Joseph and the Resurrection

This week’s Come, Follow Me lesson says the following about the Prophet Joseph: “Joseph Smith knew how it feels to mourn the death of loved ones. Two of his brothers, Alvin and Don Carlos, died as young men. Joseph and Emma buried six children, each younger than two years old.” They lost six children. That fact shocked me when I read it—I knew they lost their first, Alvin in 1828, and that they subsequently lost their twins in Kirtland in 1831. When they adopted other twins born the same day, I knew that one of those twins eventually died because of the mob attack on Joseph. That was Joseph Murdock Smith and he died in 1832. So that was four children lost from 1828 to 1832, an incredible tragedy. But I didn’t realize that he and Emma lost two more children in Nauvoo. The first was Don Carlos Smith, born in June 1840 and presumably named after Joseph’s brother Don Carlos. The boy lived only 14 months and then passed away (I don’t know the cause). The Times and Seasons newspaper recorded this sad eulogy, “Like the bud of a beautiful flower, ere it had time to expand twas cut down, but it rests in peace.” How terrible this loss must have been for Joseph and Emma, and what’s more, Joseph’s brother of the same name died the same month. Joseph’s brother Don Carlos died on August 7, 1841 and his son Don Carlos died eight days later on August 15, 1841. What a terrible loss this must have been at this time in this family! And, as if that were not enough, their next child Thomas was born six months later on February 6, 1842 and died the same day. Surely he and Emma new grief related to their children beyond words to describe.

               Given these events in the life of Joseph Smith, it is no wonder that he made this statement, “I have meditated upon the subject, and asked the question, why it is that infants, innocent children, are taken away from us. … The Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth; therefore, if rightly considered, instead of mourning we have reason to rejoice as they are delivered from evil, and we shall soon have them again.” He had a sure knowledge of the resurrection of the dead and the glorious truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ brought great joy to him. He made this famous declaration about our faith, “The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it.” Everything in the gospel hinges upon the truth of the resurrection. He also affirmed, “Christ Himself has assuredly risen from the dead; and if He has risen from the dead, He will, by His power, bring all men to stand before Him: for if He has risen from the dead the bands of the temporal death are broken that the grave has no victory.”

Joseph encouraged us all to take comfort in the sure knowledge of the resurrection: “I am glad I have the privilege of communicating to you some things which, if grasped closely, will be a help to you when earthquakes bellow, the clouds gather, the lightnings flash, and the storms are ready to burst upon you like peals of thunder. Lay hold of these things and let not your knees or joints tremble, nor your hearts faint; and then what can earthquakes, wars and tornadoes do? Nothing. All your losses will be made up to you in the resurrection, provided you continue faithful. By the vision of the Almighty I have seen it.… God has revealed His Son from the heavens and the doctrine of the resurrection also; and we have a knowledge that those we bury here God will bring up again, clothed upon and quickened by the Spirit of the great God; and what mattereth it whether we lay them down, or we lay down with them, when we can keep them no longer? Let these truths sink down in our hearts, that we may even here begin to enjoy that which shall be in full hereafter.” No matter what our losses in mortality, we can trust in the sure knowledge of the resurrection and that through the glorious triumph of Jesus Christ over death we will all be raised again. Surely this well-known canonized declaration from Joseph should be at the foundation of our faith: “And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:22). This week we celebrate the Savior’s triumph over death and take comfort that because He triumphed over death, all our injustices and sorrows will be made up if we hold faithful.