Amongst the multitude of miracles performed by Jesus perhaps the most impressive to His followers were raising the daughter of Jairus, the son of the widow of Nain and Lazarus from the dead. And although they awoke, arose and came forth still they were mortal. They were raised in corruption, restored to their imperfect bodies. The bands of death were loosed for a time, but not broken. They lived again, but would one day experience death. Death is an essential step to our eternal progress, one that must precede becoming immortal.
Jesus proclaimed,
“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live”
Of all of the doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ, perhaps the most comforting are those surrounding the Savior’s atoning sacrifice and His resurrection. They give hope to the grief stricken and broken hearted. They give assurance to loving parents and grandparents of the endurance of familial relationships in the eternities.
The Savior’s own death, and his return from the dead was to be different. He would resurrect Himself. He would break the bands of death not only for Himself, but for all mankind. The universal nature of the resurrection was taught by the Apostle Paul in a letter he wrote to the Corinthians:
“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”
It is clear to me that one of Satan’s tactics is to rob mankind, not only of an inheritance with God in the eternities but to also steal the peace afforded by the doctrine of the resurrection. Many in the world today don’t believe in the resurrection. While others of Christian faiths are taught to believe in a ‘watered down’ version of this most important truth—that somehow the New Testament accounts of the Christ’s resurrection were only figurative. Leaders of many Christian faiths even deny the literal resurrection of Christ. They teach that only the spirit of man returns to God’s presence, as if our bodies are an unnecessary appendage, burdensome to our progression through the eternities. Some acknowledge the literal nature of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, but then teach that it was only Him and not all of God’s spirit children who would receive a perfected body in the resurrection.
The apostle Paul was not alone in teaching that all mankind would be resurrected. Other prophets have also similarly testified. One such prophet, Amulek, included his witness on the quality of that resurrection. He taught of a restoration, referring to the resurrection.
“Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame”
Keeping in mind Amulek’s witness of the nature or quality of the resurrection, think now of the Savior’s appearance to His Apostles after His resurrection—the living Christ standing before His loving disciples in a resurrected body and, aside from the wounds received during the Crucifixion, an otherwise perfect body. He invited them to come forward, to feel the prints of the nails in His hands and feet, and to thrust their hands into His side so they might know that it was He, Jesus Christ.
One might ask why Jesus Christ in a resurrected, otherwise perfect body, would choose to retain those wounds in His hands and His feet and His side. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said:
“Our Lord of this sacrament table has chosen to retain for the benefit of his disciples the wounds in his hands and his feet and his side” (emphasis added).
The question which naturally follows is, who are His disciples? We are, if we choose to follow Him.
How does the retention of these wounds in Jesus’ flesh benefit you and me? They are tokens, signs which serve as continual reminders of the Savior’s love and sacrifice for us. Elder Holland in reference to the Savior’s wounds further stated,
“they are “signs, if you will, that painful things happen even to the pure and the perfect. Signs, if you will, that pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn’t love you” (“This Do in Remembrance of Me,” Ensign, November 1995, p. 69).
Let us explore the first truth “painful things happen even to the pure and the perfect.” Jesus acknowledged that there is a certain amount of pain and suffering which is part of this mortal experience. It was the pre-mortal Christ that communicated with the prophets of old. It was He who provided them with insight concerning His life and gave them utterance.
Alma described the Savior's earthly experience saying,
“And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people”
“He had no debt to pay. He had committed no wrong. Nevertheless, an accumulation of all of the guilt, the grief and sorrow, the pain and humiliation, all of the mental, emotional, and physical torments known to man—He experienced them all.” — President Boyd K. Packer
Why did He suffer these temporal challenges of every kind?
“And he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities”
This life provides each of us with times when we will descend as part of our learning process before we can ascend, learning from physical distress, having gained knowledge that we could gain in no other way. Combine this process of learning by experience with the words of Elder Neal A. Maxwell as he taught that these humbling experiences can be like an personal excavation, preparing a way for future enlargement of your soul (see “Content with the Things Allotted unto Us,” Ensign, May 2000, p. 72).
The resultant excavation creates a reservoir for the receipt of blessings that flow from above as the windows of heaven are opened, creating a repository of strength which can be drawn upon in times of difficulty and drought.
Now consider that God gave men “weakness that they may be humble” so that through humility and faith their weakness might be made strong (see Ether 12:27). This is the process by which we grow through these experiences.
