Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - Easter Part 2 • Dr. Anthony Sweat • Apr. 3 - Apr. 9

Episode Date: March 29, 2023

Dr. Anthony Sweat continues to examine the power, love, and triumphs of Jesus Christ’s last week and the knowledge that the day we will be reunited with our loved ones will come due to the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.00:00 Part II– Dr. Anthony Sweat00:10 Who is Jesus (Jesus’s arrest)?03:28 Jesus willingly goes before Pilate06:46 Jesus faces pain, humiliation, and death07:41 Holy envy and the suffering Christ10:20 First person account in Doctrine and Covenants 1913:02 “None Were with Him” by Elder Jeffrey Holland16:11 Sit in our Fridays and Saturdays but Sunday will come17:53 Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Salome go to the tomb19:57 A physical resurrection22:04 Mary Magdalene is a first witness to the resurrected Jesus24:26 Jesus’s greatest miracle27:26 Bodily resurrection is glorious for all28:54 Witnesses of the Resurrection31:23 The temple as a symbol of the Resurrection34:38 Jesus Christ gives us joy39:10 Jesus heals the effects of the Fall42:07 Transforming Power45:16 How Jesus gives us hope during this season56 36 End of Part II–Dr. Anthony SweatShow Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.coFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

Welcome to part two with Dr. Swet, Easter. Where should we go next, Anthony? What do you want to do? Let's just look at his arrest back to this theme of, who are you? Who is this? We can go to the Mark version. I want to try to touch on different gospels here. In Mark 14, the rest Jesus taken to Caiaphas Palace. They They're gonna hold the trial in the night and bring in false witnesses

But I just love this in Mark 14 Verse 60 and the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus saying answer us though nothing What is it which these witness against thee? Answer us though, nothing. What is it which these witness against thee? But he held his peace and answered nothing. Again, the high priest asked him and said unto him, art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, and Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power on coming in the clouds of heaven. Can you imagine that answer in that moment, by the way, when he finally just, I don't know how you visualize it,

but looks at right in the eyes and gives that I am statement, which has so loaded with meaning of being Jehovah and says, and you're gonna see me sitting on the right hand of power. And he finally answers them directly, the question that they want to hear right from his mouth. Then the high priest rent his clothes and say, what need we any further witness? You have heard the blasphemy. What think he and they all condemned him to be guilty of death. Now again right there Jesus reveals who he is, he says it plainly, this is who I am and some people won't receive it. They don't want to receive him.

Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, he'll say, he senses that these chief priests and leaders of the Jews have delivered him for envy. Again, they're protecting their will. They want their will, their way, in their understanding, not the divine will, the divine way, according to God's understanding. So even though it doesn't seem like it again, it's a submission of will, my way versus thy way here, even though Jesus tells them plainly to their face, who he is.

And then back to knowing him, we jumped to Peter, when Jesus tells Peter, hey, be careful, you're before the night's over, you're going to deny me thrice. We know the story where he's outside the trial and the people say, hey, I recognize your speech, you talk like him, you're a Galilean, also, you're with him. And I'm just going to jump on the third time in verse 71 since we're in Mark 14, but he began to curse and to swear saying, I know not this man of whom he speak. And the second time the cock crew and Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said to him before the cock crow twice, shout the nymie thrice. And when he

thought they're on he wept or in another version that says he wept bitterly. And maybe again it's Peter sitting there saying I don't know him. I don't know him and we want to be careful here. We don't know all the factors are going on. But there also seems to be this. I'm refusing to acknowledge who the Lord really is that leads to ultimately these bitter tears. John, did you have anything for the trial or Peter? I just like verse 62 that you read, and Jesus said, I am. I know that in the Institute manual it says, this is as plain as it ever got, in other places, it was translated, I that's begun to the M here something, but just to have those two words, like you said, Anthony, with levels of power and meaning in them is very plain here.

And that's why the high priest had such a reaction to it. Yeah. For Jesus to say that too helps us to realize that and should help any reader to know this is not just another great moral teacher, but right here he's saying, no, I am and you'll see the son of Van Mee sitting on the right hand of power. Yeah, I do think it's important as we get to Jesus giving his life. It is important that we recognize that he gave his life. Nobody took his life from him. He voluntarily is going to give it. He's going to let this trial and arrest happen even when Peter smites the ear off the servant of the high priest and Jesus has to remind Peter don't you know that I could have called down 12 legions of angels

Right now. I don't need you busing out your sword. You need to let me submit. And here's Caius and eventually Pilot and all these others feeling like they have power over Jesus. And he, Jesus is going to say when he's talking to Pontius Pilot, I'm here reading in John 19, in John 19, 10 to 11, then Pilot, then say,, if Pilate unto him, speakest thou not unto me, like, don't you know who I am? And you can almost picture Jesus going like, well, don't you know who I am?

