30. It is expressly declared that many graves shall yield up their dead at the time of Christ's advent in glory, and the just who have slept, together with many who have not died, will be caught up to meet the Lord. Paul thus wrote to the Saints in Thessalonica:—"Even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.... For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air."[1175]
31. To the three Nephite disciples, who had asked the blessing of John the beloved apostle, Christ said:—"And ye shall never endure the pains of death; but when I shall come in my glory, ye shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to immortality."[1176]
32. Through the medium of latter-day revelation, the Lord has said:—"Behold I will come, and they shall see me in the clouds of heaven, clothed with power and great glory, with all the holy angels; and he that watches not for me shall be cut off. But before the arm of the Lord shall fall, an angel shall sound his trump, and the Saints that have slept shall come forth to meet me in the cloud."[1177] Of the many signs and wonders which shall attend the Lord's glorious coming we have this partial description:—"And the face of the Lord shall be unveiled: and the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened, and be caught up to meet him. And they who have slept in their graves shall come forth; for their graves shall be opened, and they also shall be caught up to meet him in the midst of the pillar of heaven. They are Christ's, the first-fruits; they who shall descend with him first, and they who are on the earth and in their graves, who are first caught up to meet him."[1178]
33. Such are some of the glories to attend the first resurrection; in which only the righteous are to have part. But the company of the righteous will include all who have faithfully lived according to the laws of God as made known to them; children who have died in their innocence; and even the just among the heathen nations who have lived in comparative darkness while groping for light, and who have died in ignorance.[1179] This doctrine is made plain by modern revelation:—"And then shall the heathen nations be redeemed, and they that knew no law shall have part in the first resurrection."[1180] The Millennium then is to be inaugurated by a glorious deliverance of the just from the power of death; and of this company of the redeemed it is written:—"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."[1181]
34. The Final Resurrection.—"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished."[1182] So said the Revelator after having described the glorious blessings of the just, who are given part in the first resurrection. The unworthy will be called to the judgment of condemnation, when the regenerated world is ready to be presented to the Father.[1183]
35. The contrast between those whose part in the first resurrection is assured, and those whose doom it is to wait until the time of final judgment, is a strong one, and in no case do the scriptures lighten it. We are told that it is proper for us to weep over bereavement by death, "and more especially for those that have not hope of a glorious resurrection."[1184] In the present day, the voice of the Mighty One is heard in solemn warning:—"Hearken ye, for, behold, the great day of the Lord is nigh at hand. For the day cometh that the Lord shall utter his voice out of heaven; the heavens shall shake, and the earth shall tremble, and the trump of God shall sound both long and loud, and shall say to the sleeping nations, Ye saints arise and live; ye sinners stay and sleep until I shall call again."[1185]
36. The vision of the final scene is thus described by John:—"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."[1186] This stage marks the completion of the work of resurrection. As the scriptures conclusively prove, the resurrection will be universal; while it is true that the dead will be brought forth in order, each as he is prepared for the first or the final stage, yet everyone who has tabernacled in the flesh will again assume his body and with such be judged.
37. The Book of Mormon is explicit in the description of the literal and universal resurrection:—"Now, there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death; The spirit and the body shall be re-united again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time, and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt. Now this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but all things shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. Now, behold, I have spoken unto you, concerning the death of the mortal body, and also concerning the resurrection of the mortal body. I say unto you that this mortal body is raised to an immortal body; that is from death; even from the first death unto life."[1187]
38. Consider also the following:—"The death of Christ bringeth to pass the resurrection, which bringeth to pass a redemption from an endless sleep, from which sleep all men shall be awoke by the power of God when the trump shall sound; and they shall come forth, both small and great, and all shall stand before his bar, being redeemed and loosed from this eternal band of death, which death is a temporal death; And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them, and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still."[1188]