Resurrection

Selected Writings of Daniel H. Ludlow (pages 264-266)

1. What is the resurrection?

The resurrection is the reuniting of the spirit with its physical body. Resurrection is one of the unconditional features of the atonement of Jesus Christ. It is also the crowning aspect, and one of the concluding aspects, of the second estate.

Elder Hyrum M. Smith of the Quorum of the Twelve provided the following brief explanation:

"Death is the dissolution of the body, and the resurrection is the reanimation of the body; yea the actual and literal reuniting of the Spirit with the body."

To whom does the resurrection apply?

The resurrection applies to every person who has ever lived or will ever live on this earth, without exception. Even those who become sons of perdition in the flesh will be resurrected (see 1 Corinthians 15:22; Alma 11:44).

President Joseph F. Smith, the sixth president of the Church in this dispensation, has stated: "Every creature that is born in the image of God will be resurrected from the dead. . . . Just as sure as we go down into the grave, through the transgression of our first parents, by whom death came into the world, so sure will we be resurrected from the dead by the power of Jesus Christ. It matters not whether we have done well or ill, whether we have been intelligent or ignorant, or whether we have been bondsmen or slaves or freemen, all men will be raised from the dead."

Is the resurrection infinite?

Yes. The scriptures and the teachings of the prophets, seers, and revelators are very clear on this matter.

Jacob mentions the need for an infinite atonement in the book of 2 Nephi: "It must needs be an infinite atonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption (mortality) could not put on incorruption" (immortality) (2 Nephi 9:7).

Amulek testifies in the book of Alma, "There can be nothing which is short of an infinite atonement which will suffice for the sins of the world" (Alma 34:12).

Does this mean that every spirit that has had a physical body must be resurrected, whether it is the spirit of a person or the spirit of an animal, a fish, an insect, or a plant?

Yes. The resurrection even applies to the earth itself (see D&C 88:17-18, 25-26) and to everything that has ever lived on this earth. Some leaders of the Church have suggested that the resurrection of Jesus Christ also applies to everything that has ever lived on any of the earths created by Jesus Christ.

Joseph Fielding Smith stated: "The Savior is not going to save only mankind. Everything God has created must be restored, . . . everything the Lord has created. . . . Everything that has life [was] created in the image of its spirit, and is a living soul, and therefore entitled to the resurrection.

The Lord states in section 29 of the Doctrine and Covenants that:

"all things shall become new, even the heaven and the earth, and all the fulness thereof, both men and beasts, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea . . . for it is the workmanship of mine hand" (D&C 29:24-25).

Elder Bruce R. McConkie has taught: "Just as the creative [power] and [the] redemptive powers of Christ extend to the earth and all things thereon, as also to the infinite expanse of worlds in immensity, so the power of the resurrection is universal in scope. Man, the earth, and all life thereon will come forth in the resurrection. And the resurrection applies to and is going on in other worlds and other galaxies."

By what power or means is the resurrection accomplished?

By the power of God the Father and of his Son Jesus Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 6:14 we read: "And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his own power."

President John Taylor made this clear in his book Mediation and Atonement:

"The Son hath life inherent in Himself, even as the Father hath life in Himself, He having received this power from the Father. Also, . . . He had power in Himself to lay down this body, and also to take it up again; and in this respect He differed from others. . . . Hence . . . He . . . becomes the means of the resurrection of all men from the dead."

What is the role of Jesus Christ so far as the resurrection is concerned?

Jesus Christ, as the Only Begotten Son of God in the flesh, inherited power over physical death. And as the Son of mortal Mary, he had the capacity to die.

Jesus declared: "Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

"No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father" (John 10:17-18)

What is the role of our individual spirits in regard to our own resurrections?

Our spirits will be empowered by the gift of Jesus Christ to help bring forth our bodies out of the grave.

Note the following statements from some of the presidents of the Church in this dispensation. First let me quote two statements by President Joseph F. Smith:

"[As] Jesus, the Only Begotten of the Father . . . had power to lay down his life and take it up again, . . . we too, in his name and through his redeeming blood, will have power in due time to resurrect these our bodies after they shall have been committed to the earth."

What is the body without the spirit?

"It is lifeless clay. What is it that affects this lifeless clay? It is the spirit, [and the spirit] will redeem these tabernacles and bring them forth out of the graves."

The following is an observation by President Spencer W. Kimball: "There will be a literal resurrection, when this live and conscious spirit will return . . . to take up its reconstructed and resurrected body."

