Alma 8:19-28
On the surface, this is a fairly simple exchange wherein Alma returns to Ammonihah by a different way and is taken in by Amulek. There are a couple of notes on these verses that I find significant. Of Amulek, it was required to exercise the Christ-like virtue of compassion and to feed the hungry. That may seem an insignificant side note given that he had also received direction and inspiration from an angel to entertain Alma, and yet I think this is at the very core of why the angel appeared to Amulek, and not someone else.
When Alma returns to Ammonihah, he is hungry. We later learn that Alma had actually been fasting for many days. (vs. 26) Upon petitioning an unknown stranger, Amulek identifies himself to Alma as a Nephite and goes further to say that he knows Alma to be a prophet of God.
Near the end of these verses, we learn two notable points in this story: 1) that Alma did not immediately return to the task of preaching the gospel, but spent some time in the house of Amulek, and 2) that the people of Ammonihah increased in their wickedness. I suppose that the time spent with Amulek was a period of prepartion for Amulek. This was accomplished in receiving gospel instruction but probably also afforded Amulek a period of time to become intimately acquainted with Alma on a personal level as a human being and as a servant of the Almighty. That the people increased in wickedness is not a mute point, but rather the catalyst for the Lord's judgments against these people.
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It seems to me that Alma is a strong type for Christ in these verses, meaning the things that Alma does and says in these verses are as if it had been Christ there ministering. Such is the calling and assignment of prophets. The words of Doctrine and Covenants 1:38 seem applicable here: "...whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." If Christ had been there, in pre- or post-mortal glory, the people of Ammonihah would have been utterly destroyed, because they wouldn't have been able to stand His presence.
As I consider it, it seem that glory must have been cloaked in our Lord's mortal ministry, so that others could stand to be in his presence though imperfect and sinful. Without Christ present to minister to the people, there is a void between God and man that is only able to be filled by a prophet: a mortal being who has qualified himself to have the favors of heaven bestowed upon him. How important then is this particular assignment. What a dramatically significant blessing this is to have prophets living amongst us!
On the surface, this is a fairly simple exchange wherein Alma returns to Ammonihah by a different way and is taken in by Amulek. There are a couple of notes on these verses that I find significant. Of Amulek, it was required to exercise the Christ-like virtue of compassion and to feed the hungry. That may seem an insignificant side note given that he had also received direction and inspiration from an angel to entertain Alma, and yet I think this is at the very core of why the angel appeared to Amulek, and not someone else.
When Alma returns to Ammonihah, he is hungry. We later learn that Alma had actually been fasting for many days. (vs. 26) Upon petitioning an unknown stranger, Amulek identifies himself to Alma as a Nephite and goes further to say that he knows Alma to be a prophet of God.
Near the end of these verses, we learn two notable points in this story: 1) that Alma did not immediately return to the task of preaching the gospel, but spent some time in the house of Amulek, and 2) that the people of Ammonihah increased in their wickedness. I suppose that the time spent with Amulek was a period of prepartion for Amulek. This was accomplished in receiving gospel instruction but probably also afforded Amulek a period of time to become intimately acquainted with Alma on a personal level as a human being and as a servant of the Almighty. That the people increased in wickedness is not a mute point, but rather the catalyst for the Lord's judgments against these people.
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It seems to me that Alma is a strong type for Christ in these verses, meaning the things that Alma does and says in these verses are as if it had been Christ there ministering. Such is the calling and assignment of prophets. The words of Doctrine and Covenants 1:38 seem applicable here: "...whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." If Christ had been there, in pre- or post-mortal glory, the people of Ammonihah would have been utterly destroyed, because they wouldn't have been able to stand His presence.
As I consider it, it seem that glory must have been cloaked in our Lord's mortal ministry, so that others could stand to be in his presence though imperfect and sinful. Without Christ present to minister to the people, there is a void between God and man that is only able to be filled by a prophet: a mortal being who has qualified himself to have the favors of heaven bestowed upon him. How important then is this particular assignment. What a dramatically significant blessing this is to have prophets living amongst us!
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