Sabbath Devotional :: Resurrection

Alexander Ivanov – *Christ’s Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection*

“He is not here: for he is risen” (Matthew 28:6).

An angel spoke those triumphant words to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary on that glorious Sunday morning. On Easter, we celebrate the resurrected Christ.

Several years ago, my friend brought the following scripture to my attention:

“But behold the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord. Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of repentance, that whosoever repenteth the same is not hewn down and cast into the fire” (Helaman 14:17).

My friend pointed out that the antecedent of “it” is “resurrection.” Samuel the Lamanite taught that the resurrection of Christ brings to pass the condition of repentance. My friend had understood that it was Christ’s suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross that brought us the opportunity to repent. He asked how it was that the resurrection makes repentance possible.

It was at that point that I realized how little I knew about the resurrection.

Maybe it was more to do with what I heard and less to do with what was being taught, but in church lessons, what I heard was that “all shall be raised from this temporal death. The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form . . . even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost . . . “ (Alma 11:42-44). Someone in the room would inevitably make a joke about getting hair back on his bald head, and the class would mutually appreciate both that we won’t have physical ailments and that we would see our family again.

Then we would move on to the meatier stuff: the wonder and gift of forgiveness and spiritual healing.

After studying in more depth, I grew to absolutely cherish the wonder and gift of the resurrection. Here are a few things I learned:

The importance of a physical body:

One of the major purposes of mortal life is to receive a physical body so that we can become like our Heavenly Parents.

Consider what Jacob taught: “O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more. And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God” (2 Nephi 9:8-9).

Without our bodies, we would be subject to the devil forever. If Christ had not been resurrected, this is the victory that death would have over us. I’m not sure how to communicate the powerful way this idea struck me. Without our bodies, we would be subject to the devil forever.

It is little wonder that Jacob continued, “O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit” (2 Nephi 9:10).

My respect for my own body has become so much more purposeful. I am in awe at the things my body can do. Understanding this important aspect of the resurrection brought a new perspective to every commandment and consideration with regards to my physical body.

Redemption:

As a teenager, I memorized the scripture “And the spirit and the body are the soul of man” (D&C 88:15).

We often, in this life, talk about our physical bodies as if they are a burden. And sometimes they seem to be. When a person who has suffered physically passes away, we talk about them being free from their bodies. They are, gratefully, free from physical suffering. I don’t mean to undermine that. But through modern revelation we learn that “the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage” (D&C 138:50).

We can be fairly confident that the dead spoken of had lived lives similar to ours in that they had experienced the pains and human frailties of mortality. And yet, they considered it bondage to be away from their bodies.

Our physical bodies are part of us. The resurrection allows us to be restored: “the spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form.” We are assured that “every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body” (Alma 11:44).

But it will be so much better. Our healing, both spiritually and physically, will be complete. We will be whole. “I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body, that is from death, even from the first death unto life, that they can die no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided; thus the whole becoming spiritual and immortal, that they can no more see corruption” (Alma 11:45).

Healing, redemption, salvation — these are the fruits that result from uniting the sufferings in Gethsemane and the glorious morning of Christ’s resurrection.

Hope:

In our modern vernacular, we often use “hope” and “wish” interchangeably. But they are not the same. In stark contrast to wishing upon a star, Ether tells us that hope “maketh an anchor to the soul.”

How do we develop that kind of stabilizing hope? Mormon asked and answered: “And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise” (Moroni 7:41).

Hope is centered in the power of Christ’s resurrection. Peter describes a “lively hope” that comes to us because of “the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:3).

I love that phrase: lively hope! Hope invigorates and energizes us. It mobilizes us to live better and be better. It gives purpose and meaning to our lives — the mundane, the trials, and the joy. A lively hope in the resurrection sustains us.

I think one of the reasons I hadn’t previously invested much thought into the resurrection was because it seems so distant. But Ether taught that hope based in Christ’s resurrection leads us to live better here and now.

“Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God” (Ether 12:4).

Victory:

Isaiah prophesied, “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces” (Isaiah 25:8).

Another prophet, Abinadi, similarly taught, “But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death” (Mosiah 16:8-9).

Through the resurrection, we are made victorious over death, grief, and the darkness of this world. We triumph with life, joy, and the light of Christ.

In answer to my friend, the resurrection absolutely brings to pass the conditions of repentance. It is a mistake to separate the atonement from the resurrection as if they are separate actions with separate consequences. The Atonement was not complete until Christ rose on that glorious Easter morning. Christ’s resurrection completed his Atonement for us, allowing us the opportunity and privilege to repent so that we could live eternally.

Truly, “The resurrection from the dead is the redemption of the soul” (D&C 88:16).