Corianton has come home from his mission to meet with his
father. Having disqualified himself from
the ministry due to his misconduct, we would suppose that he would have at
least a couple of questions: (1) How will my father (and mother) react to my
breaking the commandments and mission rules?; and (2) Is there any possible way
that I can be forgiven and return to the mission field? However, Alma discerns that Corianton has
even more basic questions that are troubling him: First, he notes that his son
doesn’t understand why knowing about the coming of Christ is important. Second, he sees that Corianton is worried
about the resurrection of the dead and also what happens between the time one
dies and the time one is resurrected.
Evidently, Corianton couldn’t see why it was necessary to
know 73 years ahead of time that Christ was coming. Alma tells his son that the message of
salvation, and Christ taking away the sins of the world was the reason he was
called on a mission in the first place, the
message being as important now as it would be when the Savior would come to
Earth. (Alma 39:14-19) One can picture a loving father explaining the
need for his son to apply the atoning sacrifice of the Savior in his own life.
Next, Alma explains to his son about the Spirit World: the
place the spirits of the dead live until the time of the resurrection. He explains that the spirits of the righteous
are “received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of
rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from
all care, and sorrow.” Alma goes on to
explain to his son the wicked go to what we call today “spirit prison,” where
they are in a “state of misery,” until they can take the necessary steps of
repentance.
Especially important
in this explanation is Alma’s stunning revelation that, “…it has been made
known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are
departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be
good or evil, are taken home to that God
who gave them life.” Everyone who
lives on this planet, from the Creation to the Second Coming, will have the
opportunity to see God again. This is
according the Atonement of Christ. A
free gift he gives us all. Yet, it will
be great for the righteous and terrible for the wicked.
The heart of the matter is this: Did Jesus rise from the dead? If he did, and I add my testimony that he did
rise as the scriptures testify, then he lives today and everything he said is
true. He forgave Corianton, and does
forgive me and you, and remembers our sins no more when we repent.
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