Almost all of had have had to experience the pain of losing someone. We are all mortal and we all die, its part of life, as well as part of our eternal progression. Sadly, many people don’t understand the implications of death. Thanks to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Book of Mormon, we know more about death—we know that there is hardly a reason to be sad. Death, although it may be hard because we will miss the person, is not the end—we will see them again!
“The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.
-And now, my son, this is the restoration of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets—
-And then shall the righteous shine forth in the kingdom of God.” (Alma 40: 23-25)
When Christ preformed the Atonement, he overcame death. We read in a scripture we have read before: “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.
-And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; 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.” (Alma 7:11-12)
After Christ was crucified, died, and was buried in a tomb, 3 days later a woman named Mary went to visit His tomb. She got there to find an empty tomb, and found the Savior in a glorified, perfected state. He had ‘overcome the bands of death’. We read in the scriptures:
“Begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works.” (Alma 33: 22)
Because Christ overcame death, we ALL will be resurrected, righteous or unrighteous, in order to be judged of God. We read in the New Testament: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Corinth 15:22). Thanks to Christ we will all be resurrected. He overcame mortal death and spiritual death. The spiritual death is what we need to overcome, with the help of the Savior, by living the gospel. When we die, our bodies stay on earth while our spirits leave the world and go to a place called the spirit world, there, the gospel is preached to all those who never had a very good chance to accept the true gospel. They will have a chance to accept it there—we see how fair God is in this—he wouldn’t give his gospel to one person, and not too another and then judge them equally. All will have a chance to either accept or reject the Gospel. We will be there until the time of the resurrection comes, which will be during the second coming of Christ. After that, we will be judged, and according to how we lived, we will receive a subsequent reward in heaven. The highest of all these, God has saved for those who have accepted his gospel and endured to the end—Eternal Life. Eternal life is not immortality, when we are resurrected, we all become immortal, but Eternal Life is the opportunity to enjoy all of the same blessings that God enjoys. Christ himself taught us this principle:
“- And for this cause ye shall have a fulness of joy; and ye shall sit down in the kingdom of my Father; yea, your joy shall be full, even as the Father hath given me fulness of joy; and ye shall be even as I am, and I am even as the Father; and the Father and I are bone;” (3 Nephi 28:10)
We are literal sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, and just like we have the potential to become like our fathers and mothers here on earth (if that is our choice), we have the potential to become like our Heavenly Father! That is the purpose to life—to prepare to become like our Heavenly Father. In our life in the Spirit World before we were born to this earth, we had progressed all that we could, we could not progress further. Therefore, God sent us down here to learn and to grow, and gain experience for our futures. If we will live worthy here on earth, not only will we have a rockin’ life (that is not to say it won’t be hard, but we will have a greater understanding of why it is, and how it is blessing us), but we will be able to receive the highest blessing imaginable. Like I said earlier, God has a plan for each of us, he wants us to be happy, and if we will follow his will be heeding the words of the prophets, both ancient and modern, we can fulfill that plan!
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