This life, as Amulek later taught, is the time for men to prepare to meet God (Alma 34:32). That meeting will occur at the judgment bar (Mosiah 16:10) or “judgment-seat” (Mormon 3:20, 22) or “tribunal” (Alma 5:18) of God. It will be a “glorious day when justice shall be administered unto the righteous,” but the warning is out to the unrighteous to prepare and prevent, and repair and repent, so they will not have to face that day with “awful fear,” “awful guilt,” “awful misery,” and “awful reality.” Every soul will be perfectly aware of all his guilt (2 Nephi 9:13–16). In a sense, we will not even need the hierarchy of judges (the Lord Jesus Christ, the original Twelve Apostles, the dispensation heads, and our own priesthood leaders), for we will be happily or painfully aware of where we fit—which kingdom best suits our mortal performance (Mosiah 3:24–25; Alma 12:14–15).
Jacob’s tenderness and compassion can be felt in verse 47 as he disclaims any intention of harrowing up souls and minds that are pure, but with his responsibility to plainly call sinners to repentance, he has to speak out. “If ye were holy I would speak unto you of holiness; but as ye are not holy, and ye look upon me as a teacher, it must needs be expedient that I teach you the consequences of sin.”