Alma 13

As Alma taught the people of Ammonihah of the Holy Priesthood, which -

"...high priesthood being after the order of his Son..." (Book of Mormon Alma 13:7)

and of those -

"...being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God..." (Book of Mormon Alma 13:6)

and being -

"...called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great privilege as their brethren.
5 Or in fine, in the first place they were on the same standing with their brethren; thus this holy calling being prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not harden their hearts..." (Book of Mormon Alma 13:4 - 5)


Suggesting that the privilege of holding this priesthood had to do with "willing to take upon them the name of Christ" or willing to follow His annointed and do the will of God. Therefore -

"...there were many who were ordained and became high priests of God; and it was on account of their exceeding faith and repentance, and their righteousness before God, they choosing to repent and work righteousness rather than to perish..." (Book of Mormon Alma 13:10)

To have the privilege of obtaining this priesthood, man must choose to repent and work righteousness or magnify their calling -

"Therefore they were called after this holy order, and were sanctified, and their garments were washed white through the blood of the Lamb.
12 Now they, after being sanctified by the Holy Ghost, having their garments made white, being pure and spotless before God, could not look upon sin save it were with abhorrence..." (Book of Mormon Alma 13:11 - 12)

Suggesting that even the most valiant at sometime had to repent. And not repent but -

...become new creatures..." (Book of Mormon Mosiah 27:26)

Such as they cannot look upon sin save it be with abhorrence.

President Spencer W. Kimbell wrote -

“This passage indicates an attitude which is basic to the sanctification we should all be seeking, and thus to the repentance which merits forgiveness. It is that the former transgressor must have reached a ‘point of no return’ to sin wherein there is not merely a renunciation but also a deep abhorrence of the sin—where the sin becomes most distasteful to him and where the desire or urge to sin is cleared out of his life.

Surely this is what is meant, in part at least, by being pure in heart! And when we read in the Sermon on the Mount that the ‘pure in heart’ shall see God, it gives meaning to the Lord’s statement, made through the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1832, that presently impure people can perfect themselves and become pure:

'Therefore, sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him; for he will unveil his face unto you, and it shall be in his own time, and in his own way, and according to his own will.’ (D&C 88:68.)” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, pp. 354–55).

Alma then admonishes the people -

"And now, my brethren, I would that ye should humble yourselves before God, and bring forth fruit meet for repentance, that ye may also enter into that rest." (Book of Mormon Alma 13:13)