LeGrand L. Baker

Alma 5:37-41 — LeGrand Baker — ‘The Good Shepherd’

Alma 5:37-41
37 O ye workers of iniquity; ye that are puffed up in the vain things of the world, ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice!
38 Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd.
39 And now if ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd, of what fold are ye? Behold, I say unto you, that the devil is your shepherd, and ye are of his fold; and now, who can deny this? Behold, I say unto you, whosoever denieth this is a liar and a child of the devil.
40 For I say unto you that whatsoever is good cometh from God, and whatsoever is evil cometh from the devil.
41 Therefore, if a man bringeth forth good works he hearkeneth unto the voice of the good shepherd, and he doth follow him; but whosoever bringeth forth evil works, the same becometh a child of the devil, for he hearkeneth unto his voice, and doth follow him.

This week, Jim Cannon and I read John 10 together. Verses 1-18 are a close parallel to those verses in Alma 5. John 10:4 reads,

4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

When we finished reading, Jim smiled and made one of the understated profound statements that is that is so typical of him. He said, “What this says is that the sheep have to do something.”

That’s what Alma is saying also, it is the responsibility of the shepherd to speak with a voice the sheep can hear and understand, but it is the responsibility of the sheep to follow. Many religions fail to make that connection.

One of the strongest (and strangest) doctrines of apostate Christianity is that the Saviour will make up the difference if one believes –– if one only has faith.

David Noel Freedman is one of the great biblical scholars of the last generation, in his article on “faith” in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, wrote:

“Faith is a peculiarly Christian concept. While other religious traditions have aspects of what the churches have come to name “faith,” none has the specific quality of intellectual assent that distinguishes faith from fidelity. The problem of faith and the central discussion of it arises in the context of the medieval attempts to codify and integrate the Christian experience into the emerging philosophical language of the scholastics. (Article by David Noel Freedman, “Faith,” The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Doubleday, New York, 1992, vol. 2 p. 744-745.)

When I sent this to Bruce Cowser, he responded:

A very interesting distinction he makes. I looked at several dictionaries and a thesaurus, and every one defines “fidelity” in terms of “faithfulness.” Put another way, his postulate distinguishes “faith” from “faithfulness.” Wonder how we even got the word “faithful” if it doesn’t have the same root as “faith.”

The answer, of course, is that our modern use of faith is based on Catholic and Protestant belief, rather than on the Greek pistis from which the word faith is translated in the New Testament. The modern meaning of faith is belief—intellectual assent. The problem with that is that what one believes may have no necessary or predictable relationship with reality. Faithful, on the other hand, has kept its original meaning. It means one’s doing what one said he would do— integrity, keeping one’s covenants. The Greek pistis means the tokens of the covenant. So to have faith means to have the token. To exercise faith means to use the token. To be faithful means to be true to the covenant the token represents.

Freedman’s is a masterful phrase, the “quality of intellectual assent that distinguishes faith from fidelity.” It perfectly defines the belief that all one has to do is believe, muddle through as best one can, and somehow the Saviour will magically make up the difference and carry us off to heaven. That idea is illustrated by one of the most famous paintings in Christendom. It shows “the Good Shepherd” carrying a lamb that was lost. It is based on the parable of the lost sheep in Matthew 18:12-14. The painting is lovely, but what it fails to show is that when the shepherd returns to his flock he puts the sheep with the rest of the flock, and gives it another opportunity to follow him. He doesn’t continue to carry it forever.

The Saviour does not carry people who are not prepared to go there to the Celestial Kingdom. The notion that he does would presuppose that either the Celestial Kingdom is unclean, as they are; or else that he has cleansed them even though they had not fully repented. Neither idea is compatible with the scriptures. Rather, he speaks and leads the way. Those who choose to do so, follow him. “The sheep have to do something.” Throughout the gospels, Jesus frequently refers to his followers as his sheep.

The idea that all one has to do is believe and muddle through is a description of a sheep herder who imposes his will upon the sheep, not that of a shepherd who gives them the right to choose.

Nephi said it most clearly, and there is nothing in his words that suggests intellectual assent without fidelity.

17 O repent ye, repent ye! Why will ye die? Turn ye, turn ye unto the Lord your God. Why has he forsaken you?
18 It is because you have hardened your hearts; yea, ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd; yea, ye have provoked him to anger against you.
19 And behold, instead of gathering you, except ye will repent, behold, he shall scatter you forth that ye shall become meat for dogs and wild beasts.
20 O, how could you have forgotten your God in the very day that he has delivered you?
21 But behold, it is to get gain, to be praised of men, yea, and that ye might get gold and silver. And ye have set your hearts upon the riches and the vain things of this world, for the which ye do murder, and plunder, and steal, and bear false witness against your neighbor, and do all manner of iniquity. (Helaman 7:17-21)

In the culture of ancient Israel, the imagery of sheep and shepherd meant the sheep chose to trust and follow the shepherd, and the shepherd had the responsibility to respond to that trust by providing for and protecting the sheep. That sentiment is found in Isaiah and the Psalms, from which Alma and Nephi would have drawn their imagery. Here are some examples:

Psalm 80 is a prayer. It begins with the notion that Jehovah will lead his people.

1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth. (Psalms 80:1)

(The words, “thou that dwellest between the cherubim,” are a reference to the throne that sat at the back wall in the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s temple. The throne was between two great cheribims whose wings touched the side walls and the ceiling of the room. )

Probably the most famous of all the Old Testament references to the Shepherd are Isaiah 40 and the 23rd Psalm. Nephi was probably referring to both of them when he wrote:

25 And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture. (1 Nephi 22: 25)

Isaiah 40 shows Jehovah’s compassion.

11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. (Isaiah 40:11)

Jehovah’s compassion for the little lambs and for their mothers (those with young) does not preclude the notion that when they are able, they will join the rest of the flock. Neither does it negate his insistence that the mature and able sheep must follow him as an expression of their own will.

Many of you have sat in my office and read with me the copy of Psalm 23 that hung on my wall. The psalm is written like a three act play. Act one begins, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Act two is this lonely, dreary world. It begins, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” And act three is simply, “and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

If I understand that psalm correctly, the following is all part of act one. It is a recollection of our pre-mortal world (discussion of that interpretation is found in Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord).

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures [in the imagery of sheep and shepherd, the green pastures would be the fruit of the tree of life]: he leadeth me beside the still waters.[waters of life]
3 He restoreth my soul (D&C 93: 38): he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. [There is always a new name that seals or ratifies a new covenant. The new name is a token of the covenant. For example, when we are baptized, we take upon ourselves the name of the Saviour, becoming his children. So that phrase might read, “he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his covenant’s sake,” without changing its meaning.] (Psalms 23:1-3)

The first words in Psalm 23 define our eternal relationship with the Saviour:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

In the scriptural accounts of the Council in Heaven, it is always the Father who presides, and it is Jehovah who conducts and makes the assignments. In almost all of the accounts we have of fore-ordinations, they contain the principles and promises expressed in these words: “The Lord is my Shepherd”— he is in charge, and he will lead us in the way we must go to fulfill our eternal covenants.

