Easter Program Message

I stumbled upon this blog and was so touched by it, that I just had to share it with all of you. I will take credit for nothing here. It only echos my thoughts and feelings at this time, especially as we prepare to listen to our new prophet in General Conference. I'm looking forward to the solemn assembly where we will sustain Presiden Monson. How awesome to be a part of this historic event.

In our Northern Hemisphere, we are enjoying in this beautiful, bursting season of the year one of the great recurring miracles of nature—the regeneration and renewal of the earth that we call spring. There may be a few wintry days left, but the sun has begun its vernal return, the buds are appearing on the flowers and trees, and luxuriant greenery is sprouting to the surface.
How fitting that it is in this season that all of Christendom celebrates on Easter Day the great restoring and renewing resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, declaring all of the joy and eternal promise that event holds for mankind. With you, I welcome this season of the year which reminds us that God is a God of miracles, that his Only Begotten Son is “the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in [him], though he were dead, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25.)
In this beautiful time of year, we remember that death has no sting and the grave has no dominion. I testify that after every winter’s season there is the miracle of springtime ahead—in our personal journey through life as well as in nature. These restorations and renewals are a gift from the Lord Jesus Christ, the ultimate “man for all seasons.”
Men and women in all parts of the world have a desperate need to take time from their demanding routines of everyday life and to quietly observe God’s miracles taking place all around them. Think of what would happen if all of us took time to look carefully at the wonders of nature that surround us and devoted ourselves to learning more about this world that God created for us!

The Easter season is a good time for people everywhere to appreciate the wonders of nature and give thanks to the Creator of this beautiful world.
O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonderConsider all the worlds thy hands have made,I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,Thy power throughout the universe displayed;Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to thee,How great thou art! How great thou art!The psalmist wrote, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour” (Ps. 8:3–5).

The Lord gave an answer to the psalmist’s question; it is recorded in the book of Moses: “For mine own purpose have I made these things. … And by the word of my power, have I created them. … For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:31–32, 39).
Truly, the heavens and the earth and all things in them evidence the handiwork of God, their Creator. What beautiful time of year with spring beginning to burst forth, bringing all of its colors, scents, and cheerful sounds. The miracle of the changing seasons, with the reawakening and rebirth in nature inspires feelings of love and reverence within us for God’s marvelous, creative handiwork. In the book of Moses we read, “And behold, all things have their likeness, and all things are created and made to bear record of me, both things which are temporal, and things which are spiritual; things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of me” (Moses 6:63).
Jesus lives. He is the Living Christ. He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament and the Messiah of the New. Under His Father’s direction, He was the Creator of the earth.

