Jesus Christ spent His last few
days teaching in Jerusalem by day and spending His nights with friends in
Bethany. Most scholars say that He ate His Passover meal on Thursday evening,
but some say that it was Wednesday. Whichever night it was, He introduced the
sacrament to His Apostles, sang and hymn with them, and took them with Him into
the Garden of Gethsemane. He took Peter, James, and John and went a little
further. He bade them wait for Him
while He went to prayer. After praying several times, He woke His exhausted
friends and went to meet His betrayer.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was
arrested and taken before the Sanhedrin. After being abused by them all night,
He was taken before Pontius Pilate in the early morning hours. Pilate tried to
free Him but eventually sentenced Him to death while at the same time releasing
a condemned murderer. Jesus was scourged or beaten with a whip made of leather and
weighted with sharp pieces of lead and bone. After beating the Savior, the
Roman soldiers mocked Him by putting a purple robe on Him and a crown of
plaited thorns.
The Savior had been up more than 24
hours by this time. He spent His day teaching in the temple and His evening
with His Apostles. Then He went into Gethsemane where He continued His atoning
sacrifice. He spent the night before the Sanhedrin and was taken before Pilate
in the morning hours. After all this terrible treatment, He was expected to
carry His own cross to Golgotha. His physical strength apparently failed Him
because the soldiers compelled another man to carry the cross.
Jesus was nailed to the cross about
9:00 in the morning. About noon a darkness covered the land, and the Savior
died about 3:00 p.m. His body was taken down from the cross and placed in a
borrowed tomb where it lay until early Sunday morning. Peter tells us that
Jesus Christ visited the spirit world while His body was lying in the tomb.
“For Christ also hath once suffered for
sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
By which also he went and preached unto
the spirits in prison;
Which sometime were disobedient, when
once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a
preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water (1 Peter
3:18-20).
For for this cause was the gospel
preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men
in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit (1 Peter 4:6).
In 1918 President Joseph F. Smith
was in his home in Salt Lake City, Utah. He read and pondered the above quoted words
of Peter. While he was pondering Peter’s words, a vision opened to him, and he saw
“an innumerable company” of “the hosts of the dead, both small and great”
gathered in one place. The spirits “were filled with joy and gladness, and were
rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand.” They were
waiting to welcome “the Son of God into the spirit world.” He watched as “the
Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful.”
He preached His gospel to the faithful and taught them “the doctrine of the
resurrection and the redemption of mankind from the fall, and from individual
sins on conditions of repentance.” He did not visit as wicked, ungodly,
unrepentant, or rebellious spirits. (See Doctrine and Covenants 138:11-21.)
President Smith marveled about what
he was seeing, and he continued to ponder Peter’s words where he said that
Jesus “preached unto the spirits in prison, who sometime were disobedient, when
once the long-suffering God waited in the days of Noah” (Doctrine and Covenants
138:28). He wondered how the Savior could teach all the spirits in the spirit
world during the short period of time that His body was in the tomb. Then the
vision continued.
And as I wondered, my eyes were opened,
and my understanding quickened, and I perceived that the Lord went not in
person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to
teach them;
But behold, from among the righteous, he
organized his forces and appointed messengers, clothed with power and
authority, and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel
to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the
gospel preached to the dead (Doctrine and Covenants 138:29-30).
We know from President Smith’s
vision that the Savior was busy with His work of saving the souls of mankind
even though His body was lying in the tomb awaiting resurrection. Early Sunday
morning followers of Jesus Christ discovered that His body was missing from the
tomb. Soon afterwards the resurrected Savior appeared to them. They were
allowed to touch the nail holes in His hands and feet and to thrust their hands
into His side.
To the Jews, the Sabbath Day is
Saturday. The Christians changed their Sabbath Day to Sunday because Jesus
Christ rose from the dead on Sunday. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the
most important event to take place on earth. His Resurrection is celebrated
every year in the spring on a day called Easter. Without the events of Easter,
there would be no Christmas. If Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead, He
would have been just another of the billions of mortals on earth. However, He
did rise from the dead and made it possible for all mankind to be resurrected
and become immortal. President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008) taught the
following about the importance of the Resurrection of the Savior.
“He is not here: for he is risen, as he
said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay” [Matthew 28:6].
These are the most reassuring words in
all of human history. Death – universal and final – had now been conquered….
Never had this occurred before. There
had been only death without hope. Now there was life eternal. Only a God could
have done this. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ was the great crowning event
of His life and mission. It was the capstone of the Atonement. The sacrifice of
His life for all mankind was not complete without His coming forth from the
grave, with the certainty of the Resurrection for all who have walked the
earth.
Of all the victories in the chronicles
of humanity, none is so great, none so universal in its effect, none so
everlasting in its consequences as the victory of the crucified Lord, who came
forth from the tomb that first Easter morning.
Those who were witnesses of that event,
all who saw and heard and spoke with the Risen Lord, testified of the reality
of this greatest of all miracles. His followers through the centuries lived and
died in proclamation of the truth of this supernal act.
To all of these we add our testimony
that He who died on Calvary’s cross arose again in wondrous splendor as the Son
of God, the Master of life and death (“Special Witnesses of Christ,” Ensign, Apr. 2001, 15).
A beautiful program presented by the
Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square can be found at this site. It is
titled “He Is Risen: A Sacred Easter Presentation.”
No comments:
Post a Comment