Alma 41-42

1. Alma 41-42 “Resurrection” There are more than 80 references to the “resurrection” in the Book of Mormon (That is twice as many as the New Testament).

2. The prophet Brigham Young provided an interesting sight into one factor influencing the precise time of a given individual’s resurrection: We have not, neither can we receive here, the ordinances and the keys of the resurrection. They will be given to those who have passed off this stage of action and have received their bodies again…They will be ordained, by those who hold the keys of the resurrection, to go forth and resurrect the Saints, just as we receive the ordinance of baptism, then the keys to baptize others for the remission of sins. This is one of the ordinances we cannot receive here, and there are many more (JD, 15:137).

3. C.S. Lewis (In a letter to Mary Willis, Sept. 30, 1958) “…We must both, I’m afraid, recognize that, as we grow older, we become like old cars – more and more repairs and replacements are necessary. We must just look forward to the fine new machines (latest resurrection model) which are waiting for us, we hope, in the Divine garage!” (The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis vol. iii, 975)

4. The Resurrection 1st Resurrection: a. Morning = b. Afternoon = 2nd Resurrection: = 3rd Resurrection: =

5. President Brigham Young further explained that there are certain “particles” unique to each individual which will form the basis for his or her resurrected body: “The question may be asked, do not the particles that compose man’s body, when returned to mother earth, go to make or compose other bodies? No, they do not… Neither can the particles which have comprised the body of man become parts of the bodies of other men, or of beasts, fouls, fish, insects, or vegetables…They are governed by divine law and though they may pass from the knowledge of the scientific world, that divine law still holds, governs and controls them.

6. Man’s body may be buried in the ocean, it may be eaten by wild beasts, or it may be burned to ashes, they may be scattered to the four winds, yet the particles of which it is composed will not be incorporated into any form of vegetable or animal life, to become a component part of their structure…at the sound of the trumpet of God every particle of our physical structures necessary to make our tabernacles perfect will be assembled, to be rejoined with the spirit, every man in his order. Not one particle will be lost” (Brigham Young, in Elders’ Journal, 1 (1875) 153 in Robert J. Matthews, Selected Writings of Robert J. Matthews: Gospel Scholars Series, 518-19).

7. “There is no fundamental principle belonging to a human system that ever goes into another in this world or in the world to come; I care not what the theories of men are. We have the testimony of God that will raise us up, and he has the power to do it. If anyone supposes that any part of our bodies, that is, the fundamental parts thereof, ever goes into another body, he is mistaken” (Joseph Smith, HC, 5:339).

8. “We will meet the same identical being that we associated with here in the flesh, not some other soul, some other being, or the same being in the same person we knew and were associated with in our mortal existence, even to the wounds in the flesh. Not that a person will always be marred by scars, wounds, deformities, defects or infirmities, for these will be removed in their course, in their proper time, according to the merciful providence of God. Deformity will be removed; defects will be eliminated, and men and women shall attain to the perfection of their spirits to the perfection that God designed in the beginning.

9. Joseph Smith added this important insight about the resurrection: “As concerning the resurrection, I will merely say that all men will come from the grave as they lie down, whether old or young, there will not be ‘added upon their stature one cubit,’ neither taken from it; all will be raised by the power of God, having spirit in their bodies of the same stature that they had on earth, having been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; they will there enjoy the fullness of that light, glory, intelligence, which is prepared in the celestial kingdom. ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors and their works do follow them’ (Revelation 14:13, HC 4:555-56).

10. …What else would satisfy us? What else would satisfy the desire of the immortal soul? Would we be satisfied to be imperfect? Would we be satisfied to be decrepit? Would we be satisfied to remain forever and ever in the form of infirmity incident to age? No!... From the day of the resurrection, the body will develop until it reaches the full measure of the stature of its spirit whether it be male or female” (Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 23-24).

11. “Against the medals and monuments of centuries of men’s fleeting victories stands the only monument necessary to mark the eternal triumph, and empty the garden tomb” (Howard W. Hunter, Ensign, May 1986, 15).

