Dr. Hugh B. Nibley has written:
“One important aspect of the early land organization and control remains to be mentioned, and that is the control of an area, already noted, by a ‘mother city,’ to whom the other cities were ‘daughters.’ Rome was originally the name of a city and nothing else, yet at all times all land under control of that city was called Roman and its inhabitants if they were free at all had to be citizens of Rome and had to go to Rome every year to vote, just as if they lived there. Finally all the civilized world became Rome and its inhabitants Romans. It is only in scale and not in nature that this differs from other cities. Socrates, Sophocles, and Euripides were all Athenian citizens and described themselves as men of Athens— yet they were born and reared and lived in villages many miles apart—none of them actually in the city. In the same way, while the Book of Mormon refers to the city of Jerusalem plainly and unmistakably over sixty times, it refers over forty times to another and entirely different geographical entity which is always designated as ‘the land of Jerusalem.’ In the New World also every major Book of Mormon city is surrounded by a land of the same name.
The land of Jerusalem is not the city of Jerusalem. Lehi ‘…dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days…’ (1 Nephi 1:4), yet his sons had to ‘…go down to the land of our father’s inheritance… .’to pick up their property. (1 Nephi 3:16, 21). The apparent anomaly is readily explained by the Amarna Letters, in which we read that ‘ a city of the land of Jerusalem, Bet-Ninib, has been captured.’ It was the rule in Palestine and Syria from ancient times, as the same letters show, for a large area around a city and all the inhabitants of that area to bear the name of the city. It is taken for granted that if Nephi lived at Jerusalem he would know about the surrounding country:’ … I, of myself, have dwelt at Jerusalem wherefore I know concerning the regions round about…’ (2 Nephi 25:6). But this was quite unknown at the time the Book of Mormon was written—the Amarna Letters were discovered in 1887. One of the favorite points of attack on the Book of Mormon has been the statement in Alma 7:10 that the Savior would be born ‘at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers.’ Here Jerusalem is not the city ‘in the land of our forefathers,’ it is the land. Christ was born in a village some six miles from the city of Jerusalem; it was not in the city, but it was in what we know the ancients themselves designated as ‘ the land of Jerusalem.’ Such a neat test of authenticity is not often found in ancient documents.”
The name of Mary being known about 83 years before the birth of Christ shows that she was foreordained. Alma’s declaration is a second witness to her foreordination. An angel had told Benjamin that “his mother shall be called Mary” (Mosiah 3:8). Her being “a precious and chosen vessel” (Alma 7:10) tells us of her status in the pre-mortal life. Of her, Elder Bruce R. McConkie has written:
She was foreordained. There is only one Mary, even as there is only one Christ. We may suppose that she was more highly endowed spiritually than any of her mortal sisters, but with it all, she was a mortal, not a God. Her mission was to bring the Son of God into the world, not to redeem mankind, not to intercede for them. She was destined to be a mother, not a mediator; hers was the blessed privilege, being mortal, to bring into the world Him by whom immortality should come. And blessed is she forever!
Mary did not conceive by the Holy Ghost as the New Testament Matthew account implies; “for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 1:20). The Holy Ghost came upon her, which enabled her to be in the presence of a divine being and conceive. The New Testament Luke account is close to Alma’s statement (v. 10): “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee” (Luke 1:35). How the process of conception took place is not given. God is a God of miracles and can bring about his purposes in ways not known or understood by man. Suffice it to say that Christ is as Alma testifies, “even the Son of God” (Alma 7:10).
The suffering and temptation (v. 11) spoken of by Alma was apparently referring to Christ’s three-year ministry. Many people do not recognize his ministry as part of the Atonement. The scripture cited by Alma is Isaiah 53:3–4 (Mosiah 14:3–4) that is interpreted by Abinadi to refer to Christ suffering “temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation, but suffereth himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by his people” (Mosiah 15:5). Paul also speaks of Christ being “tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). He was exposed to all the worldly torment, both physically and mentally, and in doing so set the example for all mankind to follow and become “even as I am” (3 Nephi 27:27). Thus we are commanded to “come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness” (Moroni 10:32).
Christ died that he might break the bands of death upon all mankind (see 2 Nephi 9:10–11; Mosiah 15:20; Alma 11:42). His crucifixion is one of the most excruciating types of death known to man. Through his suffering on the cross he took upon himself the infirmities or physical pains that could be suffered by mankind according to the flesh. Therefore he knows how to succor his people in their personal afflictions (Alma 7:12). Through his overcoming death and bringing to pass the Resurrection, he paid for the transgression of Adam. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).
The third part of the Atonement, actually made before the Resurrection but probably mentioned last by Alma because it was the most significant of all, was his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. In that garden he suffered the pains and sins of all mankind to take upon himself their sins and thus pay the demand of justice (see 15:9). Christ is able to pay for the sins of mankind because he knows all of the sins they have and will commit. As Jacob, brother of Nephi, said, speaking of Jesus Christ:
20 O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it.
21 And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam. [2 Nephi 9:20–21]
These sins and transgressions were apparently revealed to him by the Spirit (Alma 7:13) as he agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane and bled at every pore (see Luke 22:44; Mosiah 3:7; D&C 19:18). His being the Son of God gave him the divine attributes to go through and survive such suffering. As the angel told King Benjamin, he would suffer all things “even more than man can suffer” (Mosiah 3:7). He was indeed a God who came to redeem all mankind.