The Chains of the Adversary

One of the images that is repeated in the Book of Mormon is that of the chains of the adversary and of sin. Lehi exhorted his sons, “O that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe…. Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust” (2 Nephi 1:13, 23). Laman and Lemuel were figuratively bound with chains because of the way that they did the deeds of the adversary and failed to truly repent. Lehi’s son Jacob picked up on this theme and used it when he taught the Nephites: “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). Nephi also taught about how the adversary uses chains to bind us: “For the kingdom of the devil must shake, and they which belong to it must needs be stirred up unto repentance, or the devil will grasp them with his everlasting chains, and they be stirred up to anger, and perish;… And behold, others he flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none—and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance” (2 Nephi 28:19, 22). Without repentance, thus remaining in our sins, we are grasped with the chains of the adversary and prevented from the salvation of our God.

                   Alma also referenced the chains of the adversary in his teachings. This is perhaps because he had experienced them when he was ensnared in sin. He recounted to his son Helaman: “I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul. 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.” He then remembered his father’s teachings about Jesus: “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, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more” (Alma 36:16-19). He had been held captive by the chains of the adversary—meaning that he was in a life of sin that he couldn’t get out of on his own—but through the power of the Savior he was liberated. When he taught the people of Ammonihah he warned them using the same imagery: “And behold I say unto you all that this was a snare of the adversary, which he has laid to catch this people, that he might bring you into subjection unto him, that he might encircle you about with his chains, that he might chain you down to everlasting destruction, according to the power of his captivity” (Alma 12:6). He spoke of these chains also when he taught the people of Zarahemla about their fathers: “Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word; yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them…. And again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea, they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love” (Alma 5:7-9). As shown particularly in this passage, the clear message of these prophets who spoke of chains is that they can be broken. If we were bound with physical, metal chains we would not be able to break them ourselves. Similarly, we cannot break Satan’s spiritual chains on our own, but the Savior can. The Rock of our salvation is stronger than the chains of the devil; the mercy of Jesus can remove the everlasting chains of death if we turn to Him with all our heart. We can be loosed from our own chains of sin and sing redeeming love if we have faith in Jesus Christ. No matter what sins keep us down and prevent us from the spiritual progress we want to make, we can take courage knowing that as He did for the Lamanites of old, He can do for us: “Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice? 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. Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting darkness and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation” (Alma 26:13-15). We must seek that everlasting light through repentance and faith on the name of Jesus Christ, and He will give us power to shake off our chains.