“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 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… This is one of the ordinances we cannot receive here, and there are
many more.” (President Spencer W Kimball quoted these words of Brigham Young at
the re-dedication of the Mesa Arizona Temple).
“The
Lord Jesus, who was the firstfruits of the dead, the firstfruits of them that
sleep, and who holds the keys of the resurrections, will bring to pass the
resurrection of the [righteous], and will set them to work in bringing about
the resurrection of their brethren as He has set them to work in all the other
branches of the labor from the beginning…
“True, we have, in our limited understandings,
perhaps imagined, many of us, that this glorious resurrection was to come upon
us and upon the whole world suddenly, like the rising of the sun. But you must
remember the sun does not rise the same hour and the same moment upon all the
earth. It is twenty-four hours in rising and twenty-four hours in setting. So
with the resurrection. There is a day appointed for the resurrection of the
righteous. And it is sealed upon the heads of many that if they are faithful
and true, they shall come forth ‘in the morning of the first resurrection’; but
the morning lasts from the first hour of the day until mid-day, and the day
lasts till night…
“But this ‘morning of the first
resurrection’ is nigh at hand, and blessed are those who, through their
faithfulness, shall be counted worthy to have part in it; for they shall be
crowned kings and priests with God and the Lamb—they shall reign with Christ
and in the midst of his people, and carry on the work of redemption and
resurrection of the saints of God. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 25, pp 33-34).
“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
[meaning when all the ordinances of salvation and exaltation have been
performed for them vicariously or otherwise in the temples], and bring them
up.” (Brigham Young, Journal of
Discourses, vol. 15, pp 137-139).
“[Joseph’s]
spirit is waiting for the resurrection of the body, which will soon be. But has
he the power to resurrect that body? He has not. Who has this power? Those that
have already passed through the resurrection—who have been resurrected in their
time and season by some person else, and have been appointed to that authority
just as you Elders have been with regard to your authority to baptize. You have
not the power to baptize yourselves, neither have you power to resurrect
yourselves…” (Brigham Young, Journal
of Discourses, vol. 6, p 275).
“Some
person holding the keys of the resurrection, having previously passed through
that ordeal, will be delegated to resurrect our bodies, and our spirits will be
there and prepared to enter into their bodies. We want a house, and when we get
it and our spirits enter into it, then we can begin to look forth, for what?
For our friends. We want them resurrected. Here is this friend and that friend,
until by-and-by all are resurrected. (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 9, pp 139-140).
“The
body will come forth as it is laid to rest, for there is no growth or
development in the grave. As it is laid down, so will it arise, and changes to
perfection will come by the laws of restitution. But the spirit will continue
to expand and develop, and the body, after the resurrection will develop to the
full stature of man” (Teachings of the
Prophet Joseph Smith, section 4, footnote #4, p 200).
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