I recently learned that D&C 132 was the last revelation Joseph
Smith received—about eleven months
before he was killed—that was included in the Doctrine and Covenants.
“Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection” (D&C 132:19) is a promise received by sealed spouses, and fulfilled for married couples when they are exalted. Along with immortality, sacrifice and death are also mentioned in section 132. Why the intersection of marriage with sacrifice and death? What is the connection between marriage and resurrection?
Speaking of those who are exalted, D&C 76:59 says, “...all things are theirs, whether life or death...” D&C 88 indicates that those who fulfill the measure of their creation will receive exaltation and celestial glory: “For notwithstanding they die, they also shall rise again, a spiritual body. They who are of a celestial spirit shall receive the same body which was a natural body; even ye shall receive your bodies, and your glory shall be that glory by which your bodies are quickened” (vs. 27-29). I take “natural body” here to mean that those who are exalted will retain the mortal power to beget life. Exaltation, and the reception of power over life and death, only comes to those who are married, sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise in this life and the next. Resurrection and marriage are related because both are associated power to create life. One begets new life; the other makes it renewed.
Creating worlds and filling them with animal life (Gen. 1-2), begetting children (Rom. 8:16), resurrecting the dead (John 11:25), bringing spiritual rebirth (D&C 76:24, Moses 1:39), are powers of resurrected beings. Jesus fittingly calls Himself The Life of the World. We can receive versions of some of these abilities in this life, but only a fullness of them in the next as married couples.
“Then shall they be gods, because they have no end,” “...a fulness and continuation of the seeds forever and ever...” D&C 132 also mentions sacrifice and death in relation to resurrection and eternal life. Abraham offered Isaac, and was blessed; David killed Uriah, and was damned. Marriages are performed at altars, the traditional place of sacrifice, a crux of life and death in the scriptures. The the House of Israel are symbolically bought through an atoning sacrifice of a lamb at the Old Temple. This helped the people look forward to Jesus Christ, who actually atoned for all sin. The Temple, then, is the crossroads of marriage and sacrifice, too.
Jesus descended into death, and was resurrected to perfection. We can inherit that same blessing, for He beckons, “come, follow me.” Little children who die are guaranteed exaltation in the celestial kingdom. He also taught, "...it will be a great work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the grave" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 348). I assume there are many things we experience throughout the trajectory of mortal life, from birth to marriage to old age, that prepare us for that long learning experience. Joseph Smith said, “I do not like to see a little
child pass away, for it has not filled the measure of its creation and
gained the victory over death” (Early History of Provo, 1849–1872; Utah Stake Bishop Meetings, July 17, 1868). In other words, the child is going to be exalted, but there will be added homework to do in order to compensate, to catch up to those who died in their old age. So there are advantages to staying behind in this mortal quagmire, if we prove faithful. "In retrospect, we will even see that our most trying years here [in mortality] will often have been our best years, producing large tree rings on our soul, Gethsemanes of growth!" (Taking up the Cross, Neal A. Maxwell, given at Brigham Young University on 4 January 1976).
I have wondered at the curious phrase, "gained the victory over death." I knew well a woman who was widowed, and lived alone. She missed her husband terribly, and was very eager to be done with life. Unlike most people, who are willing to do anything to stay alive, this woman actually wanted to be taken home to heaven. (She mentioned she was eager to chasten her husband for leaving her alone for all those years.) She eventually got her wish, and passed away after being alone for several years first. It seems to me that she had gained the victory over death—she felt no apprehension. Like the bold child at the pool brave enough to ascend the high dive for the first time while her friends halt and quiver at the bottom. While most of us fret and wring our hands in trepidation, paying doctors and absorbing vitamins and pills, she was unafraid to die, to plunge into eternity. Love and fear are incompatible; this woman loved her husband, and wanted to be wherever he went. Death involves total commitment because we cannot rescind it.
