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LAUREL - I'm puzzled about the very first resurrection. The one where Jesus was resurrected and those righteous who had lived before him were resurrected with him. We know that he took up his body again, and that was the resurrection, so why would it be that the bodies of so many infants and young children who lived before the time of Jesus have been found buried with their parents?
JOEL - This is a tough question and I am not sure anybody really knows the answer to it yet. First of all lets look at the scriptures that tell about the first ressurrection:
"And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."(Mat 27:52-53)
"And now, the resurrection of all the prophets, and all those that have believed in their words, or all those that have kept the commandments of God, shall come forth in the first resurrection; therefore, they are the first resurrection.
They are raised to dwell with God who has redeemed them; thus they have eternal life through Christ, who has broken the bands of death.
And these are those who have part in the first resurrection; and these are they that have died before Christ came, in their ignorance, not having salvation declared unto them. And thus the Lord bringeth about the restoration of these; and they have a part in the first resurrection, or have eternal life, being redeemed by the Lord.
And little children also have eternal life."(Mos 15:22-25)
"And many graves shall be opened, and shall yield up many of their dead; and many saints shall appear unto many."(Hel 14:25)
"Verily I say unto you, I commanded my servant Samuel, the Lamanite, that he should testify unto this people, that at the day that the Father should glorify his name in me that there were many saints who should arise from the dead, and should appear unto many, and should minister unto them. And he said unto them: Was it not so?"(3 Neph 23:9)
Many have concluded from these and other scriptures that this very first resurrection would have included all the righteous adults and all children under the age of accountability who lived before Jesus. But since infant bodies have been found that date from before the time of Christ this conclusion can not be completely correct.
The Mosiah 15 scriptures say that all the prophets, all those who believed, and all who kept the commandments would be part of the first resurrection. None of these criteria would aply to infants or small children. Also, some of the scriptures above tell us that, at the time of Christ's resurrection, "many" of the saints arose; it doesn't say that all of them rose. The scriptures also tell us;
"but every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming" (1 Cor 15: 23).
"Behold, there is a time appointed that all shall come forth from the dead," (Alma 40:4).
This might explain why some infants who lived before Christ were not resurrected. Their appointed time has not come yet.
Actually the first resurrection is not over. Those innocent infants who are destined for the Celsetial Kingdom, can still come forth at their appointed time in the first resurrection when it continues at Christ's second coming.
We have been taught many infants will be raised durning the millenium by their parents
At a funeral of a small child Joseph Smith taught the comforting doctrine that the infant child that is laid away in death would come up in the resurrection as a child; and, pointing to the mother of a lifeless child, he said to her:
“You will have the joy, the pleasure, and satisfaction of nurturing this child, after its resurrection, until it reaches the full stature of its spirit.” (Gospel Doctrine, 455-56)
If the parents will be allowed to raise their children as Joseph Smith said and the appointed time for the resurrection of the parents is later at Christ's second coming, the resurrection of the infants would have to be delayed to coincide with the resurrection of the parents.
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