Today being Easter the Bishop asked me to take a few moments and reflect on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Shortly after his assertion into heaven the Savior visited the Nephites in the Americas and this is what he said:

3 Nephi 27:13Ð16

13ÊBehold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto youÑ that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me.

How simple the words - I came because My Father asked me to. He also made this

statement in 3 Ne. regarding the specifics of what the Father had asked him to do. He said this:

3 Ne. 11:11 10ÊBehold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.

11ÊAnd behold, I am the light and the life of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.

What is this bitter cup of which he speaks? As defined in the dictionary the meaning of bitter cup is Òthat which is to be received or endured; that portion which is allotted to one; something that unavoidable and unpleasantÓ.

We know from the first verse that Jesus Christ was only doing what he was asked to do. He was completing the assignments given him by our Father in Heaven. His responsibility was to work out the atonement and break the physical bands of death placed on mankind resulting from the fall of Adam. This was his bitter cup; this was his portion, this was something that he as a God alone could do. To understand his bitter cup further let's turn to Matt 27:46

Matt 27:46

46ÊAnd about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

According to StrongsÕ bible dictionary this phrase could be translated as either forsaken or abandoned. We might ask why the Savior had to complete this last part on his own - forsaken and abandoned by his Father? The answer in part lies in verse 50 which reads: " Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost."

In other words Jesus was required to be alone, this was his bitter cup. If he were to be the one to whom justice would answer, if he were to be the one to whom death would answer; he would have to overcome by calling on his own power and through his own will.

This verse makes it clear to us that he was the one who dismissed the spirit, it was not taken from him - he was in control. He had transcended the pain that no mortal man could endure, and then yielded up the ghost. He freely gave what it was impossible for man to have taken.

Have you ever wondered why the Savior hung on the cross; enduring for so long? What purpose was accomplished by not yielding sooner? I have found myself contemplating this; as I have tried to better understand both the atonement and the resurrection. The Savior himself provides additional clues as he expressed his thoughts of this trial to the prophet Joseph in D&C 19:18-19:

18ÊWhich suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spiritÑ and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrinkÑ

Again we find the bitter cup - this time the Savior expresses his concern that he might pull back; that he might not be able to endure long enough to complete his assignment.

Why? Because he knew this would require the ultimate sacrifice. A sacrifice more than just death; it would be an excruciating process in which he would travel in order to fulfill his mission. He knew that he would have to endure pain and suffering beyond his mortal capabilities; trembling from pain; bleeding from every pore; and not yield to death. It was through deep divine determination that he completed his mission, he overcame the mortal bands by exercising his Godly power. To which the scripture continues on...

19ÊNevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.

Remember; he was the one who had previously asked the father if there was any other way and the father said there was no other way. We can quickly note the Lord's view of his mortality and how it was mearly a portion of his existence. He viewed mortality as a period that enabled him to complete and fulfill his mission assigned him by our Father. A lesson I suppose for us as well; but we will leave that for another day.

Why then did the King of Kings; the one who had the power over life and death; why did he endure so much? The answer is that he had to overcome. Overcoming for him required that he; being left alone had to exercise his faith to suffer beyond the scope of mortality, to endure more than were possible for a mortal to bear, and not yield to the bands of death in order to show death who itÕs master was. He comprehended what his assignment was, and he knew how it would end, and when completed; he being in control could allow himself to go into the rest of the Father.

It is important for us to understand how he dismissed the spirit in death; because this story as you know does not stop at his death. It was on his terms that he yielded up his body when; and only when his time for trial was over.

It was because he overcame, because he was not overtaken by pain and suffering unto death that he was able to resurrect himself. While he yielded his mortal body to rest; he did not yield his power; and he had yet to complete his mission.

That part of the mission wherein he promised in his own words "After three days I will rise again."

In Matt 27 the account states that Pilate gave the command to make darn well sure that the sepulcher is tightly sealed so that the disciples could not fool the people into believing that Jesus was resurrected by removing the body. To which Pilate exclaims "lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first."

Pilate understood that if the tomb were opened on the third day and the body was not there that they would never hear the end of it. The last error - being the error of no body in the tomb on the third day would be much harder to overcome than the first error of putting the Savior to death. It would only give additional power to the believers in Christ - just what he did not need. But the plans of God do not yield to the desires of man.

And so it was that the tomb was sealed, and guarded well.

And it came that on the first day of the week, Sunday, the Lords Day. Hearing the news that the saviors body is gone Peter and John fear the worst; that wicked men must have stolen the body. They race to the tomb, John who is younger and more fleet a foot arrives first, he stoops down, and then looks in, but does not enter, hesitating I suppose as it were to desecrate the sacred spot. Peter, impetuous, bold and dynamic rushes in. and John follows. Together they witness the linen strips used to bind the once graven body. But find they are not untied, they are still knotted with the original knots used to wrap the Saviors once lifeless body, they observe that the resurrected body has passed through them.

It was then and there that the angels revealed these words to them as recorded in Luke:

6ÊHe is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,

7ÊSaying, The son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

8ÊAnd they remembered his words,

It was the spirit of the comforter that was now at work in them - bringing to mind the MastersÕ words, which gave them hope and comfort, What they had not before know was now confirmed to them, It is true! It is the third day and He has risen.

And why is it so hard for so many to believe that he had the power to take up his life again? Is it harder to comprehend that he had the power to create the world; and yet would be limited when it came to restoration thru the resurrection? Is resurrection greater than creation?

No it is not - for when one comes to truly understand of the Savior as the creator. One understands that he was the one who created all things. Was he not the one whom the Father taught how to create the flowers, trees, the sky, the water, all living things including man? It is any great stretch then, that he would use what he had learned and the power that he possessed to rejoin the spirit with the body after death? No it is not.

And now the inquisitive may ask; but what evidence have you that he still lives?

We know from the testimonies of those who have personally seen the resurrected savior. There was Mary near the sepulcher, to Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus, There was Peter in or near Jerusalem, and again to Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Thomas, and others of the apostles at Jerusalem, at the Sea of Tiberius, and on a mountain in Galilee to the group of 500, and once again at the time of his ascension on the Mount of Olives to his eleven apostles.

From the multitude of Nephites who bore this testament of the resurrected Lord: 3 Ne. 11 13-17

13ÊAnd it came to pass that the Lord spake unto them saying:

14ÊArise 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.

15ÊAnd it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.

From the prophet Joseph Smith and ... D&C 76:22-24

22ÊAnd 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!

23ÊFor we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the FatherÑ

24ÊThat by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.

And finally from the voice of our modern day prophets and quorum of twelve apostles ...Who solemnly declared this message to the world.

"We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal son of God"

"He rose from the grave to "become the first fruits of them that slept" (1 Corinthians 15:20). As Risen Lord, He visited among those He had loved in life. He also ministered among His "other sheep" (John 10:16) in ancient America. In the modern world, He and His Father appeared to the boy Joseph Smith, ushering in the long-promised "dispensation of the fullness of times" (Ephesians 1:10)"

"He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come."

And I humbly add my testimony that he lives ...