What Kind of Resurrection

Jacob encouraged his people with these words, “Wherefore, beloved brethren, be reconciled unto him through the atonement of Christ, his Only Begotten Son, and ye may obtain a resurrection, according to the power of the resurrection which is in Christ, and be presented as the first-fruits of Christ unto God, having faith, and obtained a good hope of glory in him before he manifesteth himself in the flesh” (Jacob 4:11).  At first it might seem odd that he would tell them to be reconciled to God through Christ’s atonement “that ye may obtain a resurrection” since we know that all of us will indeed obtain a resurrection.  Even if we aren’t reconciled unto God and don’t repent of our sins, we will still obtain a resurrection.  But all resurrections are not equal, and I believe Jacob is encouraging us in relation to what kind of resurrection we are going to obtain.  This seems to be what Paul taught in his message about the resurrection to the Corinthians: “Also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial, and bodies telestial; but the glory of the celestial, one; and the terrestrial, another; and the telestial, another….  So also is the resurrection of the dead” (JST 1 Corinthians 15:42).  There are celestial, terrestrial, and telestial bodies that come forth in the resurrection.  So the important question for us is not whether we will be resurrected, but what kind of resurrection we will obtain.  And if we want to become a celestial kind of being in the resurrection, then we must, as Jacob encouraged, be reconciled unto God through Christ’s atonement. 

               We often speak about making it to the celestial kingdom, but perhaps our focus should be more on becoming celestial so that when we are resurrected we will have a celestial body.  The prophet Joseph described those who were to “come forth in the resurrection of the just” in these words: “These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being typical” (D&C 76:50, 70).  In another revelation the Lord taught, “And the resurrection from the dead is the redemption of the soul….  Therefore, it must needs be sanctified from all unrighteousness, that it may be prepared for the celestial glory….  That bodies who are of the celestial kingdom may possess it forever and ever” (D&C 88:16, 18, 20).  Again here the focus is on the kind of body that we will have in the resurrection—to be part of the celestial kingdom it must be sanctified and prepared.  In some way that I don’t fully understand, the immortal bodies that we obtain in the resurrection will be different based upon the kingdom which we will be prepared to obtain.  All of us will be eternal beings, dwelling forever with perfect bodies, and yet there will be some kind of difference in the glory that we will be prepared to receive.  It reminds me of the mathematical ideas put forth by George Cantor in which he showed that there are different “sizes” of infinity; the set of all real numbers between 0 and 1 is infinite, and the set of all integers is infinite, but the former set is “larger” than the latter.  In perhaps a similar way, those who through Christ obtain a celestial body in the resurrection will have a different kind of eternal and perfect body than those who are not sanctified and obtain a telestial body (yet still eternal and perfect) in the resurrection.  The key point is simply that we must work now to become reconciled to God through Christ, as Jacob invited us, so that the kind of resurrection we obtain is the one that will bring us back into God’s presence.