Easter is a celebration of the resurrection of the Savior, Jesus Christ, and His victory over the grave. Mormons, or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, believe that the Savior’s victory over death extends to all of us— thus the “sting of death is swallowed up in Christ” (Mosiah 16:8).
President Ezra Taft Benson, then prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also mistakenly called the Mormon Church, said in 1992:
“The greatest events of history are those that affect the greatest number of people for the longest periods. By this standard, no event could be more important to individuals or nations than the resurrection of the Master. The literal resurrection of every soul who has lived and died on earth is a certainty…. Nothing is more absolutely universal than the resurrection. Every living being will be resurrected.”
Mormons believe that we are spirit children of our Heavenly Father, that He has a plan for us and that we lived with Him before we were born. Jesus Christ’s resurrection is an essential component to Heavenly Father’s plan.
“As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22, online Bible).
Lehi, a prophet in the Book of Mormon who brought his family from Jerusalem to the Promised Land in the Americas, taught, “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy. And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall” (2 Nephi 2:25-26).
Death, the separation of the spirit from the body, is one of the natural consequences of the fall of Adam. But through the resurrection of the Savior, every person who has ever lived on the earth will have their spirits reunited with their bodies in a perfect, immortal state. (See Alma 11:42-45.)
“There is nothing more universal than death, and nothing brighter with hope and faith than the assurance of immortality. The abject sorrow that comes with death, the bereavement that follows the passing of a loved one are mitigated only by the certainty of the Resurrection of the Son of God that first Easter morning,” President Gordon B. Hinckley, then prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ, said in 1996. “What meaning would life have without the reality of immortality? Otherwise life would become only a dismal journey of ‘getting and spending,’ only to end in utter and hopeless oblivion.”
But it is difficult to discuss the resurrection of the Savior without mentioning the rest of His atoning sacrifice— coming to the earth, suffering the penalty for our sins and His death on the cross (True to the Faith). The Atonement is the “supreme expression of our Heavenly Father’s love for us” and “the greatest expression of the Savior’s love for the Father and for us” (True to the Faith). (See also John 3:16, 15:9-13)
And through the Atonement of Christ all mankind have the opportunity, according to their faithfulness, to return to our Heavenly Father and enjoy His eternal blessings.
“Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him— Saying … Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life” (Doctrine & Covenants 45:3-5).
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6)
“There shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent” (Mosiah 3:17).
For Mormons, “we commemorate the miracle of the empty tomb” (President Hinckley) at Easter as well as the Savior’s sacrifices leading up to this glorious day and the hope they bring for all mankind.
This article was written by Lisa Montague, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I am a wife and mother of 4 beautiful children in a small town in the mountains of Idaho. We ski as a family in the winter and camp, fish, and go to the beach in the summer. I’m a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I am grateful for the Savior and the blessings of the gospel in my life.
