Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles discusses the eternal gifts that Jesus Christ has bestowed upon us, including His Atonement, resurrection, and the restoration of His church. He uses historical events, scriptural insights, and personal stories to highlight the scope of Christ’s love. 

Years ago, our early-morning gospel class memorized Bible verses. Naturally I was drawn to short passages. This included John 11:35—the shortest verse in scripture, only two words—“Jesus wept.”

For me now, that Jesus weeps in sorrow and joy testifies of the miraculous reality: the divine Son of God came into physical mortality and learned according to the flesh how always to be with and bless us.

Elder Neal A Maxwell wrote:

‘He knows us by actual personal experience, because not only did He suffer pains, afflictions, and temptations of every kind during His second estate, but He took upon Himself our sins as well as our pains, sicknesses and infirmities…Thus He knew, not in abstraction but in actuality, ‘according to the flesh,’ the whole of human suffering. He bore our infirmities before we bore them. He knows perfectly well how to succour us. We can tell Him nothing of pain, temptation, or affliction; He learned ‘according to the flesh’ and His triumph was complete!” (We Will Prove Them Now Herewith, p46)

Why did Jesus have to learn ‘according to the flesh’?

When we cry out in grief or joy, Jesus Christ understands perfectly. He can be present in the moments when we most need eternity’s great gifts: Jesus Christ’s Atonement, Resurrection, restoration.

Has there been a time when you felt Christ’s presence when you have most needed Him?

Mary and Martha weep for their brother Lazarus, who has died. Moved with compassion, Jesus weeps. He raises Lazarus to life.

Jesus beholds Jerusalem on the eve of the Passover. He weeps, unable to gather His people as a hen would her chicks. Today His Atonement gives us hope when we sorrow for what could have been.

Why did Jesus weep on these occasions?

The Lord of the vineyard weeps as He asks His servants, which could include us as ministering brothers and sisters, “What could I have done more for my vineyard?”

Mary stands bereft at the sepulchre. Jesus gently asks, “Why weepest thou?” He knows “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Resurrection brings dawn for all.

In Book of Mormon lands, as the faithful multitude arises to Him, Jesus’s joy is full. He weeps.

“And he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

“And when he had done this he wept again.”

This is Easter in Jesus Christ: He answers the longings of our hearts and the questions of our souls. He wipes away our tears, except our tears of joy.

When our tears flow, we sometimes apologize, embarrassed. But knowing that Jesus Christ understands life’s pains and joys can give us strength beyond our own as we navigate bitter and sweet.

How does the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ give us strength beyond our own?

In South America, a father sobs. A sparkle in his life, his young daughter, has died. “I would give anything to see her again,” he cries in my arms. I cry too.

At the Puebla Mexico Temple dedication, tears of happiness wet the face of a dear sister. Her features radiate faith and sacrifice. She says, “Todos mis hijos están aquí en el templo hoy”—“All my children are here in the temple today.” Generations gathered in the house of the Lord bring tears of joy and gratitude.

In cruel civil war, families and neighbors did unspeakable things to each other. Bitter tears are slowly giving way to hope. Her voice trembling, a woman in a small village says, “Neighbor, before I go to my grave, I want you to know where to find your missing family members.”

A radiant bride and handsome groom are being sealed in the house of the Lord. She is 70 years old, as is he. A beautiful bride, she has worthily waited for this day. She shyly swishes her bridal dress this way, then that way. We shed joyful tears. God’s promises are fulfilled. His covenants bring blessings.

While home teaching a widowed sister, a young Boyd K. Packer learned a tender lesson. Following a disagreement with her husband, the sister had called out a final hurtful remark. An unexpected accident took her husband’s life that day. “For fifty years,” the widow sobbed, “I’ve lived in hell knowing that the last words he heard from my lips were that biting, spiteful remark.”

Easter in Jesus Christ helps us mend, reconcile, make right our relationships, on both sides of the veil. Jesus can heal grief; He can enable forgiveness. He can free us and others from things we or they have said or done that otherwise bind us captive.

Why is forgiveness essential to accessing the power of Jesus Christ’s atonement?

Easter in Jesus Christ lets us feel God’s approbation. This world tells us we are too tall, too short, too wide, too narrow—not smart, pretty, or spiritual enough. Through spiritual transformation in Jesus Christ, we can escape debilitating perfectionism.

In the October 2017 General Conference, Elder Jeffrey R Holland said:

‘My brothers and sisters, except for Jesus, there have been no flawless performances on this earthly journey we are pursuing, so while in mortality let’s strive for steady improvement without obsessing over what behavioral scientists call “toxic perfectionism.”’

How is perfectionism debilitating and toxic?

With Easter joy, we sing, “Death is conquered; man is free. Christ has won the victory.” Christ’s Resurrection frees us from death, from time’s frailties and physicality’s imperfections. 

It is strange but true that to an increasing number of those who call themselves Christian, Christ’s resurrection is not to be taken literally. It has been described by a leading churchman from a different denomination as ‘a conjuring trick with bones’. One college textbook on the New Testament proclaims: “We need to keep in mind that the empty tomb was an ambiguous witness to the resurrection. It attests the absence of the body, but not necessarily the reality or presence of the risen Jesus.” Robert A. Spivey and D. Moody Smith, Anatomy of the New Testament: A Guide to Its Structure and Meaning (New York: Macmillan, 1989), p. 239.

Why is it important to understand the true doctrine of resurrection?

Jesus Christ’s Atonement also restores us spiritually. He bled from every pore, weeping blood as it were, to provide us escape from sin and separation. He reunites us, whole and holy, with each other and God. In all good things, Jesus Christ restores abundantly—not only what was but also what can be.

