Come Follow Me Personal Thoughts: New Testament Lesson # 27 "He is Not Here, for He is Risen"

New Testament Lesson # 27 Matthew 28; Luke 24; John 20–21

“He Is Not Here, for He Is Risen”

Introduction

Last week we focused on Peter, and this week Peter again comes to the fore. Although the women were the first to know of Christ’s resurrection through the two angels, and Mary Magdalene is the first to see Him, a woman’s testimony did not fully count in the ancient world. It was Peter to whom the Lord showed Himself, and Peter who was forever thereafter the prime witness of the Resurrected Lord. Nevertheless, it is significant that women were the first witnesses and further testimony of the esteem in which the Lord holds His daughters.

The lesson manual does not deal with Christ’s visit to the spirit prison, what is known as “the harrowing of hell,”[1] but I wanted to quote Talmage here: "On the third day following, Jesus, then a resurrected Being, positively stated to the weeping Magdalene: 'I am not yet ascended to my Father.' He had gone to paradise but not to the place where God dwells. Paradise, therefore, is not Heaven, if by the latter term we understand the abode of the Eternal Father and His celestialized children.Paradise is a place where dwell righteous and repentant spirits between bodily death and resurrection. Another division of the spirit world is reserved for those disembodied beings who have lived lives of wickedness and who remain impenitent even after death. Alma, a Nephite prophet, thus spake of the conditions prevailing among the departed:

‘Now concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection. Behold, it has been made known unto me, by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body; yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. And then shall it come to pass that the spirits of those who are righteous, are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise; a state of rest; a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow. And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil; for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold, they chose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house; and these shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth; and this because of their own iniquity; being led captive by the will of the devil. Now this is the state of the souls of the wicked: yea, in darkness, and a state of awful, fearful, looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them; thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection^’(Alma 40:11–14). While divested of His body Christ ministered among the departed, both in paradise and in the prison realm where dwelt in a state of durance the spirits of the disobedient. To this effect testified Peter nearly three decades after the great event: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water’ (1 Peter 3:18–20).”

Bishop Lott provided me with some further quotes on "spirit prison." I imagine that anything that keeps one from the presence of God can be termed a prison.

In his epistle on baptism for the dead, Joseph Smith said that God had “ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison” (D&C 128:22).

The Gospel Principles (2011, pp. 243-244) manual says:

“The righteous and the wicked are separated, but the spirits may progress as they learn gospel principles and live in accordance with them. The spirits in paradise can teach the spirits in prison….

“In the spirit prison are the spirits of those who have not yet received the gospel of Jesus Christ. These spirits have agency and may be enticed by both good and evil. If they accept the gospel and the ordinances performed for them in the temples, they may leave the spirit prison and dwell in paradise.

“Also in the spirit prison are those who rejected the gospel after it was preached to them either on earth or in the spirit prison. These spirits suffer in a condition known as hell. They have removed themselves from the mercy of Jesus Christ.”

The Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual (2002, p. 447) says:“Righteous spirits, those who have been converted to the gospel in spirit prison, are still held in spirit prison until [their] ordinance work is done.”

President Lorenzo Snow said: “A wonderful work is being accomplished in our temples in favor of the spirits in prison” (Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, p.98).

The Women at the Tomb JST Luke 24: 2–10 John 20:17

“And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher, and two angels standing by it in shining garments. And they entered into the sepulcher, and not finding the body of the Lord Jesus, they were much perplexed thereabout; And were affrighted, and bowed down their faces to the earth. But behold the angels said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?”

James E. Faust: “No woman should question how the Savior values womanhood. The grieving Mary Magdalene was the first to visit the sepulchre after the Crucifixion, and when she saw that the stone had been rolled away and that the tomb was empty, she ran to tell Peter and John. The two Apostles came to see and then went away sorrowing. But Mary stayed. She had stood near the cross [see Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25]. She had been at the burial [see Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:47]. And now she stood weeping by the empty sepulchre [see John 20:11]. There she was honored to be the first mortal to see the risen Lord” (“Woman, Why Weepest Thou?” Ensign, Nov. 1996, 54).

Regarding the instruction to Mary, “touch me not,” Bruce R. McConkie elucidates: “The King James Version quotes Jesus as saying ‘Touch me not.’ The Joseph Smith Translation reads ‘Hold me not.’ Various translations from the Greek render the passage as ‘Do not cling to me’ or ‘Do not hold me.’ Some give the meaning as ‘Do not cling to me any longer,’ or ‘Do not hold me any longer.’ Some speak of ceasing to hold him or cling to him, leaving the inference that Mary was already holding him. There is valid reason for supposing that the thought conveyed to Mary by the Risen Lord was to this effect: ‘You cannot hold me here, for I am going to ascend to my Father.’ But the great message that was preserved for us is Jesus’ eternal relationship to his Father. ‘My’ Father and ‘your’ Father—Elohim is the Father of all men in the spirit, and of the Lord Jesus in an added and special sense. He is the Father of both Jesus’ spirit and his body. ‘My’ God and ‘your’ God—and again Elohim is the God of all men, but in Jesus’ case, though he himself is a God and has all power, though he is a member of the very Godhead itself, yet is he everlastingly in subjection to the same God who is our Father” (The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary, 4 vols. [1979–81], 4:264–65).

