The Narrative of the Resurrection
READ John 20:1 and Matthew 28:1-4
What
time in the morning did Christ rise from the dead?
Early, before the sun was up or even
twilight.
It was dark when He arose.
But the sun was coming… wake up early on
Easter morning before the sun is up, go outside and listen. You will hear a testimony of the risen Lord –
when it is yet dark, but the day will soon break forth – the time of the day
when He returned to life! (Many birds will
be singing from the trees – they are joyful, almost raucous in their desire to
fly in the spring air – a kind of hallelujah and hosanna shout from nature).
READ Moses 6:63
Why
had the Jews and Romans sealed the tomb and set a guard?
To prevent the disciples from stealing
the body and saying He was resurrected – as a Messiah/Son of God might do.
What
happened on Easter morning?
There was a great earthquake.
A bright light like noonday appears in
the sky.
An angel steps out of the pillar of fire
and rolls the stone away (this was so incontestable an event that the Jewish
leaders bribed the guards to say it was Christ’s followers, see Matthew
28:11-15).
The guards faint or are overcome with the
light of the angelic glory.
Why
was the stone rolled away – did it have to be?
It did not have to be rolled away - Christ’s
resurrected physical body could ascend through a stone tomb just as He later
came through the walls or roof of an “upper room” to visit the grieving
disciples; He didn’t need help exiting the tomb.
The stone was rolled away by the angels to
testify to everyone that the tomb was empty.
READ Matthew 28:5-8
What
is the angel’s joyous testimony?
All you who seek Jesus, to better prepare
His body for death, HE IS NOT HERE, FOR HE IS RISEN!
What
is his charge to the women?
Spread the word including telling His
disciples/apostles.
It’s interesting that the angel didn’t go
directly to the apostles, but they had not come to the tomb – spiritual
experiences happen because your heart is prepared and you are following the
dictates of the holy spirit.
READ Luke 24:10-11
How
did the Apostles react to this testimony?
They did not believe the women’s account.
They thought them “idle tales” – which is
a somewhat condescending response.
READ John 20:3-8
What
did the Apostles do?
Peter and John (only) ran to the
sepulcher to validate the women’s story.
They found that it was true – or at least
the grave was opened, the body was gone and the grave clothes were lying on the
stone table – there were no angels to greet them.
READ John 20:11-17
Who
is the first mortal to see the living, resurrected Christ?
Mary Magdalene (see Mark 16:9).
It was not the Apostles – they weren’t
even second or third.
What
had Mary done after she had told the Apostles about the experience with the
angels at the tomb?
Grieving, she returned to the sepulcher.
It is interesting that she was grieving
after having been told by angels that Christ had risen. Perhaps the experience with the Apostles had
negatively affected her faith to the point that she didn’t now really believe
what they thought she’d just experienced.
This is also borne out in the question she asks the “gardener” later.
Who
met her there?
Two (new) angels, who ask her why she is
weeping.
Why
does Mary suppose Christ to be the gardener?
Because He’s dressed simply, as a
gardener.
Because her eyes are “holden” that she
does not recognize Him; she cannot see with her spiritual eyes – they have
“scales” over them – so she does not perceive the truth; this shows how easily
the mortal eyes are fooled.
Resurrected beings can hide their glory
from mortals.
So,
what really happened at the tomb when Mary recognized Christ?
When Mary recognized it was Jesus, she
leapt for Him and embraced Him, and He embraced her back.
The phrase “touch me not” or even “hold
me not” is not a good translation from the Greek. “Touch” or “hold” should be translated
“embrace.” And the “me not” should be
translated “cease doing what you are now doing”.
The Lord was triumphant, exultant,
overjoyed at His return from the grave/triumph over death and Mary shared His
joy.
Christ had the deep satisfaction of
having accomplished the most difficult assignment given by the Father, knowing
it was a benefit to all His Father’s children (Alma 11:42-44), and He had done
it perfectly – which is what was required of this particular task. He had to be precisely what He was or He
could not have been saved (see LoF 7:9).
He had attained unto the resurrection Himself – never to be separated
from His glorious physical body again (see Alma 11:45) but ready to step into
the role the Father now occupies while the Father then ascends to even more
glory (see TPJS 391:2 and 392:1).