The gospel of John opens with these remarkable words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:1–3).
Note particularly that last verse, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
He was the great Creator. It was His finger that wrote the commandments on the Mount. It was He who left His royal courts on high and came to earth, born under the most humble of circumstances. During His brief ministry, He healed the sick, caused the blind to see, raised the dead, and rebuked the scribes and Pharisees. He was the only perfect man ever to walk the earth. All of this was part of His Father’s plan.God himself, the Father of us all, ordained and established a plan of salvation whereby his spirit children might advance and progress and become like him.
The Creation, the Fall, the Atonement, and the Resurrection are events inseparably woven together. Not one of them stands alone; each of them ties into the others; and without proper perspective of all of them, it is not possible to fully appreciate the truth about any one of them.
We will come to know that the Creation set the stage in the Garden of Eden to provide for the Fall. The coming Fall would take us downward and forward and onward. Death and procreation had yet to enter the world. That death would be Adam’s gift to man and, then, the gift of God would be eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And thus, in Lehi’s precise and eloquent language, all men are in “a state of probation” because of the Fall.
And “if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the Garden of Eden.” He was then in a state of physical immortality; meaning he would have lived forever because there was as yet no death. “And they [our first parents] would have had no children”; they would have been denied the experiences of a mortal probation and a mortal death; and it is out of these two things—out of death and the tests of mortality—that eternal life comes. But—thanks be to God—“Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy. And the Messiah cometh in the fullness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall.” (2 Ne. 2:21–26.)
And although we love the Lord, oft times we may exclaim with Nephi “O wretched man am I. My flesh is weak and I’m encompassed by a world of sin.”
But thanks be to God for the wonder and the majesty of His eternal plan. Thank and glorify His Beloved Son, who, with indescribable suffering, gave His life on Calvary’s cross to pay the debt of mortal sin. He it was who, through His atoning sacrifice, broke the bonds of death and with godly power rose triumphant from the tomb. He is our Redeemer, the Redeemer of all mankind. He is the Savior of the world. He is the Son of God, the Author of our salvation.In all of history there has been no majesty like His majesty. He, the mighty Jehovah, condescended to be born to mortal life in a stable of Bethlehem. He grew as a boy in Nazareth and “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).
He was baptized by John in the waters of Jordan, “and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:16–17). During the three years of His earthly ministry, He did what none other had ever done before; He taught as none other had previously taught.
Then came His time to be offered. There was the supper in the Upper Room, His last with the Twelve in mortality. As He washed their feet, He taught a lesson in humility and service they would never forget. There followed the suffering of Gethsemane, “which suffering,” He said, “caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit” (D&C 19:18).
Few places on earth are as sacred and important as this small grove of olive trees here on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. It was here in the Garden of Gethsemane, on that last night in mortality that Jesus left His Apostles and descended alone into the depth of agony that would be His atoning sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. Moving slowly, kneeling, falling forward on His face, He cried, “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt” (Mark 14:36).
Is it any wonder that we walk quietly and reverently here? Is it any wonder that we make sacred covenants because of the love that was demonstrated here? Is it any wonder that Christ, the greatest of all, partook of the bitter cup and did not shrink here, that we might not suffer if we would repent and come unto Him? To the thoughtful follower of Christ, it is a matter of surpassing wonder that the voluntary and merciful sacrifice of a single being could satisfy the infinite and eternal demands of justice; atone for every human misdeed; bear every mortal infirmity; feel every personal heartache, sorrow, and loss. But I testify that is exactly what Christ did for every one of us.
The Atonement of Jesus Christ is the compassionate foundation and central fact in God’s eternal plan for our salvation and our happiness.Finally, on a hill called Calvary the Roman soldiers laid him upon the cross. With great mallets they drove spikes of iron through his feet and hands and wrists. Truly he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. Then the heavens grew black. Darkness covered the land as it did among the Nephites. There was a mighty storm, as though the very God of Nature was in agony. And truly he was, for while hanging on the cross all the infinite agonies and merciless pains of Gethsemane recurred. And finally, when the atoning agonies had taken their toll- when the victory had been won, when the Son of God had fulfilled the will of his Father in all things- then he said, "It is finished" (John 19:30), and he voluntarily gave up the Ghost.
As the peace and comfort of a merciful death freed him from the pains and sorrows of mortality, he entered the paradise of God. When he had made his soul an offering for sin, he was prepared to see his seed, according to the messianic word. These, consisting of all the holy prophets and faithful Saints from ages past; these, comprising all who had taken upon them his name, and who being spiritually begotten by him, had become his sons and his daughters, even as it is with us; all these were assembled in the spirit world, there to see his face and hear his voice.
Just outside the walls of Jerusalem, was the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea where the body of the Lord was interred. On the third day following His burial “came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.“And the angel … said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay” (Matt. 28:1–2, 5–6). These are the most reassuring words in all of human history. Death—universal and final—had now been conquered. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Cor. 15:55). “And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. …
To Mary, the Risen Lord first appeared. He spoke to her, and she replied. He was real. He was alive, He whose body had been laid in death. Small wonder that when Thomas later saw Him with His wounded hands and side, he exclaimed in wonder, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28).
Never had this occurred before. There had been only death without hope. Now there was life eternal. Only a God could have done this. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ was the great crowning event of His life and mission. It was the capstone of the Atonement. The sacrifice of His life for all mankind was not complete without His coming forth from the grave, with the certainty of the Resurrection for all who have walked the earth. Of all the victories in the chronicles of humanity, none is so great, none so universal in its effects, none so everlasting in its consequences as the victory of the crucified Lord, who came forth from the tomb that first Easter morning.
After his death, his resurrection, and the ascension to his Father, Jesus Christ did show himself unto the people of Nephi and did minister unto them as recorded in the Book of Mormon.
He had said to his followers in Jerusalem, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd” (John 10:16).
In Third Nephi, it is recounted: And it came to pass, as they understood they cast their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a Man descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe; and he came down and stood in the midst of them; and the eyes of the whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them. And it came to pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people, saying: “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world. And behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.”
And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude fell to the earth; for they remembered that it had been prophesied among them that Christ should show himself unto them after his ascension into heaven.

He is Jesus Christ. He is the Savior and the Redeemer of the World. He is the Son of God, and He lives. Our Redeemer lives! The Savior said: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28) So many are striving to do for themselves, what Christ has already done for them. They carry the burdens that He has paid for . . . only because, in believing IN Christ, they forget to Believe HIM, when he says, that HE has already paid the debt, if only we come unto him." He asks that we believe in Him, that we learn of Him, that we strive to follow His teachings.
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is a resurrected being of perfect love and compassion. I witness that He gave His life that we might live eternally with Him and our Father in Heaven and our loved ones who qualify, through obedience to the commandments and receipt of all of the ordinances of salvation. The time will come when every one of us will look into the Savior’s loving eyes. And we will know then with a surety that a child was born to Mary who was indeed the Son of God, the Savior of the world. We will know that no grief is so great, no pain so profound, no burden so unbearable that it is beyond His healing touch.
What a glorious time of the year is Easter! Easter is the day when we, with Christian people everywhere, celebrate the most significant event in human history—the Resurrection from the grave, the return to life from death, of the Son of God. Among all the facts of mortality, nothing is so certain as its deathly end. How tragic, how poignant is the sorrow of those left behind. The grieving widow, the motherless child, the father bereft and alone—all of these can speak of the wounds of parting. “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14). This is the great universal question framed by Job. He spoke what every other living man or woman has pondered. Then Christ alone, of all the millions who up to that time had walked the earth, was the first to emerge from the grave triumphant, a living soul complete in spirit and body. He became “the firstfruits of them that slept” (1 Cor. 15:20). Were greater words ever spoken than those of the angel that first resurrection morn—“Why seek ye the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5). “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said” (Matt. 28:6).
His death sealed the testimony of His love for all mankind. His Resurrection opened the gates of salvation to the sons and daughters of God of all generations.