12. Alma 41-42 Alma 41:3-5, 10, 13-14 “The Law of Restoration” Self-inflicted scars and infirmities, tattoos, piercings. President Spencer W. Kimball said: The body will be free from all imperfections and scars and infirmities which came to it in mortality which were not self-inflicted. Would we have a right to expect a perfect body if we carelessly or intentionally disfigured or damaged it? We shall have our resurrected perfected bodies through eternities. They were given to us…

13. …We had little to do with getting them. It then becomes our duty to protect them from hazards, from mutilation, or disfigurement. We should treat them well building them with proper foods, proper rest, proper exercise, and keep them strong, robust, beautiful, and undamaged and live on and on till called home by our Lord” (Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 36-37).

14. “We should look upon this body as something that shall endure in the resurrected state…Be not afraid of soiling its hands; be not afraid of scars that may come to it won in earnest effort, or in honest fight, but beware of scars that disfigure, that have come to you in places where you ought not have gone, that have befallen you in unworthy undertakings; beware of the wounds of battles in which you have been fighting on the wrong side” (James E. Talmage, C.R., Oct. 1913, 117).

15. Alma 41:7 How will wicked people feel when “they are their own judge?” “The great misery of departed spirits in the world of spirits, where they go after death, is to know that they come short of the glory that others enjoy and that they might have enjoyed themselves, and they are their own accusers… “A man is his own tormenter and his own condemner…The torment of disappointment in the mind of man is as exquisite as a lake burning with fire and brimstone” (Joseph Smith, Teachings, 310, 357).

16. Alma 41:2, 12 How long will it take for deformities in the flesh to be removed in the resurrection? “President Joseph F. Smith said that the same person, in the same form and likeness, will come forth ‘even to the wounds in the flesh….’ “….These changes will come naturally, of course, but almost instantly” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 2:293-4).

17. Alma 41:10 “Wickedness never was happiness!” “You cannot do wrong and feel right. It is impossible” (Ezra Taft Benson, New Era, June 1986, 5). “Wickedness never did, never does, never will bring us happiness. Violation of the laws of God brings only misery, bondage, and darkness” (Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings, 71).

18. Alma 42 “Justice vs. Mercy” Prerequisite = “law” Perhaps the greatest scriptural exposition on justice and mercy! Justice and Mercy are united through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

19. Alma 42:10 “A Probationary State” The word probation if found only ten times in the Standard Works, and nine of those references are in the Book of Mormon. What an essential doctrine in understanding the Fall and the Atonement, a doctrine of prolonged opportunity for mortal men and women in which the gospel can be taught to and accepted by them, a doctrine gleaned almost exclusively from the Book of Mormon (Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, 209).

20. Alma 42:3-13, 22-25 Justification: By Grace or Works? What must one do to stand justified before God? Does one seek God’s favor through fasting, prayer, and rituals? Or are such to be eschewed in favor of the doctrine that “the just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17)? Such was the issue over which the Roman Catholic Church and Martin Luther did battle. Of this struggle one noted scholar wrote: “This doctrine of justification by faith has divided the old unity of Christendom; has torn asunder Europe, and especially Germany; has made innumerable martyrs; has kindled the bloodiest and most terrible wars of the past; and has deeply affected European history and with it the history of humanity” (Joseph F. McConkie, Book of Mormon, Keystone Scripture).

21. Alma 42:14-15, 21-25, 30 How do the laws of justice and mercy work together? “Justice requires that God must be a God of order and that he must be just and impartial… “The law of mercy agrees entirely with the law of justice. However, the law of mercy introduces the possibility of vicarious payment of the laws that have been transgressed…Whenever a law is transgressed (or broken), a payment (or suffering or atonement) must be made; however, the person who transgressed the law does not need to make the payment if he will repent and if he can find someone else who is both able and willing to make payment” (Daniel H. Ludlow, Companion, 176).

22. Alma 42:16, 22 “Repentance could not come…except there were a punishment.” “There can be no forgiveness without real and total repentance, and there can be no repentance without punishment. This is as eternal as is the soul… It is so easy to let our sympathies carry us out of proportion; and when a man has committed sin, he must suffer. It is an absolute requirement” (Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, May 1975, 78).

23. Alma 42:29-31 Four last bits of counsel! “This one last thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before” (Philippians 3:13).

24. Paul’s healthy attitude toward his own past in which he had relentlessly persecuted the Christians was his meek realization that had been forgiven. He did not intend to let his yesterday hold his tomorrow hostage; instead, he pressed forward and forgot that which was past” (Neal A. Maxwell, Meek and Lowly, 93-94).