“Truly, Jesus Christ is the way to peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come,” said President Dallin H. Oaks in closing the 196th Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
While uniting to celebrate with other believers the “literal resurrection of Jesus,” President Oaks also taught Sunday morning that “for us, the universal resurrection is equally certain.”
“The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form,” he quoted from the Book of Mormon. “Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female.”
The conviction that death is not the conclusion of an individuals’ identity changes the whole perspective of mortal life, President Oaks taught. “Our belief in the resurrection also encourages us to fulfill our family responsibilities in mortality. It helps us live together in love in this life in anticipation of joyful reunions and associations in the next.”
A hope bigger than death
After the death of three other children in his homeland of the Congo, Elder Thierry K. Mutombo of the Quorum of the Seventy described finding in the crib his 9-month-old baby no longer alive. “Holding his body in my arms, I cried.”
“Do you hear our cries and prayers?” he and his wife Nathalie felt to pray — with feelings captured in Emma Lou Thayne’s hymn:
“Where, when my aching grows; Where, when I languish
“Where, in my need to know, where can I run? Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish? Who, who can understand?
“He, only One.”
Sometimes we need “the faith in Jesus Christ that all will work out in the end,” Elder Mutumbo said.
After speaking about his 3-year-old grandson’s death, Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said, “I know Paxton’s spirit and the body shall be reunited again in … perfect form.”
“All who live or ever have lived, who come unto Christ and live his gospel,” the apostle continued, “will feel joy beyond any earthly expression as we reunite, resurrected, with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ, our parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and ancestors.”
Trusting God no matter what
“How could this happen?” was something early disciples may have asked after Jesus died, said President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “How could the man who had cast out demons, healed the crippled, cured the sick, walked on water, conversed with angels, taught the blessed hope and infinite glory of the gospel, fed multitudes and raised the dead — how could he, himself, have died?”
Despite “the heaviness of their hearts and the unanswered questions in their minds,” Mary and her companions made their way to the tomb, President Uchtdorf said. “They didn’t come expecting a miracle. They didn’t come anticipating their questions would be answered.”
“They came because they knew when the world is dark, the best place to go is towards ‘the light (that) shines in darkness,’” he said. After encountering the empty tomb, these women became “the world’s first witnesses of the single greatest event in the history of this world” and “learned for themselves the glorious truth of His Resurrection.”
Latter-day Saints must all do the same, President Uchtdorf said, despite whatever questions and weight they carry. “We must encounter the empty tomb (and) experience the reality of what it means.”
‘Jesus Christ in the present tense’
While many today may note the “significant influence” Jesus had “on the world’s religious history,” Elder Uchtdorf added. “We understand he is not confined to the pages of a book any more than he was confined to that grave of stone. The scriptures teach us not only who Jesus was but who he is. Because of what happened on that Sunday morning, we can speak of Jesus Christ in the present tense. He lives!
“Today. At this moment.”
“Because Jesus Christ conquered death,” the apostle said, “surely, he can conquer any danger, confusion, or doubt we face.
Jesus Christ bringing joy
Elder Taniela B. Wakolo, a General Authority Seventy, said Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know the tears of people everywhere and the feelings of “every praying heart, and every child.”
President Emily Belle Freeman, Young Women General President, described learning weeks earlier that her husband Greg’s cancer had returned. “Jesus Christ knows all about best days and worst days: Suffering so great that an angel was sent to strengthen him,” she said. "The betrayal of a good friend. The cross on Calvary.”
“But his story also has a garden, a stone rolled away and an empty tomb. Because of him, no matter how bad things are right now, your best days are ahead.”
President Freeman quoted “For the Strength of Youth: A Guide for Making Choices” as teaching: “Jesus Christ brings joy. … You might have a bad day, a bad week, or a bad year. (Just remember,) joy is not the absence of sorrow in your life; it is the presence of Jesus Christ in your life.”
“May we be at peace, brothers and sisters,” Elder Rasband added, for the Lord has promised, “where I am, there ye may be also.” He also shared an Easter hymn’s declaration: “He is risen! Tell it out with joyful voice” and “Let the whole wide earth rejoice.”
Jesus Christ bringing peace
President Oaks recounted a story from a nurse helping a “most repulsive man” in a care facility who made life miserable for the nurses. “She despised him.”
Yet after hearing a loud crash and finding him fallen from bed “thrashing about in a pool of broken glass, liquid, and blood,” the nurse described a profound change that came over her as she felt “an almost electric current of love” from God helping her see him as a “child of God.”
She knelt and comforted him in her arms, as he said, “I just want to go home.”
“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you,”
President Oaks quoted Jesus’ famous teaching — reflecting: “What a revolutionary teaching for personal relationships! Love even your enemies!”
“As followers of Christ, we should seek to live peaceably and lovingly with other children of God who do not share our values and do not have the covenant obligations we have assumed,” he taught.
Jesus inviting all — denying none
Elder Edward B. Rowe, a General Authority Seventy, described following a guide for several days through a former war zone where undiscovered landmines remained. For his safety, he was told, “Walk in his footsteps a few paces behind him. Where he goes, you go. Where he steps, you step.”
Similarly, he taught, “I need Jesus Christ to be my guide through life’s journey amidst its spiritual landmines. All of us do.”
Elder Rowe emphasized the consistency of Christ’s invitation: “Come, follow me.” “Walk with me.” “Return unto me.”
“His invitation is to all — whoever we are, wherever we are,” he said, citing Nephi’s description of Christ inviting “all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him.”
“Jesus Christ denieth none,” Elder Rowe said. “No one need walk alone!”
Rejoicing in Christ
“I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell,” quoted Elder Aaron T. Hall, a General Authority Seventy.
Christ was not “someone distant” to this ancient believer from the Book of Mormon. “No, to Nephi, the name of Jesus was his salvation — knowing that “there was none other way, nor name given under heaven whereby men can be saved in the Kingdom of God.”
“Who can glory too much in the Lord?” he quoted Ammon as saying, “Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.”
“I too, can scarcely express the smallest part of which I feel for my Jesus,” said Elder Hall. “Today, I glory in our Redeemer. His arms of mercy are extended towards us.….He calls to us, gathers us, rescues us, and fills us with His love.”
“‘Who can glory too much in the Lord!’”