Second Comings
04/06
“No event has transpired on earth, since the very day of creation itself, which is destined to have such a transcendent and recognizable affect on man, the earth, and all created things as the imminent return of the Son of Man will have.” (Bruce R. McConkie, MD, pg. 687)
Second Coming Defined
(D&C 124:28)
01 – “The Lord, whom we seek, shall suddenly come to his temple…He will come in due course to the temples in Jackson County and in Jerusalem. And he will come to his American Zion and His Jewish Jerusalem… And where else? Upon the oceans and the islands and the continents, in the land of Zion and elsewhere. The clear meaning is that there will be many appearances, in many places, to many people....Before the Lord Jesus descends openly and publicly in the clouds of glory, attended by all the hosts of heaven; before the great and dreadful day of the Lord sends terror and destruction from one end of the earth to the other; before he stands on Mount Zion, or sets his feet on Olivet, or utters his voice from an American Zion or a Jewish Jerusalem; before all flesh shall see him together; before any of his appearances, which taken together comprise the second coming of the Son of God—...” (Bruce R. McConkie, Millennial Messiah, pg. 577-578)
02 – “One more matter: There are among us many loose writings predicting the calamities which are about to overtake us. Some of these have been publicized as though they were necessary to wake up the world to the horrors about to overtake us. Many of these are from sources upon which there cannot be unquestioned reliance.
Are you...aware of the fact that we need no such publications to be forewarned, if we were only conversant with what the scriptures have already spoken to us in plainness?
Let me give you the sure word of prophecy on which you should rely for your guide instead of these strange sources which may have great political implications.
Read the 24th chapter of Matthew—particularly that inspired version as contained in the Pearl of Great Price.
Then read the 45th section of the Doctrine and Covenants where the Lord, not man, has documented the signs of the times.
Now turn to section 101 and section 133 of the Doctrine and Covenants and hear the step-by-step recounting of events leading up to the coming of the Savior.
Finally, turn to the promises the Lord makes to those who keep the commandments when these judgments descend upon the wicked, as set forth in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 38.
...these are some of the writings with which you should concern yourselves, rather than commentaries that may come from those whose information may not be the most reliable and whose motives may be subject to question. And may I say, parenthetically, most of such writers are not handicapped by having any authentic information on their writings.” (Harold B. Lee, Ensign, January 1973, pg. 106)
Marriage: Date and Time
(JS Matthew 1:40; D&C49:7; Alma 34:32-34; D&C 64:23-25; D&C 77:12-13)
Message of Urgency -
· ‘Soon’ (6 times).
· ‘Nigh at hand’ (12 times).
· ‘I come quickly’ (13 times).
· ‘It is the eleventh hour’ (D&C 33:3).
· ‘In an hour you think not’ (D&C 51:20; 61:38).
· ‘...it overtaketh the world as a thief in the night...’ (D&C 106:4-5).
· ‘As a whirlwind" (D&C 63:6).
· ‘Near, even at the doors’ (D&C 110:16).
· Tomorrow’ (D&C 64:23-24).
03 – “Did Christ speak this as a general principle throughout all generations? Oh no, he spoke in the present tense. No man that was then living upon the footstool of God knew the day or the hour But he did not say that there was no man throughout all generations that should not know the day or the hour. No for this would be in flat contradiction with other scripture for the prophet says ‘that God will do nothing but what he will reveal unto his Servants the prophets,’ consequently, if it is not made known to the Prophets it will not come to pass; Again we find Paul 1 Thessalonians 5, expressly points out the characters who shall not know the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh for says he’ it will come upon them as the thief’ or unawares. Who are they, they are the children of darkness or night. But to the Saints he says ye are not of the night nor of darkness of that that day should come upon you unawares.... How are we to see it? Answer. As the lighting up of the morning or the dawning of the morning cometh from the east and shineth unto the west—So also is the coming of the Son of Man. [JS Matthew 1:26] The dawning of the morning makes its appearance in the east and moves along gradually so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. It will be small at its first appearance and gradually becomes larger until every eye shall see it. Shall the Saints understand it? Oh yes. Paul says so. Shall the wicked understand? Oh no. They attribute it to a natural cause. They will probably suppose it is two great comets coming in contact with each other. It will be small at first and will grow larger and larger untill it will be all in a blaze so that every eye shall see it. Joseph Smith the Prophet.” (Joseph Smith; Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, The Words of Joseph Smith, pg.180-181)
04 – “The time for the Second Coming of Christ is as fixed and certain as was the hour of his birth. It will not vary as much as a single second from the divine decree. He will come at the appointed time. The Millennium will not be ushered in prematurely because men turn to righteousness, nor will it be delayed because iniquity abounds. Nephi was able to state with absolute certainty that the God of Israel would come ‘in six hundred years from the time my father left Jerusalem.’ (1 Nephi 19:8).To a later Nephi the Divine Voice acclaimed: ‘The time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world.’ (3 Ne. 1:13).
