What Do Latter-day Saints Believe About the Resurrection?

Hey guys, so in our faith, you’ll often hear Latter-day Saints talk about “The” resurrection—as if it’s this one singular event. But Latter-day Saints actually believe that the resurrection of the dead will occur in stages over quite a long period of time. And that’s what we’re going to talk about in this episode, so buckle up.

Alright, so here’s what you need to know going into this: Latter-day Saints believe that Christ’s Second Coming will mark the beginning of a thousand-year period called the Millennium, during which time Christ will reign personally on earth. And you can learn more about that in this episode. We believe that the final judgment will not happen until the end of the Millennium. Now, it’s also important to remember that Latter-day Saints believe that Heaven is divided into three “kingdoms:” The highest degree of heaven is called the Celestial Kingdom, followed by the Terrestrial Kingdom, and finally, the Telestial Kingdom. At the final judgment, it will be formally determined which Kingdom you are prepared to inherit.

With that as a backdrop, let’s talk about resurrection. So, because Christ was resurrected, we believe everyone who has ever received a mortal body, righteous or wicked, will be resurrected.

But we do not believe everyone will be resurrected at the same time. There will be two major categories of resurrection: The First Resurrection, which is designated for the righteous, and the Second Resurrection designated for the wicked. But within each of those two categories, we have different stages. First, let’s focus on the First Resurrection.

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