Alma 26

(All of my own thoughts are in red type 7/20 4/21 7/22 Brown 8/23)

Chapter 26

Ammon glories in the Lord—The faithful are strengthened by the Lord and are given knowledge—By faith men may bring thousands of souls unto repentance—God has all power and comprehends all things. About 90–77 B.C.

  1 And now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren, which say thus: My brothers and my brethren, distinction? literal brothers and brethren of the church? Fellow missionaries? behold I say unto you, how great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we ^astarted from the land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings? Does this mean that their success was greater than they imagined? Surely they had faith of some success or they wouldn't have even gone. Or maybe they felt a duty to go even if there was no hope of success. How often do we put off our ‘neighbor’ missionary work because we are sure we won’t have any success. But these missionaries went with little ‘chance’ of success. Look how God surprised them!
  2 And now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?
  3 Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how ^amany of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made ^binstruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work .Even though the Lamanites are so blessed for being converted, these missionaries also feel so blessed to have been a part of it. 
  4 Behold, ^athousands of them do rejoice, and have been brought into the fold of God. that’s quite a mission! 
  5 Behold, the ^afield was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the ^bsickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your ^csheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted. Elder Bednar says one meaning of this is they are gathered into the temples.
  6 Yea, they shall not be beaten down by the storm at the last day; yea, neither shall they be harrowed up by the whirlwinds; but when the ^astorm cometh they shall be gathered together in their place, that the storm cannot penetrate to them; yea, neither shall they be driven with fierce winds whithersoever the enemy listeth to carry them. If this is a "last day" scripture, then the promise is that when the storm comes, we SHALL be gathered together to OUR place, where we will be protected.
  7 But behold, they are in the hands of the Lord of the ^aharvest, and they are his; and he will ^braise them up at the last day. With this faith, what is there to fear?  Why is he talking about the “last day” right now? “they” in this verse are the “sheaves”. These sheaves are gathered into the garners. They are not beaten down by the storm; or harrowed up by the whirlwinds. They are gathered when the storm comes. The storm won’t penetrate to them; they won’t be driven by fierce winds by Satan. They are in the hands of the Lord. They are His. He will raise them up. May this be our blessing for us, "in the last day"! Perhaps he's speaking of future Lamanites/Nephites?
  8 ^aBlessed be the name of our God; let us ^bsing to his praise, yea, let us give ^cthanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever.
  9 For if we had not come up out of the land of Zarahemla, these our dearly beloved brethren, who have so dearly beloved us, would still have been racked with ^ahatred against us, yea, and they would also have been ^bstrangers to God.
 10 And it came to pass that when Ammon had said these words, his brother Aaron rebuked him, saying: Ammon, I fear that thy joy doth carry thee away unto boasting.
 11 But Ammon said unto him: I do not ^aboast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my ^bjoy is full, yea, my heart is brim with ^cjoy, and I will rejoice in my God.
 12 Yea, I know that I am ^anothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will ^bnot boast of myself, but I will ^cboast of my God, for in his ^dstrength I can do all ^ethings; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever. True humility can boast. Paradox!
 13 Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of ^ahell; and they are brought to ^bsing redeeming love, and this because of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice? This could possibly mean they knew the scriptures so well that the power of those words were in them and it gave them power as the preached. Good reason to study the scriptures. I even more so think they were blessed with a power that was in them. His words were given to them to speak. He was in them!
 14 Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from the ^achains of hell.
 15 Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting ^adarkness and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting ^blight, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love; yea, and we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work. Here is a reference to the "great and marvelous work". If it is used consistently, then it is a code name for "gathering sheaves into the garners through conversion". That works with Isaiah's use of the phrase.
 16 Therefore, let us ^aglory, yea, we will ^bglory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his ^cmercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel. He is SO HAPPY!
 17 Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and ^apolluted state? And thus, they wanted to “snatch their brethren the Lamanites” out of their awful and polluted state...
 18 Behold, we went forth even in wrath, with mighty threatenings to ^adestroy his church. Reminds me of Saul/Paul's turn around as well. Never doubt that God can take sinners and turn them into saints!
 19 Oh then, why did he not consign us to an awful destruction, yea, why did he not let the sword of his justice fall upon us, and doom us to eternal ^adespair? This sounds like it's getting very personal for him. He is comparing himself to the Lamanites. He was facing the pains of hell and justice for rebelling against God. He doesn't really know why God was so merciful to stop him in his tracks. But he took that mercy and went after those who were in a state as he was. Now he knows they are saved from the same hell he was facing and he's so happy!
 20 Oh, my soul, almost as it were, fleeth at the thought. Behold, he did not exercise his justice upon us, but in his great mercy hath brought us over that everlasting ^agulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls. They were rebellious Nephites. Usually, mercy is not what apostate Nephites get...
 21 And now behold, my brethren, what ^anatural man is there that knoweth these things? I say unto you, there is ^bnone that ^cknoweth these things, save it be the penitent. At first I thought he was saying only really bad sinners will know this kind of joy. But aren't we all sinners? We just all need to recognize that it's not the degree of our sin that matters, but that there was only one way out of hell and that was Jesus Christ. Being Born Again is to have the "natural man" cast off through sincere repentance born of a broken heart and contrite spirit.
 22 Yea, he that ^arepenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good ^bworks, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the ^cmysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be ^dgiven to ^ereveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance. That is what he was given...
   1. repent
   2. Exercise faith
   3. Bring forth good works,
   4. Pray continually without ceasing
 then
   1. you will be given to know the mysteries of God
   2. You will be given the authority to reveal things which never have been revealed
   3. you will be given success to bring thousands of souls to repentance
Who do you know that has been given these great blessings? What is that saying? 
 23 Now do ye remember, my brethren, that we said unto our brethren in the land of Zarahemla, we go up to the land of Nephi, to preach unto our brethren, the Lamanites, and they ^alaughed us to scorn? Never listen to those mocking you|
 24 For they said unto us: Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth? Do ye suppose that ye can convince the Lamanites of the ^aincorrectness of the ^btraditions of their fathers, as ^cstiffnecked a people as they are; whose hearts delight in the ^dshedding of blood; whose days have been spent in the grossest iniquity; whose ways have been the ways of a transgressor from the beginning? God's ways/thoughts are not man's! We have to give God room to do His mighty miracles! Now my brethren,  So he is talking to his missionary brethren, not converts ye remember that this was their language.
 25 And moreover they did say: Let us take up arms against them, that we destroy them and their iniquity out of the land, lest they overrun us and destroy us. Hmm....we’re not supposed to take the offensive. 
 26 But behold, my beloved brethren, we came into the wilderness not with the intent to destroy our brethren, but with the intent that perhaps we might save some few of their souls. There's that Martin L. King quote again about not chasing away hate with hate, or darkness with darkness... They were also willing to risk being destroyed themselves in the process of trying to save the wicked.
 27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to ^aturn back, behold, the Lord ^bcomforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with ^cpatience thine ^dafflictions, and I will give unto you success. How can you not go back with faith if the Lord speaks to you with that promise?  But it would certainly take a lot of courage to know you will suffer afflictions first...
 28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God. The ultimate success does not discount the hardship that got you there...
 29 And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their ^asynagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been ^bstoned, and taken and bound with ^cstrong cords, and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of God we have been delivered again. There are many untold stories here...
 30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our ^ajoy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.
 31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the ^afruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are ^bmany; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us. By their fruits ye shall know them...and the greatest fruit is love. 
 32 For behold, they had rather ^asacrifice their lives than even to take the life of their enemy; and they have ^bburied their weapons of war deep in the earth, because of their love towards their brethren. See again how love is the deepest foundational motivator for good? they didn’t bury their weapons out of self-serving concern but out of love for their enemy Lamanite brothers. 
 33 And now behold I say unto you, has there been so great love in all the land? Behold, I say unto you, Nay, there has not, even among the Nephites.
 34 For behold, they would take up arms against their brethren; they would not suffer themselves to be slain. But behold how ^amany of these have laid down their lives; and we know that they have gone to their God, because of their love and of their hatred to sin. This is being Born Again. When you hate sin.
 35 Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all ^apower, ^ball wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a ^cmerciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name. Remember this when you petition your Father in Heaven. He has ALL power, wisdom, understanding, comprehends ALL things and is ALL merciful. He wants to save His children even more than you do and will do all in His power to facilitate that IF they will repent and believe. 
 36 Now if this is ^aboasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a ^bbranch of the tree of Israel, and has been ^clost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, ^dwanderers in a strange land.
 37 Now my brethren, we see that God is ^amindful of every ^bpeople, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. May God's mercy come and end this pandemic! It is August 2023. The pandemic is over, but there are rumors of them ramping up another variant with a call for masking and lockdowns again. I think more people than before will rebel. But I think they are using it as a cover for all the deaths that are coming from the vaccine. They will blame the uptick in deaths on the large numbers of people who won't mask, thus making the divide greater and greater. What will it look like at church this time? In families? Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.