Alma and Amulek as Types of Christ, Part 4

After many days Alma and Amulek were once again visited in prison by the chief judge as well as teachers and lawyers. The chief judge hit them again and taunted, "If ye have the power of God deliver yourselves from these bands, and then we will believe that the Lord will destroy this people according to your words" (Alma 14:24). Throughout his crucifixion the Savior received similar taunts (see Luke 23:35; Mark 15:31-32; Matt. 27:42). After all the people visiting Alma and Amulek in prison had hit them and taunted them, Alma cried forth saying, "How long shall we suffer these great afflictions, O Lord? O Lord, give us strength according to our faith which is in Christ, even unto deliverance" (Alma 14:26). In His infinite agony, the Savior cried similar words on the cross, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mark 15:34; see also Matt. 27:46). After this cry, Alma and Amulek "broke the cords with which they were bound" (Alma 14:26). The Savior broke the cords of death, "And the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death" (Alma 11:42).

When Alma and Amulek broke their bonds, those who came to taunt and torment were afraid and started to flee (see Alma 14:26-27). Some (although they were not wicked), when seeing the empty tomb and hearing the angels proclaim Christ's resurrection, had the same feeling of fear: "And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed...for they were afraid" (Mark 16:8). Those who fled from Alma and Amulek were so afraid that they "fell to the earth, and did not obtain the outer door of the prison" (Alma 14:27). Just as these wicked people did not make it out of the prison, the wicked who reject Christ remain in spirit prison. The prison then fell down around Alma and Amulek, "The earth shook mightily, and the walls of the prison were rent in twain"; those who were in the prison taunting Alma and Amulek "were slain by the fall [of the prison]" (Alma 14:27). At Christ's death there were earthquakes in the Old World as well as the New: "And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent" (Matt. 27:51; see also 3 Ne. 8). Those who reject the Lord suffer spiritual death just as those at Alma and Amulek's prison suffered physical death.

Alma and Amulek "came forth out of the prison and they were not hurt; for the Lord had granted unto them power, according to their faith which was in Christ...[for] they were loosed from their bands; and the prison had fallen to the earth" (Alma 14:28). Christ came forth from the prison of Death through the power of God, "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power" (1 Cor. 6:14); "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father" (John 10:17-18). "And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins [and death]" (Hel. 5:11). Christ opened the prison doors for all that we will have power over death and be resurrected. He also opened the prison doors for others to be saved from spiritual death and hell through faith in His name.