Jesus’s life and light testify of God’s love for all His children. Because God our Father loves all His children in every age and land, we find His loving invitation to come find peace and joy in Him in many traditions and cultures. Wherever, whenever, whoever we are, we share divine identity as children of the same Creator. In similar spirit, followers of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity share religious heritage in Father Abraham and covenant connection through events in ancient Egypt.

Elder Orson F Whitney said:

“God is using more than one people for the accomplishment of his great and marvelous work. The Latter-day Saints cannot do it all. It is too vast, too arduous, for any one people.”

Why should we respect the beliefs and contributions of other world faiths?

Father Abraham came to Egypt and was blessed.

Joseph, sold into servitude in Egypt, knew Pharaoh’s dream meant seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Joseph saved his family and his people. Joseph wept when he saw God’s larger plan, where all things work together for good for those who keep their covenants.

Moses, raised in Egypt in Pharaoh’s household, received and later restored the keys for the gathering of God’s children.

Fulfilling prophecy, Joseph, Mary, and the infant Christ child sought refuge in Egypt. In Cairo, a devout Muslim believer reverently says: “The Quran teaches that Joseph, Mary, and the baby Jesus found safety and sanctuary in my country. In my country, Jesus as a toddler ate our food, took His first steps, said His first words. Here in my country, we believe trees bent low to give Him and His family fruit. His being in my country blessed our people and land.”

The First Presidency released the following statement in 1978:

“Based upon ancient and modern revelation, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gladly teaches and declares the Christian doctrine that all men and women are brothers and sisters, not only by blood relationship from common mortal progenitors, but also as literal spirit children of an Eternal Father.

The great religious leaders of the world such as Mohammed, Confucius, and the Reformers, as well as philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and others, received a portion of God’s light. Moral truths were given to them by God to enlighten whole nations and to bring a higher level of understanding to individuals.

The Hebrew prophets prepared the way for the coming of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, who should provide salvation for all mankind who believe in the gospel.

Consistent with these truths, we believe that God has given and will give to all peoples sufficient knowledge to help them on their way to eternal salvation, either in this life or in the life to come.

We also declare that the gospel of Jesus Christ, restored to His Church in our day, provides the only way to a mortal life of happiness and a fullness of joy forever. For those who have not received this gospel, the opportunity will come to them in the life hereafter if not in this life.

Our message therefore is one of special love and concern for the eternal welfare of all men and women, regardless of religious belief, race, or nationality, knowing that we are truly brothers and sisters because we are sons and daughters of the same Eternal Father.”

What do we learn from this statement?

God’s plan of moral and mortal agency allows us to learn by our own experience. Some of our greatest life lessons come from things we would never choose. In love, Jesus Christ descended below and ascended above all things. He rejoices in our divine capacities for creativity and delight, kindness without hope for reward, faith unto repentance and forgiveness. And He weeps in sorrow at the enormity of our human suffering, cruelty, unfairness—often brought by human choice—as do the heavens and the God of heaven with them.

What lessons have you learned that came from things you would never have chosen?

Each Easter spring season testifies that spiritual sequence and convergence are both part of the divine pattern of atonement, resurrection, and restoration through Jesus Christ. This sacred and symbolic convergence comes not by accident or coincidence. Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter celebrate Christ’s Atonement and Resurrection. As today, every April 6 we commemorate the establishment and organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This Restoration is a reason we gather the first Sunday each April in general conference.

Restoration also came as the resurrected Jesus Christ, Moses, Elias, and Elijah returned priesthood keys and authority at the newly dedicated Kirtland Temple on Easter Sunday, 1836. In that setting on that day to the restored Church of Jesus Christ came God’s authority and blessings to gather His children, prepare His children to return to Him, and unite families for eternity. Restoration that day fulfilled prophecy by occurring both on Easter and Passover.

Why did Moses, Elias and Elijah need to come?

Including the Kirtland Temple, I recently visited sacred places in Ohio where the Prophet Joseph and others saw in vision God our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. The Prophet Joseph saw what heaven is like. In heaven, Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, “saves all the works of his hands” in a kingdom of glory. The only exceptions are those who willfully “deny the Son after the Father has revealed him.”

As His mortal ministry began, Jesus declared His mission to bless us each with all we are willing to receive—in every time, every land, every circumstance. After fasting 40 days, Jesus went into the synagogue and read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”

Poor, brokenhearted, captive, blind, bruised—that’s each of us.

The book of Isaiah continues the Messianic promise of hope, deliverance, assurance: “Appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, … give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”

Thus, we cry out, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.”

Each Easter season, we celebrate, as a symbolic whole, eternity’s great gifts through Jesus Christ: His Atonement; His (and the promise of our) literal Resurrection; Restoration of His latter-day Church with priesthood keys and authority to bless all God’s children. 

What do these great gifts mean to you personally?

We rejoice in the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness. We shout, “Hosanna to God and the Lamb!”

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

“When all is said and done, when all of history is examined, when the deepest depths of the human mind have been explored, nothing is so wonderful, so majestic, so tremendous as this act of grace when the Son of the Almighty, the Prince of His Father’s royal household, He who had once spoken as Jehovah, He who had condescended to come to earth as a babe born in Bethlehem, gave His life in ignominy and pain so that all of the sons and daughters of God of all generations of time, every one of whom must die, might walk again and live eternally. He did for us what none of us could do for ourselves.’ (Teachings of Gordon B Hinckley, Lesson 24)

What does the atonement of Jesus Christ mean to you?

May we each find in Jesus Christ atonement, resurrection, and restoration—peace, becoming, and belonging—that which is enduringly real and joyful, happy and forever, I pray in His holy name, Jesus Christ, amen.

NB: Passages in italics are direct excerpts from Elder Gong’s talk.

You can watch Elder Gong’s talk here.

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