All Shall Be Raised

One of the themes of the messages from Alma and Amulek to the people of Ammonihah was the reality of the resurrection. Amulek taught them, “Now, there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death.” He explained how this would work: “The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time.” Our bodies will be completely restored to their perfect version, and this will happen for everyone: “Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son.” He further taught that once this resurrection takes place, it can never be reversed: “Now, behold, I have spoken unto you concerning the death of the mortal body, and also concerning the resurrection of the mortal body. I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that is from death, even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided” (Alma 11:42-45). After Amulek taught these fundamental truths about the resurrection, Alma also spoke of this subject and highlighted how it essential it was in the overall plan of God: “Now, if it had not been for the plan of redemption, which was laid from the foundation of the world, there could have been no resurrection of the dead; but there was a plan of redemption laid, which shall bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, of which has been spoken” (Alma 12:25). He and Amulek testified that the resurrection was central to the plan of God and that all would indeed rise from the dead to stand before the Lord and be judged.

               This teaching was particularly important for what would follow. After they taught these and other truths, Alma and Amulek were bound and then the believers were executed. We read, “And they brought their wives and children together, and whosoever believed or had been taught to believe in the word of God they caused that they should be cast into the fire;… And it came to pass that they took Alma and Amulek, and carried them forth to the place of martyrdom, that they might witness the destruction of those who were consumed by fire” (Alma 14:8-9). What a horrible scene of death was before them, but ultimately it was their testimony that would win the day: all these who were being murdered would rise again in the resurrection. No matter what the wicked people of Ammonihah did to these believers, they could not stop the fact that through the power of Jesus Christ they all would be raised up and restored to their perfect frame. What was important, as Alma and Amulek had testified, was how prepared they would be to stand before the Lord in that day. Little did the people of Ammonihah know that they too would meet the same fate shortly thereafter: “For behold, the armies of the Lamanites had come in upon the wilderness side, into the borders of the land, even into the city of Ammonihah, and began to slay the people and destroy the city. And now it came to pass, before the Nephites could raise a sufficient army to drive them out of the land, they had destroyed the people who were in the city of Ammonihah” (Alma 16:2-3). Thus the righteous were all taken by the wicked, and then all of the remaining people were taken by the Lamanites. And so all that was left was the testimony of Alma and Amulek that all these people, wicked and righteous—would rise again in the resurrection. Amulek’s testimony proved very relevant to them all: “[They] shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil” (Alma 11:44). Those who had been burned were ready for that arraignment at the bar of Christ, but of course the wicked were not and would suffer the terrible consequences of their actions. This story reminds us that though we don’t know when our time will come to stand before the Lord, it will come and this life is the “time to prepare to meet God” (Alma 12:24).