Pilate says, knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee. Jesus answered, thou couldest have no power at all against me, except what we're given the from above. It's almost like he gives a reminder here of like, hey, let's not forget who's in charge here. And I just think that's an important point to recognize that if Jesus had wanted to, he could have stopped this at any moment.

He could have called down these legions of angels. He could have stopped this at any moment. He could have called down these legions of angels. He could have performed miracles. He could have walked through their myths to not let them take them like he did on the Mount of Precipice. But he is going to voluntarily submit and let them take his life from him for us. That's just something we should never overlook and forget. This Easter is we're talking about the crucifixion and his death. we should never overlook and forget this Easter as we're talking about the crucifixion and his death. I'm glad you said that. I like to emphasize with my students that he said, no man take it my life from me. This was a willing sacrifice. It also helps us not to try to play some sort of a who's really at fault or a blame game or something like that because we needed him to die for us too.

a blame game or something like that because we needed him to die for us too. And in one of the gospels, it says he gave up the ghost. And I've always thought that's significant. It's not, they separated his spirit from his body. It's like, he even chills that time of when his spirit gave up the ghost. And so this is something he offered as a willing sacrifice. Yes. Well said, I love that he gave up the ghost. I can't imagine the steps as he goes through facing his own death. I mean, we read it and it's black and white, but I mean, we have listeners who have been given a diagnosis that the end of their life is near. And I think only they people like that can relate to this moment of he knows what he's stepping towards, right? With each step he's getting closer and how difficult and how scary that would be unimaginable. There's a couple of glimpses in that new series that

Chosen where Jesus is walking and he sees a victim of crucifixion and he gives a look over there. Yeah, you just think and yeah, you'll see him say okay guys The son of man is going to be betrayed and at the hand of sinners and scourge your crucifix and he set his face toward Jerusalem Let's go and is think wow faced it. Yeah, yeah sometimes in modern-day st. Culture We don't like to focus on the difficult. I think it's good to see how difficult this was. You know, I love the restoration with my whole soul and know

the divinity of this Latter-day work. But I don't think that means that we can't have as it's been said, holy envy for other faiths, in some of their aspects that they have. Listeners might see this different than I do and that's okay. I really admire particularly the Catholic focus on the suffering Christ coming from the perspective of an artist. We don't have a lot of a lot of the St. iconography and images that we celebrate of the death of Jesus Christ,

of his suffering and of his pain, of this difficulty of these steps after pilot condemns him to death, the scourging alone. It can kill people, this being whipped and with pieces of bone and tearing the flesh. Horrible. Horrible. Horrible. And Jesus willingly submits to it and then to carry his cross and have to have help carrying his cross from Simon and to go to Golgoth of the place of the skull and know what's coming. We would do well to remember that as Isaiah prophesied, he is a man of sorrow. He knows deep, deep pain and he suffered grief and pain. And in life, I even did a painting one time, a little painting and I just called it man

of sorrows. And Jesus has his head down and I did it a little more abstractly where the pain is kind of peeled off and every one of us in this life We're gonna face deep pain and deep sorrow and deep anguish and fear and dread and to know that our Savior Himself Face that and felt that on levels unimaginable. I actually think makes it so that he becomes this is part of what makes him a God not just of sympathy but a God of empathy. There's a great poem that I'm trying to remember off top of my head by Edward Silatone it says you know the other gods they were strong but thou did stumble to a throne

and no other God has scars but thou alone. Our Savior is a God of scars. He knows what it's like to suffer deeply and painfully. And I think because we think on Easter again, let's not forget Friday and jump right to Sunday because we all go through our Fridays and Saturdays before we get to the Sundays. One of the things that I appreciate so much about a section that you've already mentioned, section 19, is King Benjamin mentions that Jesus bled from every poor and gets so many Luke does, but in section 19 we have the first person account. As I've pondered what you're talking about the scourging, just the humiliation of all of those things. I thought what

gets him through this and There's in that first person account in section 19 He says for behold I God have suffered these things for all that they might not suffer and I go whoa look at the motive I love people and I would prefer suffering myself than to have them suffer. And I think it's also in first Nephi, I want to say 19 verse 9, they spit upon him and he suffered that they scared you to him and he suffered. And then it says, because, and here's an answer to that question, what was going through

his mind? Because of his long suffering and his loving kindness towards the children of man, the power of his love for us, I feel like is what helped him endure that. At least that's what I see in those verses. Yeah, absolutely, I love that. Like what is it? That's a great question to ask us.

We're talking about difficult pain here, but what is it that carried him forward? And it was his deep love for God and his deep love for God's children that carried him forward. We would call that charity, by the way. Charity is the love of God and the love of his children. Maybe that's why it is the greatest gift of all,

is because it's the one that makes it so that we can bear all things as well, and have hope, despite our difficulties, bear with all things, hope with all things, believe with all things, even if all things are less than hopeful and seem less than bearable. In Mark 1531, they're looking at him on the cross, the chief priest, and they're mocking him. He saved others himself, he cannot save. And if you just change that, he saved others himself, he will not save, or he chooses not to save.

