The Spirit World and the Resurrection of the Dead

[This is a re-post from one of my other blogs dated October 22, 2007. The info is just as pertinent now as it was then.]

I listened to this talk by Robert J. Matthews. I transcribed it myself because I couldn't find a written form and I wanted to share it with you. I think it is an accurate transcription, but any punctuation and spelling errors are mine alone. I put the words here that I thought were the most interesting or thought provoking or powerful. Where you see three dots (...) you will know I left out parts of his talk that were less interesting or thought provoking or powerful. If you listen while you read, you may disagree with my editing - so be it. I felt like I couldn't put all his words in here - this post is long enough as it is. You can listen to it here, or here or here. Listening time is about 38 minutes. I believe you will find it worth your time.

The Spirit World and the Resurrection of the Dead
- Robert J. Matthews, BYU Education Week, August 21, 2007

Since I am not a spokesman for the church I will quote those who are or who were in their day, and though I cite the scriptures and the brethren correctly, the organization of this talk and the arrangement and the context are mine. So I alone am responsible for what I am about to say. I firmly believe that what I am going to say is gospel truth. It's based upon latter-day revelation and also the bible. ... First we need to know that all things are governed by law. ... Not only humans, but all forms of life are governed by law. All things have privledges and all things are preserved by the law. ... The laws of God are usually user-friendly, and they were given in kindness to enable His children to advance in glory. ... God Himself, finding He was in the midst of spirits and glory, because He was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have the privledge to advance like Himself. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences that they may be exalted with Himself. Now there are some progressive steps in this long journey. From our birth as a spirit until be become resurrected beings is a long, progressive journey in which each one of us is already involved. There are at least four major phases to this journey. First, un-embodied - that's a pre-earth spirit having never received a body of flesh and bones - we call it the "first estate." The second is embodied - that's a spirit temporarily connected to a physical body - that's our present earth life, and it's called second estate. [Third,] Then there's disembodied - that's a spirit that's temporarilly separated from the physical body through death. The spirit is alive in the post-mortal spirit world, waiting for the resurrection. And then the fourth one, re-embodied - that's the permanent reunion of the spirit and the body in the resurrection. Although there is intellectual and spiritual growth as we move along these steps, there is a constancy of both purpose and individuality. In other words, we are the same person as we go along, we just improve - hopefully. A spirit is immortal and is not dependent upon a physical body for life, but it can benefit from the experience of living in a body. ... Now we need to talk a little bit about our life in the pre-mortal world - the un-embodied state. ... God [has] shape, size and form as a man. He is a perfect spirit, permanently connected with a perfect physical body of flesh and bones. Every human being is a first generation spirit daughter or son of this supremely gracious, powerful, holy, and knowledgable God. ... The term Heavenly Parents that's used in [The Proclamation on the Family] indicates that we have a Heavenly Mother as well as a Heavenly Father. ... Now let's talk about the nature of spirits. Spirits are made of refined spirit element, and as the literal offspring of Heavenly Parents, each human spirit has form, size, shape in the image of God, with all the parts, the features, organic structure common to a physical body. Or in other words, the physical body has all of the features of the spirit body. ... Each one of us had a pre-mortal life as an itelligent, active, social, individual spirit with our own personality before our birth into this mortal world. We had agency and will power; we had a wide range of emotions, character traits, and accomplishments, including decision making ability, and accountability. That life was neither bland, listless, nor languid for it appears to me that good and bad, virtues and vises, all that are known to us in mortality except murder - since spirits do not die, so there was no murder in the pre-earth life. ... Among individual spirits there was then and there is now a great variety of intelligence, activity, faith, and ambition. ... We would certainly expect that an experienced, orderly, knowledgable, and caring Heavenly Father would understand the necessity of serious training to be given to His spirit children - that He would provide a plan - some system for them to advance and become like Himself. ... This plan [God's Plan of Salvation,] if followed, would enable the spirits to become like God. That's a long-term project. It has huge proportions. It has high adventure. And great expectations, and is, what the scriptures call "the work and the glory of God." Now we need to talk about the Grand Council. "Grand Council" is a term often used by the Prophet Joseph Smith to describe the setting for official, top-level, priesthood functions in the pre-earth life. The plan of God was introduced and taught in many meetings over an extended