It was he who gave instructions and foreordained us to our specific tasks; he and his Father made enabling covenants regarding the fulfillment of those tasks; and it is by his sustaining power that we are enabled to perform those tasks and keep those covenants –– “The Lord is my shepherd” –– the one whom I shall follow.

The Lord promised the Prophet Joseph,

41 Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me;
42 And none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost.
43 And the Father and I are one. I am in the Father and the Father in me; and inasmuch as ye have received me, ye are in me and I in you.
44 Wherefore, I am in your midst, and I am the good shepherd, and the stone of Israel. He that buildeth upon this rock shall never fall.
45 And the day cometh that you shall hear my voice and see me, and know that I am.
46 Watch, therefore, that ye may be ready. Even so. Amen. (Doctrine and Covenants 50:41-46)

Alma’s words are scarey and uncompromising.

38 Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he doth call you, which is the name of Christ; and if ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, to the name by which ye are called, behold, ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd.
39 And now if ye are not the sheep of the good shepherd, of what fold are ye? Behold, I say unto you, that the devil is your shepherd, and ye are of his fold; and now, who can deny this? Behold, I say unto you, whosoever denieth this is a liar and a child of the devil.

There is lots of ancient temple code in those words. Knowing the name by which one is called is the most obvious. But the one that really caught my attention was this phrase: “whosoever denieth this is … a child of the devil” When Alma talks about one’s being a child of God, he is using the formal, legal notion of one who may, by right, inherit. If he is using “child of the devil” in that same way (and I believe he is) then he the warning he is giving is very severe indeed.

 

Alma 5:30-36 — LeGrand Baker — ‘come unto me’

Alma 5:30-36
30 And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?
31 Wo unto such an one, for he is not prepared, and the time is at hand that he must repent or he cannot be saved!
32 Yea, even wo unto all ye workers of iniquity; repent, repent, for the Lord God hath spoken it!
33 Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you.
34 Yea, he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely;
35 Yea, come unto me and bring forth works of righteousness, and ye shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire—
36 For behold, the time is at hand that whosoever bringeth forth not good fruit, or whosoever doeth not the works of righteousness, the same have cause to wail and mourn.

There appear to be three major encoded ideas here. The fun thing is that they are not in code at all. These seem to be instances where the words simply mean precisely what they say. But since we tend not to expect them to mean what they say, we are apt to water down their meaning. In these instances, the precision of the words become the code. The ideas are:

1. The arms of mercy are extended towards them

2. The Saviour says, “come unto me” and “I will receive you.”

3. The relationship between “works of righteousness” and “bringeth forth not good fruit,”

I think the best commentaries on these verses are from the Sermon on the Mount. That sermon reads like a how-to explanation of what the Saviour has said before from 3 Ne. 9 through the Beatitudes.

1.} The arms of mercy are extended towards them

When the Saviour spoke to the Nephites out of the darkness, he said:

14 Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me. (3 Nephi 9:14)

There are places where the phrase “arms of mercy” seems to be only figurative, but it may also carry with it the same connotation as “hand” in the following scriptures. When that occurres, the scriptures are not talking figuratively. These scriptures help one see that.

29 Now know I that the LORD saveth his anointed;
he will hear him from his holy heaven
with the saving strength of his right hand. (Psalms 20:6)

and

23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee:
thou hast holden me by my right hand.
24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel,
and afterward receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but thee?
and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
26 My flesh and my heart faileth:
but God is the strength of my heart,
and my portion for ever. (Psalms 73:23-26.)

And the Lord commands Job

10 Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency;
and array thyself with glory and beauty. [put on appropriate clothing] ….
14 Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee. (Job 40:10-14.)

Another psalm describes one way Job might have responded.

5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness;
and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
6 When I remember thee upon my bed,
and meditate on thee in the night watches.
7 Because thou hast been my help,
therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
8 My soul followeth hard after thee:
thy right hand upholdeth me. (Psalms 63:5-8.)

That brings us to the next idea:

2} The Saviour says, “come unto me” and “I will receive you.”

If one reads “come unto me” as meaning, “come to where I am..” then the imagery of the extended arm takes on a new relevance. In the Sermon on the Mount, the Saviour explained how that might be done.

19 And behold, I have given you the law and the commandments of my Father, that ye shall believe in me, and that ye shall repent of your sins, and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Behold, ye have the commandments before you, and the law is fulfilled.
20 Therefore come unto me and be ye saved; for verily I say unto you, that except ye shall keep my commandments, which I have commanded you at this time, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

That, in turn, brings us to the Saviour’s most immediate commands:

22 …Whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of his judgment.
whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
23 Therefore, if ye shall come unto me, or shall desire to come unto me, and rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee—
24 Go thy way unto thy brother, and first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I will receive you. (3 Ne. 12: 19-24)

That, now brings us to the third of Alma’s principles:

3} The relationship between “works of righteousness” and “bringeth forth not good fruit,”

I presume that “Righteousness” is translated from the Nephite equilivant of the Hebrew “zedek.” In that case “works of righteousness” would mean the same as his “holy works” in Alma 12. If that is true then “works of righteousness” is a reference to temple ordinances and covenants, which Alma seems to be equating with “good fruit.” Again the Sermon on the Mount provides the best commentary:

15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. [same word Alma uses. It helps to understand what the Saviour is saying when we remember that Alma equates the fruit, with the fruit of the tree of life and with the works of righteousness. If the Saviour is doing the some, then the fruits he is talking about are the priesthood ordinances.] Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day: Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them: I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity. (3 Nephi 14:15-23.)

In chapter 32 Alma teaches that one must plant a seed, nurture it to maturity, then partake of the fruit of the tree of life. By then, one has become such a tree, not only to one’s own salvation, but also to assist in the salvation of others.

Putting all those ideas together and we have an eternal spiral – the Lord extends his hand to us that we may taste the fruit, then we help others so that they may recognize the Lord’s hand and accept his invitation also, that person, in turn, helps others, ad infinitum.

 

Alma 5: 24-30 — LeGrand Baker — clothing that is unclean

Alma 5: 24-30

24     Behold, my brethren, do ye suppose that such an one can have a place to sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and also all the holy prophets, whose garments are cleansed and are spotless, pure and white?

To sit in the presence of royalty presupposes an equality of rank. This would be especially so among these men who were among the pre-mortal gods and who fulfilled their covenants while on the earth. Alma is not asking, “Do you suppose you can be where they are,” he is asking “Do you suppose you can be like them – that they will accept you as one of themselves.” He answers his question in the next verse.

25.     I say unto you, Nay; except ye make our Creator a liar from the beginning, or suppose that he is a liar from the beginning, ye cannot suppose that such can have place in the kingdom of heaven; but they shall be cast out for they are the children of the kingdom of the devil.
26.     And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?
27a     Have ye walked keeping yourselves blameless before God?

