- It has puzzled me how the Lord could go to visit the dead, the dead could greet the Son of God in the spirit world where He declared their redemption from the bands of death. Their sleeping dust was to be restored unto its perfect frame, bone to his bone, and the sinews and the flesh upon them, the spirit and the body to be united never again to be divided, that they might receive a fullness of joy (LDS D&C 138:16–17) on the one hand, but Christ did not go to preach to the wicked. Instead, from among the righteous he organized his forces and appointed messengers clothed with power and authority and commissioned them to go forth. Therefore, the very same spirits who rejoice at the deliverance from the grave were left in the grave and it was by them was the Gospel preached to those who had died. (LDS D&C 138:30–32). I had wondered how they could be raised from the dead and yet remain to preach to the dead. After inquiring about this matter diligently, I have learned that when the Lord declared the resurrection, He did not resurrect them. He assured them it would come, but comparatively few were resurrected with the Lord at the time he came forth from the grave.
- This then puzzled me to know who then was taken from the grave, as recorded in Matthew 12:30: Many of the bodies of the saints which slept, arose, and prophesied by Samuel and confirmed by Christ (3 Nephi 10:5), who arose that were called “many Saints” by both the New Testament and the Book of Mormon.
- I was shown that the spirits that rose were limited to a direct line back to Adam, requiring the hearts of the Fathers and the hearts of the children to be bound together by sealing, confirmed by covenant and the Holy Spirit of Promise. This is the reason that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have entered into their exaltation according to the promises, and sit upon thrones, and are not angels, but are gods. (T&C 157:42–43).
- The coming of the Lord in the future will not bring an immediate resurrection — just as the resurrection of Christ did not empty the world of spirits of even the righteous dead. Those who will be prepared at His coming will remain comparatively few still. Hence, the great need to turn the hearts of the children to the Fathers, and the Fathers to the children — and this too by covenant and sealing through the Holy Spirit of Promise.
SECTION 169
Revelation given to Denver Snuffer Jr. on the resurrection of the dead, as recorded in his journal and related in a talk given on 22 March 2015, entitled Plural Marriage.