The preaching of the Word of God causes quite the stir in
Zarahemla because it did “destroy the craft” of many of the rulers, priests,
and teachers in the land. They gang up on the believers and kick them out of
the city, but the believers find a new home with the people of Alma in Jershon.
This makes the rulers of Zarahemla mad, and they join up with the
Lamanites to start making preparations for war against the believers.
In the meantime, Alma is depressed and disturbed “that the
hearts of the people began to wax hard, and that they began to be offended
because of the strictness of the word (vs. 15)” so he gathers his own sons
together to have a father/son heart-to-heart. The chapters to come are full of
rich doctrines of the gospel which he shares with them in his fatherly counsel.
Alma has a heart-to-heart with his oldest son, Helaman. We
get to read a beautiful re-telling of Alma’s miraculous conversion story. If you recall, when Alma was younger (actually we refer to him as “Alma the
Younger”), he was rebellious and hateful against the church. Along with his
buddies, the sons of Mosiah, he spent his time trying to pull down the church
even though his own father (Alma Sr.) was the high priest of the church. But in
answer to Alma Sr.’s prayers, God sent an angel to stir these boys up, and to
their credit they immediately changed their ways and became powerful
missionaries and forces for good.
We got to read this story in Mosiah 27, but here in Alma 36 we get to hear Alma’s side of the story, including what he went through during the 3 days he was unconscious to the outside world.
Alma’s experience is a beautiful lesson about the power and
reality of repentance through Jesus Christ. Alma had been a really bad dude…
and he knew it. He explains how deeply terrified he was, because he knew how
bad he had been:
14… so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.15 Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.
But because Alma had a good dad who never gave up on him,
and had always taught him where he could turn for help, he remembered Jesus
Christ in this time of desperate fear:
17… I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!22 Yea, methought I saw, even as our father Lehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and praising their God; yea, and my soul did long to be there.
I marvel at the contrast—at first he wishes he could be “banished
and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in
the presence of my God,” and then as he begins to turn to Jesus Christ he does
a 180 and his “soul did long to be there” with God and his angels!
What a powerful and drastic change. I know that Jesus
Christ can bring about drastic change inside any of us—in whatever specific way
we need to change. This story has the danger of giving the impression that
Jesus Christ changes us instantly and easily (it is a very abbreviated account),
and I think the majority of the time the repentance/change process is slower,
more subtle, and takes a lot of work on our part, but the end result is
absolutely achievable for everyone in every circumstance. That is what Jesus
Christ is all about—YOU are what He is all about and He will never give up on
you.
3 … I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.
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