“President Howard W. Hunter said that the words “He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24:6) “contain all the hope, assurance, and belief necessary to sustain us in our challenging and sometimes grief-filled lives” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1986, 18; or Ensign, May 1986, 15–16).

Peter and John, Luke 24:11–12

Bruce R. McConkie: “Together they view the grave-clothes-linen strips that have not been unwrapped, but through which a resurrected body has passed. And then, upon John … the reality dawns first. It is true! They had not known before; now they do. It is the third day! Christ is risen! ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ (1 Cor. 15:54.)” (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 1:842). When we learned about the Savior raising Lazarus from the dead, we saw Lazarus having to be helped out of the burial wrappings. The Savior needed no help.

Luke 24:13–32 On the Road to Emmaus

This is about a 7 mile stretch. We are still on the same day and Cleopas and his companion have heard about the empty tomb and, of course, they are talking about it. The great question that this episode brings is “would we recognize the Savior if we saw Him and heard Him speak, and even broke bread with Him.” As we have been learning from Bishop Lott, the salient difference is that we have the Spirit and, if we are sufficiently in tune, there would be an immediate witness of His divinity.

A special appearance to Peter: Luke 24:34 (see also 1 Corinthians 15:15)

Bruce R. McConkie, “We feel free to suppose [that this appearance] was one in which the tears of Peter’s denial in the court of Caiaphas were dried; one in which he was assured that though Satan desired to sift him as wheat, yet because Jesus had prayed for him, the noble Peter would yet come off triumphant; one in which a blessed bond of unity, of love, and of peace was established between the Master and his servant” (The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary, 4 vols. [1979–81], 4:272).

Appearance to the Apostles and their Initial Unbelief: Mark 16:14; Matthew 28:16–20; Luke 24:33–53; and John 20:19–31.

Joseph F. Smith, “Why were they thus forgetful and seemingly ignorant of all they had been taught by the Savior respecting the objects of his mission to the earth? Because they lacked one important qualification, they had not yet been ‘endowed with power from on high.’ [Luke 24:49.] They had not yet obtained the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed. [1939], 20).

James E. Faust, “Perhaps the Apostles should not be unduly criticized for not believing that Jesus, having been crucified and buried in a tomb, had come back to earth as a glorified being. In all human experience, this had never happened before. It was completely unprecedented. This was a different experience than the raising of Jairus’ daughter (see Mark 5:22, 24, 35–43), the young man of Nain (see Luke 7:11–15), or Lazarus (see John 11:1–44). They all died again. Jesus, however, became a resurrected being. He would never die again. … Said President David O. McKay of this experience: ‘The world would never have been stirred by men with such wavering, doubting, despairing minds as the apostles possessed on the day of the crucifixion. What was it that suddenly changed these disciples to confident, fearless, heroic preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ? It was the revelation that Christ had risen from the grave. His promises had been kept, his Messianic mission fulfilled. … On the evidence of these unprejudiced, unexpectant, incredulous witnesses, faith in the resurrection has its impregnable foundation.’ (Treasures of Life, comp. Clare Middlemiss, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1962, pp. 15–16.) “Like the Apostles of old, this knowledge and belief should transform all of us to be confident, settled, unafraid, and at peace in our lives as followers of the divine Christ. It should help us carry all burdens, bear any sorrows, and also fully savor all joys and happiness that can be found in this life” (“The Supernal Gift of the Atonement,” Ensign, Nov. 1988, 13–14).

Luke 24:36 “Peace be unto You”

Shalom was and remains a common greeting, even if it took on “Peace Out” in recent times. As such it is somewhat debased. But when the Savior greeted His apostles in this manner, He gave great significance to the phrase. Question: How does our knowledge of the Savior’s resurrection, and in fact, all that we have learned of Him this year, bring us peace?

That the Lord would provide a physical witness in the scars in his hands, wrists, side, and feet; and that He would sit and eat with his remaining Apostles and the others in that room, was a reassurance that He was a resurrected physical being, not a spirit. That because of this witness, all mankind could have faith, believe, and know that He had conquered death and we all would be resurrected to a perfected physical body.

Joseph Fielding Smith, “After [Jesus Christ] had laid down his life and had taken it again on the third day, he presented himself to his disciples and told them to handle him and see, for a spirit had not a body of flesh and bones as they saw that he had. And so they came, and they handled him. Further to convince them, he partook of the fish and honeycomb. He ate in their presence and convinced them by a practical demonstration that it was he himself, that the uneducated may read and understand; and yet the wise men in all their learning, close their eyes against these truths. … After the resurrection from the dead our bodies will be spiritual bodies, but they will be bodies that are tangible, bodies that have been purified, but they will nevertheless be bodies of flesh and bones. … They will no longer be quickened by blood but quickened by the spirit which is eternal, and they shall become immortal and shall never die [see Luke 24:39; 1 Corinthians 15:44; D&C 88:15–32]” (Doctrines of Salvation, ed. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954–56], 2:268–69, 285).

Joseph Smith, “We came to this earth that we might have a body and present it pure before God in the celestial kingdom. The great principle of happiness consists in having a body,” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 181).

The Apostles at the Sea of Tiberius (Galilee), John 21

Question: Why do you think Peter said “I go a fishing?” How do we balance the practicality of our lives—feeding ourselves and our families, with the spirituality—feeding our souls?