period of time - collectively called the Grand Council. Most spirits happily accepted the plan, and shouted for joy at the opportunity to become like God. They understood that it was far beyond their very best efforts, and that they could succeed only by the absolute redemption that would be provided by Jesus Christ, their Redeemer. The entire plan from beginning to end ... everything - was explained in the Grand Council. We knew that we would need the gospel and the blessings of Christ's atonement in every one of those four categories that we've talked about in that long journey. ... The established order of the kingdom was made known, and men and women were foreordained and appointed to carry it out here upon the earth. This seems to be what the Prophet Joseph Smith was getting at when he said, "The great thing for us to know is to comprehend what God did institute before the foundation of the world." Now the prophet says that's the great thing for us to begin to understand - that this was all mapped out and understood in the pre-mortal world - and we were there. ... I suppose we each were given at least a glimpse of what we would encounter here in this mortal world. And we still wanted to come. Now there was a war in heaven. ... President Hinckley said, "That war, so bitter, so intense, has never ceased. It is the war between truth and error, between agency and compulsion, between the followers of Christ and those who have denied Him." President Hinckley also observed, "that many who aligned themselves with the Lord Jesus Christ in pre-mortality have betrayed, in life, the decision they once made when the great war occurred in heaven." Now we need to talk a little bit about our present earth life - the embodied state. One giant leap for mankind within the Father's plan is for each spirit to be born into mortality to obtain a physical body. This is absolutely necessary if a spirit is ever to become like God, since God has a real body of flesh and bones. ... In addition to being a place to get a physical body, earth life is also a probationary time called the second estate - in which man still has agency; still has will power; and decision making ability, but also accountability. ... In Doctrine and Covenants 93:33-34, the Lord said that a spirit without a resurrected body cannot have a fulness of joy. Now here are the exact words, "For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy; and when separated, man cannot receive a fulness of joy." Now as mortals, we have only a temporary connection between body and spirit. The revelation says we need to be inseparably connected. This is the resurrected condition. Getting a mortal body was the first step, death was the second step, and resurrection is the final step. ... The awful limitations placed upon the devil and his angels. The necessity for and the desirability of having a body was fully explained to all the spirits preparing to come to earth. Yet Lucifer and a third part of the spirits rejected the Father's offer. They rebelled against the Father and against Christ. They abandoned the plan with it's opportunities for advancement. Lucifer and his followers were cast out of heaven and put down on the earth in their spirit form without birth; without bodies of flesh and bones; and were denied the privledge of ever having bodies. The consequence of their choice is that they are stopped in their progress. Not having a body means not having a lot of other things too: never a fullness of joy; never become like God; never have a posterity. They will remain in their first estate. ... [The prophet Joseph Smith said,] "The great principle of happiness consists of having a body. The devil has no body, and herein is his punishment. He is pleased when he can obtain the tabernacle of man, and when cast out by the Saviour he asks to into a herd of swine, showing he would prefer a swine's body to having none." ... "And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever." [Abraham 3:26] Now to be added upon means growth, progress, improvement, and happiness. It means to receive body and everything else that's involved with having a body. It means obtaining all other blessings of the gospel. And those blessings do not just add up, but they multiply up in intensity and in volume. It's no wonder the heavens wept over Lucifer when he fell. ... Now let's go to the post-mortal spirit world - the disembodied state. ... Our immortal spirit continues as an intelligent, thinking, conscious individual. We'll now consider the location, the purpose, the opportunities of the important but temporary realm of disembodied spirits. If you know anyone who has passed away, this is where they are. First, preaching the gospel in the spirit world. Many scriptures conote the lifestyle of disembodied spirits, but probably none more clearly than the vision of the spirit world that was given to Joseph F. Smith on the 3rd of October, 1918 in Salt Lake City. That's now section 138 of our Doctrine and Covenants. The revelation describes the visit of the Lord Jesus Christ to the spirit world as a disembodied spirit, after His death on the cross while His body was still in the tomb. The spirits of all who had died while on this earth from the time of Adam through forty centuries were all in that spirit world and were very much alive. The righteous spirits from Adam on down were assembled and eagerly awaiting for Jesus' arrival in the spirit world. The spirits of the wicked were also in the spirit world, but they didn't come to thew meeting. Jesus organized a mission among the righteous