Jacob 6:8-9 — LeGrand Baker — resurrection
8 Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you?
9 Know ye not that if ye will do these things, that the power of the redemption and the resurrection, which is in Christ, will bring you to stand with shame and awful guilt before the bar of God?
I wish to comment on the words “the power of the redemption and the resurrection, which is in Christ, will bring you to stand with shame and awful guilt before the bar of God?”
The prophets of the Book of Mormon frequently assert that the object of the atonement is to provide a universal salvation to all the sons and daughters of God who are born upon this earth. . This universal salvation will be given freely to all except those who knowingly refuse to receive it (sons of perdition) and even they will be resurrected, though not to a state of glory.
This salvation, as I understand it, consists of two parts, but in the sequence different from that whichJacobmentionshere. Moroniexplained,
13 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.
14 And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still. (Mormon 9:13-14)
As I read that, the final judgement will take place AFTER the resurrection. At that time each of us will stand before God clothed in an eternal body of either telestial, terrestial, or celestial material, and in that body we will be judged. That presents an interesting question: If the final judgment occurs after our resurrection, so, in fact we are judged according to the nature of the body we present before God, then what/who/when/how determines what kind of body we get when we are resurrected?
I understand the answers to those questions to be: WHAT: our works (read that: whether the way one live his ordinances and covenants is an expression of charity, or of something else.) WHO: ourselves. WHEN: while we live on this earth and in the spirit worlds proceeding and following this life. HOW: that is a gift of the atonement of the Saviour. Section 88 explains. (I will make some notes in the text as I go along.)
25 And again, verily I say unto you, the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law
26 Wherefore, it shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quickened, and the righteous shall inherit it.
27 For notwithstanding they die, they also shall rise again, a spiritual body.
28 They who are [PRESENT TENSE] of a celestial spirit shall receive [FUTURE TENSE] the same body which was [PAST TENSE] a natural body; even ye shall receive [FUTURE TENSE] your bodies, and your glory shall be [FUTURE TENSE] that glory by which your bodies are [PRESENT TENSE] quickened.
29 Ye who are quickened [PRESENT TENSE] by a portion of the celestial glory [THAT SOUNDS LIKE IT MEANS PEOPLE NOW, IN THIS WORLD] shall then receive [FUTURE TENSE — AT THE TIME OF THE RESURRECTION] of the same, even a fulness.
30 And they who are quickened by a portion of the terrestrial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.
31 And also they who are quickened by a portion of the telestial glory shall then receive of the same, even a fulness.
32 And they who remain shall also be quickened; nevertheless, they shall return again to their own place, to enjoy that which they are willing to receive, because they were not willing to enjoy that which they might have received. (D&C 88:25-32)
I understand that to say that persons who are resurrected, will receive the same body they put down, and the glory of that resurrected body will be the same as the glory which animated them in this life. That is, persons who are “quickened” by a portion of the celestial glory in this life (I think that should be read “charity”) will simply pick up their body, and that body will have the same glory with which it was animated when it was laid down — except one won’t have to worry about the “this world” stuff which one had to have and use to keep the “this world” body alive, but which one’ resurrected body won’t have any need for.
If I read that correctly, then what Jacob is saying is that it doesn’t matter whether one chooses to believe in the Saviour on not. Even if one chooses not to believe, and chooses to live a reprehensible life here, the power of the resurrection will give him the same body which he cultivated while on this earth, and the power of the redemption will bring him back to the presence of God to stand before Christ to be judged. He won’t be judged by any arbitrary standard of judgement, but, I suspect, his judgment will simply be an acknowledgment, by himself and by the Saviour, that one is what one is.