Singing the Song of Redeeming Love

I was reading in Alma 26 the other day. Ammon is talking about what it mean to be converted. He compares and contrasts the humble follower of Christ with the natural man using the converted Lamanites as examples. He starts out by saying that his Lamanite brethren "were in darkness, yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of God!" (v.6)

Ammon goes on to say that the Lord has loosed these brethren "from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love..." (v.13) What will it take for me to sing redeeming love? I believe in the gospel. I have been a member for a long time. But, I don't think I have come unto Christ to same degree as the converted lamanites.

What does it mean to be "loosed our brethren from the chains of hell"?(v.14) "Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting darkness and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love..." (v.15)

I want to be in that amazing state of love and peace! I want to view life the way Ammon is describing it. Sure, you have your troubles, trials and afflictions. But with this foundation, the problems of life take on a different feel. You know that Christ is with you and you can rely on Him. You don't view adversity with any degree of trepidation. In Alma 27:28 we read that the people of Ammon "never did look upon death with any degree of terror, for their hope and views of Christ and the resurrection; therefore, death was swallowed up to them by the victory of Christ over it."

Ammon then relates his own experience of God and His mercy. He says in verse 17, "Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state?...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 despair?... Behold, he did not exercise his justice upon us, but in his great mercy hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls." Why did God snatch Ammon and his brethren? Maybe, the bottom line is that God is full of grace and mercy. Maybe He knew their souls and knew that they their immediate repentance and faith had the substance of permanency. For some of us the grace comes more slowly and in God own due time. Getting a perfect knowledge too early would only condemn us. Why? Because we would probably go back to our old ways. Some how our anchoring has to be sufficient for the snatching to occur.

There are only two ways to live our lives on this earth: the natural man way or the humble follower of Christ way. There is a struggle that everyman must have to cast off the natural man and come unto Christ. The process seems to be slow for me. I keep on dipping my toe in the water and pulling it out over and over again. I also get stuck at various half way houses along the way. I seem to think that a particular stage of arrivedness is all that their is. The level is comfortable. But, the natural man is still lurking underneath my outward facade. I am surprised when I my natural self makes a surprise appearance when I least expect it.

Anyways, Ammon is talking about a complete transformation away from the natural man when faith and repentance meet mercy, grace, cleansing and healing. Something might changes within us. In verses 21 and 22 we read, "And now behold, my brethren, what natural man is there that knoweth these things? I say unto you, there is none that knoweth these things, save it be the penitent. Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God..." I believe the first great mystery if our own conversion. We are no longer walking in darkness. We have sung and are singing the song of redeeming love. When this happens in our hearts then great things begin to happen in our lives: "... yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal 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. " We have become men and women of God. We life completely different than our old natural selfs. We are amazed at the new vistas that we see. We want everyone to come and partake of the same fruit. We are part of the ransomed host.