Chapter Three
On our earth, there have already been millions of people resurrected over the past twenty centuries. But, never once before Earth-year AD 34 did such an encounter occur on any planet created by our Heavenly Father, Earth included.
A lot of people have been waiting an unimaginably long time to be resurrected. The few centuries our forefathers have to wait seems long to them, but it’s a drop in the bucket compared to how long the inhabitants of many other worlds have been waiting.
Likely, most if not all such people would have been translated or partially quickened similar to the effect bestowed upon John the Beloved and the Three Nephites. Any time after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, such people may be further quickened instantaneously to their resurrected state.
In the case of John the Beloved and the Three Nephites, we know they will tarry in their physical bodies until the return of Christ to our Earth, whereupon their physical bodies will be instantaneously resurrected without ever having to enter the grave.
Understand this. A resurrected body is a physical, tangible body of flesh and bones. It is made immortal and whole, completely healed of all ailments and infirmities.
Easter is the celebration of one of the two greatest events ever to transpire in the history of the entire human family begotten by God, who is our Heavenly Father. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the event being celebrated.
The other momentous event, the birth of Jesus Christ, is of course celebrated as Christmas, every Twenty-fifth of December. A third grand event, the greatest of all, is the return of Jesus Christ to our Earth in the fullness of his glory. This event is yet to come, but is not far off.
What makes the resurrection of Jesus Christ the most significant event to date? Why could his resurrection be considered more significant than his birth? Jesus Christ is the only member of the entire human family on this earth and every other earth he has created and his Father has populated who was endowed with complete power over life and death, including his own and everyone else’s. While Christ’s birth was obviously significant and prerequisite to his resurrection, his birth did not complete his infinite atonement. His resurrection did.
What is resurrection? There are a lot of misconceptions about this word, even among Christians. Many non-Christians have never even heard the word resurrection, let alone understand what it means. Many confuse resurrection with the false concept of reincarnation.
Reincarnation is one of the biggest lies out there. Many brilliant intellectuals and highly educated scholars and philosophers fall prey to this lie and go so far as to vigorously defend and perpetuate the lie. Doing so makes their station in society a paradox. How can such utter stupidity and unabashed, willful ignorance reign in the highest circles of education? Peer pressure knows no age limit.
Resurrection is the permanent, eternal reuniting of a spirit with the body into which it was born. In the process, the body is made immortal and whole, restored to its youthful prime. There is no such thing as a maimed resurrected body. The only exception being that Jesus Christ kept the prints of the nails in his hands and feet, and the print of the spear in his side, as tangible testaments of his crucifixion.
These prints serve as a means whereby any who meet him can recognize him. The prints of his crucifixion are irrefutable evidence of his divine identity as the Savior, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Only Begotten Son of the Father in the flesh. When coupled with the undeniable witness of the Holy Ghost that enables you to understand that Jesus Christ is exactly who he says he is, the prints of his wounds further prove beyond any doubt whatsoever that Jesus Christ completed his divine mission to atone for all of his Father’s children, wherever they may be, if they will but accept him.
Only the most jaded, defiant, obdurate individuals would be foolish enough to actually think him an imposter or a failure or incompetent or nonexistent after having had every opportunity presented them to know him. Sadly, many fit such a description, and they do so of their own volition. These resist truth and persist against the whisperings of their deepest conscience. They are embarrassed and even offended by that which is most correct and sensible. They are quick to take offense where no offense is intended.
When Jesus Christ resurrected himself after his body was in the tomb and his spirit was in the spirit world for three and a half days, he became the first of our Heavenly Father’s creations to ever experience resurrection. Christ’s power to effect his own resurrection includes the power to effect the resurrection of every spirit created by our Heavenly Father who has ever been born and who will ever be born into a mortal body. That includes all forms of life, all species. But, we are talking most particularly about human beings, the literal offspring of our Heavenly Father.
We humans, regardless of the countless worlds we inhabit, are unique among all of God’s creations. We are created in his image, male and female. We have the potential to become his equals, gods and goddesses. None of his other creations share this identity and this infinite potential.
Christ’s power of resurrection is not extended to those who have forfeited their right to be born. In other words, birth is prerequisite to resurrection. That much is obvious to anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of the concept. Not so obvious is the fact that resurrection is inevitable and inescapable for all who are born.
Those of whom Christ spoke, saying it would have been better for them if they had never been born, will wish the inevitability of resurrection were not so. They will have willfully and knowingly indulged their life in murderous sin and will have denied Christ and the Holy Ghost who testifies of him. They will have deliberately and persistently and impenitently harmed Christ’s little ones. That is another topic for another book.
The point here is that you do not get to go through your life unrepentant of your sins, refusing to correct and control your thoughts, your feelings, your attitudes, and your behaviors, and then expect a pleasant resurrection. Hence the saying, you reap what you sow.
When you fought for your right to be born, you won the fight through your faith in Jesus Christ, even before Christ himself was born. That took guts.
Those who lost that fight lost their first estate. They cannot ever be born, and thus will never be resurrected. Resurrection naturally requires both a spirit and a body created specifically for that spirit. No birth, no body. No body, no resurrection. It’s that simple.
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