Thursday, December 12, 2013

Bonus Post: The When of Resurrection

Step 4, which I'm guessing happens just before, or at the same time as Step 3, is the completion of the First Resurrection. Fortunately, the manual spells it out very clearly who will be resurrected when, so I don't mind throwing in an extra blog post to relay that information, especially since I still have some time before I leave to go to institute.

Those who have obtained the privilege of coming forth in the resurrection of the just will rise from their graves. They will be caught up to meet the Savior as He comes down from heaven.

Two phrases stood out to me in that little paragraph. First, "the resurrection of the just" and second, "as He comes down from heaven." The "when" here is very clearly explained. The "who" is explained a little later:

Those who already have been resurrected and those who will be resurrected at the time of His coming will all inherit the glory of the celestial kingdom.

So, the "resurrection of the just" is when those who will "inherit the glory of the celestial kingdom" are resurrected "as [Jesus] comes down from heaven" at the second coming.

Naturally, some of the people who will inherit the celestial kingdom will still be alive at the time of the second coming. They won't need to be resurrected then because they'll still be alive. When it comes time for them to die, they'll go from a mortal state to an immortal state without actually dying and being brought back to life through resurrection. That change is called "translation" and it has happened to a few of the ancient prophets, including Moses and maybe Abraham, if I'm not mistaken.

However, the "first resurrection" includes more than just the "resurrection of the just." It also includes the resurrection of those who will inherit the terrestrial kingdom.

After the resurrection of those who will inherit celestial glory, another group will be resurrected: those who will receive a terrestrial glory. When all these people have been resurrected, the First Resurrection will be completed.

But since everyone will be resurrected (or translated), there's a time for those who will receive the telestial kingdom, or worse, to be resurrected as well, but they'll have to wait a while. To find out how long they'll have to wait, we need to read from Revelations.

In Revelations 20, John records a vision he saw of the Second Coming and the millennium, which I'll get to later. In this vision, he saw that "the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God," and they rest of the righteous, I would assume, "lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years" ... "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished" (Revelations 20: 4-5).

So the last resurrection, or the resurrection of the unjust (so to speak), will not happen until after the millennium. A thousand years is a long time to wait, but as promised, everyone who has ever been born will be resurrected eventually.

When it comes to resurrection, it's not a question of "if," but rather "when," and once again, we make that decision ourselves by choosing between righteousness and wickedness. It's all up to us to say which we will choose and when we will be resurrected.

1 comment:

goliah said...
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