“Resurrection is much more than merely
reuniting a spirit to a body held captive by the
grave…” (Dallin H. Oaks, Ensign, 2000 May, pp. 14-16)
Resurrection and
Final Judgment
Alma 40-41
Thomas S. Monson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBxxYyaev7g
Death, Resurrection, & Judgment
1. How many resurrections are there? Is there a set time/date for
the Final Resurrection to happen?
2. Will we see God as soon as we die?
3. How will the final judgment work?
4. Will everyone be resurrected?
5. What will we be judged by?
6. What is the law of Restoration?
7. In what ways will we look different after we are resurrected?
8. What happens to people who are cremated or have donated
organs?
9. Who will judge us?
10. Is it normal to feel worried about the Final Judgment?
Read the first verse of Alma 40, 41 and 42
and see what’s happening with
Corianton after having heard Alma’s
previous message.
How many resurrections are
there? Is there a set
time/date for the Final
Resurrection to happen?
(see Alma 40:4-5)
Resurrection
“All people will not be resurrected to the
same glory (1 Cor. 15:39–42; D&C 76:89–
98), nor will all be resurrected at the same
time (1 Cor. 15:22–23; Alma 40:8; D&C
76:64–65, 85). Many Saints were resurrected
after Christ’s resurrection (Matt. 27:52). The
righteous will be resurrected before the
wicked and will come forth in the first
resurrection (1 Thes. 4:16); the unrepentant
sinners will come forth in the last
resurrection (Rev. 20:5–13; D&C 76:85).”
Guide to the Scriptures, lds.org
Resurrection
“We have not the ordinance and the keys
of the resurrection. They will be given to
those who have passed off; 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. This is one of the ordinances
we cannot receive here, and there are
many more.”
Discourses of Brigham Young, pp. 397-398.
See also Spencer W. Kimball, "Our Great Potential," in CR April
1977, pp. 69-72
Will we see God as soon as
we die?
(Alma 40:11)
Will we see God as soon as
we die?
“These words of Alma as I understand
them, do not intend to convey the
thought that all spirits go back into the
presence of God. “Taken home to
God,” simply means that their mortal
existence has come to an end, and they
have returned to the world of spirits.”
Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 2:84-86
How will the final judgment
work?
(Alma 40:12-14)
Final Judgment
“The Final Judgment is not just an evaluation
of a sum total of good and evil acts – what we
have done. It is an acknowledgment of the
final effect of our acts and thoughts – what we
have become.”
Dallin H. Oaks, “The Challenge to Become,” Ensign, Nov. 2000, p. 32
Final Judgment
“When he does judge us, I feel he will take
all things into consideration: our genetic and
chemical makeup, our mental state, our
intellectual capacity, the teachings we have
received, the traditions of our fathers, our
health, and so forth.”
M. Russell Ballard, “Suicide: Some Things We Know,
and Some We Do Not,” Ensign, Oct. 1987, p. 8
Will everyone be
resurrected?
(Alma 40:16)
Resurrection
“Death releases a spirit for growth and
development and places a body in the repair
shop of Mother Earth, there to be recast,
remolded into a perfect body, clean, whole,
perfected, and ready for its occupant for
eternity.”
The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p.45
Resurrection
“One day loved ones whom we knew to have
disabilities in mortality will stand before us
glorified and grand, breathtakingly perfect in
body and mind. What a thrilling moment that
will be! I do not know whether we will be
happier for ourselves that we have witnessed
such a miracle or happier for them that they
are fully perfect and finally ‘free at last.’”
Jeffrey R. Holland, October 2013 General Conference
What will our bodies look
like?
(Alma 40:18)
Resurrected Bodies
“President Joseph F. Smith said people will come
forth "even to the wounds in the flesh. Not that a
person will always be marred by scars, for these
will be removed in their course, in their proper
time..." [Gospel Doctrine, 4th p. 30.] Deformities
will be corrected immediately at the time of the
uniting of the spirit and body. We may be sure
that every man will receive his body in its perfect
frame in the resurrection.”
Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 2:293-294.