Yeah. It's a really true statement. He is saving others by not saving himself. Wow. Wow. Yeah. It reminds me of what we learned about Jonah last year. Throw me off the boat so that all of you can live. Can we see?

Yeah. And just this savior put me through this and then all of you can live. And I will voluntarily do that for you. There's a moment on the cross that Elder Holland talks about in a talk called Nungor with him And he says I speak very carefully Even reverently of what may have been the most difficult moment in all this solitary journey to atonement I

Speak of those final moments for which Jesus must have been prepared intellectually and physically But which he may not have fully anticipated emotionally and spiritually. That concluding descent into the paralyzing despair of divine withdrawal when he cries in ultimate loneliness, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?" He says the loss of moral support he had anticipated, but apparently he had not comprehended this. Had he not said to his disciples, the old the hour has come that he shall be scattered every man to his own, yet I am alone, because the Father is with me. The Father hath not left me alone. For I do

always those things which please him. And he said, Elder Holland goes on to talk about with all the conviction of my soul, I testify that he did please his father perfectly, and that a perfect father did not forsake his son in that hour. But he goes on to say that there he had to know what would be like for us when we felt spiritual death. He had to know what spiritual death felt like being separated from God. And

doctrinally, I think, oh, okay, he, because we will feel that and he descended below all things so that he would know everything we have felt. I mean, that's the Alma 7, 11, 12 thing too. Our pains, our afflictions, our temptation. I'm looking right. As you say, I just pulled up section 88 verse 6, he that has sent it up on high and also he descended below all things in that he comprehended all things. This is part of his divine comprehension, as you're saying, Alma 7-11, doctrine of evidence 88 or 6, so that he knows how to sucker us in all of our difficulties. He's just sending below it all that we can imagine.

And I love that. The wrong way to look at it is see, don't complain. I've been through it all, but another way to look at it is, oh my goodness, he knows, he knows everything we've been through. Which gives us such great hope and comfort. No, there's nothing that I felt that he hasn't also felt and therefore he can sucker, he can help me. That's what Elder David A. Bednar said in his talk when he said sometimes we might be tempted. I'm paraphrasing him here but we might be tempted to say nobody understands me or nobody knows what I'm going through, but there is one who knows because Jesus has suffered at all for us. And not only has he suffered

at all, he's overcame it all. And so he knows how to help us overcome and carry our difficulties, because he's carried them before. That's the Easter thing. I have overcome the world. That's the joy and happiness of all of this. That is. I like what you said, Anthony, about letting there be a Friday and a Saturday and how devastating those days are for these people. What they thought, what they'd hoped would be their future. All comes crashing down on them. Yes, Sunday is coming. thought, what they'd hoped, would be their future, all comes crashing down on them. Yes, Sunday is coming. Yes, the resurrection is coming, but sit for a minute with people in their Friday, in their Saturday, where the great conclusion hasn't come yet.

Yeah. Well, should we get to Sunday now? Have we sat in Friday and Saturday long enough? I think so. Yeah. I hope so. Are you speaking metaphorically or you're speaking about just the many of our listeners will remember way back in 2006. I know we're going way back here. Elder Joseph B. Wurflin gave a kind of a landmark talk called Sunday will come. He talks about the Fridays of our lives. Each of us will have

our own Fridays. Those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We will all experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays, but I testify to you in the name of the one who conquered death, Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next. Sunday will come. I testify to you. The resurrection is not a fable. Are we ready? You guys, let's talk about Jesus's resurrection. Where do you want to go? So March 16, as we know, they're waiting for the Sabbath to be over so that they can finish his hasty burial, that they have to put him in the tomb. And when the Sabbath was passed,

Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, had brought sweet spices that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the Sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they set them on themselves, who shall roll away the stone from the door of the Sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away for it was great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrited. And he say, Ithan to them, be not affrited.

Eseek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen, he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell the disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee. There shall ye see him, as he said unto you, and they went out quickly and fled from the Sepulchre for they were trembled and Were amazed neither said they anything to any man for they were afraid Now I just love that moment. You've been to the Holy Land We've been fortunate enough to have been there at that garden tomb. They have that sign that says he is not here, he is risen.

Wherever you fall on the debate of the authentic tomb, I don't care. When you're in that tomb that represents and you see that sign, oh, those words are so powerful because it does testify to you that the resurrection is real. The resurrection is not a myth, it's not a fable. We are being bound for eternity, eternal life, in bodily form, with bodies of flesh and bone.

