Just before the birth of Christ the people of the Book of Mormon became very stirred up about prophecy and religion and the supposed coming of the Son of God to a faraway land where they wouldn’t be able to check on the veracity of His birth.  They made “a great uproar throughout the land” (3 Nephi 1:7), “spreading rumors and contentions.”  (Hel. 16:22).  “And they began to reason and to contend among themselves, saying:  That it is not reasonable that such a being as a Christ shall come...”  (Hel. 16:17-18).

The whole gospel plan, the plan of salvation, is beyond the reason of the natural man.  We live in this three-dimensional world where everything is perceived by our five senses.  That there could be anything beyond this world is not reasonable to our senses and to those things that we think, perceive, and know.

Time-wise we are exactly where the Book of Mormon peoples were at the end of the book of Helaman.  Religion is under attack, and the reasoning of the natural man prevails.

The natural man sees death and decay and no return from the grave.  He has not observed a single living thing ever coming back to life.  “Therefore,” the natural man says, “it is not reasonable that there can be a resurrection.”  The natural man subscribes to the doctrine of Korihor which says “that when a man (is) dead, that (is) the end thereof.”  (Alma 30:18).

To the natural man it is not reasonable that something which dies and decays could ever live again.  But in actuality there is no more reasonable thing in the world.

Think of this wondrous thing that is your body.  Look at the intricacies of your hand.  The five fingers contain 14 joints that enable them to tie knots, to climb trees and rock walls, to create delicate needle-craft, and to perform surgeries.  Miles of veins, tendons, sinews, and nerves are arranged just so around 27 perfectly-shaped bones to make this astounding living instrument that enables us to do so much.

Is it reasonable to think that the God who created your body did it so that you might only enjoy its use for a few years, and that it would then be cast away?  Isn’t it more reasonable to think that God’s perfect creations were done with forever in mind?  God’s masterpieces are intended to endure.

He first created us as spirits.  He then clothed us with mortality.  After a period of testing and trial while our spirits learn to manage his masterpieces, He then removes the mortal element, and reassembles all the component parts into a glorious light-filled body that will endure forever.

Unreasonable?  To the natural man, yes; but the resurrection is a reality.  There is no more well-documented event in the history of the world than the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  His bruised, tortured, torn, and lifeless body was laid in the tomb for parts of three days.  He then resurrected, and appeared to his disciples, to 500 men at once, to many thousands of Nephites in the Americas, and later to Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, and many prophets of the last days.

Joseph and Sydney testified, “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!  For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; ...”  (D&C 76:22-23).

Elder Boyd K. Packer quoted these same words and then said, “Their words are my words.”  (Ensign, May 2014, 97).

Not only was Jesus resurrected, but at the time of His resurrection the righteous dead were also resurrected.  The Bible states, “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.”  (Matt. 27:52-53).

Samuel the Lamanite prophet declared that such would be the case among the Nephites, too.  His prophecy was recorded, but its fulfillment was not.  This was such an important point that Jesus asked Nephi, his prophet, “How be it that ye have not written this thing, that many saints did arise and appear unto many and did minister unto them?

“And it came to pass that Nephi remembered that this thing had not been written.

“And it came to pass that Jesus commanded that it should be written; therefore it was written according as he commanded.”  (3 Nephi 23:11-13).

Jesus wants all people to know that they will be resurrected.  This is a fact.  Moroni has already experienced it.  So has John the Baptist, Peter, James, John, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and countless other saints.  It will happen to you and to me.  There is no doubt about it.  It is a free gift and a promise from our Savior and Redeemer.

There was no resurrection before Christ, who was the firstfruits of the resurrection.  (1 Cor. 15:20).  Many people have had to wait thousands of years for their resurrections.  Such a wait must be frustrating to the nth degree.  Indeed, Doctrine and Covenants states that they “looked upon the long absence of (their) spirits from (their) bodies to be a bondage...”  (D&C 45:17).

But we today are in a unique and blessed position.  We’re promised that when the Savior comes again, the righteous dead will be resurrected and caught up into the clouds to meet Him.  We won’t have long to lie in the grave.

Our children and grandchildren are in an even more unique and blessed position.  The possibility exists that they may not even have funerals!  If they are still alive at the time of His coming they will go into the Millennial time and “shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye” (D&C 43:32, 63:51, 101:31) from mortality to resurrection.

Think of that!  This has never before happened in the history of the world—deaths without funerals or burials!  Depending upon when the Lord chooses to make His appearance even old people now alive might be eligible.

But be that as it may, the fact remains that as reasonable or as unreasonable as it may sound, the resurrection of all men will happen.  We may count on it because the Lord said so.