July 12, 2026

Alma 5: 33-37

33 Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I will receive you.

The Gospel is the invitation. Come Follow Me is the invitation.

"all men"

God is no respect or of man. He is able to raise up children into Abraham of rocks. The covenant is available to all based on agency and righteousness, not race or inheritance.

Additionally, temple and missionary work are the means by which the invitation is taken to "all".

"Arm" or "arms" tend to symbolize power (I.e. the Lord will show forth His arm, or make His arm bare -statements of showing the Lord's power). Arms of mercy in this scripture is literally the power by which mercy is possibly - the Atonement of Christ (the ordinance He performed to engrave us in His hands) and the ordinances that we perform to engrave Him in our hearts - all facilitated through the Holy Priesthood, after the order of the Son of God. The picture I imagine that sums this all up is the Savior with arms outstretched for an embrace, hands and wrists pierced, waiting for us to make and keep a covenant relationship with Him.

Repent means to change. He sends the invitation, the Gospel, and we receive the invitation through the first principles and ordinances of the gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost). Then, He receives us. Without us accepting the gospel through covenant and ordinance, He cannot receive us ("ye never knew me: depart from me" Matthew 7:23). Covenant - know - yada.

34 Yea, he saith: Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely;

Fruit of the tree of Life is eternal life and exaltation. Eternal life is knowing God. Coming to Christ (we come to him through baptism, covenants, and other ordinances) leads to our Father.

Christ is the bread and water of life. His Atonement (think of the sacrament symbols) is freely given. In the temple we learn of the importance of keeping our covenants verses betraying our relationship with Christ for money. This verse emphasizes that the true treasures are not purchased with money, but are secured by entering, and staying in, a covenant relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ.

35 Yea, come unto me and bring forth works of righteousness, and ye shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire—

Works of righteousness can mean a lot of things. Here are three categories that represent these works:

Good deeds and service (Matthew 25:40)

Covenants and ordinances (more specifically ordinances)

A broken heart and contrite spirit (obedience, sacrifice)

It's interesting that the word used for the consequence of not bringing forth good works is "hewn". If we don't give the hewn rock of our heart to Christ, it will remain hewn. We damn ourselves, not a wrathful God, for He is always standing ready to restore the heart of we let Him.

36 For behold, the time is at hand that whosoever bringeth forth not good fruit, or whosoever doeth not the works of righteousness, the same have cause to wail and mourn.

The time is at hand - choose THIS day whom ye will serve (Joshua 24:15). Do not procrastinate the day of your repentance (Alma 34: 32-33).

Whoever does not the works of righteousness (listed above, but specifically covenants and ordinances, though not without the rest) will wail and mourn because they will see the beauty and joy of the relationship with Christ that they miss out on. We can't just believe and say we have faith, we must know (yada, enter the covenant) Christ (Matthew 7:23).

37 O ye workers of iniquity; ye that are puffed up in the vain things of the world, ye that have professed to have known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice!

Compare this verse directly to Matthew 7:22-24

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, ye never knew me: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

Alma 5:37

Matthew 7:22-24

Ye that have professed to know the ways of righteousness

Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?... And then will I profess unto them, ye never knew me

O ye workers of iniquity...nevertheless have gone astray

depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

as sheep having no shepherd

And then will I profess unto them, ye never knew me

notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is still calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice!

whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

A lot of times we make a mistake and hear or say "we can try again tomorrow". No! We do not have to wait for tomorrow to try again. That is the adversary trying to get us to keep failing today. As Joshua declared, choose ye THIS day whom ye will serve. This day means today. Don't wait.

Christ lived a sinless life, not a perfect life. Perfection came line upon line until He received a fullness and exaltation.

"yada yada yada" is a phrase used to say "blah blah blah - boring". I was thinking of the phrase and how it is a perfect phonetic match of what the Hebrew would mean "I know, I know, I know", and thought how sad it is that the word for intimate knowledge and covenant relationship could be used so flippantly as to say, "yeah, I've already heard that, I get it, boring", especially in terms of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Some quick research showed that there is actually no relation in etymology and it can't from something completely different. However, this augmented the feeling I had because now, you take something from somewhere else in the world, not related to the gospel, and it happens to mean "boring" while audibly saying this sacred word three times.