In Isaiah and the psalms, walk is a code word like path and way, which indicates how one climbs the mountain (temple). So what he is asking is: Are you keeping the covenants

27b.     Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?

A while ago I pointed out that redeem is often used in the Book of Mormon to mean to bring one into the presence of God. This is an example where its context suggests it does not necessarily mean that, but rather that it means just what it means in both Hebrew and Greek. That is, to ransom or to purchase.

28.     Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.
29.     Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy? I say unto you that such an one is not prepared; and I would that he should prepare quickly, for the hour is close at hand, and he knoweth not when the time shall come; for such an one is not found guiltless.
30     And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?

Pride, envy, contempt for others are often facades behind which one seeks to hide one’s Self— sometimes a mask behind which one seeks to hide one’s Self from one’s Self.

Earlier in this same speech Alma referred to their sacred clothing, now he is talking about clothing that is not so sacred.

One can not wear two sets of clothing, just as one cannot server two masters. This is beautifully illustrated in the Hymn of the Pearl that I quoted last week.

Near the beginning of the boy’s odyssey he meets a friend, about whom he says:

28 We warned each other against the Egyptians
And against consorting with the unclean. [“Unclean” is not about hygiene. It means ceremonially inappropriate. For example, for a Jew, pork is unclean.]
29 But I clothed myself in garments like theirs,
That they might not suspect that I was come from without
30 To take the pearl,
And so might waken the serpent against me.
After the boy has received the communication from his parents, he reports,
61 And I snatched away the pearl
And turned about, to go to my father’s house.
62 And their dirty and unclean garment
[That is, the clothing that was consistent with his former way of life, but not appropriate to his rank and priesthood]
I took off and left in their land,
63 And directed my way that I might come
To the light of our homeland, the East.

It is not until after he has removed the unclean clothing that his parents send him his royal robes.

Not long ago we observed that in the Book of Mormon and elsewhere in the scriptures “naked” may have nothing whatever to do with nudity. Rather, nakedness indicates one’s losing the uniform or insignia that shows one’s rank, position, authority, or priesthood.

There is an important sequence that runs like a single silk thread through the tapestry of the scriptures: One must voluntarily become naked before God before he can cloth one with robes of righteousness. Here are some examples of these ideas:

Job does not distinguish between his actions and his clothing:

14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. (Job 29:14)

Nephi prays to receive that clothing.

33 O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine enemies! Wilt thou make my path straight before me! Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way—but that thou wouldst clear my way before me, and hedge not up my way, but the ways of mine enemy. (2 Nephi 4:33)

The hymn of the dead who are sealed in eternal marriage in Isaiah 61 celebrate their clothing.

10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)

Mormon equates an involuntary nakedness before God with the final judgement.

5 For behold, when ye shall be brought to see your nakedness before God, and also the glory of God, and the holiness of Jesus Christ, it will kindle a flame of unquenchable fire upon you. (Mormon 9:5)

Jacob does the same thing.

14 Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness. (2 Nephi 9:14)

In this world we dress ourselves in facades and masks that hide us from others and often from our Selves. When we do that, we tend to keep those masks on when we pray, and they become a wall between one’s Self and one’s God. The facades sometimes serve some appropriate cultural purpose, but never an honest personal one. The pretenses have to go. So Alma’s asks these questions: are ye stripped of pride? stripped of envy? is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?

Alma 5:14-24 — LeGrand Baker — engraven upon your countenance

There seems to be 4 dominant themes in these verses.

1) The first, “Have ye spiritually been born of God?” is a clear reference to the blessings of kingship and priesthood promised in Psalms 2 and 110; and repeated in the Beatitudes, Moroni 7 and so many other places in the scriptures. That theme is elaborated on throughout Alma 5 with references to one’s having the right to wear sacral clothing.

2)Another theme is the resurrection and final judgment. Alma asked, “Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?” (v. 15) The Book of Mormon prophets consistently taught that one’s resurrection would precede one’s final judgment. (2 Nephi 9:22, Jacob 6:9, Alma 33:22, Alma 40:21, Mormon 7:6, Mormon 9:13-14) So it appears that Alma’s next questions — about clothing — are about how one will be dressed when one approaches the Saviour to be judged. In his discourse, Alma describes the clothing in one of two ways, which constitute the other two themes of this part of his discourse:

3) The garments of the unrighteous will be stained with blood

4) The garments of the righteous will be spotless and white.

Alma asks, “do ye imagine to yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord in that day, and say—Lord, our works have been righteous works upon the face of the earth—and that he will save you? (v. 17)

The answer is: “Not likely. It will be jolly hard to make that lie sound even a little bit convincing.” The reason it will be hard is because when one stands before the Saviour to be judged, his resurrection will already have happened. The final judgment comes after we have already received our resurrected bodies. Samuel the Lamanite explained:

15    For behold, he surely must die that salvation may come; yea, it behooveth him and becometh expedient that he dieth, to bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the presence of the Lord.
16    Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the resurrection, and redeemeth all mankind from the first death—that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as dead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual. (Helaman 14:15-16)

In D&C 88 the Lord explained how the resurrection works: The first rule is that one’s resurrected body must be compatible with one’s spiritual capacity:

22    For he who is not able to abide the law of a celestial kingdom cannot abide a celestial glory.
23    And he who cannot abide the law of a terrestrial kingdom cannot abide a terrestrial glory.
24    And he who cannot abide the law of a telestial kingdom cannot abide a telestial glory; therefore he is not meet for a kingdom of glory. Therefore he must abide a kingdom which is not a kingdom of glory.

The second rule is that when one is resurrected, the parts of one’s physical body that one claims, are the parts that are compatible with one’s spiritual capacity:

28   They who are [present tense] of a celestial spirit shall receive [future tense] the same body which was [past tense] a natural body; even ye shall receive [future tense] your bodies, and your glory shall be [future tense] that glory by which your bodies are [present tense] quickened.
29   Ye who are quickened [present tense] by a portion of the celestial glory shall then receive [future tense] of the same, even a fulness.
30    And they who are quickened [present tense] by a portion of the terrestrial glory shall then receive [future tense] of the same, even a fulness.
31    And also they who are quickened [present tense] by a portion of the telestial glory shall then receive [future tense] of the same, even a fulness.

As I read that, it says that the glory that now animates one in this life shall be the glory that defines one in the resurrection.

I think what Alma is saying is that at the final judgment, if one is standing before the Saviour with a telestial resurrected body, it will be jolly hard to make the case that one has really kept the celestial law. But Alma describes that situation in terms of one’s clothing, rather than in terms of the nature of one’s body.

