You can watch Elder Rasband’s talk here.

Elder Rasband’s message centres on the Resurrection and Atonement of Jesus Christ as the most important events in human history. He teaches that Christ’s Resurrection overcame physical death for all mankind and provides hope, healing, and joyful reunion with loved ones.

The talk concludes with a call to live as witnesses of Christ, letting belief in the Resurrection shape how we live and what we love.

Key quotes:

‘His Resurrection and His Atonement are the most powerful, far-reaching, and sacred events in all human history.’ (Paragraph 1)

‘Jesus Christ and His resurrection are at the very core of the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.’ (Paragraph 2)

‘With His Resurrection, He secured salvation from physical death for us, all of God’s children throughout the ages.’ (Paragraph 4)

‘Those glorious words, “He is risen,” have sparked religious ceremony, gratitude, faith in Jesus Christ and His promises for centuries.’ (Paragraph 6)

‘Jesus Christ is more than a mortal first laid in a manger, more than a friend, teacher, rabbi, minister, or prophet. He is the Only Begotten Son of the Father.’ (Paragraph 7)

‘All who live or ever have lived who come unto Christ and live His gospel will feel joy beyond any earthly expression as we reunite, resurrected, with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ and with our parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and ancestors.’ (Paragraph 21)

‘Jesus Christ, by the power of His Atonement, provided the gift of immortality to all God’s children. Only He had the power to redeem all from the effects of the Fall of Adam and Eve. Only He had the power to lay down His life on the cross, be laid in a borrowed tomb, and then take His life up again, the first of them that slept, a resurrected and perfect being. Because of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement, we will all be resurrected, and then we will stand before Him and account for our lives.’ (Footnote 41)

‘May we be at peace, brothers and sisters, for the Lord has promised, “Where I am, there ye may be also.”’ (Paragraph 22)

Questions to discuss or ponder:

In what ways are Jesus Christ’s resurrection and atonement powerful and far-reaching? (Paragraph 1)

Why is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ at the very core of the Church’s doctrine? (Paragraphs 2 and 6)

What are your favourite names for Jesus Christ? (Paragraph 3)

Why did Jesus Christ need to be more than a mortal? (Paragraph 7)

How many witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ are recorded in the scriptures? (Paragraphs 8-10, 12-14)

What can we learn from the story of Paxton? (Paragraphs 16-21)

How does the promise of resurrection bring comfort in times of loss or hardship? (Paragraph 21)

How can we testify of Christ by the way we live and what we love? (Paragraph 22)

Invitations and application:

Find hope in Christ during times of loss and difficulty (Paragraph 21)

‘May we testify of Him by the way we live and what we love.’ (Paragraph 22)

Rejoice in the reality of the Resurrection. (Paragraph 22)

Trust in God’s Plan for us and our loved ones.

Additional Thoughts:

The apostle Paul pointed out that if we do not accept the resurrection of Christ we miss the whole point of the Gospel: “If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. … If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Cor. 15:14, 19). Without the atonement and resurrection of Christ there is no plan of salvation.

“Those who call themselves modernists deny the fact that Jesus rose from the tomb with the same body that he laid down, and many deny the fact that he was indeed resurrected. Latter-day Saints believe in the literal resurrection of Christ in precisely the same manner described by the writers of the New Testament. From their record we learn that the same body of flesh and bones that was taken from the cross and laid in the tomb did come forth to live again.” (Howard W Hunter, Conference Report, October 1968, Afternoon Meeting 139.)

“To all within the sound of my voice who may have doubts, I repeat the words given Thomas as he felt the wounded hands of the Lord: ‘Be not faithless, but believing.’ Believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the greatest figure of time and eternity. Believe that his matchless life reached back before the world was formed. Believe that he was the Creator of the earth on which we live. Believe that he was Jehovah of the Old Testament, that he was the Messiah of the New Testament, that he died and was resurrected, that he visited these western continents and taught the people here, that he ushered in this final gospel dispensation, and that he lives, the living Son of the living God, our Savior and our Redeemer.” (Gordon B Hinckley, “Be Not Faithless,” Ensign, May 1978, 59)

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