I love when he appears to the apostles in Luke 24, 36 to 39, he says, handle me and see for a spirit, half not flesh and bone as you see me have. We don't believe in resurrection in the sense of your influence or your essence or your consciousness or any other form of eternal life in that sense, we believe in a bodily, physical, tangible, glorified resurrection. That is powerful to me. That should be powerful to us all.

I love when the Apostle Paul just, and maybe we can talk about 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the great chapter on resurrection. But I just love when Paul says, if Christ be not risen, then our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Ultimately, it's the resurrection that is our testament that Jesus is the Son of God, that He is the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Other people perform miracles, other people walked on water, other people healed, other people taught marvelous truths. No one else has conquered death.

No one else has risen from the grave. That, the resurrection is the symbol of his divine There is something in 3 Nephi that him saying again to those people when they handle his body that he says Feel these prints thrust your hands into my side That you may know that I am the God of Israel. It's the resurrection I'm paraphrasing elder Bruce or Maconkey, but he said, how do we know that Jesus was the Son of God? It's the resurrection. And how do we know he was resurrected because of witnesses? And then he went on to bear his witness.

And one of the things I just love is all the witnesses of his resurrection. Here's just some that I put together. Obviously, the very first will be Mary Magdalene, and we can talk more about her being the very first witness if you'd like. Then Peter is going to see the Lord, Luke 2434 says that. Then the two disciples on the road to Emmaus will see him then the Apostles minus Thomas then eight days later Thomas in the Apostles Paul will tell us in first Corinthians that there's some sort of meeting or 500 people see him at once

That's first Corinthians 1568 about 2500 people in the Americas see him In first Corinthians 15 Paul, I have seen him in the book of Mormon, 115. Mormon says that he was visited of the Lord and even Moroni, E through 1239. Moroni says that he saw Jesus. Obviously, Joseph Smith in the sacred grove, but above all in section 76, in the sacred grove, but above all in section 76, when Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigid in section 76 says, and this is the testimony last of all that we give, last of all means we're adding to this list. It doesn't mean it's the last one. Most recent of all, that he lives for we saw him even on the right hand of God. And then I grabbed this from President Henry B. I. Ring, one of our current special witnesses of Jesus Christ.

Quote, this is May 2013, and Zion, so coming from his April talk, coming to me. Quote, I am a witness of the resurrection of the Lord, as surely as if I had been there in the evening with the two disciples in the house on a maus road. That's powerful. He goes on to say, I know that he lives as surely as did Joseph Smith when he saw the Father and the Son in the light of the brilliant morning in a grove of trees in Palmyra. Just one testimony of many of our current special witnesses of Jesus Christ as well. And what their special witnesses of a lot of

things, but in my belief, their special witnesses of his resurrection. In their own way, I'm not pretending to know how, but it's the resurrection that shows us his divine sonship. In the Bible dictionary, if you read under the heading of miracles, there's a statement right in the beginning, first paragraph, Christianity, the world's largest religion, is founded on the greatest of all miracles, the resurrection of our Lord. And then this statement, if that be admitted, meaning if you and I believe in the resurrection, other miracles cease to be improbable.

If we believe in this, if he was resurrected the way we believe he is, which all three of us are both feet in on the resurrection, then what else can he do? I love that. Yeah, if you can't figure out water to wine, well, what about coming back to life after? Yeah, I've had people say, you know, do you really believe this? The Joseph Smith story seems a little far-fetched or Jonah or the great flood, whatever.

Do you really believe that? And they'll say, do you believe in the resurrection? And they'll say, well, yeah, I'm like, well, everything else is on the table. Yeah. Once you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, every other miracle becomes kind of small potatoes at that point. Yeah. I'm just momentarily going to jump over to 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul is preaching

on this. 1 Corinthians 15 and 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. Like Paul wants us to see the worry-turnal beings and that were meant to rise with the Lord because of his resurrection. But now, I'm in verse 20, but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so

in Christ shall all be made alive. Now, I want to pause there for a moment and I can't help this is the church history and doctrine teacher in me with the doctrine and covenants. I think sometimes as Latter-day Saints we don't emphasize enough the power and beauty of our doctrine that all will resurrect all and that all will inherit a kingdom of heavenly glory. Because of the grace of Jesus Christ and his conquering of sin and death, we believe that all, all mankind

who have been on this earth with the small exception of the sons of perdition that I'm not even gonna talk about, all your friends, all your neighbors, all your loved ones, all your children, all your parents and grandparents, everybody is going to be delivered from the grave and bodily resurrect into a kingdom of heavenly glory. They will receive an immortal body that surpasses all understanding. I'm not sure so much when Joseph saw the vision of the three degrees of heavenly glory. Let's not forget the Paul says, there are celestial bodies, terrestrial bodies,

t-lestial bodies. So also is the resurrection of the dead. These, whether you want to call them kingdoms, but when Joseph says it surpasses all understanding, I think it means that our bodily resurrection, even a tealestial body in immortal, eternal glory, is going to surpass all understanding. Let alone a celestial body. Elder James, he told me, said,

mortal mind cannot comprehend the beauty, glory, and majesty of a righteous woman. He was talking in context of women, of a righteous woman made perfect in the celestial kingdom of God. I hope that applies to righteous men as well. I assume it does. I just don't think we can celebrate that enough and praise that enough. The Insection 76 of the doctrine of confidence, three times it literally says he saves all the works of his hands. All. That's our doctrine. That's what we believe. That's what we're celebrating in resurrection. All will rise. all will have immortality, all will go to a kingdom of heavenly glory because of what Jesus did this Easter season.

