Editor’s note: To support personal and family gospel learning, the Church News is publishing articles on messages from April 2026 general conference. It is recommended to listen to or read the full address in addition to reviewing these resources.
About this talk
- “He Is Risen”
- Elder Ronald A. Rasband | Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Sunday morning session of April 2026 general conference.
- Theme: Through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, all can find joy and hope.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Elder Rasband’s message here.
Outline
- Jesus Christ’s Resurrection and Atonement are the most sacred events in human history. His Resurrection is a fundamental principle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day, breaking the bands of death and securing salvation from physical death for all God’s children.
- When Mary and other women approached the tomb, angels announced, “He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24:5–6). Those words have sparked religious ceremony, gratitude and faith.
- The resurrected Jesus Christ appeared to Mary, His apostles and those in the land Bountiful, allowing them to behold the Christ that the prophets testified of.
- The Savior stood with an outstretched hand, inviting each to feel the prints of the nails in His hands and feet. He even invited the little children to be brought to Him, and He prayed for and blessed them one by one.
- Elder Rasband’s grandson Paxton was born with a very rare chromosomal deletion. He lived three years but could not speak, crawl, walk or run.
- The first time Elder Rasband and Paxton’s father gave him a blessing that “the works of God should be made manifest” in Paxton, they were. Paxton became a joy to his family, and they gained an increased, deep and abiding trust in the Lord.
- Jesus Christ said, “Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). All who live or have ever lived, including Paxton, will feel joy beyond any earthly expression as they reunite with their Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ and their loved ones.
- Believers can find peace in the Lord’s promises, testify of Him through the way they live and feel to their souls the words “He is risen.”
Reflection questions
How do you celebrate Christ’s Atonement, His Resurrection and His Church’s Restoration in the Easter season? How can your celebrations be more centered on the Savior?
What does it mean to you that Jesus Christ is risen?
How has the Redeemer helped you mend, reconcile and make right your relationships?
What does Christ’s Resurrection make possible in your life?
How can you show gratitude for the miracle of the Resurrection?
Speaker quotes
- “Those glorious words ‘He is risen’ have sparked religious ceremony, gratitude, faith in Jesus Christ and His promises for centuries.”
- “I love the image of Him stretching forth His hand. He said, ‘Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world’ (3 Nephi 11:10).”
- “May we testify of Him by the way we live and what we love. May we feel to our very souls these stirring words: ‘He is risen! He is risen! Tell it out with joyful voice’ and ‘Let the whole wide earth rejoice.’”
Reference scriptures
- “And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee.”
- “Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified shall come into the world.”
- “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.”
Invitations and promises
- “He promised the prophet Isaiah, ‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee: … for I am thy God: … I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness’ (Isaiah 41:10). That promise is for all of us.”
- “All who live or ever have lived who come unto Christ and live His gospel will feel joy beyond any earthly expression as we reunite, resurrected, with our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ and with our parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and ancestors.”
- “May we be at peace, brothers and sisters, for the Lord has promised, ‘Where I am, there ye may be also’ (John 14:3). May we believe the Lord’s words in Isaiah: ‘I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands’ (Isaiah 49:16).”
Stories
- After three days in a borrowed tomb, Jesus Christ broke the bands of death by being resurrected. When Mary and other faithful women approached the Garden Tomb to care for the body, they found two angels who announced, “He is not here, but is risen” (Luke 24:5–6). These words have inspired religious ceremony, gratitude and faith in Jesus Christ and His promises.
- In the Book of Mormon, a gathering at a temple in the land of Bountiful heard a voice from heaven saying, “Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (3 Nephi 11:7). Then, they saw Christ descending from heaven. He stood in the midst of them and stretched forth His hand.
- Paxton, Elder Rasband’s grandson, was born with a very rare chromosomal deletion that resulted in him not being able to speak, crawl, walk or run. The first time Paxton’s father and Elder Rasband gave him a priesthood blessing that “the works of God should be made manifest in him,” they were. Paxton brought joy into his family and helped them learn to trust in the Lord. Paxton lived for three years. Because of the Resurrection, Paxton will be reunited again with his family in “perfect form” (Alma 11:43).
From the footnotes
- 11. All four Gospels in the New Testament refer to women coming to the tomb on that Sunday morning. Those mentioned are Mary, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, Salome and others (see Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10). They brought spices with them (see Mark 16:1). By tradition, the women did not attend to the body immediately, but in honor of the Sabbath they waited (see Luke 23:56).
- 15. Only Jesus Christ had the power to lay down His life and lift it up again. From His mortal mother He inherited the capacity to die. His immortal Father in Heaven gave Him the capacity and the power to overcome death. In these words He explained: “As the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (John 5:26).
- 20. The Holy Land is very much a backdrop to the narratives of both the New and Old Testaments, though it is not mentioned explicitly in the Bible. It has been called the “Promised Land” and at the time of Christ’s ministry would have included the areas of Galilee, Judea and Samaria.
- 29. At the Last Supper, Jesus Christ instituted the sacrament, explaining the ordinance to His Twelve Apostles (see also the sacrament prayers used in today’s worship services in Moroni 4:3; 5:2; Doctrine and Covenants 20:75–79).
- 41. Jesus Christ, by the power of His Atonement, provided the gift of immortality to all God’s children. Only He had the power to redeem all from the effects of the Fall of Adam and Eve. Only He had the power to lay down His life on the cross, be laid in a borrowed tomb and then take His life up again, the first of them that slept, a resurrected and perfect being. Because of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement, we will all be resurrected, and then we will stand before Him and account for our lives.
Additional resources
- Related image: “Mary Speaks With the Resurrected Christ”
- Related video: “Because of Him—Easter Video”
- Related hymn: No. 199, “He Is Risen!”
Recent conference talks on Christ’s Resurrection
- President Dieter F. Uchtdorf: “Encounter at the Empty Tomb” (April 2026)
- Elder Gerrit W. Gong: “Eternity’s Great Gifts: Jesus Christ’s Atonement, Resurrection, Restoration” (April 2025)
- Elder Gary E. Stevenson: “The Greatest Easter Story Ever Told” (April 2023)
Who is Elder Rasband?
- Elder Ronald A. Rasband was sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on Oct. 3, 2015. Between his call as a General Authority Seventy in 2000 and serving in the Presidency of the Seventy in 2005, he served in the Temple Department first as an assistant executive director and then as executive director in 2004.
