“The Book of Mormon and the Miracle of Easter,” Liahona, Apr. 2026.
The Book of Mormon and the Miracle of Easter
The Easter story in the Book of Mormon points us beyond external changes and toward the internal changes the Savior offers.
Christ Appearing in the Western Hemisphere, by Arnold Friberg
What would it be like to wake up, look out the window, and see the landscape totally changed?
After Jesus Christ’s death, people in the Americas saw their physical landscape change. Upheavals included an earthquake, tempests, fires, and whirlwinds. Entire cities were destroyed, and “the whole face of the land was changed” (3 Nephi 8:12). Darkness covered the land for three days, and in the darkness the people heard the voice of the Savior: “Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?” (3 Nephi 9:13).
Later, the people gathered at the temple and “were marveling and wondering one with another, and were showing one to another the great and marvelous change which had taken place” (3 Nephi 11:1). Most of my life, I assumed they were speaking about the changes in the landscape. I could imagine people saying, “Wow! Suddenly there is a mountain in my backyard!” or “I didn’t used to have beachfront property, and now I do!”
But perhaps the people were marveling about a much more meaningful change that had taken place—one that was even more “great and marvelous” than the external changes in the landscape. As they were “conversing about this Jesus Christ” (3 Nephi 11:2), they may have remembered the invitation to spiritually change in His command to “repent, and come unto me” (see 3 Nephi 9:22).
Because of the Savior’s Resurrection, all God’s children who come to earth will receive a resurrected body. However, it is not enough to receive immortality through Christ’s Resurrection; we also want to become like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ internally. The Book of Mormon teaches about the internal transformation that the Savior’s Atonement makes possible.
Recognizing His Divinity
In 3 Nephi 11, we read that the people heard a voice from heaven. At first they didn’t understand it, but after they gave it their full attention, they finally recognized the voice of God declaring, “Behold my Beloved Son” (verse 7). Heavenly Father was not just introducing Jesus Christ; He was testifying, as only He could, of Christ’s divinity.
The Savior is God’s Firstborn Son in the spirit and Only Begotten Son in the flesh (see Doctrine and Covenants 93:21; John 3:16). This is one of the important reasons why He could perform the Atonement that makes our internal change possible. Without the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we would automatically be condemned by our mistakes and sins. With His Atonement, we can be not only cleansed from them but also educated by them. Because Christ is divine, He can offer us grace—divine assistance and mentoring—that can help us to reach our eternal potential.
Receiving a Personal Witness of Jesus Christ and His Priesthood
Internal change begins when we show faith in Jesus Christ and His authorized servants. One of the first things Christ did when He appeared in ancient America was to invite the people, one by one, to become witnesses of His Resurrection. They each saw and felt the tokens of His atoning sacrifice. (See 3 Nephi 11:14–15.) And then joyfully they cried, “Hosanna!” (verse 17). One translation of this word is “Save, we pray.”
The Savior responded to their plea for salvation by calling Nephi forward and giving him the power and authority to baptize (see verse 21). In this way, He taught that salvation comes through ordinances performed by proper priesthood authority.
You might ask, “But didn’t the people in the Americas already have the priesthood? Weren’t they already performing authorized baptisms?” (See Mosiah 18:8–17.) Yes, but it seems that Jesus had an important purpose in giving that authority publicly to Nephi and the other disciples. Perhaps He wanted to make it clear in front of everyone that these individuals had the authority to represent Him and administer the ordinances of salvation and exaltation when He was gone. Maybe this was especially important because there had been some contention about the right way to baptize (see 3 Nephi 11:28).
Through priesthood ordinances and covenants, Heavenly Father makes blessings available to all His children. These ordinances help people not only overcome the world but also become more like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.