Well said Anthony. I think it would be fun if we can to go to John chapter 20 because I mentioned all these witnesses of his resurrection as we know Thomas wasn't there when he appeared to the apostles at first. So go to John chapter 24, but Thomas, one of the 12, called Dittamus, was not with them when Jesus came. By the way, talk about missing out.

Yeah. I could you imagine that? Whoa, where were you? And Thomas had FOMO forevermore. Oh no, I had to stop at the store, what happened? Where were you? And Thomas had FOMO forevermore. Oh, no, I had to stop at the store. What happened? Oh, man. That should be a lesson to not miss a meeting right there.

Yeah. The Lord will probably come back at like a state conference Saturday, adult session. That's all right. Okay. Verse 25. The other disciples therefore said unto him, adult session. That's all right. Okay. Verse 25, the other disciples, therefore, said unto him, we have seen the Lord, but he said unto them, except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side. I will not believe.

print of the nails and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." And after eight days again, his disciples were with them. So Thomas does make it to this meeting. Then came Jesus, the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said, peace be unto you. Then say, if he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and sent unto him, my Lord and my God. Jesus said unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. And I don't want to go off on doubting Thomas because we know he's believing Thomas when he's ready to go to Jerusalem and die with all the apostles. I don't want to cast any

dispersions on Thomas here. But I do love this idea that we are grateful that there are literal witnesses of his resurrection. But I love this teaching from the Lord that blesser those that have not seen and yet have believed, because that's probably the case for the vast majority of us. That being said though, I think as we're celebrating Easter, keep bringing back this theme in, who is this? Who is this? Who is this? That really what we're trying to do through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is to come

to know Him, submit our will to Him, and become witnesses of him and know him. This really is the metaphor of the temple of the Holy Temple that you guys know I love to talk about. The Holy Temple is inviting us in a dramatization and a sacred ordinance to come to know the Lord and to be able to have our own witnesses of him. I love that Joseph Smith taught this in 1839, Joseph said, quote, for the day must come when no man need to say to his neighbor, no ye the Lord, for all shall know him from the least to the greatest. How is this to be done? Is to be done by this ceiling power and other comforter, which will be manifest by revelation. I'm not going to go into this other comforter right now.

But I think the point of it is, we can be our own witnesses. Section 93, verse 1, promises us that every soul, every soul who forsakeeth their sins. Calleth on my name, obeyeth my voice and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am. I love that promise. And I wanna emphasize in section 88, the Lord tells the same things to the school, the prophets,

that their goal is to sanctify themselves. And the day will come that he will reveal his face unto you. Now here's the key, it shall be in his own time and his own way. And according to his own will. We don't dictate it, we back to our will in his will, we don't control it.

And there is more than one way to see the face of God, but it's my deep testimony that if we will live, the gospel of Jesus Christ, if we'll come to know him, if we'll submit ourselves to his will, if we'll strive to be aligned with his teachings and his commandments and to live them and implement them out of love for him, not out of trying to earn heaven, but to learn heaven, as it's been said, I really think he will reveal himself to us.

And in our own way, this Easter season, let's all be witnesses. We'll all be able to say, I've come to know the Lord. And when somebody says, who is this? We'll be able to say, I'll tell you exactly who this is. This is the Son of God. This is the Messiah. And just like Peter and Matthew 16, if somebody says, how do you know this? You'll say, flesh and blood has not revealed it to me. I know this by revelation and by experience because the things of God are only understood by the Spirit of God. So even though we have witnesses of his bodily resurrection, we can all be witnesses of his divinity and to know him, to truly know him.

