Salt Lake City | Friday, 24 March 2023 |
First Presidency’s 2023 Easter Message
Savior’s sacrifice gives ‘hope for joy and peace,’ Church leaders write, inviting all to ponder the ‘glorious promise’ of the Savior’s Resurrection
The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released the following 2023 First Presidency Easter message in the April 2023 “Liahona” magazine, available on ChurchofJesusChrist.org and in Gospel Library.
Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of our loving Father, is “the resurrection, and the life.” His birth, life and death brought the promise that “he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). During this Easter season, we invite all to ponder this glorious promise. Because He broke the bands of death, we each have the assurance of immortality and the hope of life eternal.
The Savior’s great atoning sacrifice can give us hope for joy and peace not only in the life to come but also in the here and now as we face life’s inevitable challenges. Because of Him, we know that death is not the end. We know that our adversities will not last forever. We receive peace as we put our trust in Him. We have faith that eternal joy is possible.
We testify that Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, lives! “He marked the path and led the way” back to our Heavenly Father (“How Great the Wisdom and the Love,”Hymns, no. 195). How grateful we are for the gift of His Son, through whom we can qualify for His greatest gift — that of eternal life.
The message is signed by Church President Russell M. Nelson, President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor, and President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor.
In the same issue of the magazine, in an article titled “Jesus Christ Is Our Savior,” President Nelson shares his sorrow at losing his first wife, Dantzel, in 2005, and two daughters, Emily and Wendy, to cancer. “At those times of loss, how grateful I was for my testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ,” he wrote. “In His victory over the grave, we see the promise of our own resurrection.”
