“Lesson 17 Class Preparation Material: Finding Hope in Jesus Christ’s Victory over Death,” Jesus Christ and His Everlasting Gospel Teacher Material (2023)
“Lesson 17 Class Preparation Material,” Jesus Christ and His Everlasting Gospel Teacher Material
Lesson 17 Class Preparation Material
Finding Hope in Jesus Christ’s Victory over Death
Our bodies are a blessing! At least, it’s easy to feel that way when we’re healthy. But what about when we experience such things as hunger, disease, injury, or disability? Have you seen the sometimes debilitating effects of age on a family member or even experienced the death of a loved one? As you think about physical suffering and death, consider how deepening your belief in Jesus Christ and His Resurrection can bring you hope and peace.
Section 1
How can studying the accounts of the Savior’s Resurrection strengthen my faith?
After Jesus Christ was crucified, His body was placed in a tomb. On the morning of the third day, Mary Magdalene discovered the tomb was empty, and she wept. Two angels asked her why she was weeping. She replied, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him” (John 20:13).
Study in Preparation for Class
Read John 20:14–18, and think about what it might have been like to be the first eyewitness of the resurrected Savior. (The phrase “Touch me not” is rendered “Hold me not” in the Joseph Smith Translation. Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles suggested the Lord may have been saying to Mary, “You cannot hold me here, for I am going to ascend to my Father” [The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary (1981), 4:264]. You might also watch the video “Jesus Is Resurrected” [4:05] to gain more insight into Jesus’s Resurrection.)
As part of His Atonement, the Savior was the first person on this earth to be resurrected. His spirit was reunited with His perfected, immortal body. Latter-day Apostles have testified: “As Risen Lord, He visited among those He had loved in life. He also ministered among His ‘other sheep’ (John 10:16) in ancient America. In the modern world, He and His Father appeared to the boy Joseph Smith” (“The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles,” ChurchofJesusChrist.org).
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most carefully documented events in the scriptures (see Russell M. Nelson, “Life after Life,” Ensign, May 1987, 8–10). To deepen your testimony of the Savior’s Resurrection, read one or more of the following eyewitness accounts or watch the corresponding videos:
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Read Luke 24:36–40, or watch “The Risen Lord Jesus Christ Appears to the Apostles” (2:19).
2:19 -
Read Luke 24:13–33, or watch “Christ Appears on the Road to Emmaus” (3:32).
3:32 -
Read John 20:24–29, or watch “Blessed Are They That Have Not Seen, and Yet Have Believed” (2:29).
2:29 -
Read 3 Nephi 11:12–17, or watch the Book of Mormon video “Jesus Christ Shows Himself at the Temple” (5:43).
5:40 -
Read Joseph Smith—History 1:16–17; Doctrine and Covenants 76:22–24; 110:1–4.
Record Your Thoughts
Take a few minutes to record what you thought and felt as you studied one or more of these accounts.
Section 2
How can a deeper understanding of the Resurrection increase my faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?
Your body has eternal significance and is key to your happiness in this life and the next. The Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith that “spirit and element [body], inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; and when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:33–34). In a vision of the spirit world, President Joseph F. Smith said the dead “looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage” (Doctrine and Covenants 138:50). Think about how important the Resurrection is to God’s plan for His children.
In his letter to the Corinthian Saints, the Apostle Paul taught that if Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead, “then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14).
Study in Preparation for Class
Read 1 Corinthians 15:17–22 and 2 Nephi 9:8–9 (you could also watch “Resurrection of the Dead” [1:39]), and consider what would have happened to us if Jesus Christ had not been resurrected.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles helps us understand some additional doctrinal implications of the Resurrection:
Consider for a moment the significance of the Resurrection in resolving once and for all the true identity of Jesus of Nazareth and the great philosophical contests and questions of life. If Jesus was in fact literally resurrected, it necessarily follows that He is a divine being. No mere mortal has the power in himself to come to life again after dying. Because He was resurrected, Jesus cannot have been only a carpenter, a teacher, a rabbi, or a prophet. Because He was resurrected, Jesus had to have been a God, even the Only Begotten Son of the Father.
Therefore, what He taught is true; God cannot lie.
Therefore, He was the Creator of the earth, as He said.
Therefore, heaven and hell are real, as He taught.
Therefore, there is a world of spirits, which He visited after His death.
Therefore, He will come again, as the angels said, and “reign personally upon the earth” (Articles of Faith 1:10).
Therefore, there is a resurrection and a final judgment for all. (“The Resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2014, 113)
Looking at the Savior’s Resurrection from an eternal perspective, President Ezra Taft Benson taught:
The greatest events of history are those that affect the greatest number of people for the longest periods. By this standard, no event could be more important to individuals or nations than the resurrection of the Master. (“The Meaning of Easter,” Ensign, Apr. 1992, 2)
Ponder in Preparation for Class
Considering the importance of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, what could you do to strengthen your understanding and testimony of it?
Section 3
How can a testimony of the Resurrection bring me peace and hope?
Think about the physical challenges you or people close to you have faced or are facing. Think about family members or close friends who have died. Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy offered the following perspective about these difficult mortal experiences:
Each of us has physical, mental, and emotional limitations and weaknesses. These challenges, some of which seem so intractable now, will eventually be resolved. None of these problems will plague us after we are resurrected. …
… The miracle of resurrection, the ultimate cure, is beyond the power of modern medicine. But it is not beyond the power of God. …
… For all who have laid a child in a grave or wept over the casket of a spouse or grieved over the death of a parent or someone they loved, the Resurrection is a source of great hope. What a powerful experience it will be to see them again—not just as spirits but with resurrected bodies. (“And There Shall Be No More Death,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2016, 122, 123)
As an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ, the Apostle Paul rejoiced in the Savior’s victory over death.
Study in Preparation for Class
Read 1 Corinthians 15:53–55, and consider how trusting in the Savior’s Resurrection can take away the sting of death.
Note: The term “incorruption” here means our body will no longer be subject to decay or death.
Act
How can you use what you have learned about the Resurrection to strengthen your testimony? Who do you know that could be blessed by hearing your thoughts and feelings about the Savior’s Resurrection? Consider sharing what you think and feel with that person.