There's a part in the manual that I just, the more I read the scriptures, the more I keep noticing and loving this word and that's just the word joy. The Christmas story is glad tidings, great joy. And this little section in the manual says, Jesus Christ gives me hope and joy. And then a statement from Elder Garrett W. Gong. He testified that the resurrection gives hope to those who have lost limbs, those who have lost ability, those who have lost ability to see, hear, or walk, or those thought lost to relentless disease, mental illness,

or other diminished capacity. He finds us. He makes us whole. Also, because God Himself, a toneth for the sins of the world, He can, with mercy, sucker us according to our infirmities. We repent into all we can. He encircles us eternally in the arms of his love. I love that he said he finds us. He wants us to find him, but he'll come and find us as well. Yeah, I love what Elder Gong saying there. In my own life, as I've tried to come to know the Lord for myself as I've said who is this

We talked a lot about how Christ can help us Christ understands us Christ can heal us he cleanses us from sin and In some of my teaching and writing I've put together this a cross stick that's been helpful for me of Six things to remember, as we celebrate his grace, this Easter, his atonement, his redemption. And the Acroostic is, I use his title of Christ. As we know, Christ is not a last name, Christ is a title. It means the anointed one, the anointed one to save. What's he anointed to do?

Well, he's anointed one to save. What's he anointed to do? Well, he's anointed to cleanse us. Heal us, restore us, identify with us, strengthen us, and transform us. Let me say those again and you can see the word Christ in there. If you take the first letter of each cleanse us heal us restore us identify with us strengthen us and transform us those powers are real we've experienced them if somebody says to me how do I know that Jesus is the Christ I would probably take those six things and start to tell stories about how Christ has done those and maybe a brief definition of each to help if people didn't understand. By cleanses, it means that Jesus has the power to cleanse us spiritually and to make us pure. He can justify us and sanctify us. He can forgive all of our sins perfectly, purely. There is no Carfax report with

an asterisk next to our name that there was an accident in 2007. He wipes our record clean. He cleanses our soul. I'm so grateful for that. He heals us. We know that Jesus has the power to heal physically, but Jesus heals our souls. He heals us mentally, spiritually, soulfully. Sometimes, by the way, this is important with the healing power of Christ. I think it's Wendy Ulrich who has written, there's a difference between healing and cure. Cure returns us back to where we were before. Healing involves a re-weaving of our life into a more mature and accepting position. Christ is the healer, he's not the cure.

And often when we speak of healing, I don't diminish that he can heal limbs and legs and eyes and ears, we know that. But eventually all of us are going to debilitate. And we're all going to suffer pain. The woman with the issue of blood surely suffered other issues in her life later. Lazarus even though he was brought back died again mortality is going to take over all of us. But it's my testimony that Christ can heal our soul as we're learning to deal with the difficulties of mortality

and help us learn how to handle those with grace and still have joy and it's the difficulty. The restoring power, I don't think we emphasize this enough. The restoring power is that Jesus has the power, when I say he can restore us, he has the power to make all the wrongs of life right. The anti-rights are great to Anglican scholar. He said that one day Jesus will enlarge Easter on a cosmic scale, or that Easter is a glimpse into the grand work of what God's gonna do overall. When we say that Christ is the

atoning one, Christ is going to recompense us from all the effects of the fall. He is going to make all wrongs right, all injustices just. He'll not only conquer sin and death, he's going to conquer unfairness, he's going to conquer sickness and pain and ignorance and fracture and everything that's effect of the fall even the things that we didn't choose and He is going to do that through his great atoning work which continues that work continues in the spirit world with taking the gospel to all his children to give everyone the opportunity to accept him. It's not going to conclude it as second coming, by the way. His second coming will be the beginning of really his triumphal atoning work in the sense of making everything whole, everything heal. And for a millennium

that long period of time, that thousand years, Christ is going to work to overcome all the effects of the fall, until at the end of them he has trampled all enemies under his feet, including the enemies of injustice, and unfairness, and ignorance, and sin, and death, and the devil, and he will make this world heaven. Then he will present it to the Father, and really, then he'll say the work is done. That's exciting, meaning that you and I need to have faith in the power of Jesus to be the restoring one. His promise is, is he'll restore us. He'll identify with us. We've already talked on this and touched on this, but this means that Christ, because of his divinity in his life, he has the power to understand and empathize and guide us in mortality.

Strengthen us. I testify that Christ has the power to strengthen us beyond our own natural capacities. He can give a strength to overcome sin. He can give a strength to bear our burdens, and he can give a strength to do and become greater than we could become on our own. That is just a truth. I think we've all tasted that. Even when I did my PhD, by the way, I remember my PhD dissertation chair said to me, you have your five chapters of your dissertation, all of that needs to be very factual, very data and driven. He said, the only place where you can say whatever

you want and you don't have to justify it at all is your dedication at the very beginning. So on my dissertation, I wrote Alma 2612 that through his strength, I can do all things. You can do all things. You can do it, ever you want. Yeah, that's great. Yep, and I'm like, I can say whatever I want that I'm saying this. And then last, the T is the transforming power.

And I'm using transforming, but what that means is that Jesus has the power to change us. He can change our very natures and our very dispositions. Hank and John, you probably remember when we were growing up. I don't know if wherever you guys grew up, but there was a trend around mine where people would say, don't ever change. Like, would write that in our yearbooks, like sweat, bro. Man, don't ever change, buddy.

