64) And it came to pass, when
the Lord had spoken with Adam, our father, that Adam cried unto the Lord, and
he was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was carried down into the
water, and was laid under the water, and was brought forth out of the water.
[Adam kept the commandment “by
the water” when he was baptized]
65) And thus he was baptized,
and the Spirit of God descended upon him, and thus he was born of the Spirit,
and became quickened in the inner man.
66) And he heard a voice out of
heaven, saying: Thou art baptized with fire, and with the Holy Ghost. This is
the record of the Father, and the Son, from henceforth and forever;
[Adam was justified “by the
Spirit” when “the Spirit of God descended upon him”]
67) And thou art after the order
of him who was without beginning of days or end of years, from all eternity to
all eternity.
68) Behold, thou art one in me,
a son of God; and thus may all become my sons. Amen. (Moses 6:64-68)
[Adam was sanctified “by the
blood” when he was ordained after the Order of God, which is the priesthood,
and became a “son of God”]
Understanding the suffering that Christ endured during
the atoning sacrifice will help us understand the power behind the priesthood.
We will look at men in the scriptures who suffered as a type of Christ’s
suffering and at other scriptures that explain what his suffering entailed.
The scriptures tell us that Christ “suffereth the pains
of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and
children, who belong to the family of Adam.” (2 Nephi 9:21). They explain
further that “he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst,
and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death” (Mosiah
3:7). Although Christ suffered more than any man can suffer, I have wondered
what passage or passages in the scriptures describe the greatest pain suffered
by anyone other than Christ. Understanding that would give some insight into
the suffering of Christ. I have found that the suffering that Alma the Younger
describes is the greatest pain and suffering that anyone other than Christ has
experienced recorded in the scriptures. After “seeking to destroy the church of
God” (Alma 36:6), an angel appeared to him and told him to stop. He describes
his subsequent suffering in Alma 36:
12) But I was racked with
eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked
with all my sins.
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.
15) Oh, thought I, that I could
be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought
to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.
16) And now, for three days and
for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.
17) And it came to pass that as
I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my
many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the
people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for
the sins of the world.
18) Now, as my mind caught hold
upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have
mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the
everlasting chains of death.
21) Yea, I say unto you, my son,
that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. …
(Alma 36:12-21)
Alma describes his suffering with phrases such as racked with eternal torment, harrowed to the greatest degree, tormented with the pains of hell, inexpressible horror (at the thought of coming into the presence of God), gall of bitterness, encircled by the everlasting chains of death, and nothing so exquisite and bitter. In Mosiah 27:29 we also learn that his suffering included the bonds of iniquity and the darkest abyss. In addition, he essentially says that pain was so great that he wanted to have his mind, consciousness, spirit, intelligence, identity, body and soul annihilated or extinct, rather than to go into the presence of God. He says that he was in this state for three days and three nights, which is interesting because of what Jesus said here – “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40). The three days and three nights of pain link Alma’s suffering to Christ’s time in the spirit world after his suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross. Therefore, I believe that Alma’s suffering was a type of Christ’s suffering.
We already understand that Christ suffered the pain of
all men, which would include the pain that Alma suffered. We also understand
that if man suffered what Christ did, he would have physically died from it and
possibly even had his spirit disintegrated. What is it that Christ suffered
that was beyond what Alma suffered? Alma tells us that the most painful part of
his suffering was due to the thought of coming into the presence of God while
in his sins, but he didn’t have to experience that. It seems that what Alma
feared to experience but didn’t and what Christ actually did experience was
being brought into the presence of God for final judgment. Alma described the
experience of going into the final judgment unprepared:
12) And Amulek hath spoken
plainly concerning death, and being raised from this mortality to a state of
immortality, and being brought before the bar of God, to be judged according to
our works.
13) Then if our hearts have been
hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that
it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be
condemned.
14) For our words will condemn
us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our
thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to
look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and
the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.
15) But this cannot be; we must
come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his
might, majesty, and dominion, and acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all
his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is
merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man
that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance.
16) And now behold, I say unto
you then cometh a death, even a second death, which is a spiritual death; then
is a time that whosoever dieth in his sins, as to a temporal death, shall also
die a spiritual death; yea, he shall die as to things pertaining unto
righteousness.
17) Then is the time when their
torments shall be as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up
forever and ever; and then is the time that they shall be chained down to an
everlasting destruction, according to the power and captivity of Satan, he
having subjected them according to his will.
18) Then, I say unto you, they
shall be as though there had been no redemption made; for they cannot be
redeemed according to God’s justice; and they cannot die, seeing there is no
more corruption. (Alma 12:12-18)
Christ describes the suffering of the wicked after they
are resurrected and brought to final judgment in this revelation to Joseph
Smith found in Doctrine and Covenants 19:
15) Therefore I command you to
repent—repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by
my anger, and your sufferings be sore—how sore you know not, how exquisite you
know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.
16) For behold, I, God, have
suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
17) But if they would not repent
they must suffer even as I;
18) Which suffering caused
myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed
at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not
drink the bitter cup, and shrink—
19) Nevertheless, glory be to
the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.
(D&C 19:15-19)
In the next verse, Christ explains the “least degree” of
suffering that men can experience – “Wherefore, I command you again to repent,
lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest
you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest,
yea, even in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit.”
(D&C 19:20). If that is the smallest or least degree of suffering, then
keep in mind that Alma experienced being “harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.” (Alma 36:12).
The difference between Christ suffering the final
judgment of the unrepentant and the wicked suffering the final judgment is that
Christ suffered it while still mortal and vulnerable to physical death, but the
wicked will suffer it after becoming immortal. Christ seems to link the
suffering that he experienced to actually entering into God’s presence when he
was unclean while bearing our sins – “And no unclean thing can enter into his
kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have
washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance
of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end.” (3 Nephi 27:19). He
can wash us in his blood so that we may enter into God’s kingdom because he suffered
the pain of entering into God’s kingdom as an unclean being and subsequently recovered
and healed from it on our behalf.
Alma found relief from his suffering after he “cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me” (Alma 36:18) and “the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning” (Mosiah 27:28). However, for Christ “there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me.” (Isaiah 63:5).
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