Accessing His Power Through His Doctrine
Next, internal change depends on our being able to access a greater abundance of Christ’s power. In the Americas, the Savior taught the people His doctrine, specifically the doctrine given to Him by Heavenly Father (see 3 Nephi 11:31–32). This includes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Ghost (see verses 32–35). If we build on this foundation, we can endure to the end, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against [us]” (verse 39).
Through the doctrine of Christ, we can access His power, and He can change our very natures. Without faith and repentance, there would be little desire to change. Without baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, there would be limited power to change. Without the principle of enduring to the end, the change to our internal landscape would forever be superficial and temporary, without time to sink deep into our hearts and become part of who we are.
Engaging with Him
As much as Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us and want to bless and help us, They will not force us to change. Living the doctrine of Christ is how we use our moral agency to invite Them to engage with us in making Their divine attributes our own.
When Jesus Christ visited the people in ancient America, He gave a discourse like the Sermon on the Mount recorded in the Bible but with some significant differences. For example, the Book of Mormon includes additional teachings of the Savior that are absent from our current Bible. These teachings focus us on the first principles and ordinances of the gospel: faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and receiving the Holy Ghost. (See 3 Nephi 12:1–2.) This helps to provide a context to view the beatitudes that follow as something more than a collection of good advice.
President Harold B. Lee (1899–1973) called the Sermon on the Mount, which begins with the Beatitudes, “a revelation of [Christ’s] own character … or what might be said to be ‘an autobiography.’” They are an invitation from Christ to engage with Him in the process of receiving His godly attributes. In Greek, the word blessed means “fortunate” or “happy.” However, when the connection of the Beatitudes to the Psalms is considered, the word could also suggest “holy” or “exalted.”
After choosing faith in Jesus Christ and making covenants, “blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto [Christ]” (3 Nephi 12:3). When we are poor in spirit, we recognize we have a long way to go until we become like God, and we choose Jesus Christ as our Exemplar and Perfect Mentor to help us get there. When we fall short, we mourn because of our sins and choose to repent (see verse 4). We show meekness as we come together often to draw near to Him by taking the sacrament. The sacrament helps us strengthen our covenant relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, continually welcoming Their strength and influence into our lives. (See verse 5.)
Next, the Savior taught, “Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost” (verse 6). The Holy Ghost is the sanctifier, “the messenger of grace by which the blood of Christ is applied to take away our sins and sanctify us (see 2 Nephi 31:17).” With His constant companionship, we become merciful and pure in heart like Christ. The Holy Ghost will help us become peacemakers who can endure persecution just as Christ did. (See 3 Nephi 12:7–11.)
The Holy Ghost can help us change our behavior and lift our desires and motivations to a higher level. The lower law, a preparatory law, said, “Thou shalt not kill” (3 Nephi 12:21). The Savior said we shouldn’t even be angry with our brother (see verse 22). The lower law said, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (verse 27). The Lord said we shouldn’t even allow lust to enter our hearts (see verses 28–29). “Old things are done away, and all things have become new,” said the Savior. “Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect” (verses 47–48).
Appreciating His Gift of Time
Perfection is the internal change we seek, but it seems impossible until we remember that the word perfect in Greek is teleios, which means “complete,” “whole,” or “fully developed.” We see that in the Book of Mormon, Jesus did not call Himself perfect until after His Resurrection. In His mercy, He also gives us the gift of time to learn and grow to become whole and fully developed.
In the Book of Mormon, we can see that miracle in the lives of the people after the Savior’s visit. They “were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, … and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another” (4 Nephi 1:2). “The love of God … did dwell in the hearts of the people. … And surely there could not be a happier people” (verses 15–16). These followers of Jesus Christ applied what He had taught, and—over time—they were changed through His grace. The Zion society in which they lived for nearly 200 years shows us that through Christ, positive changes are possible.
At Easter, we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection and the promise it offers that we too will be resurrected with perfected and glorified bodies. The Easter story in the Book of Mormon points us beyond external changes and toward the internal changes the Savior offers. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and of our eternal possibilities and potential because of Him.