And that's the worst teenage advice I've ever heard in my entire life. If anybody needs to change, it's a teenage anthem. He's sweat, that's for sure. And I like to joke that if Jesus had written in my yearbook, he would say, sweat, bro, for all of our sakes, please change. Change. And then he would wrote, yes, I'll help you. And I'm grateful that Jesus has changed me and continues to change me in my very nature

and to be hopefully becoming a better person. He can take bad to good. He can take good to great and he can take great to making somebody like God. That's his divinity. So as we're celebrating the resurrection, this Easter, his conquering of sin and death. I hope that we can also see how his atonement, his at-wonment, these powers cleansing, healing, restoring, identifying, strengthening, transforming. He is the Christ in our lives. This is the Christ, and I just testify that these powers are real, and that's how I personally know of his divine sonship and his divine nature is because I've seen these at work in my own personal life. Beautiful. That was fun. Thanks for doing that, Tony. That was really good.

Yeah, I think if anybody wants to hear Anthony talk more about that, these are basically the chapters of his book, Christ in every hour. And so I love that. And I know I particularly if you don't mind just to restore us comment because you use this word and I'm so glad you did because sometimes if we think let's see God has a God of justice and also a mercy pick one we would say I think mercy. But what you emphasize so beautifully is that things happen to all of us that are so unjust through no fault of our own. Things happen to children that are so unjust through no fault of their own, and a God of justice will not let that stand. And that is so wonderful to know. I become more of a fan of the God of justice when I think of it that way. That's so many

have suffered things through no fault of their own and God of justice will reverse that and restore us. And so thank you for emphasizing that today, Anthony. You're welcome. Anthony, we have had such a great day today. Thank you for all of this. I'm sure we've got listeners everywhere in their cars or folding laundry or I had one guy in my ward said, I listen to the podcast why snowboard. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, I've so just a shout out to my friend Ryan in my ward who listens to us why he's snowboards. Don't get hurt, Ryan. Two celestial things, snowboarding and listening to follow him. Here you go.

I just get better. I ran into a woman who told me she, I think they called them the winter wanderers that walk during the winter go out and they all listen together and I just thought, wow, it's that wonderful. So we're grateful. So many things you could listen to, but we hope we're giving you some hope and some faith in Christ as you walk around. Yeah, as you walk around your neighborhood. Thank you. We have listeners out there who Easter can be tender for them. Those who have lost loved ones who just missed them so much. I know that experience. you both know that experience

What can we offer as a gift to them? What can we say that would be helpful to them from what we've talked about today? I think you set it up right there Hank the gift is the gift of his son. That's the gift isn't that the gift of Easter? Is the God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son? is that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoso believed within Him shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life. That's the gift that we're celebrating, and it's not diminishing the difficulties of mortality. But I think this is what the gift of hope is.

When we read in the Scriptures, Elder Dieter F. Ootdorf talked about how hope is not a wish, the gift of hope in Scripture is to know of Jesus' promises and then to have a personal assurance that those promises can be ours. I love that definition of hope. It's the difference between God answers prayers. That might be faith, but hope is God answers my prayers. The gift of faith might be God loves his children, but the gift of hope is God loves me. And I just think this Easter, the gift has already been given through his son. He is the way.

He is the truth. He is the way, he is the truth, he is the life. I just would invite us all to continue to learn of him, to get to know him. Who is he? To do, to walk in the ways that he tells us to walk? Because then we will have peace. That's his promise. Then you can have peace in me. Not as the world giveeth, as he said in the book of John, but I give unto you a different kind of peace. And I hope that we can get that peace, we can have that hope, that personal assurance, that the resurrection will be for my loved ones. For me, redemption will be for me, and my loved ones ones that these promises can be mine. Regardless, Black, White,

Bonfrey, male, female, Jew, Gentile, all are alike in the God. These promises are extended to us all. And I hope this Easter week can just go grab them to get that hope and that piece that can only be found in Christ. Beautiful. I remember Joseph Smith saying, I don't remember it. I wasn't there, but I remember reading that Joseph Smith said, we mourn our losses, but we do not mourn as those without hope. Without hope. Yeah, we do not mourn as those without hope, and I hope everybody listening can say, yes, I can mourn my losses, but we do not mourn as those without hope because of what we've talked about today. They share that hope, this Easter, share it with your friends, with your family, with

your loved ones, because as we talk of Christ and preach of Him and prophesy of him and rejoice in him. The Spirit of God will testify of him and of these promises. So I hope this Easter, I said it before I'll say it again. I hope we unabashedly celebrate Jesus Christ and celebrate him and these promises. Yeah. The sacrament kind of changed for me when I started experiencing deaths in my family. When I was a little boy and I had trouble paying attention and the prayer said in remembrance of the body of thy son, how am I supposed to remember Jesus' body?

