In verse 14, Alma explains again humankind’s desperate situation in that fictional gap between Eden and the atonement. They were in the “grasp of justice” because there was no way to avoid either death or sin, the inevitable consequences of actions they had chosen. Since “no unclean thing can dwell with God” (1 Ne. 10:21), sin also inevitably meant spiritual death, or separation from God’s presence. These consequences are just.
Into this bleak picture enters mercy. It was never Yahweh’s plan to leave us in that dismal state. Rather, Yahweh had a plan to reconcile sinful, mortal humankind with immortal righteous perfection. That way was the atonement. For Alma, since Yahweh imposed justice, “Yahweh himself” would apply the atonement—the merciful harmonization with justice. (See “Excursus: The Nephite Understanding of God,” following 1 Nephi 11.)