After a while, He said, essentially,
“Mary, I’ve got to go. I’ve got to
ascend up to heaven to see Father and Mother.
You’ve got to let me go now”.
Then the portal to heaven appeared, a
pillar of golden fire, and He ascended up in it and was gone; implied here is
that Christ opened that portal to heaven – He had been taught how to do that
(perhaps on the Mount of Transfiguration when the veil was opened and He
ascended through it to the presence of heaven).
READ Matthew 28:9
Who
were the next witnesses to Christ’s resurrection?
The other women who had come to the tomb
to prepare His body for a proper burial.
His mother,
Mary, was in their company.
What
do they do when they see Him?
Fall down at His feet and worship Him.
The word “held” is a poor translation and
should be “seized” or “grasped”.
READ Luke 24:13-32
On
the Road to Emmaus, how did Christ enter their conversation and what does this
teach us about Him?
He did not push His agenda – He did not
have a “message” but joined the conversation where they were (and were willing
to go with it).
He will not unduly influence us – we must
engage Him with questions – He honors our agency.
What
does this exchange about the testimony of the women tell us about where the men
were with regards to their faith?
They did not really believe the women.
There was still a lot of doubt.
How
did Christ react to this lack of faith?
He called them “fools” who were “slow to
believe”.
What
was Christ’s message to them for several hours as they walked the Road to
Emmaus?
He taught from the scriptures.
Although He could have revealed anything
– expounded ANY new doctrine - He took them back into what had been written
with a hope to help them understand what was “hidden” in plain sight.
He taught them to recognize what Moses
and all the prophets had seen when they had written their testimonies and
prophesies of the Messiah in the Old Testament; He “opened” to them many
scriptures that they no doubt thought they understood but did not.
Implied is that many scriptures have a
hermetic element – one does not understand them (at a deep and true level, at
least) until one has been initiated unto the spiritual life through one’s own
experiences through the veil with Heaven.
What
does Christ’s seeking to go further when Cleopus and his companion got to Emmaus
teach us about how we must engage with Him?
We must invite Him – we must ask, seek
and knock.
But if we do, He will gladly “tarry” with
us.
If we do not, He will continue on His way
without us.
Why
might the breaking of the bread be what opened their eyes to Christ’s identity?
That had only been done once that they
knew about – by Christ in the Upper Room at the Last Supper.
Even though He had spent the day
discoursing to them about the Messiah, they didn’t recognize Him until He was
in an environment where the proof was incontestable! (Only Christ would have known to break the
bread and bless it like that).
It was the ordinance of remembrance for
the disciples.
But it is interesting to note that they
felt the Spirit burn within them on the road while listening to Him expound and
open the scriptures to them, and yet they lacked the faith or insight to see
who it was who was teaching them.
Why
did He vanish from their presence?
He had others to see (Peter and later the
Apostles).
He had done His work with them.
He did not want them “thrill seeking” or
perhaps their fear became elevated when they realized it was Him (as they were
all afraid later that night when He appeared to them again, with the Apostles).
READ Luke 24:34
Who
did Christ visit next?
Simon Peter, the Chief Apostle.
What
is implied about the Apostles by the way they introduced this knowledge to
Cleopas and his companion?
He has risen “indeed” – meaning, since
Simon Peter told them it was true, they believed it (but even then, it’s almost
too much to believe, as we will see shortly).
They didn’t believe the women but are
more willing to believe Peter; not sure if this has to do with Church authority
at this point or not – it could have been Peter’s personality or credibility
with the group – but it’s interesting that they didn’t believe Mary Magdalene
or Christ’s own mother.
READ John 20:19-20 and Luke 24:36-45
Even
after all these witnesses, including 3 in the room that had been visited by
Christ that very day, how did the Apostles and disciples react when Jesus
appeared in the locked upper room?
They are terrified, thinking He is a spirit
of the dead.
How
could Christ, with a resurrected physical body of flesh and bones, walk through
a wall to surprise the Apostles in a locked room?
Although His body is “physical” and made
of “flesh and bone”, it is not like our flesh and bone.
