The Lord Suffereth the Righteous To Be Slain

When the Savior hung on the cross, He was mocked with these words by the chief priests, scribes, and elders: “He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him” (Matt. 27:42).  This seems to be a common assumption among the wicked: if the message from those claiming to be from God was true, then that God would save that messenger from harm that they themselves inflict upon them.  The people of Ammonihah reasoned in the same way as they killed innocent women and children.  They said in mockery to Alma and Amulek after burning many of the believers: “After what ye have seen, will ye preach again unto this people, that they shall be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone? Behold, ye see that ye had not power to save those who had been cast into the fire; neither has God saved them because they were of thy faith” (Alma 14:14-15).  In a way they were justifying their own sins, saying, “Well, looks like God didn’t save these women and children, so that’s proof that Alma and Amulek’s message was false, so we were justified in this awful brutality.”  This line of reasoning depends upon this completely false assumption: God will not allow the righteous to suffer. 

               This is an assumption that is hard even for faithful followers of the Savior not to make.  Peter in particular wanted to believe this.  When the Savior taught the apostles that He would “suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed,” Peter took offense, assuming it seems that Christ should not suffer because He was righteous.  He said, “Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.”  Christ’s response was quick and direct: “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Matt. 16:21-23).  In other words, to savor the things of men is to believe that we should have no suffering, but to savor the things of God we must believe in doing the will of God, even when that requires suffering.  Understandably, Peter seemed to still have trouble accepting this principle on the night that Jesus was arrested, for he tried by force (cutting off the ear of Malchus) to try to stop it even though the Savior had told them very specifically that this was going to happen.  The Savior said to him then, “Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11)  When we truly understand God’s plan, then we accept that it will at times involve suffering and submission instead of triumph and release.  But Peter did learn this, for later after the Savior’s resurrection when he was beaten by the Jewish rulers, he “departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name” (Acts 5:41).  He had taken to heart the warning of the Savior, “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).            

             Moroni spoke of this same attitude—that the Lord won’t let the righteous suffer or be killed—when he wrote to government leaders who had largely neglected the people: “For the Lord suffereth the righteous to be slain that his justice and judgment may come upon the wicked; therefore ye need not suppose that the righteous are lost because they are slain; but behold, they do enter into the rest of the Lord their God” (Alma 60:13).  Sometimes the Lord does deliver the righteous from death in miraculous ways, such as in this same war when he preserved the sons of Helaman in multiple battles.  Other times though, like in Ammonihah, He lets agency play its course, and, as Moroni taught, the righteous are slain.  But they are never lost; their eternal state can never be harmed by what the wicked do to them; the Lord will always save them, though He may not preserve their mortal lives.  No matter what happens in life now, “The righteous shine forth in the kingdom of God” (Alma 40:25).  As our wonderful family friend, a dear 80-year-old widow who is nearly blind, told me, “People tell me they are sorry for me, but I say, Why? As soon as I die and go to heaven, I will see!”  There is no suffering or sorrow that, for the righteous, heaven will not heal.