Withdrawal of Spirit

Consequences of Sin

From Robert L. Millet, Life in Christ, p. 68 we read:

"In a way that we cannot comprehend, Jesus of Nazareth assumed the burden and consequence of the sins of all mankind.  The immediate consequence of sin is withdrawal of the Spirit. (Alma 34:35) It may be that such a withdrawal from an individual is what leads to feelings of guilt and pain and emptiness.  Jesus Christ, in taking upon him the effects of the sins of all mankind, was thus exposed to the awful (and to Jesus, unusual) withdrawal of that Spirit which had been his constant companion from the beginning."

President Brigham Young explained: "The Father withdrew His Spirit from His Son, at the time he was to be crucified…At the very moment, at the hour when the crisis came for him to offer up his life, the Father withdrew Himself, withdrew His Spirit…That is what made him sweat blood.  If he had had the power of God upon him, he would not have sweat blood." (JD 3:206)

For us, in Alma 7:15, "Alma is not counseling the people to put away their sins one at a time, a bit here and a bit there.  This is the world's approach.  It may sound commendable, but it is terrestrial at best. To be born again is to have our natures changed, not always immediately but certainly in process of time.  To lay aside every sin and the desire for it; to put off all sinfulness; to confess and forsake sin and to rely on the merits and mercies of the Holy Messiah." (Millet & McConkie, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 3, page 54) (Paraphrasing C.S. Lewis, it should not be our intent to wound the natural man, but to kill him outright).