Alma now left the sphere where men live by mortal sense, and entered into a realm where only the spirit of prophecy dwells. In that realm, eyes that are blind are opened; ears that hear not are unstopped; things yet to come are unveiled. The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Christ. It speaks only the truth.
Alma's testimony of the Redeemer lives as a witness that Jesus is Christ, the Eternal Son of God. He is the Messiah in Whom all Israel rejoiced, and who waited His coming. His advent was of all things most important; that He lives is the greatest of all prophetic utterances. Thank God! "He liveth and cometh among His people."
“The Time Is Not Far Distant”
Alma was constrained by the spirit of prophecy which was within him to offer the foregoing qualification. There were some, who in mistaken zeal, expected the Messiah, immediately upon birth, to take up His abode among them. They did not understand God's purposes. This caused much dissention among the Nephites and some of the believing Lamanites, who wondered why Christ, of whose coming they looked forward to, should be born in a land they knew only by name, and by hearsay. Some termed His coming a "wicked tradition," and spoke of it as a deception to enslave us, and keep us in ignorance "all the days of our lives." (See Helaman 16:13-25)
Prophecy, we should note, not only heralds the future, but also it interprets the past, and, in addition, it explains difficult passages of scripture. In this case the spirit of prophecy had not made known to Alma the time in the life of the Redeemer when He should come "among His people" in their new Land of Promise. But, however, that spirit had manifest to him that Christ would come at no "far distant time." Of this, Alma was sure! He knew the Lord God, whose servant he was, "hath power to do all things" which He had promised. Therefore, Alma spoke with knowledge and understanding.
Alma's prophecy concerning the Redeemer was confirmed about forty years earlier by an angel from Heaven who roused King Benjamin, the Presiding High Priest of God's Church, from a peaceful slumber, and said to him, "Awake, and hear the words which I will tell thee; for behold, I am come to declare unto you the Glad Tidings of great joy." (124 B.C.)
The angel then began to declare to Benjamin the "Glad Tidings," to deliver which was the angel's divine commission.
The words of the celestial visitor caused the king to rejoice, and later in that same day Benjamin prophesied to his people concerning the angel's words, and, they, too, rejoiced and were filled with gladness.
Alma's and King Benjamin's prophecies of the Redeemer are among the greatest testimonies of the Messiah ever recorded in the annals of any people. Almost in detail, they set forth many conditions about which there is much contention in the world. But, we can thank God that they make plain many things that now burden the minds of unbelievers, and of those who make a mock of God's Plan of Salvation.
Not far distant. Compare same statement made by King Benjamin and recorded in Mosiah 3:5.