The Grave Shall Have No Victory

When Aaron (and his companions) visited the Lamanite king who was Lamoni’s father, he taught this about the Savior: “And since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth; and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory; and Aaron did expound all these things unto the king” (Alma 22:14). As I thought about this message regarding Christ’s victory over death, I realized that this is really a follow up from Ammon’s interaction with the king which revolved around death. The king met Ammon and Lamoni on the road when they were traveling to free Aaron in Middoni. When the king discovered what had happened to Lamoni, he was angry: “Now the father of Lamoni commanded him that he should slay Ammon with the sword.” When Lamoni refused, his father tried to slay him, “but Ammon stood forth and said unto him: Behold, thou shalt not slay thy son; nevertheless, it were better that he should fall than thee, for behold, he has repented of his sins; but if thou shouldst fall at this time, in thine anger, thy soul could not be saved” (Alma 20:14-17). The king unsuccessfully tried to slay Ammon and then found himself at the Nephite’s mercy, pleading for his life. Ammon did not take his life but only asked for the deliverance of his brethren and Lamoni’s freedom. This encounter must have profoundly affected the king and caused him to ponder his existence and its value. Having feared he would lose his physical life, it is fitting that Aaron would come and teach him about death and the Savior’s resurrection.

               Aaron’s teaching took on even more significance in the events that shortly followed. After the king was converted and changed their name to the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, other Lamanites were stirred up to anger against them and prepared to fight the newly converted people. As this was happening, “the king conferred the kingdom upon his son, and he called his name Anti-Nephi-Lehi. And the king died in that selfsame year that the Lamanites began to make preparations for war against the people of God” (Alma 24:3-4). The king died. It’s hard to tell how long after the king’s conversion was that this happened; it could have been less than a year or more than a decade. Either way, this king who pled for his life at the hand of Ammon quietly passed away, firm in the faith of the resurrection through Jesus Christ. We do not have any details about how he died, but I’d like to think that it was in perfect peace because this time he was ready to meet His Maker because he had repented of his sins. He must have known that death was coming because of the way he passed on the kingdom to Lamoni’s brother, and his peaceful transition into the next world may have helped convince his people that they were not going to try to fight their brethren who were determined to come up against them. This king, whose name we do not know, died with the faith that Christ had broken the bands of death and that the grave would have no victory. And all those who died shortly thereafter believed the same: “Now when the people saw that they were coming against them they went out to meet them, and prostrated themselves before them to the earth, and began to call on the name of the Lord; and thus they were in this attitude when the Lamanites began to fall upon them, and began to slay them with the sword. And thus without meeting any resistance, they did slay a thousand and five of them; and we know that they are blessed, for they have gone to dwell with their God” (Alma 24:21-22). This king and these people showed in a powerful way that they truly believed in “the plan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the world, through Christ, for all whosoever would believe on his name” (Alma 22:18).