Alma Ch12

It is now Alma's turn to argue with Zeezrom and tell him what's what about the mysteries of God. He gets to witness the power of God through His chosen vessel, who is telling him how it's going to go down when being judged and what happens to the wicked. Alma also teaches of the plan of redemption and how this mortal life is meant to be used to repent and be tested.

Now that Amulek had shut Zeezrom up for a bit, Alma uses this time to expound on the teachings and tell the people scripture beyond what's been said (v1-2). Accusing Zeezrom of lying to men and God, Alma reveals the plan of the adversary to everyone and how Zeezrom played a key part in bringing people into bondage for satan (v3-6). Zeezrom os becoming more convinced of the truth and actually starts to ask sincerely about the kingdom of god and how he will be judged (v7-8).

Knowing that he had a small change of heart, Alma begins to explain that only the people who are willing to learn will be given the knowledge of the mysteries of God (v9-10). Simply put, the people who don't accept it will be captive by the devil when everyone has been judged for their works (v11-13). We will be judged by out works, words, and thoughts, but we will want to hid because we will know all that we have done wrong (v14). Everyone will be judged, and those who have followed Christ will know of His mercy, but those who haven't will experience a second, spiritual death (v15-16). That death will be an everlasting torment with no redemption (v17-18).

These teachings of Alma astonished the people and then another judge, Antionah, asked about the resurrection and tree of life in the scriptures (v19-21). Alma begins his lesson by explaining the fall that happened with Adam and Eve which created the possibility for us to come to earth to be tested and prepare to meet God (v22-24). The plan of redemption was put in place before the earth was created and man sinned, so there would be a way for us to meet God and be clean (v25). Having the Fall was part of the plan of salvation, in order to prepare, die, then be resurrected, and judged (v26-27). 

We have all this knowledge because The Lord sent angels to inform people of the plan and the necessity of partaking of the fruit to gain knowledge (v28-31). When we learned of the plan, we were given guidelines (commandments) that would lead us straight to the winning spot of this crazy game (bad analogy). Truthfully, we were told never to sin at all of justice would cause us to experience that second spiritual death no matter what (v32).

We also found out that the Begotten Son makes if possible to have mercy on the sins we commit if we repent, follow Him and take advantage of His merciful gift (v33-34). There are those who won't, and they will have everlasting destruction to their souls (v35-36). After you know all this, take it to heart and repent. Prepare to meet God by following Christ and accepting His mercy (v37). This is the plea that Alma give the crowd listening.