There is a great variety of intelligence and capacity among spirits. Since all spirits had agency in premortality, variety and gradation soon became apparent. Some spirits became noble and great in knowledge and in character. Likewise, some did not.
Studying the resurrection makes some things stand out that are passed over when viewed casually. Some semi-important things are as follows: • First and last resurrection. The scriptures speak repeatedly of the first resurrection and of the last resurrection, and of the just and the unjust, but the term “second” resurrection is not mentioned in scripture. (See D&C 76:15-17, 39, 50, 65; 76:85.) • “Morning of the first resurrection.” This term has reference only to those who have a celestial resurrection, regardless of when they come up. This phrase does not appear in scripture. Joseph Smith used the term “in the morning of the resurrection.” It is commonly used in patriarchal blessings. The term “morning of the first resurrection” might possibly have developed from D&C 43:18. (See also D&C 45:17.) • All of the righteous will be resurrected before any of the wicked. • As of now, only celestial resurrections have occurred on this earth.
The scriptures declare that redemption from the effects of Adam's fall (both the physical and spiritual death) is absolute, unconditional, and automatically assured to all mankind by Jesus Christ without man's effort. Redemption from man's own sins is available because of the atonement of Jesus Christ but requires individual repentance and obedience.
Although we now live in the “last days” and much restoration has taken place, in truth, the Restoration has barely begun. Perhaps we have identified the Restoration primarily in terms of priesthood, Church organization, and gospel ordinances as given through the Prophet Joseph Smith. While these were the beginning, and without priesthood none of the other things could occur, the Restoration events yet to take place are more in number and of greater earth-shaking consequence than those that have so far taken place. The Restoration will continue throughout and beyond the Millennium until every soul is resurrected and judged and until all mankind and the earth itself have reached their final status.
Jesus Christ is the firstborn of the flesh and the central theme of the scriptures. Prophets, beginning with Adam, testified of him and his mission. He was Jehovah in the premortal spirit existence, and he was chosen by our Heavenly Father to be the Savior of mankind.
Central in the whole plan is the Messiah and Redeemer, who is literally a God born to earth. The same gospel covenant, reflected in the Abrahamic covenant, still operates among the latter-day prophets and the people and is the only method that will establish a permanent and lasting Zion in which the inhabitants will be happy, will be of one mind because they are righteous, and where there will be no poor among them.
I think we often miss the major issue of the contention in premortality that eventually led to the war in heaven. We talk about it as though Satan were going to force everybody to obey when he said, “I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost”—we interpret that as meaning that he was proposing forced obedience. It seems strange to me that a third of all the spirits that had the potential to be born into this world would have favored a proposal of forced obedience. Most of us do not like to be forced. As I see it, the issue was not so much one of force as it was that Satan said he would guarantee salvation for his spirit brothers and sisters. He promised salvation without excellence, without effort, without hard work, without individual responsibility, and without obedience to righteous laws. That is the lie he promulgated in the pre-earth councils. That so-called shortcut to salvation captivated many gullible and lazy spirits. They wanted something for nothing.
Those who wholeheartedly supported Lucifer’s rebellion became like him; and after having sinned beyond the possibility of reclamation, they were cast out of heaven and placed (as spirits) upon the earth, never to have the opportunity to be born with a body of flesh and bone. The precise number who thus rebelled we do not know, but the scriptures speak of them as “third part” of the spirits who were originally scheduled for birth into mortality.
Church of the Firstborn. This term occurs in the New Testament (Heb. 12:23) and also in several places in the Doctrine and Covenants (76:54, 67, 71, 94; 77:11; 78:21; 93:22; 107:19). It has reference to those who inherit the fulness of salvation and exaltation. They belong not only to the Church of Jesus Christ (who himself is the Firstborn), but they constitute a church, the membership of which consists only of those who are exalted and thus have the inheritance of the firstborn. They are joint heirs with Jesus in all that the Father has and are thus the Church consisting of the firstborn. This is what the gospel does for those who obey it fully; it causes them to be born again and gives them an adoption in the eternal patriarchal family so that they have an inheritance as the firstborn even though they are younger in actual chronology(see also Gal. 3:26-27).
To be denied a body—as is the case with Lucifer—is everlasting damnation. Or if there were not a resurrection, it would be everlasting damnation.
Adam’s body is said to have been created from the dust of the earth (see Gen. 2:7; D&C 77:12; Moses 3:7; and Abr. 5:7), meaning that it was created or made from the elements of the earth. The book of Moses offers further insight into this matter by stating that Adam’s children were also created from the dust of the earth (see Moses 6:59). The same expression used to describe the bodily creation of Adam’s children was used to describe the creation of Adam’s body. Does this not suggest the same process was used? Adam is also spoken of as being the “son of God”.
A few scriptures will quickly give an account of how the covenant that God made with Abraham was continued through his generations. The Abrahamic covenant is introduced in Gen. 17:1-17 and includes, among other things, a promise of a numerous posterity, a land inheritance, and a declaration that all the nations of the earth are to be blessed through Abraham's posterity.
The doctrine taught in the revelations is that man, being the literal offspring of God both in body and in spirit, can gain the fulness of salvation (which means to become like God) by obedience to the laws, ordinances, and ceremonies of the gospel and by being born again, redeemed, and sanctified through the Holy Ghost.
Our earliest indication of the conflict is recorded in the scriptures as the War in Heaven, meaning a war that was waged among the spirit children of God in the premortal life. It began, so far as we know, with the rebellion of Lucifer against God over a difference about how God’s spirit children, of whom Lucifer was one, could become like God (see Moses 4:1-4; Abr. 3:23-28; D&C 76:25-26).