According to Brigham Young, the resurrection is an ordinance of the priesthood, which by definition is the power to act in the name of Jesus Christ. Thus another person who has already been resurrected will give us the power that will enable us to be resurrected. Note these words of Brigham Young:

"Some person holding the keys of the resurrection, having previously passed through that ordeal, will be delegated to resurrect our bodies, and our spirits will be there and prepared to enter into their bodies."

What Sets Us Apart

ARE LATTER-DAY SAINTS CHRISTIAN?

BYU Professor Todd Parker has said, first by reading 3^rd Nephi 29:4-6:

4. And when ye shall see these sayings coming forth among you, then ye need not any longer spurn at the doings of the Lord, for the sword of his justice is in his right hand; and behold, at that day, if ye shall spurn at his doings he will cause that it shall soon overtake you.

5. Wo unto him that spurneth at the doings of the Lord; yea, wo unto him that shall deny the Christ and his works!

6. Yea, wo unto him that shall deny the revelations of the Lord, and that shall say the Lord no longer worketh by revelation, or by prophecy, or by gifts, or by tongues, or by healings, or by the power of the Holy Ghost!

“’When ye shall see these sayings come forth among you,’ he’s talking, that is, Mormon’s talking, (see 3^rd Nephi 28:24) about the Book of Mormon coming forth among you, he’s talking about our day.  There are some critics of the Church who will label us non-Christian because we don’t believe in traditional definitions or traditional ways of doing things.  When they ask why we don’t, we answer because it’s been revealed.

What sets us apart from the world is revelation and that’s where they are critical.  That used to bother me until it dawned on me one day that Jesus had the same problem in His day.  Jesus would say, ‘the Law of Moses says this, but I say…  They would answer back, ‘But you can’t because the Law of Moses says this.’  So we will say ‘the Bible says this but latter-day revelation says’…and they say, ‘you can’t do that.’  So I think we are in a pretty good camp, we are right with the Savior. 

What do they say to us? ‘You are not Christian.’  What were they saying to Him?  ‘You are not the Son of God.’  But He was the Son of God and we are Christian and this is His Church and I think that is exactly what Mormon was talking about (in the above verses).

Our Relationship to God

JOSEPH SMITH’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD   (From a talk by Dr. Richard Bushman, noted author and LDS Church Historian)

“…All the direction that Joseph Smith received, whether by angels or the voice of Christ may mislead us in understanding Joseph Smith’s relationship with God.  We may think that he was directed every minute and knew the end from the beginning.  The plan was all in his head; he was simply carrying it out, step by step.

The Lord was prompting him, guiding him.  Since the Lord commands history and knows what will happen, certainly it was the same with Joseph Smith. God was at his elbow, whispering in his ear, teaching him and showing him the way.  Of course, if we stop to think for a moment, we know that is not true.

In fact, many times it was just the opposite.  Joseph felt alone and abandoned.  He sometimes was not sure what to do next.  He worried that he was going to fail in God’s work.  In other words, his assignment in his life was very much like our own.  The Lord gave him commandments to carry them out and then left him on his own, to do the work, to find the means, to solve the problems, to organize the resources, to get things done.  That was the way the Prophet learned, that’s the way we learn.

The most obvious example of this is the establishment of Zion, designated to be constructed in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.  In 1831, the Lord designated that place as the site to build this Holy City…This was Joseph’s great work.  The plan worked fine for two years.

Then suddenly, in 1833, in a tremendous shock to Joseph Smith, the citizens of Jackson County demanded that the saints leave…When they even engaged a lawyer to help them defend themselves, the people of Jackson County were up in arms and drove them out, even earlier than had been anticipated…When news of this came to Joseph, he admitted he was nearly driven to madness and desperation.  He could not understand what had happened. 

‘God will speedily deliver Zion, for I have His immutable covenant,’ he wrote the Missouri Saints, but confessed, ‘He keeps it hid from mine eyes, the means, how exactly the thing will be done.’…These are not the words of one who had been coddled by God.  Three months later, after a dark fall, one of the darkest in Joseph’s life, he was still searching for inspiration…Gradually the revelations came and the course was laid out…

What I am saying is that with Joseph Smith’s relationship with God, he is one with parents who lose a child to illness or sin, a young person frustrated in their desire to marry or find a job, a father unable to provide for his family, a bishop who cannot recover a lost soul of his congregation, the anguish that these people felt was experienced by Joseph Smith in depth, depth approaching the sufferings of the Savior himself.  We see that even in a righteous life, it was sometimes also too much for the Prophet as sometimes it is almost too much for us…”