The word Gospel means good news. The best of
the good news of the gospel is the Resurrection.
After Jesus resurrected, he spent 40 days with
His disciples. They had suffered through watching him be crucified and were
devastated, but their sadness turned to exquisite joy when He resurrected and
were able to spend more than a month with Him. After that experience they were
able to travel all over as eyewitnesses of His majesty.
Not all Christian faiths believe in a
physical resurrection. They believe in the spirit living forever, but not the
body living forever.
When we are resurrected we will have spirit
fluid instead of blood running though our veins. Modern scriptures say that God’s body is as
tangible as man’s. Our mortal body is a practice body – it is temporary – just a
means to an end. We wanted to be like God because we could see that our
Heavenly Parents were the happiest in the universe. We knew that having a
physical, eternal body is one of the most important parts of our joy. D&C
138; 17 Their sleeping dust was to be restored unto its perfect frame, bone to his bone,
and the sinews and the flesh upon them, the spirit and the body to be united never again to be
divided, that they might receive a fulness of joy. – We need
to have a physical body to have the fullness of joy. We couldn’t just go from a
spirit to a resurrected body; we had to live in our bodies for a time.
President Eyring said the best
way to help others want to stay on a path or to return to a path is to MODEL
happiness.
Jesus was uniquely different to
be able to bring about the resurrection because of being half divine. John 5:26
For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
All living things will
resurrect – all animals, plants, etc. The earth will change to a Celestial glory;
it will be a huge Urim and Thummim. We will be able to look in the earth and
ask it any question we want and receive pure truth. Better than Google.
Lucy Mack Smith gave best
description of the Urim and Thummim. She said it was like crystal, like a
diamond in the sky.
Joseph Smith said the stars are
resurrected earths.
Our bodies will be resurrected
to whatever glory we will receive – a celestial body for the celestial glory.
The differences in appearance of the Celestial, Terrestrial, or Telestial
bodies after being resurrected is a difference of light. The Sons of perdition have
no light. The biggest difference is that Celestial bodies can procreate. There
will be no homely people and no single women.
The resurrection is after the
final judgement. All celestial people who died before Christ resurrected with
him. All others have to wait until the 2nd coming to resurrect. It
is like a graduation. John the Baptist resurrected with Christ because he died
right before Christ
The ones who were resurrected
out of order were Peter, James, John, Moroni because they had special missions
to perform.
If we are alive when Christ
comes, we will continue to live and then be resurrected when we turn 100, in
the twinkling of an eye. The first to be resurrected when Christ comes will be
Joseph Smith.
Just as birth is a miracle and
an amazing transformation from a spirit to a spirit with a body, the
resurrection will become just as commonplace as birth. Like we say, “Oh, Susan
had a baby yesterday”, we will say, “Oh, Susan resurrected yesterday.”
The first resurrection (morning
of the first resurrection) will be all Celestial beings – the resurrection of
the just, and also all Terrestrial beings.
The Telestial resurrection will
be at the end of the millennium – the afternoon of the first resurrection.
The Sons of perdition will be
after the Telestial.
During the millennium the
Telestial beings will be in a learning phase. They will have to pay for their
sins and learn what they need to know.
Melvin Ballard wrote book
called 3 Degrees of Glory. Read it..
Children and babies come out of
the grave at the physical age they died, looking the same as before they died.
Old people will look younger; the body will perfect itself almost immediately –
wrinkles will fade away, hair grows back, etc., The body will conform to the
likeness of the spirit. Children will grow up at a normal rate until the body
is grown to the stature of the spirit at it’s prime, whatever age that
was/would be.
Children will be raised by righteous
parents. If their own parents don’t qualify, they will be raised by another
righteous couple.
Resurrected beings can eat,
pass through walls. Jesus walked through a closed door to the “upper room”. His
first word to the disciples was “peace”. (Shalom)
Resurrected bodies are incorruptible
meaning they don’t age or have pain or age or go downhill in any way. They also
have no waste – mucus, seat, etc. No blood.
Resurrection is an ordinance
like baptism. Right now the keys of the resurrection are not on the earth.
Resurrection has to be performed by a holder of the Melchizedec Priesthood who
has already been resurrected. It will be done according to the patriarchal
order. The father will resurrect his wife, his sons and unmarried daughters.
(She said she hasn’t found a source for this belief yet)
The only thing that will rise
with us in the resurrection is our knowledge 2 Ne 9:14 and we will have perfect
recollection.
Elder Nelson said someone asked
how he, as a scientist could believe in the resurrection. He said that because
of his background, knowing DNA, he knew that God could command all the elements
to back to their original form.
All things in nature testify,
or are evidence of the resurrection. Like how butterflies come about, trees
that look dead and turn green, a swan who goes from ugly duckling to a swan;
all of spring is evidence or type of the resurrection. 1 Cor 15 talks about the
sower (farmer), when you plant a seed and it grows, you see a miracle – that is
an example of the resurrection. We are sown in corruption, raised in
incorruption.
Of the three – Faith, Hope, and
Charity, hope is of the hope of the resurrection.
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