Editor’s note: To support personal and family gospel learning, the Church News is publishing articles on messages from April 2025 general conference. It is recommended to listen to or read the full address in addition to reviewing these resources.
About this talk
- “Eternity’s Great Gifts: Jesus Christ’s Atonement, Resurrection, Restoration”
- Elder Gerrit W. Gong | Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
- Sunday morning session of April 2025 general conference.
- Theme: Peace, becoming and belonging are found in Jesus Christ.
Read the full message here.
Read a summary of Elder Gong’s message here.
Outline
- Jesus Christ understands perfectly those who weep, and He wipes away their tears. He can be present when eternity’s great gifts are needed most: Christ’s Atonement, Resurrection, restoration.
- Easter in Jesus Christ brings mending, reconciliation, healing and forgiveness. Easter in Christ lets God’s children feel approbation and escape debilitating perfectionism. Christ’s Resurrection frees humanity from death, frailties and physical imperfections. His Atonement restores believers spiritually and reunites them with God.
- Because God loves all of His children in every age and land, His invitation to find peace and joy in Him are found in many traditions and cultures. Followers of Islam, Judaism and Christianity share religious heritage with Abraham and covenant connection through events in ancient Egypt.
- Atonement, resurrection and restoration through Jesus Christ can be seen in the sequence and convergence of the Easter spring season. Palm Sunday, Holy Week, Easter, the Restoration of Christ’s Church, general conference, and the restoration of priesthood keys and authority are celebrated in the spring season.
- Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, saves all in a kingdom of glory. The only exceptions are those who willfully “deny the Son after the Father has revealed him” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:43).
- Jesus Christ blesses all of God’s children with all they are willing to receive.
- Each Easter season, Christ’s Atonement, His and our literal Resurrection, and the Restoration of His latter-day Church are celebrated. In Jesus Christ, all can find atonement, resurrection, restoration, peace, becoming and belonging.
Reflection questions
How has Jesus Christ helped you mend, reconcile and make right your relationships?
How have you experienced the Light of Jesus Christ?
In what other cultures and traditions have you found God and His loving invitation to find peace and joy?
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 weeps in sorrow and joy?
Speaker quotes
- “For me now, that Jesus weeps in sorrow and joy testifies of the miraculous reality: The divine Son of God came into physical mortality and learned according to the flesh how always to be with and bless us.”
- “When we cry out in grief or joy, Jesus Christ understands perfectly. He can be present in the moments when we most need eternity’s great gifts: Jesus Christ’s Atonement, Resurrection, restoration.”
- “In love, Jesus Christ descended below and ascended above all things. He rejoices in our divine capacities for creativity and delight, kindness without hope for reward, faith unto repentance and forgiveness. And He weeps in sorrow at the enormity of our human suffering, cruelty, unfairness — often brought by human choice — as do the heavens and the God of heaven with them.”
Reference scriptures
- “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”
- “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.”
- “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Invitations and promises
- “When we cry out in grief or joy, Jesus Christ understands perfectly.”
- “Jesus’ life and light testify of God’s love for all His children. Because God our Father loves all His children in every age and land, we find His loving invitation to come find peace and joy in Him in many traditions and cultures. Wherever, whenever, whoever we are, we share divine identity as children of the same Creator.”
- “May we each find in Jesus Christ atonement, resurrection and restoration — peace, becoming and belonging — that which is enduringly real and joyful, happy and forever.”
Stories
- Elder Gong shares a variety of stories in ancient scripture and in modern times of people weeping for both joy and sadness. “When we cry out in grief or joy, Jesus Christ understands perfectly.”
- God’s invitation to find peace and joy extends into many traditions and cultures. Followers of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are all tied back to Father Abraham and ancient Egypt. One Muslim believer from Cairo expressed gratitude that “baby Jesus found safety and sanctuary in my country.”
- Elder Gong recently visited the Kirtland Temple, where priesthood keys and authority were restored on Easter Sunday, 1836. These keys give God’s authority and blessings to gather His children, prepare them to return to Him and unite families for eternity.
From the footnotes
- 13. Joseph’s bringing his father, Jacob, and his family to Egypt represents the tender reuniting of a long-separated son and father. It also becomes the means by which Jacob’s family and covenant posterity, who will include Lehi and his family, are preserved. (See 1 Nephi 5:14-15; 6:2.)
- 20. We speak of the Easter spring season, recognizing that Easter can come in March or April and that spring in the northern hemisphere generally comes in March or April. Regardless of the specific date of Easter, the Easter season reminds us of eternity’s great gifts through Jesus Christ.
- 22. The sacred anniversaries that occur each Easter season sometimes exactly coincide. For example, Easter and general conference occur on the same Sunday in 2026 and 2029. Palm Sunday and general conference occur on the same Sunday in 2031 and 2034. Passover occurs near to Easter and during general conference in 2026 and 2029. Regardless of whether or not these anniversaries coincide exactly, we understand that their convergent proximity is not by coincidence or accident; it is sacred and symbolic.
Additional resources
- Related image: “Life of Jesus Christ: Appearance to Mary Magdalene”
- Related video: “He Is Risen! | A Special Easter Season Message from the First Presidency #GreaterLove”
- Related hymn: No. 199, “He Is Risen!”
Recent conference talks on Christ’s Atonement
- President Dallin H. Oaks: “Divine Helps for Mortality” (April 2025)
- Elder Quentin L. Cook: “The Atonement of Jesus Christ Provides the Ultimate Rescue” (April 2025)
- President Russell M. Nelson: “The Lord Jesus Christ Will Come Again” (October 2024)
Who is Elder Gong?
- Elder Gerrit W. Gong was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on March 31, 2018, and had served as a General Authority Seventy since April 2010. He worked for the U.S. State Department and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Elder Gong’s travels have taken him to all seven continents, including living in Asia for more than a decade.