So in the midst of our suffering, our personal gethsemane, we must look forward in humility and faith, with a steadfastness in Christ for a glimpse into the future, for a foreshadowing of the eternities. When we are weighed down with the daily descending of this imperfect world, this eternal perspective helps us to ponder and seek the Lord in prayer. To ask what new weakness can now become my strength?
The questions why? Why me? Why us? Are replaced with sincere, heart felt inquiries such as what am I to learn from this experience? How can I become more humble, more faithful, more charitable, more responsive to the suffering of others? In short, how can be more like Jesus? This process may not change the outcome of a particularly trying experience, but it will undoubtedly change the income—your spiritual growth and eternal perspective. The Lord will make our weaknesses strong.
Let’s examine the second phrase: “pain in this world is not evidence that God doesn’t love you.” There are those in the world today who list the tsunami in Southeast Asia, earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, natural disasters, wars and rumors of wars with their ensuing famine, pestilence and untimely death—as evidences that there is no God. Meanwhile others of professed Christian faith, who superficially acquiesce to the existence of a God, cite these very same examples to illustrate that God, although He exists, does not love His children. Or at the very least that God is not concerned with the mortal conditions and resultant suffering of His children.
Both of these assumptions are false. Rather, all things around us—the universe, the planets in their rotation around the sun and, in fine, everything created on this earth—evidences that there is a Supreme Being, a Creator, a God (see Alma 30:44).
We have the life of Jesus Christ as proof God the Father loves us. In the New Testament we read,
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son”
The life of Jesus Christ stands as a witness that the Son also loves us. Again quoting from the New Testament:
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”
Jesus Christ laid down His life for each and everyone of us. We are His friends.
One day while sharing these ideas with my son Dean Jr., age 12 at the time, I asked him what he thought about the Savior’s retention of the wounds in His hands and His feet, why Jesus thought that this might be beneficial to us. He responded, “They are proof to all who meet Him that He is Jesus Christ and that He suffered those wounds for them personally.” His response reminded me of the experience of some faithful Nephites who gathered together on the American continent some forty days after the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Savior.
Having gathered at the temple in Bountiful, they were amazed with the changes which had taken place across the face of the land. They remembered the words of the prophets who prophesied these changes would accompany the death of the Son of God.
As they stood, marveling and remembering, they heard a voice. The first two times they could not understand it. However, the third time they did understand. They looked heavenward from whence the voice came and saw a personage descending, dressed in white.
The voice they heard was the voice of our Heavenly Father, who said: “Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name” (3 Nephi 11:7). Jesus descended and stood among them. They fell to the ground, worshiping Him.
Jesus spoke to them saying,
“Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.””
Can you imagine one day being in the presence of Jesus, recognizing his voice and being invited to come and see and touch for yourself the tokens of his suffering?
“And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come”
This was done that they might know without a doubt that it was He, Jesus Christ, of whom the prophets had prophesied. He wanted them to witness these things. Herein rests the two reasons why we receive a witnesses of the Savior, of His life, of His love and of His atoning sacrifice: (1) to gain a personal testimony of Jesus and experience a mighty change in our hearts, and (2) to share that witness with others.
Jesus stands at the head of His Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He calls each of us individually to come unto Him. He gave His life for us. All that He did was designed to draw us to Him. The prophet Nephi said,
“He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him”
Note that the operative word here is draw, which could be interpreted as “attract.” He did not say force, coerce, manipulate or compel.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ was real and the resurrection of all mankind is guaranteed. The testimonies of ancient apostles and prophets were of His literal physical resurrection. They also described the righteous, from the time of Adam to the time when Christ broke the bands of death, who were resurrected shortly thereafter.
“And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection., and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”
Jesus said, “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19). “Come do the things which you have seen me do.” And finally he invites all to “abide in me” (John 15:4).
Elder Holland shared wonderful insight into this invitation. He explained that in Spanish the phrase “abide in me” is translated as “permeneced en mi.” The root verb is permenecer, which means “to remain.” Even if you do not know Latin or speak Spanish, you can recognize the related English word permanent in permenecer. So the invitation of the Savior is to come and to stay, not just for a while, but to stay permanently. (See Jeffrey R. Holland, “Abide in Me,” Ensign, May 2004, p. 32.)
Accepting this invitation, even commandment, is made possible through personal application of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Come unto Christ, allow your heart to be changed, nurture this change with faithful obedience and love for God and His children. Come unto the Savior, stand by Him, stand for Him and let not yourself be moved from Him. He knows and loves you. For this reason His Church was restored, and along with it, His priesthood, the saving ordinances of the gospel, sacred covenants and the sealing powers exercised in the temple, which will not only bind you to Him, but also to your earthly family throughout all eternity.