As we have noted, about forty years had elapsed since King Benjamin, in Zarahemla, prophesied to his faithful people concerning the Messiah in whose promised appearance they greatly rejoiced, as also did Alma’s people in Gideon.
Alma‘s prophecy is a grand supplement of Benjamin’s prediction. Both prophets testified that the Lord, Israel’s Messiah, at no far distant time, would come to redeem His people. Their prophecies were fulfilled not long after when Jesus, the Son of God, was born in Jerusalem, the land of their forefathers. Alma, although he does not so state, opened the understanding of his people that they quickly comprehended the truth of Benjamin’s words which an angel from Heaven had unfolded to the king almost a jubilee before.
By the spirit of prophecy which imbued both Benjamin and the righteous Nephites over whom he reigned, they discerned the meaning of his words. They were blessed with the power to tell right from wrong, and to choose good or evil. They discerned the right and chose the good. The testimony of Christ, Jesus, filled every heart, and Benjamin, too, was almost overwhelmed by the faith of his people in the coming Redeemer. The light of God‘s countenance made Benjamin’s face bright with rays of living light as he proclaimed to them “The Lord Omnipotent Who reigneth, Who was and is from all eternity to all eternity,” and Who, with great power, would come down from Heaven to dwell among the children of mortality, and Who would take upon Himself a body of flesh and blood. Benjamin further said:
And He shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of Heaven and Earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and His Mother shall be called Mary. (Mosiah 3:8)
As did King Benjamin before him, Alma spoke to his people words that were painful to their hearts and also were perplexing to their minds. He spoke of the sufferings of our Lord; that He should endure the wrath of men; that He should be tempted, tried and afflicted; that His body should be racked with pain, and that His anguish because of the wickedness and abominations of the world should be so great that blood would exude from every pore. (See COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF MORMON, Volume II, v. 7, pp. 170-171)
He will take upon Him the pains and the sicknesses of His people. Notwithstanding that He was innocent, Himself, the Great Messiah, Alma declared, would humbly submit to the penalty of sin, which is death, and substitute Himself in the place of sinners, thereby releasing them from the “chains” of hell and of eternal damnation, which is the grave. Through God’s grace, the Lord, yea, even the Son of God whom Alma proclaimed, would, when He should come, “break the bands of death,” and “loosen the chains of hell,” which, with relentless fury, held fast in their inexorable grasp the bodies and spirits of men. The promised coming of the Lord was a sign to the faithful Nephites that all men should be set free from the bands of death, and a messenger of peace to the oppressed that they would soon be delivered. They no longer feared death, nor did they deprecate it, or shrink away from it. They reasoned as did Paul, 150 years later, “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (I Cor. 15:22)
That He may know according to the flesh how to succor His people according to their infirmities. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, was clothed in a body of flesh and blood that He might know our afflictions by Himself undergoing the pains and temptations which mortals endure. He, having suffered “according to the flesh,” the Redeemer of Israel, the Savior of all mankind, condescended to things of lower estate that He might be filled with compassion for the sinner, and help for them that have no other Helper save it be Him.
We may ask the question that Alma already made plain: “How could He know our griefs unless He partook of them? and how could He measure our temptations, unless He, himself, withstood them?” Alma answered the query, “The Spirit knoweth all things”; Isaiah 43:25)
The mighty Jehovah, who created all things both in Heaven and upon Earth, was taken by wicked men and slain. Not only did He suffer pain and sorrow as do all mortals, but, He, like they, became subject “even unto death.” In humble submission to the will of God, but with mighty power and strength, Jesus, the Holy One of Israel, bowed before the Majesty on High and paid the full price of man’s Redemption, thereby breaking the bands of death
And thus the flesh becoming subject to the Spirit, or the Son to the Father, being one God, suffereth temptation, and yieldeth not to the temptation, but suffereth Himself to be mocked, and scourged, and cast out, and disowned by His people.
And after all this, after working many mighty miracles among the children of men, He shall be led, yea, even as Isaiah said, as a sheep before the shearer is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.
Yea, even so He shall be led, crucified, and slain, the flesh becoming subject even unto death, the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father. 13
And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men—
Having ascended into Heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon Himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice.—The Prophet Abinadi. (Mosiah 15:5-9)
Christ‘s triumph over the evil consequences of Adam’s Fall reminds one of Isaiah’s words: “Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength.” (Isaiah 26:4)
This is the testimony which is in me. To Alma, his words testifying to the truth of the Gospel Plan were not the idle mouthings of an iterant; 14 nor were they the effervescence of zeal, which, sometimes, lasts but a day. They were, however, his deliberate testimony—the sum and substance of his joy, happiness, and peace. In all Alma’s labors, which were many, he counted his reward, great. It was the joy he received by working in the service of the LORD.
Knowledge of a thing’s truth lies in labor to advance its cause. Especially is this true of Christ’s Gospel. It was also true of the task Alma had chosen to do. He was a “Faithful servant in the vineyard of the Lord.” It is the reason why the man who is already busy there can always do more, and rejoice therein. Alma sought not for the things of the world, therefore, they were not his master. The Kingdom of God, first, was his sole consideration, and thereupon his every effort to advance the cause of righteousness here upon Earth was answered in blessings toward its accomplishment. Every fibre of Alma‘s being attested the Gospel’s truth. To bring to others the knowledge of it was Alma’s greatest desire.
Lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you. Beset, means to set upon on all sides; perplex; harass. To hem in; surround. (Merriam-Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary
If left to his own devices man is frail. He cannot stand alone. We are told, “He is weak, and helpless, and defiled.” Compared with God’s, his greatest wisdom is foolishness, and his utmost strength but absolute weakness. The ordinary man is lenient toward evil, he compromises with sin, and with error he seldom joins battle. He constantly yields himself to temptation, thinking, no doubt, that giving heed to what he considers the little things of life has no great bearing upon its outcome. Success makes him bold, and he becomes intoxicated with pride. He convinces himself that in the joys and follies of the world lies life’s greatest satisfaction and its just reward. The gratification of his whims, and the indulgence of his appetites, he imagines, is the key that unlocks the doors of happiness. He makes them portions of his life, forgetting all the time the truth of Alma‘s rebuttal to his son’s erstwhile wayward behavior, “Wickedness never was happiness.” (II Nephi 2:26) He, perhaps, unknown even unto himself, has become the slave of passion, the victim of cruel oppression which he once invited into his own home. Sin hath beset him
Analogously, such a man is like a picnic-seeker who cares nothing for the roughness of the road before him, nor its many pitfalls. He envisages only the delights that await him at the end thereof. But, when the day’s pleasures are over, and his joys are things of the past; when night overtakes him and he is far from home; when all his friends forsake him, each step in return to his rightful abode will be uncertain, and the pleasurable paths he once trod will be found filled with failure and disaster.