Lesson 19 Teacher Material

Assisting the Lord in the Redemption of the Dead

The Savior’s ministry in the spirit world ensures that all people who have lived and will yet live on the earth will have the opportunity to hear the Lord’s gospel and receive the ordinances of salvation. In this lesson, students will share what they can learn about the Savior from His ministry in the spirit world. They will also be invited to participate in temple and family history work to assist the Lord in His saving work for the dead.

Suggestions for Teaching

Jesus Christ ministers to the dead in the spirit world.

To begin class, you might display the following images and invite students to explain what happened between the Savior’s death and Resurrection. (Or you might review Elder Spencer J. Condie’s statement at the beginning of the preparation material and have students respond to the same question.)

The Burial of Christ, by Carl Heinrich Bloch

question mark

Mary and the Resurrected Lord, by Harry Anderson

Improving Our Teaching and Learning

Provide students opportunities to practice sharing the gospel. Institute classes can provide a safe setting for students to practice explaining the teachings of the Lord’s Church. For example, through role plays students can improve their ability to talk about the gospel using simple and clear language.

Invite students to imagine they have an opportunity to explain the Savior’s ministry in the spirit world to someone not of our faith. Display the following questions, and have students select the one they would like to answer:

• I’ve heard your church teaches that people go to paradise or spirit prison when they die. Is that the same thing as heaven and hell?

• I was told growing up that people who die without accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior are forever lost and cannot go to heaven. Is that what your church teaches?

• I recently heard your church practices something called baptism for the dead. It sounds kind of strange. What is that all about?

Provide students time to review the scriptures found in section 1 of the preparation material and to prepare a simple, clear, and doctrinally correct answer for the question they selected.

Then invite students to role-play with a partner and answer the questions they selected. After they are done, you could invite a few students to share what they learned from each other.

To help emphasize the significance of the Lord’s ministry to the spirit world, you could ask one or more of the following questions:

• What have you learned about Jesus Christ and His role in ministering to those in the spirit world? Review Doctrine and Covenants 138:12–19, 23–24, and look for words that describe how the faithful responded to the Savior’s visit. Share with a partner how you might have felt if you had been present for this event.

• What have you learned about the desires and character of Jesus Christ through His ministry to the spirit world? (You could review Doctrine and Covenants 138:29–35. Answers could include truths similar to the following: Jesus Christ’s ministry to the spirit world demonstrates His love and His desire to offer salvation to all people. The Savior allows all of us to help in His great work for the dead.)

• What thoughts about or feelings for the Savior do you have as you consider that His ministry reaches all people—including your ancestors who have died without the gospel?

We can assist the Savior in redeeming the dead.

Consider displaying the accompanying picture of the Savior and this statement from “The Living Christ”: “He gave His life to atone for the sins of all mankind. His was a great vicarious gift in behalf of all who would ever live upon the earth” (“The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles,” ChurchofJesusChrist.org). Make sure students understand that vicarious means acting for or in the place of another person.

Christ Praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, by Hermann Clementz

Then show the following picture, and ask:

• In what ways might our work for the dead emulate the pattern of the Savior? (Review with students President Russell M. Nelson’s statement in section 2 of the preparation material.)

baptism being performed in the temple

Based on students’ answers, you could display a principle similar to the following: As we participate in family history and temple work, we emulate the Savior’s example by doing for others something they cannot do for themselves.

• How has doing temple and family history work strengthened your testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, or how could it?

Invite students to review the statement by Elder Dale G. Renlund in section 2 of the preparation material and identify blessings they have experienced or would like to experience by doing temple and family history work. Then provide students the opportunity to share as a class or in small groups how they or someone they know has been blessed by doing work for the dead.

Display the following statement by President Nelson:

President Russell M. Nelson

I invite you to prayerfully consider what kind of sacrifice—and preferably a sacrifice of time—you can make to do more temple and family history work. (Russell M. Nelson, in “Make Sacrifices for Family History, President Russell M. Nelson Challenges,” Feb. 12, 2017, ChurchofJesusChrist.org)

Give students time to think and write in response to President Nelson’s invitation. They could use some remaining time to open FamilySearch and look for a name they could take to the temple. Encourage students who have used FamilySearch to help those who are not familiar with it.

Or you could invite students to review the ideas in the article “Family History Is for Everyone” (ChurchofJesusChrist.org) referenced in the “Want More?” section of the preparation material.

For Next Time

To encourage students’ preparation for the next class, consider sending the following message or one of your own: As you study lesson 20, consider what spiritual insights you can gain from the words shepherd, hireling, sheepfold, other sheep, green pastures, and lost sheep.