“Good Tidings of Great Joy”
Luke 2:8–11
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
President Dallin H. Oaks said:
“. . . [D]espite all we can do, we cannot have a fulness of joy in this world or through our own efforts. (See D&C 101:36.) Only in Christ can our joy be full. This is why the angel proclaimed: ‘I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
“‘For unto you is born this day . . . a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord’ (Luke 2:10–11).
“We are able to have a fulness of joy only when spirit and body are inseparably connected in the glorious resurrection to celestial glory. (See D&C 93:33; D&C 76:50–70.) That joy, of course, comes only through the mercy of the Holy Messiah, whose resurrection broke the bands of death and whose atonement unlocks the reservoir of mercy by which we can be cleansed of our sins and come into the presence of God to receive the fulness of the Father.
“We joyously proclaim that ‘there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah’ (2 Ne. 2:8). God’s mercy is the only source of the ultimate and eternal joy, which restores every loss, dries every tear, and erases every pain. Eternal joy transcends all suffering. In this life and in the life to come, that joy comes about through the Resurrection and the remission of sins.”
(“Joy and Mercy,” Ensign, Nov. 1991, 74.)
