He Hath Risen Again

The Book of Mormon is a powerful witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The account of the Savior’s post-mortal visit to the Nephites and Lamanites is of course the most compelling testimony that He rose again after He was crucified. He declared to them as a resurrected Being, “Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world” (3 Nephi 11:14). He taught and blessed and prayed and healed and spent time among this people, showing to them that He had indeed risen from the grave and was alive again. The witnesses were in the thousands who bore record of the resurrected Savior: “And the multitude did see and hear and bear record; and they know that their record is true for they all of them did see and hear, every man for himself; and they were in number about two thousand and five hundred souls” (3 Nephi 17:25).

               In addition to His personal visit among them, all the major writers and prophets bore witness of His resurrection. Nephi summarized what his father Lehi taught: “And it came to pass after my father had spoken these words he spake unto my brethren concerning the gospel which should be preached among the Jews, and also concerning the dwindling of the Jews in unbelief. And after they had slain the Messiah, who should come, and after he had been slain he should rise from the dead, and should make himself manifest, by the Holy Ghost, unto the Gentiles” (1 Nephi 10:11). Six hundred years before Christ would be born, Lehi knew that the Messiah would rise again after being slain. Nephi also testified himself: “Behold, they will crucify him; and after he is laid in a sepulchre for the space of three days he shall rise from the dead, with healing in his wings; and all those who shall believe on his name shall be saved in the kingdom of God. Wherefore, my soul delighteth to prophesy concerning him, for I have seen his day, and my heart doth magnify his holy name” (2 Nephi 25:13). Nephi saw in vision the Savior’s day and was a sure witness of His resurrection. Nephi’s younger brother Jacob also rejoiced in the power of the resurrection of Jesus: “And because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave. And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel” (2 Nephi 9:11-12). Jacob knew that the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel would give power to all of us to be resurrected.  

               Later prophets in the Book of Mormon likewise bore record of the Savior’s resurrection. King Benjamin related these words spoken to him by an angel: “He cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him. And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men” (Mosiah 3:9-10). He knew that the Savior would rise on the third day after His death and taught this to his people. Around the same time, Abinadi also boldly taught King Noah and his priests, “And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection. But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ” (Mosiah 16:7-8). Abinadi gave his own life bearing witness that the Savior would rise from the grave. When Aaron taught the king of the Lamanites, he likewise testified of the coming resurrection of the Savior: “And Aaron did expound unto him the scriptures from the creation of Adam, laying the fall of man before him, and their carnal state and also the plan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the world, through Christ, for all whosoever would believe on his name. And since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself; but the sufferings and death of Christ atone for their sins, through faith and repentance, and so forth; and that he breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory; and Aaron did expound all these things unto the king” (Alma 22:13-14). He knew that Christ would break the bands of death when He rose from the grave and took away the sting of death for all of us. Alma also invited the Zoramites, “Cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works” (Alma 33:22). He knew that the coming of Christ was near and that though He would die, He would rise again. Among his final words to us, Mormon said this: “Know ye that ye must come to the knowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again, whereby he hath gained the victory over the grave; and also in him is the sting of death swallowed up” (Mormon 7:5). Christ rose from the grave through the power of the Father, and again Mormon emphasized that for us the sting of death disappears because of Christ. His son Moroni left us these words he addressed to the living Christ: “And again, I remember that thou hast said that thou hast loved the world, even unto the laying down of thy life for the world, that thou mightest take it again to prepare a place for the children of men.” Moroni knew that Christ had taken up again His life—meaning that He arose from the grave—and he even saw Him personally: “And then shall ye know that I have seen Jesus, and that he hath talked with me face to face, and that he told me in plain humility, even as a man telleth another in mine own language, concerning these things” (Ether 12:33, 39). Moroni was a powerful witness of Christ because He saw the resurrected Lord himself.

               All these witnesses in the Book of Mormon together give an unwavering declaration from the Book of Mormon that Jesus rose from the grave. That He died and was resurrected is the sure testimony of this sacred book of scripture, affirming indeed to the world “that the records of the prophets and of the twelve apostles of the Lamb [in the New Testament] are true” (1 Nephi 13:39).