spirits, and set in motion the preaching of the gospel to the other spirits - that is spirits teaching spirits. The thrust of the revelation is missionary work in the spirit world. But that could not be possible unless spirits were alive and conscious and alert. ... Number two. Where is the spirit world? President Brigham Young spoke marvelous things: "Where is the spirit world? It is right here. Do the good and the evil spirits go together? Yes they do. Do they both inhabit one kingdom? Yes they do. Do they go beyond the boundaries of the organized earth? No, they do not." So when you die you're not going anywhere, you see - not very far anyway. ... Spirits are just as familiar with spirits as bodies are with bodies. They walk, converse, and have their meetings. And when you are in the spirit world, everything there will appear natural as things now do. Now there are varying conditions in that spirit world. The prophet Joseph Smith explained, "Hades or Sheol, these two significations (?) mean the world of spirits. Hades, Sheol, paradise, spirits in prison, are all one. It is a world of spirits. The righteous and the wicked all go to the same world of spirits until the resurrection." ... As birds of a feather flock together, so spirits seek their own groups with whom they feel most comfortable. Thus different states of mind lead to different self-imposed social gatherings just as we see occur in our earth life. However - this is important - President Brigham young explained that if we die firm in the faith of Jesus Christ the devil and wicked spirits will have no influence over our spirits. Whereas all others, when they die will still be subject to temptation. Now returning to the presence of God - that's item number four. The prophet Alma states that at death the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil will be taken home to their God who gave them life (Alma 40:11). This needs a little clarification. Elder Joseph Fielding Smith explained: "These words of Alma, as I understand them, do not intend to convey the thought that all spirits go back into the presence of God. 'Taken home to God,' simply means that their mortal existence has come to an end, and they have returned to the world of spirits." President George Q. Cannon said that Alma "does not intend to convey the idea that they are immediately ushered into the personal presence of God [Gospel Truth, 58]." Now I'd like to talk to you about the spirit world environment - this is number five. When President Jedediah M. Grant, who was a counselor to President Brigham Young, was near death in 1856, the other counselor in the First Presidency, President Heber C. Kimball, visited him at home. President Grant told President Kimball that his spirit had recently been in the spirit world and had now returned to earth, and he told President Kimball what he had seen there. Now the following is an excerpt of Brother Kimball's discourse at brother Grant's funeral just a few days later. "He said that people he there saw were organized in family capacities, and in perfect harmony. He said that the people he there saw were organized in family capacities; and when he looked at them he saw grade after grade, and all were organized and in perfect harmony. He would mention one item after another and say, 'Why, it is just as brother Brigham says it is; it is just as he has told us many a time.' This is a testimony as to the truth of what brother Brigham teaches us. He said, when I looked at families there was a deficiency in some, there was a lack; for I saw families that would not be permitted to come and dwell together because they had not honored their calling here. The temple erected by Solomon was much inferior to the most ordinary buildings he saw in the spirit world. I have seen good gardens on this earth, but I never saw any to compare with those that were there. I saw flowers of numerous kinds, and some with from fifty to a hundred different colored flowers growing upon one stalk." That's from Journal of Discourses, Volume 4, verses 135-137. Now item number six - three hours in the spirit world. At about ten o'clock, on March the 3rd, 1891, Ella Jensen, a nineteen year old woman living near Brigham City, Utah, passed away after a lingering illness. Lorenzo Snow, President of the Quorum of the Twelve, also lived in Brigham City, and immediatly after the girl's death, her parents notified Brother Snow. Upon arriving at the Jensen home, President Snow felt that the young woman had not completed her mortal mission, even though she had been dead then nearly two hours, and he administered to her, commanding her in the name of the Lord to return to mortality. He then left the Jensen home to attend to some other business. About one hour later - it didn't happen immediately - one hour later, as the family and friends still mourned her death, Ella finally opened her eyes, looked around the room and said, "Where is President Snow?" Sister Jensen's account of her three hour visit included many things. Visiting with departed ancestors and other relatives and friends; she talked about how happy and busy everyone was in the spirit world; how beautiful the spirit world is. It was while happily visiting in the spirit world, she distinctly heard President Snow call her by name, and told her to return to earth. She liked being in the spirit world, and she took her time coming back - an hour - took her time before she slipped back into her mortal body. Now she later married, gave birth to eight children, and lived totally, after this event, for another sixty-five years. Number