Alma asks:

18    Or otherwise, can ye imagine yourselves brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled with guilt and remorse, having a remembrance of all your guilt, yea, a perfect remembrance of all your wickedness, yea, a remembrance that ye have set at defiance the commandments of God? …
20    I say unto you, can ye think of being saved when you have yielded yourselves to become subjects to the devil?
21   I say unto you, ye will know at that day that ye cannot be saved; for there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white….
22    And now I ask of you, my brethren, how will any of you feel, if ye shall stand before the bar of God, having your garments stained with blood and all manner of filthiness? Behold, what will these things testify against you?
23    Behold will they not testify that ye are murderers, yea, and also that ye are guilty of all manner of wickedness?

It is probable that no one in the congregation had actually committed murder by killing anyone’s physical body. It is for more likely that the murder he was talking about was the same as he would later accuse himself of having committed:

13    Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.
14    Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine 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. (Alma 36:13-14)

If that is so, then the crimes he accused them of, were not only the things they had done of themselves, but also the things they had caused or encouraged others to do.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

In sharp contrast to that imagery, Alma asks,

14    And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?
15    Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?
16    I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?…
19    I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?….
21   … there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins. …
24    Behold, my brethren, do ye suppose that such an one can have a place to sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, and also all the holy prophets, whose garments are cleansed and are spotless, pure and white?

Again, Alma moves his referents from this life to the next with remarkable ease. With reference to this life, he asks: “Have ye received his image in your countenances?” Then with reference to the final judgment he asks again, “Can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?”

That immediately brings to mind three quotes. All three describe how one must look in order to be like God. The first is from President McKay who writes about the light that shines from one’s person. The other two are from ancient texts. They, like Alma, describe the clothing one must wear in order to be in the presence of God.

President McKay wrote:

Every man and every person who lives in this world wields an influence, whether for good or for evil. It is not what he says alone; it is not alone what he does. It is what he is. Every man, every person radiates what he or she really is. Every person is a recipient of radiation. The Saviour was conscious of that. Whenever He came into the presence of an individual, He sensed that radiation — whether it was the woman of Samaria with her past life: whether it was the woman who was to be stoned, or the men who were to stone her; whether it was the statesman, Nicodemus, or one of the lepers. He was conscious of the radiation from the individual. And to a degree so are you. and so am I. It is what we are and what we radiate that affects the people around us. (David O. McKay, Radiation of the Individual,”The Instructor, October, 1964, p. 373-374.)

The first of the ancient texts is an excerpt from Enoch’s sode experience:

And I fell prone and bowed down to the Lord, and the Lord with his lips said to me: “Have courage, Enoch, do not fear, arise and stand before my face into eternity.” And the archistratege Michael lifted me up, and led me to before the Lord’s face. And the Lord said to his servants tempting them: “Let Enoch stand before my face into eternity,” and the glorious ones bowed down to the Lord, and said: “Let Enoch go according to Thy word.” And the Lord said to Michael: “Go and take Enoch from out his earthly garments, and anoint him with my sweet ointment,[ footnote: “oil” ] and put him into the garments of My glory.” And Michael did thus, as the Lord told him. He anointed me, and dressed me, and the appearance of that ointment is more than the great light, and his ointment is like sweet dew, and its smell mild, shining like the sun’s ray, and I looked at myself, and was like one of his glorious ones. (Secrets of Enoch, 22:4-10 from R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Vol. 2 [Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1913], 2:443)

The second ancient text is from the Hymn of the Pearl that is found in the Acts of Thomas. The Hymn of the Pearl is a perfect example of the cosmic myth.(If you don’t have a copy of The Pearl, I have sent it along as an attachment.)

This typed copy has additions in brackets and is slightly changed from its printed source, which is: Hdgar Hennecki (Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher, English translation edited by R. McL. Wilson), New Testament Apocrypha, Writings Relating to the Apostles; Apocalypses and Related Subjects, Vol. 2, (Westminster Press, Philadelphia), 498-504.

There are two things he says about the sacred garment that especially remind one of Alma’s “the image of God engraven upon your countenances.” They are: “the likeness of the king of kings was completely embroidered all over it,” and “I saw that all over it the motions of knowledge were stirring.”

Near its beginning, before the hero leaves his home “in the east” (that is, among the gods), he describes his royal garments this way:

9 And they took off from me the splendid robe
Which in their love they had wrought for me,
10 And the purple toga,
Which was woven to the measure of my stature,
[That it was woven to fit him becomes important later on]
11 And they made with me a covenant
And wrote it in my heart, that I might not forget:
[That the covenant is written in his heart is also important later]
12 “If thou go down to Egypt
And bring the one pearl
[Many scholars believe the pearl is the boy himself ]
13 Which is in the midst of the sea,
In the abode of the loud-breathing Serpent,
[some translations say “dragon.” ]
14 Thou shalt put on again thy splendid robe
And thy toga which lies over it,
15 And with thy brother, our next in rank,
Thou shalt be heir in our kingdom.”
[Then, near the end of the poem, after he has fulfilled the mission he was sent to do, his garment returns to him and he is clothed in it in preparation for his return to his Father’s home.]
72 And my splendid robe which I had taken off,
And my toga with which it was wrapped about,
73 From the heights of Hyrcania
My parents sent thither
74 By the hand of their treasurers,
Who for their faithfulness were trusted therewith.
75 Indeed I remembered no more its dignity,
For I had left it in my childhood in my father’s house,
76 But suddenly, when I saw it over against me,
The splendid robe became like me, as my reflection in a mirror;
77 I saw it wholly in me,
And in it I saw myself quite apart from myself,
78 So that we were two in distinction
And again one in a single form.
[That is, he sees himself as two people in one. There is the person who had
the experiences on the earth, and the person of glory who he was, is, and will be.
These two come together to make the one person that is his total Self. ]
79 And the treasurers too
Who had brought it to me, I saw in like manner,
80 That they were two of a single form,
For one sign of the king was impressed upon them,
81 [There is a tear in the original manuscript here so it cannot be read. Apparently it says, referring to the king,]
He who restored to me through them
my pledge [covenant] and my riches,
82 My splendid robe adorned
Gleaming in glorious colours,
83 With gold and beryls,
Chalcedonies and opals,
84 And sardonyxes of varied colour,
This also made ready in its grandeur,
85 And with stones of adamant
Were all its seams fastened.
86 And the likeness of the king of kings
Was completely embroidered all over it
[That is important. The rob (the inner garment) had symbols on it
which represented the boy’s being like God.]
87 And like stones of sapphire again in its
Grandeur resplendent with manifold hues.
88 And again I saw that all over it
The motions of knowledge were Stirring.
89 And I saw too
That it was preparing as for speech.
90 I heard the sound of its songs
Which it whispered at its descent:
91 “I belong to the most valiant servant,
For whom they reared me before my father,
92 And I perceived also in myself
That my stature grew according to his labours.”
[While the boy was wallowing in the muck of this world, the robe
had to grow so it would still be able to fit the boy when he returned.
His experiences were the source of this growth.]
93 And with its royal movements
It poured itself entirely toward me,
94 And in the hands of its bringers
It hastened, that I might take it;
95 And my love also spurred me
To run to meet it and receive it,
96 And I stretched out and took it.
With the beauty of its colours I adorned myself.
97 And my toga of brilliant colours
I drew completely over myself.
98 I clothed myself with it and mounted up
To the gate of greeting and homage.
99 I bowed my head and worshipped
The splendour of the father who had sent the robe to me,
100 Whose commands I had accomplished,
As he also had done what he promised.

Alma 5:10-15 — LeGand Baker — meaning of hope

Alma 5:10-15
10     And now I ask of you on what conditions are they saved? Yea, what grounds had they to hope for salvation? What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell?
11     Behold, I can tell you — did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi? And was he not a holy prophet? Did he not speak the words of God, and my father Alma believe them?
12     And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true.
13     And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

In verses 10 to 13 Alma does two things that are independent, yet they are the same. He answers the question, “on what conditions are they saved?” then he repeats the question differently “what grounds had they to hope for salvation?” The significance of the latter is that he is not using “hope” to suggest uncertainty or just simply wishing really hard. Rather, he uses “hope” to represent their sure knowledge of their ultimate salvation. That usage is demonstrated by his clarification in the next two questions:

“What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also

[what was the cause of their being loosed from] the chains of hell?”

Let’s look at what he says first, that is, at his discussion of the conditions on which they were saved. After that, lets examine his use of “hope.”

Alma lays out the conditions of salvation in a simple logical form, with each idea building on, and presupposing the ones that go before it. He does that with rhetorical questions, but the questions do not get in the way of the logic.

ON WHAT CONDITIONS ARE THEY SAVED?

10     And now I ask of you on what conditions are they saved? Yea, what grounds had they to hope for salvation? What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell?
11     Behold, I can tell you–did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi? And was he not a holy prophet? Did he not speak the words of God, and my father Alma believe them?
12     And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true.
13     And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.

Let’s analyze that closely. Alma II begins by describing the conversion of his father Alma I.

1a. my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi?

2a. according to his faith [pistis = making and keeping covenants]

3a. there was a mighty change wrought in his heart.

4a. he preached the word unto your fathers [Sharing the gospel is a part of the covenants, and therefore one’s receiving salvation is partly dependent on one’s sharing the gospel.]

Then Alma II repeats the sequence with reference to the fathers of the people in his audience. The sequence is the same, but some of the items are assumed rather than stated.

1b. [The first assumed point is that their parents believed the prophet, Alma I]

2b. [The next is that they made covenants at the waters of Mormon]

3b. a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts,

4b. [their covenant at the waters if Mormon had been that they would support each other and the kingdom. This they did by living the law of consecration in the wilderness, and by trusting God to deliver them from the Lamanites. Alma describes that sequence by saying:] and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God.

Then he draws a conclusion.

5     And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.

His statement: “they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved,” asks the question: How does one understand the word “end?” The phrase we usually use is to express that same idea is “endure to the end.”

“End “ has several meanings. The one we usually use means the conclusion, to finish, completion, closure. So we often equate the phrase “to endure to the end” to mean “to stick to it until one gets dead.” That works well, but may not always be correct. For one thing, one may have missions to perform after one gets dead. (An example is my friend who is well along in years who says he wants to die so he can get on with life.) But there is another reason it may not always be correct. “End” is a noun that means a plan or a design, as in, “We will work toward this end.” If that is the meaning, then “to endure to the end” would mean to stick to it until one has accomplished the plan — or until one has fulfilled one’s covenant assignments. Other meanings of “end” suggest the same thing. “End” may also mean purpose, goal, objective. In that case “to endure to the end” would mean to stick to it until one has fulfilled one’s objective — that is an equally precise way of saying until one has fulfilled one’s covenants. (Actually, I’m not at all sure how relevant that last bit is in describing one’s life in this world, because for the most part one’s getting the job done and one’s getting out of this world are pretty much equivalents.)

Since it seems clear that Alma was teaching that in this instance, their assurance of salvation came before they were dead, one may assume his statement, “they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved” is about this life, rather than their deaths. That brings us back to his other point in verse 10.

YEA, WHAT GROUNDS HAD THEY TO HOPE FOR SALVATION?

What does he mean by “hope.”

The answer seems to be in the next set of questions:

14     And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?
15     Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?(Alma 5:14-15).

It seems to me that Alma is using “hope” the same way Mormon and Moroni use it at the conclusion of the Book of Mormon.

Mormon’s great discourse is about the transitional steps between being “the peaceable followers of Christ,” and becoming “the sons of God.” (Moroni 7:3 & 48) As such, it is a commentary on the Beatitude,”And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” (3 Nephi 12:9.)

Moroni 7 may be read many ways. For a teenager or a new member of the church it says one should believe in the Saviour (faith), believe that keeping his commandants will bring blessings (hope), and be nice to people (charity). As one grows in the gospel the words retain their meanings but they take on a maturity that gives them greater depth and spirituality, that informs both their attitudes and their actions.

However if one accepts that the word “faith” means the same thing in the Book of Mormon that it means in the New Testament — that it has the same meaning as the Greek “pistis,” which denotes the token of the covenant — then that sets Mormon’s sermon in a temple/covenant context — and in that context the language of the sermon is changed altogether. When one reads it that way, one also notices that the discussion of faith, hope, and charity is repeated three times as the epitome of the temple text that is the Book of Mormon: Ether 12, Moroni 7, and Moroni 10.

An example of “faith” as the token of a covenant, is the phrase “faith in Christ.” The Saviour is the personification of the Father’s covenant (Moroni 10:32-33), he is the fulfillment of that covenant, and he is also the token of that covenant. For that reason, when one acts or approaches the Father in the name of Christ, one is not only using the only name that brings salvation; but one is also evoking the only token that validates the covenants between one’s self and our Heavenly Father.

If one reads “faith” in Moroni 7 that way, then it also changes the language so that “hope” means exactly what Mormon says it means:

41     And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise. (Moroni 7:41)

Similarly, charity means just what Mormon says that means:

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

I understand Mormon’s saying that “charity is the pure love of Christ,” is to say that charity is the love the Saviour has for us, and also that charity is the love we have for him, as well as the love we have for his children — and that all those things, though identifiably different, are in fact only one kind of love.

Mormon concluded his sermon by using hope the same way Alma used it, to mean an assurance of things to come:

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen. (Moroni 7:47-48)

In that chapter, and elsewhere, I understand:

“Faith” to mean making one’s life a living token of one’s covenants.

“Hope” to mean one’s living one’s life as though the blessings of the covenants were already fulfilled.

“Charity” to be the love one shares with the Saviour and his children — that love is the ultimate eternal sealing power that binds one’s Self with God, and that also binds one’s Self to all the other people whom one loves. (As in the model I recently suggested that shows how each of us is connected with everyone else.)

If “hope” means living one’s life as though the blessings of the covenants were already fulfilled, then the question of whether they were first saved then died, or first died then saved, becomes a moot question. Whether they had finished the assignment they received at the Council, or still had a lot to do after they left this life, is also beside the point. If the Holy Ghost had taught them to hope, as the prophets use that word, then they were comfortable in the assurance of their salvation. And even if there were more assignments to be fulfilled in the next world it could still be said of them, “behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.”

If that is what Alma meant when he asked, “what grounds had they to hope for salvation?” Then the next questions he directed to his listeners take on a very literal meaning:

14     And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?
15     Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?

Alma 5:8-9 — LeGrand Baker — Psalm 21, the song of redeeming love

Alma 5:8-9
8 And now I ask of you, my brethren, were they destroyed? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, they were not.
9 And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved. (Alma 5:8-9)

– – – – – – – – – – – – –

8. And now I ask of you, my brethren, were they destroyed? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, they were not.

If, as I suggested last week, Alma was speaking to a temple worshiping people, and the destruction he is talking about here has nothing to do with the danger the Lamanates placed them under. Rather it is the destruction he describes in the next verse as “the bands of death and the chains of hell.” This destruction, he reminds his listeners, was not about physical death, but a “this-world” spiritual death. Samuel the Lamanite later explained

16 Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the resurrection, and redeemeth all mankind from the first death—that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as dead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual.
17 But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.
18 Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repenteth the same is not hewn down and cast into the fire; but whosoever repenteth not is hewn down and cast into the fire; and there cometh upon them again a spiritual death, yea, a second death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness.
19 Therefore repent ye, repent ye, lest by knowing these things and not doing them ye shall suffer yourselves to come under condemnation, and ye are brought down unto this second death.
20 But behold, as I said unto you concerning another sign, a sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his light unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead. (Helaman 14:16-20.)

To return to Alma 5:

9a. And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed?

We usually consider that the prophets have defined death in three different ways.

1) The one, of course, is when one’s spirit leaves this mortal body and goes into the spirit world to await the resurrection.

2) Another is the transition we experienced between leaving the pre-mortal spirit world and entering this mortal experience. The first to do that were Adam and Eve, but just as they became mortal as a result of their choices, so did we. Each of us came to this world because we chose to, and none was sent to a time or place that he or she objected to. President McKay taught. “Of this we may be sure, happy to come through the lineage to which he was attracted and for which, and only which, he or she was prepared.” {1}

But because we lost our memory of our previous relationships with God, the prophets also call our birth into this a death, because we were separated from God.

3) That same definition is applied by the prophets to describe a kind of death that is reserved to those who will spend eternity outside the presence of God.

But here in this sermon in Zarahemla, Alma is talking about what appears to be a fourth kind of death. It is also a separation from God, but it is one that occurs while one lives in this world. With reference to those who came to Zarahemla with his father, he asks,

9a. And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed.

In chapter 7, he will use that same phrase, bands of death, to mean the “temporal death,” but in our verse 9 he was not talking about a physical death, as is evinced in verse 10 where he asks, “What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell?” Here he is equating the “bands of death’ with “the chains of hell.” In chapter 12, he defines “the chains of hell”as not knowing (or choosing not to know) the mysteries of God. So the death that he is describing in verse 9 is one from which the members of his father’s church were redeemed while they were still alive in this world.

That seems to me to be important in light of his next statement to the saints at Zarahemla:

9b . I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved.

Later in his sermon, Alma will ask:

26 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?

While a friend and I were reading this chapter, he asked me a question I had never asked before: “What song is that?” It had never occurred to me that it might actually be a song that they really sang. My mind ran quickly over those few psalms that I know, and I came upon one that can actually be identified as a “song of redeeming love.” It is Psalm 21.

First, a quick review of the meaning of “redeem” may be useful. In the Greek, the word translated redeem means to purchase or ransom. The Hebrew word translated redeem means the same thing except in the Hebrew it is done by a member of one’s family. In the story of Ruth, Boaz is described as Naomi’s “kinsman”; and in Job’s testimony, “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” both “kinsman” and “redeemer” are translated from the same Hebrew word. (Strong # 1350)

The oldest of all the biblical uses of that word is in Job. His full testimony is:

25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. (Job 19:25-26)

The connotation of Job’s testimony: that to be redeemed is to see God, is the usual meaning of that word in the Book of Mormon. Here are four quick examples:

The Saviour said to the Brother of Jared:

13b. Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed [present tense] from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you. (Ether 3:14)

Lehi said to his son Jacob:

3b-4a. Wherefore, I know that thou art redeemed [present tense], because of the righteousness of thy Redeemer; for thou hast beheld that in the fulness of time he cometh to bring salvation unto men. And thou hast beheld in thy youth his glory.(2 Nephi 2:3b-4a)

Lehi testified of himself:

15. But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell [past tense]; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love. (2 Nephi 1:15)

Samuel the Lamanite used “redeem” to describe the final judgement.

16. Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the resurrection, and redeemeth all mankind from the first death—that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as dead, both as to things temporal and to things spiritual.
17. But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord. (Helaman 14:16-17)

Employing that definition of redeem as used by Job and the prophets of the Book of Mormon, now let us consider what might be the “song of redeeming love.” If to redeem, means to be brought into the presence of God, then I suspect it may be the psalm that celebrates one who stands at the veil and is invited into the presence of God. Let’s read Psalm 21 together. It is only 13 verses long. I suggest we do it as we would if we were together, that is, read it in full to catch its full content, then read it bit by bit.

1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD;
and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
2 Thou hast given him his heart’s desire,
and hast not withholden the request of his lips.
3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness:
thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.
4 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him,
even length of days for ever and ever.
5 His glory is great in thy salvation:
honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.
6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever:
thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
7 For the king trusteth in the LORD,
and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.
8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies:
thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
9 Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger:
the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath,
and the fire shall devour them.
10 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth,
and their seed from among the children of men.
11 For they intended evil against thee:
they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.
12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back,
when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.
13 Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength:
so will we sing and praise thy power. (Psalms 21:1-13)

Now let’s read it more carefully:

During the ceremonies the king and queen were the main actors, but theirs were not the only parts. There must have been other actors on stage as well. This was a participatory drama in which all played an important part, for what the king and queen were doing, symbolically the members of the audience were doing also. We do not know the extent of their participation, but one may surmise that parts or all of the audience sang many, if not most, of the Psalms as a part of the ceremonies. {2}

In ancient Israel, a king was, by definition, one who had been foreordained in the Council in Heaven, and anointed in this life. {3} In this psalm, as in many of the others, the words are spoken by different voices. There are no stage directions, as there are in modern plays, so one has to pay attention to the words in order to know who is talking. Our psalm begins by one speaking who is describing the action on the stage. This may be a chorus, as in a Greek play, or it might be a narrator, or it may be the entire audience that sings this part.

1. The king shall joy in thy strength,
O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
2. Thou hast given him his heart’s desire,
and hast not withholden the request of his lips.

So the king has asked the Lord for something, and the Lord has granted that request. In the next verse there is an unusual word, “preventest.” The footnote in the LDS Bible helps with that. It says that the words “thou preventest him” might be translated “thou wilt meet him.” Using that phrase, this is the Lord’s response to the king’s request:

3. For thou wilt meet him with the blessings of goodness:
thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.

This is the concluding scenes of a coronation as performed by God himself — it is the confirmation of one’s kingship and priesthood. (Psalms 110:4 says of the king: “The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”) In the next verse we are to learn what blessing the king requested.

4. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him,
even length of days for ever and ever. [i.e. through all eternity]
5. His glory is great in thy salvation:
honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.

“Honour and majesty” are the names of the clothing that represents his kingship and priesthood. “Majesty” clearly represents his kingship, just as it does elsewhere in the scriptures. In Psalm 45:3-4 the king is told by God: “Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.” In Job 40:10 the fact that the Lord is talking about clothing is made even more clear: “Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.”

In his sode experience, Enoch is dressed properly so he can be in the presence of God.

8 And the Lord said to Michael: ‘Go and take Enoch from out his earthly garments, and anoint him with my sweet ointment, [Charles’ footnote reads: “oil” ] and put him into the garments of My glory.’
9 And Michael did thus, as the Lord told him. He anointed me, and dressed me, and the appearance of that ointment is more than the great light, and his ointment is like sweet dew, and its’
10 smell mild, shining like the sun’s ray, and I looked at myself, and was like one of his glorious ones. (“The Book of the Secrets of Enoch,” 22:8-10, in R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. II, (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1976). The sode experience is in vol. 2:442-445.)

In our psalm the words, “honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him” suggests that God himself has dressed the king in royal garments.

6. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever:
thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.

The king has received a blessing that reaches “for ever,” and now the king is “exceeding glad” because he has seen the countenance of God.

7 For the king trusteth in the LORD,
and through the mercy of the most High
he shall not be moved. [i.e. the king will keep the covenants he has made with the Lord.]

The next 5 verses in the psalm are spoken by God to the king. It is easy for us to read them in the context of our own time — and that without much understanding. In the context of our time, these words sound like a battle hymn, whose emphasis is victory in war. But when one recalls that they were written in a time very unlike our own, then they have a different ring altogether. In the days of ancient Israel, there were no police forces that kept one safe as he traveled. People built walls around cities, and the wealthy built fortifications on their own estates. The words in our psalm, and many like them in the psalms and in Isaiah, are promises of protection — of invulnerability — the same kind of invulnerability he promises us, if we keep his commandments.

8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies:
thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
9. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger:
the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.
10. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth,
and their seed from among the children of men.
11. For they intended evil against thee:
they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.
12. Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back,
when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.

The final verse is an anthem of praise, sung by the people who sang the first verses of the psalm.

13. Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength:
so will we sing and praise thy power. (Psalms 21:1-13)

I do not know whether this psalm was Alma’s referent in his sermon when he said: “If ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?”

In any case, the psalm provides a relevant context in which one might ask one’s Self that question.

The consequences of one’s not knowing the mysteries of God, and of not keeping one’s eternal covenants, are very severe. Yet, we wander about in this world of darkness, going through life half awake, and uncertain about where and how to walk. After much thought and a good deal of watching other people, I have come to believe I have found the answer to the great question: “As one repents, what should one try to become?” I believe the answer is this: One should seek to be happy — that means to live according to the law of one’s own being – to become again one’s eternal Self and cover that Self with no facade that prevents family and friends from filling one’s life with companionship and joy. I believe that the object of this life is to demonstrate to one’s Self and to God, that what one was at the Council in Heaven, and what one is in this earthly environment are the same — and I believe that the major function of the Holy Ghost is to teach one the truth about who one is, and that the whole purpose of the principles and ordinances of the gospel is to give one the tools to be that.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
HERE IS THAT BIG LONG FOOTNOTE. It is also full of footnotes.

Frederick H. Borsch, after reviewing the symbolism of Adam’s role in the ancient New Year’s enthronement drama, asks,

Who, then, is the Perfect Man imaged from the one above, who yet must himself be saved by passing through the gate and being born again? Of course, in one sense it is this Adam below, but the implications are also vairly strong that this is not really the Primal Man on earth (for there is a way in which the true Man, or at least his counterpart, always seems to remain above). Rather is it the believer, the individual who himself would be saved by following in the way of the First Perfect Man. {4}

Mowinckel asserted that the congregation participated in the events of the drama through the actions of the king.

But both in Ps. cxxxii and in other cultic contexts, Israel’s king generally appears as the representative of the congregation before Yahweh, not as the representative of Yahweh before the congregation. He dances and sings and plays ‘before Yahweh’, and leads the festal procession (2 Sam. vi, 5, 14ff.; cf. Ps. xlii, 5). In the cultic drama he represents David: Yahweh is represented by His holy ark, by the ‘footstool’ before the throne on which He [God] is invisibly seated….
“It is the king who receives Yahweh’s promises, His blessings, and His power; and he transmits them to the community which he represents. {5}

Widengren observed,

…a covenant was made between Yahweh and the king and his people, as well as between the king and his people.” When David was anointed king of all Israel, the people made a covenant with the king, thus, “the king’s enthronement is coupled with the making of a covenant between him and his people. But David’s election by Yahweh to be king also implies a covenant between Yahweh and David.” So the whole foundation of the Kingdom as well as the relationship between God, the king, and the people was based on the principle of obedience to the terms of the covenant. {6}

Aubrey Johnson, during his discussion of Psalm 72, “which is one of the more famous of the so-called royal Psalms,” observed,

The parallelism of the opening line makes it clear that we are here concerned with no simple portrayal of some future scatological [eschatological] figure (although this is not to say that the Psalm is in no way scatological), but with a prayer for the ruling member of an hereditary line of kings which bears every appearance of having been composed for use on his ascension to the throne; and the whole Psalm admirably depicts the literally vital role which it was hoped that he might play in the life of the nation….What is more, it is clear from the outset that the king is both dependent upon and responsible to Yahweh for the right exercise of his power; for his subjects, whatever their status in society, are one and all Yahweh’s people. {7}

In that same study, Johnson commented on Psalm 149.

…Psalm cxlix, which apparently introduces the worshipers as themselves sharing in this ritual performance….What is more, we have to note that they are summoned to sing a ‘new song’; and this, one need hardly say, is a thought which is particularly appropriate to our festival with its exultant anticipation of a new era of universal dominion and national prosperity.{8}

The scriptures focus on the role men played in the ceremonies, but in her study of “Women in Ancient Israel,” Grace Emmerson insists that women also played a vital role.

