual. His images here are not of physical deprivation, but of spiritual separation from God. When his father's people were in spiritual bondage, what was their condition? They were "in the midst of darkness." They were "encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them." All of these conditions describe their spiritual condition under Noah, and the condition that might have awaited them had they returned to that way. Alma contrasts this surrounding problem with their inner condition, for he notes that "nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word."
What is Alma doing in this verse? Alma is setting up a situation in which the surrounding conditions are grim, but in which those inside the church may be illuminated by light. Alma is making a direct connection between that previous church and the condition of the current church. This current church is also surrounded by the darkness of the presence of the Nehors and the current contentions. Just like that earlier population, however, Alma is telling them that they have light inside of and because of the church.