Easter’s Hope and Promise in Jesus Christ
At Easter and every day, Jesus Christ fills the longings of my heart and answers the questions of my soul.
Please create a quiet moment and place of spiritual sanctuary as you read this message.
Our world is too often noisy, cluttered with pretense and pride. But when we are open, honest, and vulnerable with ourselves and God, Easter’s hope and promise in Jesus Christ become real. In such moments, we plead:
“How can I see my family member, friend, my loved one again?”
“Where do I find and feel peace, hope, and communion with God, those around me, and myself?”
“Is there someone I can love—and who will really love me? Can covenant relationships grow and last, not as a fairy tale, but truly happy and forever?”
“Where there is much pain, suffering, and unfairness, how can I contribute to peace, harmony, and understanding in Jesus Christ and in His restored gospel and Church?”
At this Easter season, my testimony of Jesus Christ and of His promise and hope is this:
The Promise of Covenant Belonging and Purpose
God our Eternal Father in Heaven; Jesus Christ, His Beloved Son; and the Holy Ghost are personally close to us. Their light, compassion, and love are interwoven in the purpose of creation and the fabric of our existence.
In the premortal council in heaven, we “shouted for joy.” We chose choice. Now we walk by faith. Through our own experience, we discover God’s promised beauty, clarity, joy, and purpose amidst mortality’s uncertainties, discouragements, and challenges.
The Rescue, by Dan Wilson
We are not meant to wander in this life alone. We can pray, build faith and belonging, and become our truest, freest, most authentic, joyful selves. Atonement—at-one-ment—in and through Jesus Christ brings this covenant belonging.
The Hope of Jesus Christ’s Life and Mission
Each day, Easter’s hope and promise include the blessings and teachings Jesus Christ shared during His perfect mortal ministry. Preordained in the beginning, Jesus Christ was born the Only Begotten of the Father. He grew in wisdom and stature, finding favor with God and man. Seeking only to do the will of His Father, Jesus Christ forgave sins, healed infirmities, raised the dead, and comforted the sick and lonely.
At the Last Supper and later in the New World, Jesus Christ instituted the sacrament. In this sacred ordinance, we call upon the Father and covenant to take upon us the name of Jesus Christ, always remember Him and keep His commandments, that we may always have His Spirit to be with us.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus suffered more than man can suffer to redeem and atone for us. Blood came from every pore. He suffered these pains for all, that we might not suffer if we would repent.
Betrayed and falsely accused, Jesus Christ was mocked and scourged. A crown of thorns was thrust upon His humble head. He was lifted up on the cross to draw us to Him. When all was accomplished, He willingly died for us.
Jesus Christ knows how to succor us in our sicknesses, infirmities, loneliness, isolation, and hardships. He also knows how to rejoice with us in our delights and gratitude, how to weep with us when our joy is full. As we walk uprightly and keep our covenants, He promises that all things can work together for our good.
Truly, Jesus Christ can free us from bondage and sin, from death and hell, and help us fulfill our divine identity, as we become more than we ever imagined, through faith and repentance.
The Promise of Deliverance
Because of Jesus Christ, death is not the end. At Easter we declare: “Death is conquered; man is free. Christ has won the victory.” By commandment and power of His Father, Jesus could lay down His life and take it up again. On the morning of the third day, He rose from the tomb. In time and eternity, He shows us by example how “death unlocks the passageway into eternity.”
Through the power of Christ’s Atonement and Resurrection, our bodies and spirits will be reunited in physical resurrection. Christ’s Atonement can bless us to overcome every kind of spiritual separation and spiritual death. On condition of repentance, we are freed from every sin and sorrow and opened to an eternal fulness of love and joy in the glorious, celestial presence of God our Father and Jesus Christ.
We will be reunited with our loved ones again and see one another with an eternal perspective—with greater love, understanding, and kindness. Jesus Christ’s Atonement can help us remember what matters and forget what does not. Seeing our Savior and relationships with greater faith and gratitude brings peace, lifts burdens, and reconciles hearts and unites families in time and eternity.
The Hope of Abundance and Joy
Easter in Jesus Christ includes many abundant blessings. Mindful of each of us, Jesus Christ invites us to see and minister with love and compassion as He does.
Easter in Jesus Christ includes the Restoration of the fulness of His gospel, His priesthood authority and power, and the sacred ordinances and covenants found in His Church—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Easter in Jesus Christ includes more holy houses of the Lord coming closer to God’s children in many places, where we can offer on earth what departed loved ones need and desire in eternity that they cannot do for themselves.
Such is my hope, promise, and testimony. I witness of God our Father, our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. At Easter and every day, may we find eternal hope and promise in God’s divine plan of happiness, with its covenant path of divine transformation from mortality into immortality and eternal life. Each day may the certainty of Jesus Christ’s Atonement lift our burdens, help us comfort others’ sorrows, and free our souls to receive His full joy.