So shall it be with his return in glory. He knows the set time and so does his Father.” (Bruce R. McConkie, Millennial Messiah, pg. 26-27)
05 – “Deliberately and advisedly the actual time of his coming has been left uncertain and unspecified, so that men of each succeeding age shall be led to prepare for it as though it would be in their mortal lives.” (Bruce R. McConkie, DNTC, 1:675)
06 – “The hour and day of the Lord’s future advent is withheld from the knowledge of both men and angels; yet the signs, so definitely specified as harbingers of His coming, are multiplying apace. The prevailing unrest among men and nations, the fury of the elements, widespread destruction by land and sea, the frequency and intensity of volcanic and earthquake disturbances—all tell to the well-tuned ear that the gladsome yet terrible day of the Lord is nigh—aye, even at the doors!” (Heber J. Grant, Millennial Star, vol. 91, pg. 34)
07 – “The Lord Jesus Christ is coming to reign on earth. The world may say that he delays his coming until the end of the earth. But they know neither the thoughts nor the ways of the Lord. The Lord will not delay his coming because of their unbelief, and the signs both in heaven and earth indicate that it is near. The fig trees are leafing in sight of all the nations of the earth, and if they had the Spirit of God they could see and understand them.” (Wilford Woodruff, JD, 16:35)
08 – “Teenagers also sometimes think, ‘What’s the use? The world will soon be blown apart and come to an end.’ That feeling comes from fear, not from faith. No one knows the hour or the day, (D&C 49:7) but the end cannot come until all of the purposes of the Lord are fulfilled. Everything that I have learned from the revelations and from life convinces me that there is time and to spare for you to carefully prepare for a long life. One day you will cope with teenage children of your own. That will serve you right. Later, you will spoil your grandchildren, and they in turn spoil theirs. If an earlier end should happen to come to one, that is more reason to do things right.” (Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, May 1989, pg. 59)
Second Coming Specifics
Sign of the Rainbow - (JST-Genesis 9:21-14)
09 – “The inhabitants of the earth are asleep; they know not the day of their visitation. The Lord hath set the bow in the cloud for a sign that while it shall be seen, seed time and harvest, summer and winter shall not fail; but when it shall disappear, woe to that generation, for behold the end cometh quickly.” (Joseph Smith, TPJS, pg. 305)
10 – “I have asked of the Lord concerning His coming; and while asking the Lord, He gave a sign and said, In the days of Noah I set a bow in the heavens as a sign and token that in any year that the bow should be seen the Lord would not come; but there should be seed time and harvest during that year: but whenever you see the bow withdrawn, it shall be a token that there shall be famine, pestilence, and great distress among the nations, and that the coming of the Messiah is not far distant.” (Joseph Smith, TPJS, pg. 340)
Bow - (seven colors) Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Violet
Mark of Red Apparel - (Revelation 19:13; Isaiah 63:2-3; D&C 133:46-51)
11 – “...how red His raiment must have been in Gethsemane, how crimson that cloak! No wonder, when Christ comes in power and glory, that He will come in reminding red attire (D&C 133:48), signifying not only the winepress of wrath, but also to bring to our remembrance how He suffered for each of us in Gethsemane and on Calvary!” (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1987, pg. 72)
Distinctive Feature of Real Fire - (Revelation 17:16; Leviticus 21:9; JS-H 1:37; D&C 133:41, 49)
12 – “Now, when Christ comes, we will get a new heaven and a new earth and all of these corruptible things will be removed. They will be consumed by fire; and somebody said, "Brother Smith, do you mean to say that it is going to be literal fire?" I said, ‘Oh, no, it will not be literal fire any more than it was literal water that covered the earth in the flood.’”
Fnt. - “To my great astonishment this has been misunderstood by some, who failed to recognize the irony of this remark. For the benefit of such I will say I do not know of any other kind of water except literal water—H20, the kind we drink, bathe in, and which makes floods and drowns people. I think fire which consumes will also be literal when it comes” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Signs of the Times, pg. 38)
13 – “Thus saith the holy word: ‘The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8) In flaming fire! What kind of fire? Flaming fire is flaming fire. It is actual, literal fire, fire that burns trees, melts ore, and consumes corruption.” (Bruce R. McConkie, