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LESSON #1 THE MID-TERM OF LIFE (ALMA 5)
OBJECT
A number 2 pencil. What does this make you think of? Testing? That’s what it reminded me of. You always had to take the Scantron test with an official number 2 pencil or you would fail the test and ruin your life.
ICEBREAKER
Then for an icebreaker, I would talk about testing. The type of testing that we do in grade school or college. And in that setting, what type of test is the most feared, dreaded, and intimidating of all? They’re called finals. The final. At least that’s what we call them here in the United States. And ooo, that just sounds so conclusive, so daunting. And the final is exactly what it sounds like, it’s the final test take at the end to the year that tests you on everything you’ve been taught over the course of that year and it’s usually worth the majority of your grade. You have a bad final, and you will have a bad grade. But there is a different kind of test that teachers give during the school year called a mid-term. And so I like to ask my students: What is the purpose of a mid-term? One answer to that question could be “to help you to be prepared for the final”. To give you a sense of what the final might be like and ask some of the types of questions you’re going to be asked on it. Now if you do poorly on a mid-term, usually, you can recover and still get a passing grade by the end of the semester. But if you do poorly on the final, well, sorry you’re out of luck. I recall taking a particularly difficult Literature class at BYU one year and I failed horribly on the mid-term in that class. I just wasn’t prepared as I should have been and the questions were those deliberately tricky, gotcha kind of questions. I hate it when teachers do that. Anyway. I needed to do well in that class, so with that experience, I worked incredibly hard the rest of the semester. And now that I knew the kind of questions the professor would ask, I took notes differently, I paid attention differently, I knew what to prepare for and what to expect. Therefore, when the final came around, I was ready, and I aced it. Even the tricky questions. My disastrous experience with the mid-term led me to a victorious experience on the final.
Well, we’re going to take a little mid-term today. A spiritual mid-term. That’s the way I like to approach Alma chapter 5. Alma has some questions for us to consider and so I call this “The Mid-Term of Life”.
BACKGROUND
Some background: Alma is preaching a sermon to the people of Zarahemla who have started to become lifted up in pride and are persecuting the more humble and impoverished members of the church. This pride and persecution problem prompts Alma to decide to step down as chief judge and commit himself fully to the ministry. To help his people to course correct. And as we begin, sometimes it’s good to determine the audience of any given sermon in the scriptures. For example, King Benjamin was addressing an overwhelmingly righteous audience. Abinadi, an overwhelmingly wicked audience. Alma here, on the other hand, is dealing with an audience that’s kind of somewhere in between. Which audience do you relate to most? For me, I see myself in that last group and I imagine that most could probably relate well here too. Alma wished to recommit his people to the gospel by giving them this self-examination, this spiritual midterm. And so that’s how I want you and I to approach it. Let’s say that Alma is speaking to you. And he walks over and says, Ok, I’m going to give you a choice here. Jesus is in an office just down the hall from here and he’s ready to give you your final judgment right now. You could go now and be judged, OR, you can delay it for six months and I’ll prep you with the questions that he’s going to ask, and then you can have your final. Which option would you choose? I think most of us would probably choose to delay awhile so that we could prepare ourselves a little better. But I think that most of us would want the extra time. We want the mid-term, not the final. So let’s take the mid-term. And I have some good news for you! On this mid-term, to pass, you only have to get one question right. How’s that for a gracious teacher. But there's a catch. It has to be the right question. You can get all the other questions wrong, but if get that one key question correct, you’ll be fine.
SEARCH
So all we really need to do now is find the question marks. The chapter is full of them. It’s a test right! That’s how we’re going to know what the mid-term questions are. So as the teacher, encourage your students to scan the chapter looking for question marks and marking the questions as they find them. And for each, we’re going to take some time to ponder them and consider their significance. For time’s sake, I’m not going to cover every single one in this video, but we’re going to do the majority of them, and I’ll try to hit the major ones for sure. If I were teaching, each time we identified one, we would pause at that question, have a little discussion, and perhaps I’d add some brief commentary as the teacher to help them understand it a little better. But keep in mind, you probably don’t have a lot of time to really camp at each question and a have a long discussion about them. You’ll need to be fairly brief and tell them that the purpose of this search is to get a good overview of the questions, in hopes that they will go home and study the chapter a little more closely. But you can tell your class that at the end of your study, you’re going to give them a chance to ponder and reflect on Alma’s questions for themselves and actually take the mid-term of life to heart, personally. So let's go ahead and take a look at the questions here and now.
Question #1, we’re going to find in verse 6 and thematically, the idea of this question covers from verse 6 all the way to verse 13. You’re going to see a lot of question marks in that section, but they all drive at the same idea. And the key phrase is “Have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance?” And what it is that Alma wants them to remember sufficiently? Not just remember, but remember enough, to a certain degree. Let’s see if we can figure it out. In verse 6, the captivity of THEIR fathers, God’s mercy and long-suffering towards THEM. How God delivered THEIR souls from hell, how he changed THEIR hearts. How THEY were loosed from the chains of hell. How THEY were saved. How the words of Abinadi changed Alma’s father and how he changed THEIR fathers hearts by teaching Abinadi’s words to them. What do all these things have in common? It’s all about looking back, about remembering both the triumphs and mistakes of their fathers and what God had done for them. Now why would God want them and us to do that? Good discussion question. What’s the point of that? In my opinion. Because it will give us confidence that God will do the same kinds of things for us. Because it helps us to learn from their mistakes and spare ourselves reliving the same ones over and over again. Because their stories inspire us, and give us the strength to make the same kinds of sacrifices. Remembering is an incredibly important idea in the Book of Mormon. In fact, the word “remember" or “remembrance" is found over 100 times in the Book of Mormon.
What do we remember? The people in the scriptures and what they learned. In early times, they didn’t even call them scriptures. They called them “Book of Remembrance”. So we remember our church heritage. The early Saints. The pioneers. All of us, whether our families have been a part of the Church since Nauvoo, or we were converted last week, we are all beneficiaries of their sacrifices. They are a part of our common heritage. We should remember them. And we should remember our own ancestors. No wonder family history work is such an emphasis in the church.
I’ll give you a brief example of the power of remembering our ancestors. I think of my great, great, Grandfather Anders Jensen. When he was a young man in Denmark, while walking home one day he saw some boys bullying another boy. The boy was carrying a load of laundry home, and these other boys were taking it and throwing it on to the street. Well Anders put the bullying to an end, shooed the boys away and helped the boy gather his laundry and then said he would walk him home. On the way home he asked the boy why the others were picking on him. The boys answer: Oh, it’s because I’m a Mormon. A Mormon? Anders asked. And with that, my great great grandfather first heard about the church. He was taught by the missionaries; his heart was touched, and he decided to be baptized. But before he was, he went home to tell his staunch Lutheran parents about his plans. They listened carefully and said, Anders, you’re old enough to make your own decisions, but if you join this church, don’t ever come home again. He had an incredibly difficult decision to make, his family or his faith. I am so grateful that he chose his faith. Because I don’t know if he realized it, but he wasn’t only making that decision for him. But for his son also, and his son’s son, and his son, and his son, who is me. I hope that I will never forget that story, and that my children will never forget that story. That story gives me spiritual strength. It builds my faith. It helps me to keep my sacrifices in perspective. Can you see why it would be important for me to sufficiently retain in remembrance my fathers?
So, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance your forefathers and mothers? I promise that remembrance will strengthen your conviction and your faith!
Question #2 v. 14. Have ye spiritually been born of God?
Remember our lesson back in the beginning of Mosiah. King Benjamin’s sermon? In that talk, Benjamin spoke about becoming the children of Christ. About choosing Christ as our father instead of the adversary. Or do you remember Isaiah’s question that Abinadi quoted back in Mosiah 15:10-12: "Who shall declare his generation?” or who will be his children. Abinadi taught us they are those that hear, hearken, and believe the words of the prophets and look forward to a remission of their sins through Christ. Do you match this description? Do you value the words of our living prophets? Do you rely on Christ? Have you chosen Him as your father?
I’d like to introduce Question #3 with a brief activity. Do you notice anything interesting about these celebrities and their children? They look very similar don’t they! You can tell who their famous parents are. They reflect their image. Well look at the next question, also in verse 14, and then the same idea is repeated in vs. 19. Have ye received his image in your countenances? And vs. 19, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances.
This question naturally follows the last. If we have been born of God and Christ is now our father, is there a family resemblance in you? It’s often easy to pair up parents with their children because they look similar. We say things like “You’re the spitting image of your father”, or “You have your Mother’s eyes”. There’s something in our appearance or countenance that ties us to them. Well, can people see Christ in you? And we’re not talking actual physical appearance now, but in spirit, in character. You know, you can often read things in people’s faces. You can see personality traits in them without them even saying a word. Sometimes you can see compassion in people’s faces, but you can also see anger and hatred. What we have in our hearts often shows up in our faces. What do you picture in Christ’s face? In his image. Imagine he’s sitting in front of you right now. What traits do you see there? Kindness, love, tenderness, understanding, but at the same time courage, expectation, and resolve? Well, do you see those same values reflected in you? Does his image reflect in your countenance? In your character? Can people tell that you are his child by the way you act, and speak, and dress, and treat others? And how firmly are those traits seated in your countenance? Verse 19 uses the word engraven. I can write my name on something in pencil, or pen, or even magic marker and it possibly may fade. But if I engrave my name on something, now that, that’s permanent.
Question #4 also in verse 14. Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?
What's the mighty change of heart? We talked about this back in Mosiah 5. We decided there that it was the attitude of “I want to be good”. I may not always choose good, sometimes my pesky natural man gets in the way, but my desire is there. I really want to be a good boy or a good girl. I want to do what’s right. I want to please my Heavenly parents. Do you have that attitude? Do you no longer have the disposition to do evil, but good continually? The mighty change is when we begin to follow our Father’s will because we want to. Not just for the praise of others, or because we feel obligated out of some sense of social pressure or routine.
Question #5 in verse 15. Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you?
So how’s your testimony doing? What’s the state of your faith in him who created you? Later in Alma, he’ll compare faith and testimony to a tree. Well, what does your testimony tree currently look like? Is it green and growing and bearing fruit? or is it dying? A Charlie Brown Christmas tree? Are you nourishing it? Caring for it? When the frosts and the storms of doubt come, is it capable of weathering the storm? The word Alma uses here is exercise faith. What a great word. We need to exercise faith. Exercise requires effort. It requires persistence. It requires pushing ourselves in sometimes uncomfortable ways. But it makes you stronger, faster, more capable the more you do it. It’s the same thing with faith. In needs to be exercised. Is your faith fit or flabby? Maybe you need to get it to the gym.
Question #6 Again, here, I’m going to combine a lot of questions and ideas into one that I feel covers verse 15 all the way to 25. The theme here is visualizing the final judgment. How do you picture that day going? Is the question. If the first section of this test was about looking back, and the second was about looking inward, this portion is all about looking forward. So:
15 . . . 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?
How do you imagine that day going for you? Then, since this is a test, he gives you some multiple-choice options. A, B, or C. Which do you envision? Option A:
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?
Right now, looking at where you are at this moment, is that what you picture him saying to you?
OR,
Option B:
17 Or 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?
You know fingers crossed behind your back. Oh yeah, I was good. Hmmm. Is that going to work?
Or Option C:
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?
Wow. For you, which scenario do you most likely see happening? And Alma whispers to us: Choose A, choose A. But we’ve got to live our lives in a certain way to be able to choose A or else we’re really choosing B.
The next question is related but we’ll give this one its own separate number: Question #7 in vs. 19.
Can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? Elder Bednar gave a great talk on this a number of years ago in conference about the importance of having both. He suggested that it was possible to have clean hands and not a pure heart. It’s not enough just to avoid being bad, but we need to strive to do good. He teaches that to have clean hands, we put off the natural man and overcome sin and evil, but that our hearts are purified as we receive the strengthening and enabling power of the atonement of Jesus Christ—that we can’t purify our hearts all by ourselves. We need to rely on and seek the strength of the Atonement to make our hearts pure. So are you working on both? Are you exerting yourself to refrain from sin? But are you seeking to improve yourself, to become more Christlike, and are you doing both these things by relying on the power of the Atonement and not just your own power?
I’m going to skip past the rest of the verses and questions in that section since the message is basically the same. And that is "Can you imagine the judgment going well for you if your hands aren’t clean and your hearts aren’t pure?” The answer. No, it won’t
Well, how are you doing so far? If you feel you aren’t doing well. Hang in there. Remember, you only have to get one question right here. So don’t lose hope.
Moving forward. Question #8 in vs. 26.
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?
Here, Alma is encouraging them to look back again. But not to their father’s experiences this time. Their own previous spiritual experiences. Back to the times when they felt that “mighty change of heart”, that intense desire to do and be good. Have you ever felt that? You have! Good. Do you still feel it? Are the flames of that fire that once burned inside your heart still blazing. If not, what happened? Let’s rekindle that fire. Think back to those experiences. Your answered prayers, your patriarchal blessing, experiences you had in gaining your testimony, experiences you had in childhood, what your parents taught you. If you are a convert, what first drew you to the gospel? The very act of remembering those times helps to keep that flame burning. Why do we partake of the sacrament every week? For that very purpose. To remember. Why do we pray and study the scriptures daily? Why do we attend church meetings every week? Why do we have general conference every 6 months? To keep our faith burning bright. He talks about singing the song of redeeming love. Have you gotten to the point where you’re just singing one verse, without any enthusiasm, barely moving your lips, like my seminary students do sometimes? Or are you belting it out, all 6 verses, getting your lungs into it? If you’ve ever had those mighty change moments where you felt spiritually energized. Do you feel so now? If not, what are you going to do about it? What do you need to remember? What do you need to do?
Question #9 Three related questions in vs. 27
27 Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? 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?
Have you been humble enough to accept Christ’s atonement for your sins? Humility is the key in this process. We have to have the humility to recognize that we need Christ to redeem us from our sins. Keeping ourselves blameless does not mean living without mistakes. The last question suggests that our garments will become dirty. But that they can be cleansed. Christ’s blood has that power. He will keep us blameless. Do you wash yourselves each week through the power of the sacrament? Are you humble enough to accept that sacrifice?
Question #10. For this question I’m going to lump verse 28-30 together. There are three things Alma wants his people to rid themselves of. This would be the clean hands part of the equation. We will not be found blameless if we have these trespasses still on our record. What are those three things. Pride, envy, and persecution. We know that these were the three specific things that Alma’s people were struggling with at the time, so I think you can approach this question in two ways. One, do you struggle with any of these specific things? Are you prideful? Do you perceive that you are better than others because you have more, either physically, financially, intellectually, socially, or even spiritually. Or do you struggle on the other side of that equation, you perceive you have less than others and that fills you with envy for those that do? Do you resent those that have more? Is your heart filled with ingratitude towards God because others have been blessed with something more than you? Do you persecute others? OR, you could approach this a different way. If Alma named three specific things you needed to work on most, what would they be? Maybe your problem isn’t envy or persecution, but anger, lust, selfishness, laziness, or a critical attitude? Think of three specific things that you need to work on and then go to work on stripping yourself of them.
Now we’re going to jump ahead because there is a large section here without many questions. Don’t worry though, we’ll come back to it in a bit, but let’s finish off the question part of this chapter. There is one final question to consider here, and Alma asks it four different times in verses 53-55. Can you find the repeated question phrase?
And what is it? “will ye persist?” If your actions are not in accordance with God’s will, are you determined to continue down that broad path you're currently traveling? Will you continue to distance yourself further and further from your Redeemer?
SO, those are all the questions we’ll consider. And now that we’ve covered them all, did you figure out the only question you have to get right? Which one do you think it would be?
It’s got to be the last question right? Will ye persist? Why do you think I would say that that is the only question you have to get right. You can do poorly on all the others, but if you can answer that one right, you have hope! And if your answer is no, I will not persist in those things in my life that are out of order or that I can improve on. I’ll change. If you can answer that honestly, well then, you pass! Remember the purpose of a mid-term. It’s about preparing you for the final. You can course correct here! You can change! You don’t have to persist in this path! It’s not too late! There’s still time! The interview with Christ is not right now. He's granting you time! Therefore the message of the rest of the chapter. You can read it in verses 31-62 and it really all drives at one specific point that I’ll simply summarize for you here. Repent. Change. You don’t have to persist. A few verses of note here:
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;
I love the openness of that. He’s not a stern teacher that’s grading on a curve or hoping to trick his students. He’s inviting everyone to get an A in his class. Anybody that messed up on the mid-term can start over and try again. There’s hope. Come, pass this class and enjoy the graduation. It will be a celebration like no other.
And then this key message in vs. 57. Perhaps adding one final question to our test.
57 And now I say unto you, all you that are desirous to follow the voice of the good shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things; and behold, their names shall be blotted out, that the names of the wicked shall not be numbered among the names of the righteous, that the word of God may be fulfilled, which saith: The names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people;
So the final question: Will you come out of the world? Are you willing to be separate? Are you willing to stand up and stand out? The more wicked the world becomes, the more glaring the differences will be. The harder it will become to hide our candle under a bushel. Can you stand up to the scrutiny? Can you leave the unclean things of the world behind? I hope we can. And for who? The good shepherd. Because he’s calling each one of us. He says, come. You are my child. You bear my image in your countenance. You look forward to the judgment with an eye of faith. You have clean hands, and a pure heart. You sing my song of redeeming love. You walk blameless before me. You have stripped yourself of sin. Come. Partake of the fruit of my tree, and the water of my well. You don’t need the world. Come out of it and walk with me.
TRUTH
God invites us to frequently examine and evaluate our spiritual progress and faith to help us strengthen our conversion and course correct when necessary.
TAKING IT TO HEART (HANDOUT)
Now if you have time to do this in class, you can give them this handout that includes all of the questions that we just talked about and invite them to take some time to ponder and consider how they would answer each of the questions. Or, if you find that you don’t have time, you could invite your class to take the handout home with them and challenge them to take the mid-term in a quiet place where they have sufficient time to really contemplate and take these questions to heart.
I WILL GO AND DO
And the handout concludes with a very important “I will go and do” question.
What changes or course corrections do you plan to make as a result of taking this mid-term?
CONCLUSION
Well, now you know the questions on the final! Now in school, wouldn’t you just love a teacher that conducted class like that! That said "I’m going to give you all the questions that I’m going to ask you on the final before I ever even give it to you. Because I want you to pass. I’m on your side. So take these questions. Prepare yourselves. Change what you need to change. And become what you need to become. And you know what’s great about this sermon? It worked! The mid-term did change many of the people of Zarahemla. Just look at chapter 7:4 It says that they had been "established again in the way of his righteousness.” If we have strayed, if we’ve become too comfortable with the world around us, if we feel we had to answer a lot of the questions in a less than desirable way, then let’s do what we can to become established again in the way of righteousness. And if we ever feel like we’re straying from that path, we can come and take the test again. Something Paul said comes to my mind here. In 1 Corinthians 11:31, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged”. What I think he means is that if I continually judge myself, and take the midterm often, and course correct throughout my life, then when it comes to the final judgment, Christ won’t even need to judge me. He’ll say, you know, you’ve been judging yourself all throughout your life and keeping yourself in check and improving. I don’t even need to judge you. Enter into my kingdom, ye blessed.” I hope that’s what we’ll all hear him say on the final that really matters most. I’m grateful for this chapter. It’s helped me many times in my life to look inward and upward. Sometimes I do well, and other times I recognize my faults and my need to change, areas I need to improve in. And it makes a difference. It really does. And when I do, I always feel that arm of mercy extended towards me. That invitation to join him at his table. I hope you’ve felt it too.
ALMA 6 SUMMARY
Well, a quick summary of chapter 6. It’s a short one and ties chapters 5 and 7 together. Alma sets things in order in Zarahemla after his life changing sermon that helped many to course correct. He ordains leaders, conducts baptisms, and cleanses the church of the unrepentant and rebellious. He follows up on the invitations and exhortations he gave in the previous chapter. And then how he makes his way to his next destination. The city of Gideon. And then chapter 7 gives us the sermon that he teaches in Gideon. And you know what’s interesting about this? It’s completely different. The people of Gideon don’t have the problems that the people in Zarahemla had, so he gives them a different message. And I really like that. It’s not like he says, “You know, I gave this great talk back in Zarahemla. It went over really well. It’s already prepared, so I’ll just give you that message”. No, prophets teach us teach according to where we are at and what we need.
And since the Gideonites don’t have the problems of the Zarahemlans, Alma is able to teach them greater and deeper things. Powerful, doctrinal ideas. And you know, sometimes I’ve heard people criticize general conference by saying that we just hear the same things every time. Maybe if we all really, collectively as a church, applied those teachings, they could go deeper and teach us more. But here, in Alma 7, thanks to the righteousness of the Gideonites, we get some of the most important and doctrinally significant verses on the atonement anywhere in the scriptures.
LESSON #2 THE SON OF GOD SUFFERETH (ALMA 7)
OBJECT
A cell phone.
ICEBREAKER
And then with that cell phone, there is an icebreaker that I often I like to use when I teach my students anything about the atonement of Jesus Christ. I think it’s a good way to introduce the subject because, as a teacher, you are about to attempt to explain and discuss something that in many ways is unexplainable. The doctrine of the atonement of Christ is so deep and far reaching and beyond our human comprehension that it’s difficult to plumb its depths and climb its heights. It’s like trying to wrap our mortal minds around the concept of infinity or a universe with no beginning or end. I don’t think any of us, really, truly understands exactly how the atonement works. So, I sometimes like to use the analogy of the cell phone to illustrate this. So I pull out my cell phone and ask if anybody knows how it works. How am I able to use this small handheld object, constructed from the raw materials we can find lying on and in the earth to communicate with my friends and family—sometimes on the other side of the world. The fact that I can type a simple message, hit a button, and almost magically, they can see and respond to that message hundreds or even thousands of miles away, blows my mind. How can it store and play every song I’ve ever liked in my entire life, how can I watch television and movies, play a game of chess with somebody in Australia, and access the extent of the world’s knowledge in such a small package. How does that work? And usually, nobody can explain it, at least not very well. Sometimes I have somebody who’s a little more technically minded that may scrape together something about 1’s and 0’s and radio waves and such, but still, I’ve never really gotten a great answer to that question. Most of us, myself included, have no idea how a cell phone works. But then I kind of change my tune. I stop and say to my class. But wait, you know what, that’s not exactly true—that I don’t know how a cell phone works. Come to think of it, I know exactly how it works, and very well. Watch! And then with great deliberateness and aplomb I push the on button. That’s all it takes. That’s how it works. I push the “ON” button and then it does all these amazing things for me. To me, that’s kind of like the Atonement of Christ. I know that I can’t really explain all the particulars of how it works, the ins and outs of its power and inner functions, all the when’s and why’s. But I do know two things, I know how to access that power, and I know that it works. I know the on button, and I know it’s effectiveness in my life. We don’t have to understand all the mysteries of the Atonement in order to access it’s amazing power. Thank heavens. We just have to have be willing to "push the on button", and then have faith in its ability to help us.
That being said, this shouldn’t keep us from studying Christ’s atoning sacrifice and seeking to internalize its significance. I remember when I was younger, even into my teenage years, that I would hear adults and my parents and others speak or bear testimony of the atonement and they would speak in such hushed tones, sometimes accompanied by tears, and a great sense of solemnity. And I’ll be honest with you. At that point, I didn’t get it. I could sense from the way that they spoke about it, that this was an important thing and that I should feel awed by it. But you can’t manufacture that feeling and connection out of nothing. It just seemed so personal to them, and it made me wonder how the suffering of one man in a garden hundreds of years ago could have such personal significance to people so many centuries later. Well, a lot has changed since then, and I’ve had a few experiences and enlightening moments in my life that have helped me to connect on a deeper level with my Savior and Redeemer. In some measure, I get it now. I understand why they spoke about it the way they did, and I truly feel that now I get that same sense of awe and amazement. Well, there are some verses here in Alma chapter 7 that played a big part in helping me to arrive at that point. Besides Doctrine and Covenants section 19, these are some of the most doctrinally illuminating and spiritually significant teachings on the subject. Let’s take a look at verses 10-13.
SEARCH
You may remember that Jesus compared his atonement to a bitter cup. Like drinking a cup full of something very bitter, like vinegar. Well, what was in that cup? What exactly was he experiencing during his atonement? See if you can find the 8 different words that describe what he was feeling. If you feel like your class could use some help, you could put the following slide up or write something like this up on the board, giving them the first letter of each word. And if you do this, your class should come up with the following words. What did Jesus experience? Our pains, everything from the pain of a bee sting to the pain of childbirth to the pain of not getting asked to the big dance. He suffered our afflictions. I think afflictions are the kinds of pains and trials that we suffer long-term, perhaps our entire lives—everything from asthma, to being wheelchair bound, to the affliction of extreme shyness, Christ felt all of that. Temptations, everything from impatience to lust to the temptation to lash out in anger, Christ understands the pull of the natural man or woman because he too was mortal and subject to the infirmities of the flesh. He felt our sicknesses, everything from the common cold to multiple sclerosis. And he took upon himself death itself, and he died in one of the most excruciating and cruel ways ever devised by man: crucifixion. He felt our infirmities-our weaknesses. Everything from the fear of public speaking to the fear of not measuring up. And then of course, he suffered the full justice demanded of our sins, and transgressions, big sins and little sins. To draw from a parable that Jesus once told, 10,000 talent type sins, and 100 pence type sins. He felt and suffered for the entire gamut of sin. And Christ not only suffered for certain kinds of pains and afflictions and temptations, but pains and afflictions, and temptations “of every kind”. So I think that would be physical, social, mental and emotional pains and afflictions. I think we often focus more frequently on the fact that Jesus paid for our sins and transgressions, which he did, but sometimes we forget that he also felt all of our pains, sicknesses, and infirmities too.
And the next question that these verses answer is why? Why did he take these things upon himself? Can you see any answers to that question. I see a few.
In vs. 11 that the word might be fulfilled. So one, to fulfill prophesy. Ok, that makes sense. This is something that was intended and planned from the foundation of the world. It goes all the way back to that pre-mortal council in heaven where God the Father asked, “Whom shall I send?” The meaning of that question? Whom shall I send to perform an atonement. And Christ answered, “Here am I, send me”.
Another reason, in vs. 12 that he may loose the bands of death. Death needed to be overcome so that we could all be resurrected and live forever in our bodies, in happiness like our Heavenly parents.
Then a third reason. That his bowels may be filled with mercy
That he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Let’s come back to that one in a second.
And then in vs. 13, that he might take upon him the sins of his people
And that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance. That final reason is the one we often focus on most, and it is so important. Jesus not only overcame death, but sin as well. And you know, I’m not going to talk about that reason here. I feel we really dug deep into that aspect a few weeks ago when we covered Abinadi’s address where he quotes Isaiah 53, and then we’re going to go deeply into that subject again in a few weeks when we cover Alma 42.
DISCUSSION QUESTION
But here, now, I’m very intrigued by that 3rd reason. I’ve often asked myself, why would Jesus suffer my pains and my sicknesses and my afflictions. I understand him suffering for my sins and transgressions, that makes sense to me—that he pays the full price of justice for my errors to make me right with God again. But why my pains and sicknesses? Don’t I still feel those? How does him feeling them, help me. And at least part of the answer to that question lies in that verse. One, so that his bowels may be filled with mercy. Ultimately Jesus is going to be our judge. And he needs to be the perfect judge. Somebody in a court of law could possibly point to the judge after their sentencing and say, how dare you judge me this way, you don’t know me, you don’t know what I’ve been through, you don’t know what it’s like to be in my shoes. And they would be right. A judge can’t know those things for sure, they make their judgment based on the best information that they have. But this judgment concerns the eternity of God’s precious souls. This has to be fair. So who is going to do the judging in this case. Somebody that knows us better than we know ourselves. Somebody that not only knows what our struggles were like, but has actually been through our struggles, has felt our pains, our trials, our temptations. The atonement makes Jesus the perfect judge. The most fair judge to ever take the stand. It's comforting to me to know that somebody who truly knows me and everything about me will be holding the gavel. I don’t imagine anybody arguing with the judgments he pronounces. They will be uttered with the perfect balance of justice and mercy. All will recognize the fairness and the rightness and the wisdom of his judgments because he KNOWS from experience where we all are coming from.
Another reason, that he may know how to succor his people according to their infirmities. I love this idea. The word succor is an interesting word. It comes from Latin. The root words for succor suggest running and help, or rescue. In other words, Jesus felt these things so that he would know how to run to help us. There are two kinds of "I understand’” one can speak. If one of my students came to my office and said “Brother Wilcox, I’m really struggling right now, my parents are going through a divorce, do you have any counsel that might help me”. And in that situation I might say with great sympathy and love, “Oh, I’m so sorry, I understand that that must be very difficult.” And I would do my very best to counsel them through that difficulty. But of course, they could look at me and say, “Really, do you really understand what I’m going through? How could you? You haven’t been through it have you?” And I would have to say, “No, you’re right, but I can imagine how difficult it would be.” I can try to put myself in their shoes and speak from that imagining. On the other hand, though, if that same youth went and spoke to my Dad, and told him the same thing, He could look back at them and say “Oh, I understand that’s difficult”. And his “I understand" would be different than mine”. Why? Because that did happen to him when he was young. He does know exactly what that is like. Which of the two “I understand’s” is more powerful, in your opinion? My “I understand”. Or my Father’s “I understand”. The second right. It’s the difference between sympathy and empathy. Which of the two did Jesus want to be able to say to you and me? He wanted to be able to say “I understand”. And you know what, I actually think there is a third type of “I understand”, Jesus’s I understand is even more than empathy. It’s not just that he understands because he’s been through something similar, it’s that he has actually been through exactly what we have been through. He has suffered our specific pains, and sicknesses, and infirmities. It’s the most perfect “I understand” that can ever be uttered by the lips of another mortal being.
And there is an interesting phrase that keeps coming up in there. According to the flesh. Jesus knows our pains according to the flesh. Look at vs. 13. It starts by saying “Now the Spirit knoweth all things, nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh.” What I think that means is that Jesus could have understood our pains and sicknesses and afflictions through the power of the Spirit, that the Spirit could have communicated that understanding to him. But, for Jesus, he didn’t want to just understand on a spiritual level. He wanted to understand according to the flesh. Completely, absolutely, and in all it’s awful reality. Jesus understands, like no one else. And with that understanding, he can now RUN to help us. To succor us. That’s what he wanted to be able to do. He has the knowledge. He has the understanding, according to the flesh. Therefore what? When you are suffering. When you are in pain, sickness, or affliction, turn to him for help. Call out to him! He can offer help, and he will run to offer it.
Christ’s atonement is not just about forgiving sins, it’s about divine help in times of need. Because he felt our burdens, he is able to ease them for us, and strengthen us in them.
TRUTH
And there’s a lot of various truths in those verses we just examined. But to hone in on one particular truth. Jesus felt my pains, sicknesses, and afflictions so that he would understand me perfectly and offer me help and strength to endure them.
TAKING IT TO HEART
A simple question. Have you ever felt the merciful, rescuing, understanding power in your own life? How?
And I’d like to take a moment to share a specific experience from my l life when I felt that power. At one point on my mission, I was feeling very discouraged and down. I was struggling with the language, my companion, and the work. I was so far away from home in an unfamiliar place and really felt 100% alone. I remember looking around the apartment in the dark and I felt so cold, and I could almost sense the adversary laughing at me. Well, I remember crawling out of my bed and kneeling down and praying to God for help, that I didn’t feel that I could do this on my own. And as I knelt there, it was like somebody put a warm blanket around my shoulders and around my heart. It was as if the apartment filled with his light, even though I was kneeling in darkness. And it was at that moment that I knew that I was going to be ok. That I was going to get through that because I didn’t have to do it alone. The next day and the rest of my mission was different. He eased my burden and strengthened my shoulders. I never felt that darkness and discouragement again. The power of Christ’s atonement fortified me. I felt that he ran to help me, and he walked with me and lifted me.
To me, that’s the most wonderful thing about the Atonement. The way it makes me feel. It’s not necessarily a mind-driven doctrine, but a heart driven one.
THE TAKEAWAY
I hope that when we struggle with any of the 8 words, that we will remember Alma chapter 7. That we will forever have that image in our minds, and more importantly, in our hearts. That running to help us Savior, arms wide, full of empathy and understanding, to succor us in our pains, sicknesses, infirmities, temptations, sins, transgressions, and even death itself. May the miraculous enabling, comforting, strengthening power of the Atonement be a personal, meaningful, heart-centered doctrine in your life is my prayer.
LESSON #3 OF MORE IMPORTANCE THAN THEY ALL
Now before we conclude this week’s message, there is one more brief phrase from Alma 7 that I would like to focus on this week.
ICEBREAKER
So a quick icebreaker activity. I’d ask some “most important” questions. And you could do this either orally, or as a handout. But either way, give your students some time to ponder their answers to the following questions.
What’s the most important meal of the day?
What’s the most important subject you can study in school?
What’s the most important habit you can develop?
What’s the most important event in the history of mankind?
And then you can give your students a chance to discuss their answers with a partner or with the class as a whole.
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But then, to transition to the scriptures, let’s take a look at Alma’s answer to that last question. What did he feel was the most important thing of all according to Alma 7:7?
He says, there is one thing of more importance than they all, that “the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people.” Now I know that because of a very well-known hymn, and because of the way we often bear testimony of the Savior. When we hear that phrase “I know that my Redeemer lives,” that our thoughts immediately go to the resurrection. Jesus lives! He’s not dead. The tomb is empty. But that’s not the context that Alma is referring to here. He’s saying that the most important thing, is that Jesus Christ lived a mortal life and came among his people. So it’s not the "I know that my Redeemer lives again even after he was crucified". But the “I know that my Redeemer lived a mortal life like me”. That “I know that my Redeemer lived,” in my mind, is just as important as the “I know that my Redeemer lives” now.
DISCUSSION QUESTION
And there I would pause, and ask my students to ponder why it’s important for us to know that? Why is “I know that my Redeemer LIVED” a powerful, important thing to understand. Let them wrestle with that for a minute.
My thoughts? It’s vital for us to know that he shared mortality with us. That he knows what’s it like to live life at our level. He lived and knows what we've experienced. Jesus Christ didn’t come down to earth merely to observe life and what we go through, but to experience what we experience. This is what the angel that visited Nephi referred to as the condescension of Christ. And that angel felt this idea was important enough that he dedicated an entire chapter to it. Jesus Christ is a member of the Godhead, and yet, he lived. He was a born as a baby. He took upon himself a mortal frame with all the natural man impulses and infirmities that goes with it. A God became man. What humility! He was the Creator of the world, the source of all life and light. Yet, He willingly condescended to be like us. It shows profound love. By becoming mortal, he showed a willingness to meet us where we are at, to understand our struggles, and to provide a perfect example of how to live righteousness. Also, Christ’s condescension illustrates and exemplifies the potential for human divinity. He showed that the journey from mortality to divinity is achievable. Therefore, we too have the potential to become like Him. Christ’s example provides a blueprint for our divine potential and gives us hope in eternal progression.
THE TAKEAWAY
Can you see why Alma would say that this was of more importance than they all? And with that, I would like to add my witness to that truth—that not only do I know that my Redeemer lives, but that he lived and came among his people. I am grateful to worship a Savior that knows exactly what it’s like to be me. And he knows exactly what it’s like to be you also. A God became mortal, so that mortals could become gods. I know that my Redeemer lived, and what comfort that sweet sentence gives.
