JESUS CHRIST: GRANTS LIBERTY TO THE FAITHFUL

Jesus Christ visits the Spirit World

While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour of their deliverance from the chains of death, the Son of God appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who

had been faithful.

--Doctrine and Covenants 138:18

Following Jesus' crucifixion and buried in the tomb, His spirit descended into the Spirit World, where the spirits of all people go when they die. He went to organize His missionary troops so they, in return, could go and preach the gospel to all those who did not have the gospel. He opened the door for freedom to those who had been faithful on the earth and in the spirit world who did not have the opportnity to hear the gospel duing their mortal lives. Prior to their freedom they were in the chains of death. Jesus frees man from bondage through our faithfulness.  

JESUS CHRIST: CELESTIAL KINGDOM INHERITANCE

Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation

God, the Father, said,  “I am God, and have sent mine Only Begotten Son into the world for the redemption of the world, and have decreed that he that receiveth him shall be saved, and he that receiveth him not shall be damned.”

God, our Heavenly Father, sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem all from sin and death, to establish a path and pattern for happy and successful living now and how to prepare for eternal life in the hereafter. The plan and pattern that God established is for those who believe in Christ and receive Him with all their hearts, will be rewarded, and this reward is salvation in the Celestial Kingdom of Heaven. On the contrary, those who reject Christ and His true gospel, will not gain eternal life in the Celestial Kingdom, but they will inherit another degree of glory, either Terrestrial or Telestial, lesser degrees of Glory. We have the freedom to choose  which path we will follow.

 “Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself. (2 Nephi 2:27).

God forces no one to choose righteousness or evil; for, He grants us our agency to act for ourselves. Herein, all have equal opportunity for freedom of choice whether to follow Christ or not. Choose wisely,

“Decisions Determine Destiny” (Thomas S. Monson)

Jesus Christ: Brings to Pass the Resurrection

Victory over Death-Man is Free

Mormon 9:13 (Book of Mormon, p. 485)

And because of the redemption of man, which came by Jesus Christ, they are brought back into the presence of the Lord; yea, this is wherein all men are redeemed, because the death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all men shall be awakened by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed from this eternal band of death, which death is a temporal death.

Redemption comes by Jesus Christ, and His redeeming power brings us back into the presence of God. On our own, we sin and fall short of being able to enter His presence, but by the power of Christ’s atonement and His redeeming capacity, we are blessed with a knowledge of repentance and then feeling God’s presence once again. Following our death,  this endless sleep of the body, we will be resurrected by the gift and power of the atonement of Christ. Were it not for His atonement, our bodies would remain in the grave and our spirits in the world of spirits, and eventually evolve into a satanic spirit. Christ removed the bands of death and made resurrection possible. Victory over the grave is now possible. “Death is conquered, man if free; Christ has won the victory” (See LDS hymn “He is Risen”). Death is no more a sting, but a stepping stone in our eternal progression, thanks to our Lord and Redeemer.

May we praise, honor, and obey Him now and forever, for in Him is joy, peace, and eternal rewards, even never-ending happiness and exaltation.

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Obedience and Freedom

Elder Boyd K. Packer

"The more obedient we are, the more freedom we have."