Our earliest indication of the conflict is recorded in the scriptures as the War in Heaven, meaning a war that was waged among the spirit children of God in the premortal life. It began, so far as we know, with the rebellion of Lucifer against God over a difference about how God’s spirit children, of whom Lucifer was one, could become like God (see Moses 4:1-4; Abr. 3:23-28; D&C 76:25-26). We do not know how long the war lasted, but we do know something of the contending armies and the issues. Each side had a major advocate and many followers … The war was severe, and it had eternal consequences. Every kind of sin (with the possible exception of sins involving death) was present in that premortal state, and there were many casualties. Repentance was in order for all who sinned, and forgiveness in that premortal life was available through faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to the plan of salvation (see D&C 93:38). This was not a war just of words and debate and forensics. It was a war of misdeeds, lies, hatred, pride, jealousy, remorse, envy, cursing, blasphemy, deception, theft, cajoling, slander, anger, and sins of almost every kind that are also known in mortality. The issues were so well defined that coexistence was not possible. Those who wholeheartedly supported Lucifer’s rebellion became like him; and after having sinned beyond the possibility of reclamation, they were cast out of heaven and placed (as spirits) upon the earth, never to have the opportunity to be born with a body of flesh and bone.
What if There Were No Christ? I once heard President David O. McKay say, “If Shakespeare were to come into the room we would all stand up, but if Jesus came in, we would kneel down and worship him.” That categorizes the special and exalted role of our Savior. Isaiah said, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isa. 9:2; or 2 Ne. 19:2). What if there had been no Jesus, no Savior, no redemption? What would have been our fate? Could we have saved ourselves? We seem to be quite clear in our understanding that without Jesus there would have been no resurrection of the body from the dead, but what of our spirits? What would have become of our spirits if there had been no atonement by the Lord Jesus Christ? We find an answer to this in 2 Ne. 9:6-9 … In no other place is it stated so clearly. Thus we realize that we would have been doomed to a life of misery, no matter what else we may have done. Because of the Fall of Adam, a broken law would have prevented every son and daughter of Adam and Eve from escaping damnation.
Central in the whole plan is the Messiah and Redeemer, who is literally a God born to earth.
In the gospel of Jesus Christ the human family is at the pinnacle of dignity because the first man and the first woman, Adam and Eve, were the direct and first-generation literal offspring of heavenly parents both in the spirit body and in the physical body. The human family is literally, in every sense, the offspring of God. This is according to divine law, for the scriptural accounts state that living things reproduce and bring forth “after their kind” and that the “seed could only bring forth the same in itself, after his kind” (see Abr. 4:11, 12, 21, 24-25). Mankind, both male and female, were created in the image and the likeness of the Gods (see Abr. 4:26-27).
The great apostasy and loss of the priesthood eighteen hundred years ago resulted not only in a loss of authority to perform ordinances in the Church but also in a loss of truth pertaining to every phase of life on the earth. It has affected man’s thinking and reasoning in political, economic, educational, and social fields as well. But the Restoration is just as broad as the Apostasy. Even though we have generally thought only of church organization in the Restoration, and the principles of the gospel as contained in the scriptures, the Restoration also applies to all phases and dimensions of human endeavor, including social, political, educational, and economic areas.
The revelations received by the Prophet Joseph Smith made clear that the King James Version [of the Bible], great as it was, did not contain all that the ancient manuscripts had once contained. Many plain and precious things had been lost (see 1 Ne. 13). It was not so much a matter of translation of languages as it was a faulty transmission of the text. The King James Version is thus a remarkable vestige of an even more remarkable record of the gospel that was preached anciently. With the Restoration, another revision of the English Bible was in order, not by a scholar but by a prophet. And it would come not from an ancient manuscript but from direct revelation of the same Lord from whom the Bible had originated. It was to be done at the Lord’s commission rather than at the request of an earthly monarch or pope. This revision was to be an inspired version of the King James Bible, a divine restoration of ancient biblical knowledge. It is known today as the Inspired Version, or more properly, as the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. It should be seen in perspective as another step in the struggle to give mankind a Bible that not only can be read but also can be understood. The Prophet Joseph Smith made his translation during the years 1830 to 1844.
Our earliest indication of the conflict is recorded in the scriptures as the War in Heaven, meaning a war that was waged among the spirit children of God in the premortal life. It began, so far as we know, with the rebellion of Lucifer over a difference about how God’s spirit children, of whom Lucifer was one, could become like God. We do not know how long the war lasted, but we do know something of the contending armies and the issues … Fundamentally the differences were over (1) the principle of agency, which is always coupled with individual responsibility, and (2) the fact that godhood, with ultimate perfection, can be obtained only through individual effort and excellence. Jesus stood for the absolute necessity of these principles; Lucifer opposed them.
Adam’s physical body was the tabernacle of the great and majestic Michael the archangel. When the premortal spirit known as Michael came to earth and obtained a physical tabernacle, he was known as Adam (See D&C 27:11). It is fitting that such a noble spirit be tabernacle in a body that was the literal offspring of God rather than in the body of an animal.
No mention is made in Genesis about how Adam and Eve felt about the Fall and having been cast out of the Garden of Eden. But in the Joseph Smith Translation of Gen. 4:9-12 Moses 5:10-11), we find both of them rejoicing because of the great new life and spiritual opportunities available to them as a result of the Fall. We don’t know how they felt about it immediately, but after they were taught the gospel, they rejoiced because of the Fall.
When we see the larger picture from premortal life, to mortal life, to postmortal spirit world, to Resurrection, we begin to realize that right now is our probationary time on earth, and we sense our current situation in God’s eternal plan of salvation. When we know these things we no longer speak simply of education but of “education for eternity.”
There is a great variety of intelligence and capacity among spirits. Since all spirits had agency in premortality, variety and gradation soon became apparent. Some spirits became noble and great in knowledge and in character. Likewise, some did not.