It is commonplace to remark that male members only of the community were required to attend the three major annual festivals (Exod. 23.17; Deut. 16.16). But difference of obligation does not necessarily imply inequality, and in this case probably arose from practical considerations attendant on the birth and care of children. Certainly Deuteronomy makes it clear that women were present at the festivals, sharing in the rejoicing (Deut. 12.12), and participating in the sacrifices (Deut. 12.1`8). The feasts of weeks and booths are specifically mentioned (Deut. 16.10f., 13f.). This may well represent an advance on earlier law in the direction of equality, a feature which seems to be characteristic of Deuteronomy. This book presents women as participants in the covenant ceremony (Deut. 29.10-13), and consequently under full obligation to observe Yahweh’s law (Deut. 31.12). Equally with men they could be held guilty of transgressing the covenant, for which the penalty was death (Deut. 130-11; 17.2-5). The evidence suggests that it was deuteronomic law which first explicitly brought them within the covenant. The view that women are fully accountable before Yahweh continues in the post-exilic period (2 Chron. 15f.; Neh. 8.2).

Was there discrimination against women within the covenant community? It seems not. Although in general the male head of the household represented the family in the offering of sacrifice, where an individual offering was stipulated a woman was expected personally to fulfill the requirement (Lev. 12.6; 1 Sam. 1.24)….The exceptional consecration entailed under the Nazirite vow was open to women (Num. 6.2-21). Indeed, this passage with its single feminine reference (v.2) is a timely reminder that grammatically masculine forms may be intended in any inclusive sense, and the linguistic convention must not be misunderstood. We may compare also Deut. 29.18ff. Where women are specified inv. 18, but masculine forms are used thereafter in vv. 19f.

The one role in worship from which women were certainly excluded was the priesthood, as also were the majority of men….Female members of priestly families were permitted, however, to eat of the ‘holy things’ set aside for the priests (Lev. 22.13). It is open to debate whether there were women who had an official place in worship. Exod. 38.8 speaks of ‘women who ministered at the door of the tent of meeting’. Although the nature of their service is not clear….Whether officially or not, women shared in cultic worship, dancing, singing and playing musical instruments (Exod. 15.20; Jud. 21.21; Ps. 68.26).

The regular involvement of women in the cult is implied by the strict regulations concerning their ritual purity….Though the examples are few, there are several instances in the Old Testament of women in encounter with God. {9}

Robert Davidson does not mention women apart from men, but implies the same thing.

In Isa. 55.3 there seems to be an attempt to democratize this everlasting Davidic covenant and to transfer its privileges and responsibilities to the community as a whole and thus to ensure that its continuing validity was not permanently tied to the continuance of the Davidic dynasty….Unless we are prepared to see nationalism and particularism as the key to second Isaiah’s thinking, the description of the purpose of this covenant in Isa. 55.4-5 may be interpreted in a universalistic sense. This is also the case with the occurrence of covenant in Isa. 42.6 where Servant-Israel is summoned to be ‘a covenant of the people, and a light to the nations’. Yet this promise of a Davidic covenant for ever could also find a new and rich future within the hope of a Davidic king still to come, who would renew the old royal covenant temporarily annulled by events. {10}

ENDNOTES

{1} Llewelyn R. McKay, Home Memories of President David O. McKay [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1956], 230.

{2} The best book I know about the ceremonial importance of the Israelite king is: Aubrey R. Johnson, Sacral Kingship in Ancient Israel (Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1967) For a discussion of how and when some of the Psalms were used, see Sigmund Mowinckel, translated by A.P. Thomas, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship, 2 Vols., Abingdon, Nashville, 1962, vol. 1, p. 2-3. Also, Johnson, A. R., “Hebrew Conceptions of Kingship,” in S. H. Hooke, ed., Myth, Ritual, and Kingship, Oxford, 1958, p. 215-235.

{3} Widengren quotes Pseudo Clement to further elaborate on the idea of an anointing with the oil from the Tree of Life. He writes,

This idea of an anointing with oil from the Tree of Life is found in a pregnant form in the Ps. Clementine writings, from which some quotations may be given. In the passage concerned, the author (or rather his original source) discusses the problem of the Primordial Man as Messiah. He is represented as stressing the fact that the Primordial Man is the Anointed One:

But the reason of his being called the Messiah (the Anointed One) is that, being the Son of God, he was a man, and that, because he was the first beginning, his father in the beginning anointed him with oil which was from the Tree of Life.

Ps. Clem. Recognitions syriace, ed. Frankenberg, I, 45, 4

Primordial Man, who had received the anointing, thanks to which he had been installed in the threefold office of king, high priest, and prophet, is then paralleled with every man who has received such anointing:

The same, however, is every man who has been anointed with the oil that has been prepared, so that he has been made a participant of that which is possessed of power, even being worth the royal office or the prophet’s office or the high priest’s office. Ps. Clem. Recognitions syriace, ed. Frankenberg, I, 47, 1-3

(Geo Widengren, “Baptism and Enthronement in Some Jewish-Christian Gnostic Documents,” in, S. G. F. Brandon, ed., The Saviour God, Comparative Studies in the Concept of Salvation Presented Edwin Oliver James [New York, Barns & Noble, 1963], 213-214.)

{4 } Frederick H. Borsch, The Son of Man in Myth and History, SCM Press Ltd., London, 1967, p. 184.

{5} Sigmund Mowinckel, He that Cometh (New York: Abingdon Press, 1954), 84. As examples Mowinckel’s footnote gives Psalms 132:11ff; 82; cf. 20:8f; 21:10; and Isaiah 55:3. (The word “cult” has received bad connotations since Mowinckel wrote. It simply means an organization which employs ordinances in its ceremonies. Used that way, the Baptists with their practice of baptism are as cultic as the Mormons with their temple rites.)

{6} Widengren, Geo, “King and Covenant” in Journal of Semitic Studies, Vol. II, No. I, 1957, p. 21-22.

{7} Aubrey R. Johnson, Sacral Kingship in Ancient Israel, Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1967, p. 7-8.

{8} Aubrey R. Johnson, Sacral Kingship in Ancient Israel, Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1967, p. 91.

{9} Grace I. Emmerson, “Women in Ancient Israel,” in R. E. Clements, ed., The World of Ancient Israel, Sociological, Anthropological and Political Perspectives (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989,371-394. This is an exceptionally insightful article which deals with many facets of the woman’s position in ancient Israel. The above quotes are taken from pages 378-379. On page 382 she writes, “Still more significantly, the imagery of marriage is considered appropriate to describe both Yahweh’s love relationship with Israel (Hos. 1-3; Jer. 2.2), and Israel’s joy when redeemed by the Lord (Isa. 62.4f.). Here is the Israelite ideal of marriage, from which in practice many no doubt fell short. The crude idea of ownership is entirely inappropriate here, as it is also in Jer. 31.32. To suggest that a wife was little better than a slave is certainly incorrect.”

{10} Robert Davidson, “Covenant Ideology in Ancient Israel,” in R. E. Clements, ed., The World of Ancient Israel, Sociological, Anthropological and Political Perspectives (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1989), 342-343.