And when I lost my father and my mother, when my brother lost an infant baby, and I used to think, what can I remember about Jesus' body and it turned out that I just think that it was not there, that he had risen, and that means I get my mom and dad again and my brother gets his baby boy again, And that again, and my brother gets his baby boy again. And that makes me not only willing to take upon me the name of his son, but I'm eager and anxious and honored to take upon me the name of Christ and wear that. And that's why this is such a joyous time to remember that that tomb was empty. I love it.

And you did make me think of one more Joseph Smith quote related to that. Cause John, you just preached the gospel. We talk about a lot of things. And there's a lot of things connected to the church and it's programs, maybe it's history, doctrinal things, interesting teachings, mysteries, there's a lot, but I love when Joseph Smith

just re-emphasizes, points us right back to the gospel, to Easter. The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the apostles and prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, 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 because what you just preach right there that's the gospel that's the good news that's the core that's the essence that we should never lose sight of and get lost. And if we are losing sight of it, let's refocus on

that central message of the gospel. A personal story here, just as we close, I was invited once to write an article for a book called His Majesty in Mission. And I decided to write on that quote of Joseph Smith, Morning with Hope. So I wrote this article on Morning, you can, it's free. You can find it on rsc.biu.edu. I wrote this long article on, on Morning with Hope and what the stig of death is like and dealing with, with death and how other cultures deal with death. And I wrote on the resurrection. This week as we've been preparing, I went back and just kind of read my own article here,

not realizing that the Lord, in giving me a chance to write this, prepped me for the death of my own family members, because I wrote this before that happened. Here I am reading this with a totally different eyes now than when I wrote it. To me, just that little personal experience of writing something and feeling that little tender mercy of, hey, I wrote this in preparation, the Lord saw what was coming in my life, you know, all these deaths that would be coming just, I think, year two after I wrote it, is a testament to me of his individual love. What did you say, Tony? He identifies with us. And I wrote, can I quote myself here? Is this weird? No, read what is your role? I think it's awesome.

Yeah. So I told the story. You guys of my wonderful father-in-law, Rod, and losing his wife. And then I just wrote this, morning with hope, means celebrating the time spent in mortality with those we love. It means looking forward with anticipation to joyful reunions. I do. I look forward to the day I get to sit down with my brother or my father, my mother-in-law. Just pondering those reunions brings just floods of joy. I had a friend of mine one time when talking about the second coming, you know, people were talking about what their thoughts on the second coming and all he said was very humbly and quietly and so sincerely, he said,

I'm excited for the second coming because I'm excited to see my mother again. Yeah. Or golf with my dad, right? Mm-hmm. I continued, it means we look forward to it with anticipation to joyful reunions both in the spirit world and in the resurrection.

Morning with hope means placing all your hope in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to return you and those you love to your heavenly home. It means acting in faith upon His commandments until you regain the presence and behold the face of your Heavenly Father. And I love the Him. When I leave this frail existence, when I lay this mortal by, Father, Mother, may I meet you in your royal courts on high. Then at length, when I've completed all you sent me forth to do with your mutual approbation, let me come and dwell with you. And we might add because of the power of the Lord because of our Savior Anthony, thanks for being here today

Thank you brother so good to be with you just again Nothing better than to sit down with dear friends that I just love and respect and To talk about the Savior. I mean it just, it just doesn't get much better than this. So thanks for giving me the privilege to be with you. And even though I don't see your audience, grateful to spend a few hours with your audience as well. And I hope something was beneficial and helpful for them as they worship and celebrate the Savior

this Easter season. Beautiful. Now wherever you are, like we said, in your car driving or snowboarding, just know that we were grateful that you would spend time with us. John, what a great day. Yeah, there is hope smiling brightly before us, because of Christ. Well said. Well said. We want to thank Dr. Anthony Sweat for being with us today. And we want to wish him and all of you a happy Easter. We want to thank our executive producer, the wonderful Shannon Swanson. We want to thank our sponsors David and Verla Swanson.

We always remember our founder, the late Steve Swanson. We hope all of you will join us next week. We're going to be back in the new testament on Follow Him. Today's transcripts, show notes, and additional references are available on our website, follow him.co, follow him.co. And you can watch the podcast on YouTube with additional videos on Facebook and Instagram. All of this is absolutely free, so be sure to share with your family and friends. To reach those who are searching for help with their Come Follow Me study, please subscribe,

rate, review, or comment on the podcast, which makes the podcast easier to fight. Thank you. We have an amazing production crew. We want you to know about David Perry, Lisa Spice, Jamie Nielsen, Will Stoten, Crystal Roberts, and Al Kuhadra. Thank you to our amazing production team. Nielsen, Will Stoten, Crystal Roberts, and BL Kuwadra. Thank you to our amazing production team.