Note: A talk I helped Dale compose.
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters, today I have been asked to speak on Jesus Christ, our only hope.
To me, no scripture passage better describes this than the one Alma gives to his son, Helaman, in Alma 36.
Alma, as you might recall, did not spend his younger years walking the strait and narrow. In fact, he, and the four sons of Mosiah, spent that time trying to destroy the church. You can imagine how many in the church circles must have felt about Alma. To some, he must have seemed a lost cause. But Alma’s father prayed constantly that Alma would change. Those prayers were answered in the form of an angel, who shook the ground beneath Alma’s feet and, then with power, the angel harshly corrected Alma and his companions.
Awakened fully to what he done, aware completely of what it meant to have tried to destroy the Church of God, Alma became so deeply ashamed of his sins that for three days he could not move.
In Alma 36, Alma spends five verses talking about the pain he was in because of his sins. And that’s where we pick up his story at the end of those verses, in verse 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.
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.
And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more … yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy” (Alma 36:15-21).
At Alma’s most hopeless moment, he called on his only Hope, Jesus Christ. Alma’s hopelessness resulted from the belief that he could not undo his past sins, that he would forever be defined as a sinner. But then Alma remembered his father teaching of Christ. Alma caught hold of that thought and begged for Christ’s mercy. This mercy he received.
Today, we remember Alma as a great prophet and leader. Alma is defined by discipleship, not by his sins.
That is what is offered to us all. No matter how stupid and dumb we may have been, Christ offers that hope. That chance to start anew. This blessing he gives freely, but in order to provide it, he paid dearly, suffering the pains of all mankind and giving his life. In knowing how Christ wrought the Atonement, we must revere that Atonement in how we conduct ourselves, and live life in a way that shows we know that we were purchased for a price.
I know Christ lives; I know this is His Church, and this I say in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
