The Resurrection: Keys, Family, and Bloodless

In unison with this week's Come Follow Me chapters, I thought it might be useful to provide some of the best quotations and commentary that I am aware on the Resurrection. I hope it is useful in your personal studies.

** DISCLAIMER: I BELIEVE IN THE FOLLOWING QUOTATIONS BECAUSE OF THEIR BEAUTY, BUT THEY DO NOT CONSTITUTE OFFICIAL DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH

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THE RESURRECTION IS AN ORDINANCE

This truth is foreign to many and may sound like speculation, but it has been taught in General Conference as recently as April 2014. In that conference Elder Oaks (at the time) taught:

"At general conference many years ago, President Spencer W. Kimball reminded us that there are other priesthood keys that have not been given to man on the earth, including the keys of creation and resurrection." (1)

These keys suggest that the Resurrection will be something performed or bestowed upon by those who hold the keys to it (aka, an ordinance). Other quotations have been given by various brethren in this dispensation, here is one as an example:

"It is supposed by this people that we have all the ordinances in our possession for life and salvation, and exaltation, and that we are administering in these ordinances. This is not the case. We are in possession of all the ordinances that can be administered in the flesh; but there are other ordinances and administrations that must be administered beyond this world. I know you would ask what they are. I will mention one. We have not, neither can we receive here, the ordinance and the keys of the resurrection. They will be given to those who have passed off this stage of action and have received their bodies again, as many have already done and many more will. 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, then the keys of authority to baptize others for the remission of their sins. This is one of the ordinances we cannot receive here, and there are many more." - Brigham Young (Discourses of Brigham Young, pp.397-398)

THE RESURRECTION WILL FOLLOW A FAMILIAL LINE

“Who will resurrect Joseph’s Body? It will be Peter, James, John, Moroni, or someone who has or will receive the keys of the resurrection. Joseph has got to receive the keys of the resurrection for you and I. After he is resurrected he will go and resurrect Brother Brigham, Brother Heber, and Brother Carlos, and when that is done then He will say, “now go Brother Brigham and resurrect your wives and children and gather them together.” - Wilford Woodruff (Susan Staker, ed., Waiting for the World’s End: The Diaries of Wilford Woodruff, pp.168-169. For a review, see Matt W., “Initial Thoughts on “Waiting for Worlds End: The Diaries of Wilford Woodruff,” New Cool Thang, Nov. 10, 2008)

THE RESURRECTION WILL BE PIVOTAL IN HELPING WITH TEMPLE WORK

 "In the Millennium, when the Kingdom of God is established on the earth in power, glory and perfection, and the reign of wickedness that has so long prevailed is subdued, the Saints of God will have the privilege of building their temples, and of entering into them, becoming, as it were, pillars in the temples of God, and they will officiate for their dead. Then we will see our friends come up, and perhaps some that we have been acquainted with here. If we ask who will stand at the head of the resurrection in this last dispensation, the answer is—Joseph Smith, Junior, the Prophet of God. He is the man who will be resurrected and receive the keys of the resurrection, and he will seal this authority upon others, and they will hunt up their friends and resurrect them when they shall have been officiated for, and bring them up. And we will have revelations to know our forefathers clear back to Father Adam and Mother Eve, and we will enter into the temples of God and officiate for them. Then man will be sealed to man until the chain is made perfect back to Adam, so that there will be a perfect chain of Priesthood from Adam to the winding-up scene." - Brigham Young (Discourses of Brigham Young, p.116)

 RESURRECTED BEINGS CAN DO ANYTHING A MORTAL CAN

"Can a resurrected being eat food of earth? A resurrected being can function upon any lower plane. A resurrected personage can do anything that a mortal personage can do, and much besides." - James E. Talmage (Conference Report, April 1928, p. 93)

RESURRECTED BODIES HAVE SPIRIT IN THEIR VEINS INSTEAD OF BLOOD

"As concerning the resurrection, I will merely say that all men will come from the grave as they lie down, whether old or young; there will not be "added unto their stature one cubit," neither taken from it; all will be raised by the power of God, having spirit in their bodies, and not blood." - Joseph Smith (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.199)

 In the resurrection from the dead, the bodies which were laid down natural bodies shall come forth spiritual bodies. That is to say, in mortality the life of the body is in the blood, but the body when raised to immortality shall be quickened by the spirit and not the blood. Hence, it becomes spiritual, but it will be composed of flesh and bones, just as the body of Jesus was, who is the prototype. - Joseph Fielding Smith (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:284-285)