Resurrected Bodies
“It is true that Christ showed His wounds to the
Nephites to give to them a witness of his
suffering. [3 Ne 11:10-17.] These wounds have
remained in his hands, side, and feet all
through the centuries from the time of his
crucifixion and will remain until his Second
Coming.”
Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 2:290-292.
What will we be judged by?
(Alma 40:21)
Final Judgment
“In the final day, all men will stand before the
bar of God in a final day of judgment. The
eventual destiny of all men will have been
determined before that day.”
Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah, p.515
Final Judgment
“Worthiness interviews represent the
rehearsal stage for final judgment. Such
interviews are a blessing, a choice
opportunity to account to the Lord through
His authorized servants of our sacred
stewardship.”
Joseph B. Wirthlin, “True to the Truth,”Ensign, May 1997, p. 16
What is the law of
Restoration?
(Alma 40:22-23)
The Law of Restoration
“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 some other form, but the same identity and
the same form and likeness, the same person
we knew and were associated with in our
mortal existence.”
Joseph Fielding Smith, Gospel Doctrine, p. 22
The Law of Restoration
“Every man and woman will be as beautiful as the
angels that surround the throne of God. If you can
obtain the right to come up in the morning of the
resurrection, you need entertain no fears that the
wife will be dissatisfied with her husband, or the
husband with the wife; for those of the first
resurrection will be free from sin and from the
consequences and power of sin.”
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 10:24
The Law of Restoration
“In both of the (lower) kingdoms there will be
changes in the bodies and limitations. They will
not have the power of increase, neither the
power or nature to live as husbands and wives,
for this will be denied them and they cannot
increase. Some of the functions in the celestial
body will not appear. I take it that men and
women will, in these kingdoms, be merely
immortal beings having received the
resurrection. ”
Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 2:288-289
In what ways will we look
different after we are
resurrected?
(Alma 40:25)
The Beauty of the Resurrection
“We bear the image of our earthly parents,
but by…the holy resurrection, we shall put
on the image of the heavenly, in beauty,
glory, power and goodness.
Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p.374
“There is nothing grander that I can imagine
than a resurrected body.”
Lorenzo Snow, 5 October 1900, CR, p. 4; Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, p.99
What happens to people who
are cremated or have
donated organs?
(Alma 41:2)
Death
“Much of the cremated body is carried off into
the air and only a small portion of ash remains.
However it is impossible to destroy a body. It
makes no difference whether a body is
consumed by fire, buried in the depths of the
sea, or placed in the tomb, the time will come
when every essential particle will be called
back again to its own place, and the individual
will be reassembled with every essential part
restored.”
Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, 2:100
What word best describes what
we are judged by?
(Alma 41:5)
Justice and Mercy
“For every good deed we have done, we shall
receive the full reward that it is possible to
bestow…for every ill thing we do, there will
be imposed upon us the least penalty that
may properly be bestowed – eternal justice
seasoned by mercy and love.”
J. Reuben Clark, Conference Report, April 1958, pp.48-49
Who will judge us?
(Alma 41:7)
Justice and Mercy
“On that dramatic day there can be no saving
swagger – no panache. Those whose
grievance with God will be simply speechless.
The promised day of judgment will come, and
all men will be left “without excuse.” (D&C
101:93; Romans 1:20.). We will receive what
we really chose, and none can or will question
the justice or mercy of God.”
Neal A. Maxwell, Things As They Really Are, pp.111-113
What if you are worried about
the Final Judgment?
(Alma 41:9,14)
The Final Judgment
“I sat with a youngster and he was fretting. And I
said, “Son, all you have to worry about is that you
are doing your best in the place where you are
today. That is all you have to be concerned about.
You are not going to be judged by how you
measure to someone else. The only measure by
which you are going to be measured is, ‘How will
you compare with what you had the capacity to
do?’ We are all born with different capacities and
all He asks is that we do our best; and that’s the
measure by which we’ll be judged when that time
comes.”
The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, pp. 64-65
“Resurrection is much more than merely
reuniting a spirit to a body held captive by the
grave…” (Dallin H. Oaks, Ensign, 2000 May, pp. 14-16)
Resurrection and
Final Judgment
Alma 40-41