Alma 12-13

Alma 12

Parts of the Plan of Salvation (or God's plan for His children) are discussed in this chapter.

Alma continues to debate with the town lawyers, although Zeezrom is starting to back off because he has been affected by what Amulek taught. There are a few important doctrines I'd like to highlight that Alma teaches in this chapter.

1.  Our personal understanding of spiritual things AND our personal spiritual freedom are directly related to the “hardness” of our hearts—how willing we are to learn and believe. And it’s a spiral, either upward or downward.

10 And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.

11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.

2.   Our lives, and the state of our hearts, will stand as irrefutable testimony against us (or for us) in the Final Judgment when we stand before God, which will happen for every single person.

13 Then if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned.

 14 For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.

Alma obviously chose to emphasize the bad-case-scenario here, because he is speaking to a hard-hearted group of people. These verses can definitely come across as gloomy or threatening… OR they can be a hopeful, helpful warning before it’s too late, of the reality that our very own consciences will burn within us before God someday IF we choose to ignore his mercy and waste our time on earth.

The end of vs. 15 tells us that if we are not prepared to meet God then we will “acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance”—meaning that there is nothing unfair or unkind about his judgments, and we had the option to accept His mercy but we know fully well in our hearts that it was our own choice to ignore it.

3. There is an important purpose to our lives—we are here to become more like God, and to prepare to meet Him again after we die. Don't waste this time!

 24 And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; nevertheless there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead.

4. God had His whole plan laid out (including a plan for resurrecting all His children) before He ever sent Adam and Eve down to earth to start the human race!

25 Now, if it had not been for the plan of redemption, which was laid from the foundation of the world, there could have been no resurrection of the dead; but there was a plan of redemption laid, which shall bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, of which has been spoken.

5. Because life has a purpose, and God has a plan for it all, He communicates with mankind so we will know all we need to know in order to fulfill our purpose here and be able to return to Him. His plan centers around Jesus Christ as our Savior. It is available to all, but He forces no one.

30 ...therefore God conversed with men, and made known unto them the plan of redemption, which had been prepared from the foundation of the world; and this he made known unto them according to their faith and repentance and their holy works.

 31 Wherefore, he gave commandments unto men… knowing good from evil, placing themselves in a state to act, or being placed in a state to act according to their wills and pleasures, whether to do evil or to do good—

 32 Therefore God gave unto them commandments, after having made known unto them the plan of redemption, that they should not do evil, the penalty thereof being a second death, which was an everlasting death as to things pertaining unto righteousness; for on such the plan of redemption could have no power, for the works of justice could not be destroyed, according to the supreme goodness of God.

 33 But God did call on men, in the name of his Son, (this being the plan of redemption which was laid) saying: If ye will repent, and harden not your hearts, then will I have mercy upon you, through mine Only Begotten Son;

Alma 13
The Book of Mormon is full of prophecies about the coming of Christ (keep in mind that this part of the Book of Alma was written about 82 B.C.). See in this passage how much Alma is looking forward to that day:

 24 For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory.

 25 And now we only wait to hear the joyful news declared unto us by the mouth of angels, of his coming; for the time cometh, we know not how soon. Would to God that it might be in my day; but let it be sooner or later, in it I will rejoice.

 26 And it shall be made known unto just and holy men, by the mouth of angels, at the time of his coming, that the words of our fathers may be fulfilled, according to that which they have spoken concerning him, which was according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them.