“Soon after the ascension of Christ into heaven he did truly manifest himself unto them.” The text does not clearly define the exact time of Jesus’ coming to the Western Hemisphere. Did this occur after his forty-day, postresurrection ministry in the Holy Land? Or after the resurrection on the first day of the week? Though different ideas have been put forward regarding the time frame, Elder James E. Talmage stated: “Christ had risen; and following Him many of the righteous dead on the western continent rose from their graves, and appeared as resurrected, immortalized beings among the survivors of the land-wide destruction; even as in Judea many of the saints had been raised immediately after the resurrection of Christ [Helaman 14:25; 3 Nephi 23:7–13; compare Matthew 27:52, 53]… . About six weeks or more after the events last considered, a great multitude of the Nephites had assembled at the temple in the land called Bountiful, and were earnestly discoursing with one another over the great changes that had been wrought in the land… . While thus congregated they heard a sound as of a Voice from above; but both a first and a second utterance were to them unintelligible. As they listened with rapt intentness, the Voice was heard a third time, and it said unto them: ‘Behold my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name: hear ye him.’ [emphasis in original; see 3 Nephi 11:7; compare Matthew 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 9:35; JS–H 1:17.]”13
The righteous always have the promise, if not of being spared, at least of having “great favors” and “great blessings” poured out upon their heads—the most desirable and the most lasting of all heaven’s favors and blessings.