It is highly significant that whenever the servants of God had been inspired to talk about the coming of Christ they have always emphasized the "nearness of his coming." It would turn out that Alma was speaking to these people about 83 years before the coming of the Savior but the Spirit told him to emphasize the nearness of his coming. This was not done to deceive the people but to emphasize the need for each individual to live his or her life as though the coming of Christ was an immediate expectation.