“Deliverance from Death”
2 Nephi 11:5
5 And also my soul delighteth in the covenants of the Lord which he hath made to our fathers; yea, my soul delighteth in his grace, and in his justice, and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death.
President Dallin H. Oaks said:
“I wonder if we fully appreciate the enormous significance of our belief in a literal, universal resurrection. The assurance of immortality is fundamental to our faith. The Prophet Joseph Smith declared:
“‘The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the Apostles and Prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it’ [Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2007), 49].
“Of all things in that glorious ministry, why did the Prophet Joseph Smith use the testimony of the Savior’s death, burial, and Resurrection as the fundamental principle of our religion, saying that ‘all other things . . . are only appendages to it’? The answer is found in the fact that the Savior’s Resurrection is central to what the prophets have called ‘the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death’ (2 Nephi 11:5).”
(“Resurrection,” Ensign, May 2000, 15.)
