He Lives!
1 Corinthians 15:55
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
President Gordon B. Hinckley said:
“This is Easter morning. This is the Lord’s day, when we celebrate the greatest victory of all time, the victory over death.
“Those who hated Jesus thought they had put an end to Him forever when the cruel spikes pierced His quivering flesh and the cross was raised on Calvary. But this was the Son of God, with whose power they did not reckon. Through His death came the Resurrection and the assurance of eternal life. . . .
“There is nothing more universal than death, and nothing brighter with hope and faith than the assurance of immortality. The abject sorrow that comes with death, the bereavement that follows the passing of a loved one are mitigated only by the certainty of the Resurrection of the Son of God that first Easter morning.
“What meaning would life have without the reality of immortality? Otherwise life would become only a dismal journey of ‘getting and spending,’ only to end in utter and hopeless oblivion.
“‘O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?’ (1 Cor. 15:55).
“The pain of death is swallowed up in the peace of eternal life. Of all the events of the chronicles of humanity, none is of such consequence as this. . . .
“Whenever the cold hand of death strikes, there shines through the gloom and the darkness of that hour the triumphant figure of the Lord Jesus Christ, He, the Son of God, who by His matchless and eternal power overcame death. He is the Redeemer of the world. He gave His life for each of us. He took it up again and became the firstfruits of them that slept. He, as King of Kings, stands triumphant above all other kings. He, as the Omnipotent One, stands above all rulers. He is our comfort, our only true comfort, when the dark shroud of earthly night closes about us as the spirit departs the human form.
“Towering above all mankind stands Jesus the Christ, the King of glory, the unblemished Messiah, the Lord Emmanuel. In the hour of deepest sorrow we draw hope and peace and certitude from the words of the angel that Easter morning, ‘He is not here: for he is risen, as he said’ (Matt. 28:6). We draw strength from the words of Paul, ‘As in Adam all die, even so in Christ . . . all [are] made alive’ (1 Cor. 15:22). . . .
“He is our King, our Lord, our Master, the living Christ, who stands on the right hand of His Father. He lives! He lives, resplendent and wonderful, the living Son of the living God. Of this we bear solemn testimony this day of rejoicing, this Easter morning, when we commemorate the miracle of the empty tomb, in the name of Him who rose from the dead, even the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.”
(“This Glorious Easter Morn,” Ensign, May 1996, 66, 67.)