All spirit is matter, but it is more fine
or pure – His body (elements or matter) is purified and refined (see D&C
131:7-8; TPJS 235:2, 395:2).
How
do the Apostles, the disciples and the women gain a knowledge of the reality of
the resurrection of Christ?
They “handle (Him) and see” – it is
firsthand, tactile experience through the physical, natural, mortal senses that
gives knowledge that is irrefutable in this world.
Even then they doubt (“wonder”) and He
has to eat before them to confirm the witness of their eyes and hands.
READ John 20:26-31 and LoF 2:56
Why
did all these witnesses see the risen Lord?
To testify, through their knowledge or
direct tactile experience (see Ether 3:19-20) that He lives again.
To then share that testimony with others
so that a) they also might begin to believe in Christ themselves and b) to
provide evidence or examples of His desire that those who have not seen Him
should also come unto Christ and know Him for themselves, that they might also
have Eternal Life (implied is that eternal life is tied to knowing Christ in
this way).
Resurrection is the “fruit” of His
ministry – the proof that He was/is the Son of God (John 20:31), not just
another prophet or even the Messiah (as the Jews defined it: someone to save
them from Rome).
Eventually, all of us will become a
witness of the risen Lord as very knee will bow and tongue proclaim that Jesus
is the Christ; the key is to accept His invitation to come unto Him now, so
that the later experience at the judgement bar might be a good one – seek the
Lamb, rather than wait for the Lion to come.
Are
those who believe in Christ without seeing Him more blessed than those who see
Him?
No, this is a lie taught by religious
leaders who have not seen Him and fear losing their power and authority in the
face of those who have seen Him.
Think of the level of fear and jealousy
that would be caused in the heart of a Church leader who had not seen Christ
(particularly in a Church where Apostles were once given a charge to witness
the Lord and told that their ordination to the Apostleship was not complete
until they had), listening to the witness of a mere member or (heaven-forbid…)
a non-member who was a tactile witness of the risen Lord; in a religious world
where these kind of witnesses are equated with relative righteousness,
spiritual greatness, and authority to command, this would be extremely
threatening.
If
those who have not seen Christ but have faith to believe are also blessed, why
did Christ show Himself to them and not just send the Holy Ghost to testify
that He had indeed risen?
It does not say that those who believe by
faith are MORE blessed than those who know by touch, just that they are ALSO
blessed; we take this to mean that they are blessed at least the same if not
more, but “also” blessed doesn’t imply that – it could also mean that they are
“also blessed” but not to the same level – the phrase is unclear.
Those who truly believe in God will see
him. God appears to those who love him and believe in him. Those who have not
seen God do not yet really believe in him. They don't do what he says,
and they don't seek him--not completely, not yet, otherwise seeing Him would
change nothing for them and that is never the case. This is an interesting paradox.
Thomas is being chastened because he
would not believe until he had seen Christ in person; Christ is pointing out
that his “sign seeking” requirement (“I’ll only believe if I see”) is troubling
– and what he should have done (to be “blessed”) was believe in Christ’s
resurrection based on the witness of others and the testimony of the Holy
Spirit, then sought for his own tactile witness, in patience.
So, having faith in Christ based on the
testimony of others is vitally important but is just a step toward the required
witness needed to be redeemed and sealed up to Eternal Life (LoF 2:56; 3 Nephi
11:14-17).
It appears from D&C 76 that all those
who are to inherit the Celestial Kingdom MUST be redeemed from the fall by
reentering into God’s/Christ’s presence (Ether 3:13) AND receiving the
testimony of Jesus to the Father that they are clean and sealed up to Eternal
Life (which happens in the literal presence of Christ and the Father, D&C
88:74-75 and D&C 76:51-54) IN THIS MORTAL LIFE.
The only exception being those who died
before having received this witness and testimony who WOULD have experienced it
if they had not died prematurely (D&C 137:7-8); all others inherit at best
a Terrestrial glory (D&C 76:74-76).
In
D&C 93:1, the Lord says that anyone who forsakes their sins, calls on His
name and follows His commandments will see His face and know that He is (see
also John 7:17); if you find yourself doing what He said and not obtaining the
result, why is that the case?
Either: you are not actually doing what He
said because He did not say what you think He said.
Or, you are not actually doing what He
said because you have not yet heard (the rest of or totality of) what He said.
Or God does not exist.
Those are the only three possibilities, but
really there are only two. I can tell you that the third possibility is not correct,
because I have experienced the baptism of fire (which is the gate to the path
that leads back to Christ in this life) and I know others who have followed
that path to the end and met Jesus Christ, and their testimony is that He is as
real as you or me.
The gospel is evidence-based. If we are
not experiencing a life as filled with the same magnitude and quantity of
miracles as the scriptures, we should diligently search for what we are doing
wrong. We are either willfully disobeying God, or slack in our seeking of His
word.
What
is implied by the order in which Christ visited the mortal witnesses of His
resurrection?
Family and personal relationships trump
ecclesiastical authority (Mary Magdalene, Mary His mother, the Other Mary,
Cleopas, all before the Apostles).
When He does visit ecclesiastical
authority, He does so by their rules (i.e. Peter the Chief Apostle is first
visited).
No one can make rules to dictate who He
can or cannot visit (Saul was a hated persecutor of the Church) or when He can
visit them.
Key determining factors seem to be: faith
in Christ, love for Christ, a willingness to lay one’s whole soul on the altar
in repentance, a complete desire to keep and an honest attempt at obedience to
all Christ’s commandments.
The Doctrine of the Resurrection
What
is resurrection?
Uniting of a spirit entity with a body of
flesh and bones, never again to be divided (Alma 11).
It comes to all who have been born on
Earth, through Christ’s atonement.
The glory of resurrected bodies differs
based on the amount of light, gained through obedience to natural spiritual
law, we accumulated while on Earth.
The timing of the resurrection is
somewhat unknown (and varied), for instance when Christ visited the righteous
after His death, most of them were not resurrected, but sent on missions to the
unconverted dead.
A Son of God attaining to a resurrection
applies it to the whole creation that had fallen and was subject to death, not
just to people – including the entire cosmos – everything within this eternity,
as it is all subject to God.
Without a resurrection, nothing can break
the bands of death.
What
are the implications of this definition?
Jesus Christ was resurrected – He was the
first of God’s children on this earth to do so – he broke the bands of death.
Christ does nothing He has not seen his
Father do: The Father is an embodied God of glorified flesh and bone – meaning
He was also resurrected in a prior eternity.
If
we don't have a physical resurrection, who will we be in the eternities?
A body is a “robe of righteousness” with
which to clothe the being of light within; it is an “avatar” which enables the
being of light to interact within whatever dimension or cosmos of light they
exist within; while beings of more light can descend (con-descend) to visit
worlds and dimensions of less light, there is an element of danger and
destruction for that world of lesser light as it encounters an entity of much
more light/energy/heat in close proximity and without a “robe” or “avatar”;
it’s like how a transformer takes power at a high voltage and lowers it for
uses where the high voltage would be too much and burn the circuits its running
through – which would not serve the circuits, if that makes sense.
The doctrine that the resurrection is not
literal is an apostate doctrine of the highest degree because at its heart it
says that God is not a perfected man but is a paradoxical essence without body,
parts or passions – in other words, a non-entity.
We would not be happy - a fullness of joy
is not possible without resurrection; spirits view their long absence from a
physical body as a bondage or burden (see D&C 138:17 and 138:50) for
reasons we don’t fully understand in this current state.
We would be subject to the devil and not
to God, as He is a “God of the Living and not the dead” (see Matthew 22:32 and
2 Nephi 9:7-11).
READ Alma 42:15, Romans 6:23 and Alma
12:27
What
requires that all mortals die?
Justice.
Death is the “wage of sin”.
Death is deserved by all who sin – it is
justice for sinners to die.
READ Hebrews 4:15 and D&C 20:22
Did
Christ sin?
No.
He kept all the commandments required of
a god living in a telestial world, by eternal law.
He was heavily tempted but did not submit;
to be a fair test, Satan was allowed to tempt Christ much more than he can
tempt us; he has boundaries he cannot cross with regards to how he can interact
with us.
Regardless of His personal sinless
status, He was “made” guilty of all our sins when He took them upon Himself in
the Garden of Gethsemane.
READ Mosiah 15:9
Why
was Christ able to break the bands of death?
It was unjust for death of claim Him, as
He had never sinned.
When He unjustly submitted to death,
receiving the wages of sin while being sinless, He earned the right to break
the bands of death and take up His body again, as the Law of Justice could not
prevent it (in fact, Justice was on His side) - Christ’s resurrection,
therefore, came as a matter of right to Him because the grave could make no
just claim upon His life.
When the life of a man that should have
lived forever has been taken, what has been given up was infinite (2 Ne 9:7).
Therefore, the price He paid was infinite (Alma 34:10).
What
did that allow Christ to then do?
Whatever justice demanded had been
satisfied, and He could then intercede for all mankind and bring all creation
back into a restored state.
READ TPJS 391:2
“Here, then, is eternal life—to know the
only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves,
and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you,
by namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity
to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you
attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting
burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting
power. And I want you to know that God, in the last days, while certain
individuals are proclaiming his name, is not trifling with you or me.”
What
does it mean to “attain” to something?
To earn, achieve or to accomplish it.
To come to or arrive at, especially after
some labor or tedium.
What
does it mean to “attain to the resurrection of the dead”?
It means to earn it – to live a perfect
life, be “made guilty” of sin, to submit to death unjustly, and then to break
the bands of death and merit a resurrected body able to dwell in everlasting
burnings.
What
is the difference between Christ’s resurrection that we benefit from and a
resurrection that we “attain” to ourselves?
In the first we are the undeserving
recipient of God’s (Christ’s) grace.
In the second we earn our own
resurrection, having moved from “exaltation to exaltation” and by so doing,
have “learned to be a God yourself”, having done what all God’s do – redeem
others who are depending upon a sacrifice on their behalf.
READ Alma 11:45
How
does Joseph Smith’s teaching of resurrection as something that everyone who is
saved must attain to in a future eternity square with Amulek’s discourse?
Perhaps “never
to be divided” refers to never being separated again in THIS eternity or cycle.
Perhaps the
soul (body and spirit – see D&C 88:15) is never separated in any eternity
again, unless we willingly choose to lay down our resurrected body in a future
eternity, either to gain more light and a better resurrection OR to go on a
rescue mission on behalf of loved ones who are mortals on an Earth (not
necessarily playing the role of Christ but of a “noble and great soul” – see
Abraham 3:22-23 – sent to prove or help those on that earth).
Or perhaps it
refers to those who have attained unto the resurrection themselves, like
Christ, who then takes His Father’s role but cannot condescend to come to Earth
as a mortal again because HIS body and spirit are now inseparably sealed and
receive a fullness of joy (and a fullness of glory) – remember that Christ is
the “prototype of the saved man” and to be saved is to be precisely as He is
and nothing else.
This is the trek that every saved man
must take to complete the process. Hence Joseph’s saying, “It will be a great
while after the grave before” we will rise up to be gods ourselves (TPJS
393:1). Do not sleep away this life. Awake and arise! There is a great deal to
be done. There is no magic to this process - there is only progression and
refinement. It will be required for each of us, just as has been required of
all who went before, that we “learn to be gods” by what we experience. Part of
that learning must eventually include the ability to break the bonds of death,
as Christ did (Mosiah 15:20). But we develop during mortality, and receive from this life exactly what we
develop into while mortal (2 Ne 9:16 and Alma 40:12). God’s patience for us is infinite. It will
require going “from exaltation to exaltation” before we ascend to be like
Christ is: “the prototype of the saved man.” Those who think it is enough to
merely “get into heaven” are really talking about “the deaths” (D&C 132:25)
and not what God offers His children. God offers eternal lives (D&C
132:22-24). Those who will endure to the end, (2 Ne 33:4) worlds without end,
(D&C 76:112) will receive eternal life and obtain the resurrection. We must
be exactly and precisely like Christ to receive all power in heaven and earth,
including the power of the resurrection. It was only after His resurrection Christ
claimed this power (Matt 28:18).
