The Chains and the Deliverer

One of the metaphors that is used frequently in modern scripture is that sin is like a "chain" or "cord" that binds us down.  Perhaps the most vivid image is given in the Pearl of Great Price in its frightening description of the adversary: "And he beheld Satan; and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced" (Moses 7:26).  Many other passages confirm this idea of Satan binding those who allow it.  Nephi taught us that Satan, when we let him, "leadeth [us] by the neck with a flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords forever" (2 Nephi 26:22).  He also wrote that if we are not "stirred up unto repentance," then "the devil will grasp [us] with his everlasting chains, and [we] be stirred up to anger, and perish" (2 Nephi 28:19).  He continued by saying that as the devil tried to flatter us and whisper to us falsehoods "until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance" (2 Nephi 28:22).  The more that we sin and succumb to the temptations of the adversary, the harder it is to free ourselves from it.  At some point if we continue there will be "no deliverance," meaning that eventually some must suffer for their own sins if they have not in the end accepted Christ.  But if we will accept His saving power, then we can with the saints "rejoice in [our] redemption" and "acknowledge the Son of God as [our] Redeemer and Deliverer from death and the chains of hell" (D&C 138:23).

The scriptures highlight that it is through repentance and Christ we can break the chains of sin that seek to ensnare us.  This is what Alma taught his son Helaman about his own escape from sin: "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" (Alma 36:18).  It was Jesus, and only Jesus, that could break those chains of sin that had held him captive for so long.  Jacob encouraged his people to likewise break away from their sins by coming unto the Savior: “O, my beloved brethren, turn away from your sins; shake off the chains of him that would bind you fast; come unto that God who is the rock of your salvation" (2 Nephi 9:45).  In the spirit world it was Christ that broke the spiritual chains that held the dead captive: “While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful" (D&C 138:18).  Ammon gloried that the Lord had broken the chains of sin from the Lamanites: "Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell" (Alma 26:14).

Surely for us it is no different—only the Savior can help us truly escape the bonds of sin.  In the book of Acts we read of how Peter was put in prison after James was killed.  Luke emphasized how tight the security was: there were 16 soldiers to guard him and he was bound with two chains.  He even slept between the soldiers—there was no way for him to escape on his own.  But in the night, "The angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.”  The angel freed him and brought him out of the prison.  I have to think that this story is meant to be symbolic, that the angel represents how the Savior can pull us out of the strongest chains and darkest dungeon that sin has taken us to if we will follow Him.  When the angel came for Peter, he told him “arise up quickly” and “gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals… cast thy garment about thee, and follow me” (Acts 12:7-8).  We too must symbolically arise and gird ourselves and put on our shoes and follow the Savior if we want Him to lead us out of our own chains of sin.