seven. We might well expect that Lazarus and others of old times who had been restored to mortal life, would have similar things to tell about the spirit world, especially Lazarus, because he had been in the spirit world four days already before Jesus brought him back. He'd be a very interesting fireside speaker. Number eight. The long absence from the body is a type of bondage. Disembodied spirits will eventually long to be reunited with the body [D&C 138:50]. That is, they'll long for a resurrected body. Not for the worn out, tired, weakened mortal body. Both President Grant and Sister Jensen specifically noted that they were reluctant to return to the mortal, ailing body; and did so more of duty than as choice. Number nine. When will our pre-earth memory be restored to us? I think it's a general feeling among our people that your pre-mortal life memory is restored to you as soon as you die. But in the absence of a categorical statement of when our pre-mortal memory will be activated, I don't expect it will occur before our resurrection. There would probably be no need for it to occur to the general run of mankind before the resurrection and the final judgement. Number ten -a personal observation. We are all moving toward the world of spirits. The spirit world is an extension of our earth life. Our ancestors and departed family and friends who are already there know that we will join them eventually. They are aware of us - they probably pray for us. Now some questions. When we go, will we remember our mortal life? Does this church exist there? And if so, does it have the same name that it has here? How could the answers be otherwise than yes, yes, and yes to these questions. Now the resurrection of the dead - the re-embodied state. We now come to the last segment of man's journey, the resurrection from the dead. Resurrection is mankind's final condition; permanent and all-inclusive. No man woman or child will be left behind. ... I will now touch upon a few essential features of the resurrection that have been revealed in the scriptures and the teachings of the prophets. Resurrection is necessary because of the fall of Adam. The resurrection of mankind is made possible only because of the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He alone has the power to overcome the effects of the fall of Adam, which brought death of the body and also death of the spirit. Now death of the body I call the cemetery death. Death of the spirit doesn't mean the spirit dies, but it means to be separated from the presence of God. Death actually means separation. The body is separate from the spirit and the spirit and the body are separated from God in spiritual death. ... Resurrection is governed by divine law. Although everyone will receive a resurrection, it will not all happen at the same time, nor with the same glory. Like everything else in the kingdom of God, the resurrection is governed by divine law, and there is order and there is timing. The righteous first, the others later. All of the righteous before any of the wicked. So far on this earth, only celestial resurrections have take place, and there are still a lot more of those yet to come. Resurrection is a priesthood ordinance. ... The Plan of Restoration - and I'd like to emphasize that I feel like this is very, very, important. What we call resurrection is part of the larger plan of restoration. You must have noticed that in Alma's discussion of the resurrection in Alma chapters 40 and 41, he uses the words restoration and restored to explain what resurrection is. Alma regarded the resurrection as a restoration of the actual body. He was not talking about replacement or substitution. Restoration is an eternal law. ... The law of resurrection and restoration preserves the particles of our body and will restore them to our spirit. ... We first wanted a glorious resurrection when we were in our first estate and saw the beautiful and perfect bodies of our Heavenly Parents. It was in that far distant past that our spirits learned the value of flesh and bones, and yearned for such a body, that we could become like God. We have been working toward that ultimate goal ever since. The glory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as our great example has been in our hearts in every phase of our existance, from pre-mortal to mortal and will be in the post-mortal and onward, right up to the moment of our resurrection. ... Now a personal comment about resurrection. It is my conviction that all human beings are created in the express image of the bodies of our Heavenly Parents. Our spirit body and our physical body resemble each other and each has the corresponding parts, features, organs, and likeness that the other has. These are also the features of the bodies of our Heavenly Parents. Resurrected bodies have size, shape, weight, and they occupy space. They have every limb, joint, hair, and body parts that are natural to the physical body. And they enjoy never ending youth without sickness or pain. They eat, drink, digest food, and have bodily warmth. They have spirit fluid in their veins instead of red blood, and they do not require sleep. ... Everything that has a spirit, everything that has had breath, and everything that has died on this earth shall be resurrected. It is all because of Jesus: He said, "I am the resurrection." Now many resurrected beings have visited this earth. The personal visits of the Father, the Son, Moroni, John the Baptist, Peter, James, Moses, Elijah, and many others who visited the prophet Joseph Smith were all resurrected beings.