Week 15 is scheduled for study April 3-9, 2023. This Easter week we study the life and love of our Savior. Our study focuses on our hope in Christ, and our hope in the resurrection.
Day 1
As you read the testimonies of the Savior’s Resurrection in this outline, make note of the feelings and impressions that come to you from the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 21-28 – Jesus Christ delivers me from sin and death, strengthens me in my weaknesses, and comforts me in my trials.
In order to do what the manual suggests for today’s lesson, I recommend you first read the article I wrote about the love of God that goes with today’s lesson.
A Personal Relationship With Christ
Now that you have read the article, I recommend that you keep these things in mind as you head off and follow the manual and study the last week of Christ’s mortal ministry, seeking all the ways he shows us his love for us.
Day 2
As you read the testimonies of the Savior’s Resurrection in this outline, make note of the feelings and impressions that come to you from the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 28:1-10; Luke 24:13-35; John 20:19-29; 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 55 – Many witnesses testify of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Today’s topic is one that might be difficult to comprehend, primarily because we live in a different time. Our outlook on life is from the perspective that the resurrection happened thousands of years in the past for the first time, and has been going on ever since then. We are accustomed to taking it as a fact, and for granted that it happened and is happening. But to the people of Christ’s day, once you died only stories claimed that someday you might live again. To them, death had a real sting to it, for no one had ever returned from the dead to live forever. Sure, there were those who were raised from the dead, but eventually they all died again. It took real faith to believe that what seemed so final was really only a pause in our progression.
As you might imagine, the disciples were overcome to see Jesus return from the tomb. They didn’t have movies like us where we regularly have people return to life or regularly commune with the dead. To the common folk of Jesus’ day, death was the end of existence, unless you were able to believe the stories that someday the Messiah would come and change that. His resurrection took away the sting that death and the prospect of eternal separation caused the people to feel.
As you read the scriptural accounts of people dealing with the resurrection of Jesus, notice that they had all heard the words about his resurrection during his time of teaching them, but it wasn’t real to them, for it had never happened before. They didn’t see how it could possibly be or be done. They had no experience yet with the fact of someone being resurrected, let alone someone raising himself from the grave! It was a completely new experience to their minds. We have had a lifetime to get used to the idea, and many of us have heard of, and talked about, the resurrection since we were children. Small wonder they had such trouble grasping the reality of such an event, and its grand implications. But what joy and hope must have filled their hearts when the reality of eternal life dawned on them!
Day 3
As you read the testimonies of the Savior’s Resurrection in this outline, make note of the feelings and impressions that come to you from the Holy Ghost.
1 Peter 1:3-11 – Jesus Christ gives me hope and joy.
Sometimes I find it easier to read the scriptures using the original Greek words rather than what the translators substituted for them. It may have made more sense to them in their day, but the original Greek is far easier for us to understand today. This passage also has a note from the Joseph Smith Translation (JST).
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant hath us again unto a
[living] by the resurrection of from the dead,4 To an incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the of God through unto salvation
[prepared] to be revealed in the last time.6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a , if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
:7 That the of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the of Jesus Christ:
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet , ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9 Receiving the
[JST – object] of your , even the of your souls.10 Of which the have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it beforehand the of Christ, and the that should follow.
In verse four, corruptible things are things that die. So something that is incorruptible lives forever. This understanding really improves the prospects of this verse for me.
Verse six assures us that even with the trials and afflictions life brings our way, and the heaviness they bring to our soul, Christ has an everlasting salvation prepared for us, pure and eternal in its duration. We have much to hope for.
FHE/Personal Study
The Living Christ
The whole key to our religion, from start to finish, rests on the fact that we have a living, breathing, Redeemer. He has promised that each of us will also receive what he has, life eternal through the resurrection from death. The fact that we believe in the reality of the resurrection is what sets us apart from all other religions. Even some Christians don’t understand what the resurrection is, and believe that it is only temporary or that we borrow someone else’s body for a short duration then die for good. Many Christians don’t even believe that Jesus has his original resurrected body. They believe he dumped it when he no longer needed to be among mortals.
We believe in the literal resurrection. Resurrection, by definition is to receive a body that lives forever, never to die again. It is a body that can be glorified with endless amounts of glory, allowing us to progress eternally. Our entire religion is based on this one doctrine or tenet. Everyone who comes to earth will experience a resurrection. In that resurrection they will receive a type of body that is suitable for the kind of life they lived in mortality.
Christ was resurrected, reuniting with his body. Not his mortal body, but his body now glorified and eternal in nature. Each of us will receive the same kind of body, one that is eternal in nature, never to die again, and never again to be subjects to the pains and afflictions we have while in mortality. This is the object of our faith, to follow Jesus into eternity with a resurrected body that is capable of being enlarged and glorified eternally, to have a body like our Father in Heaven has.
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Week 15
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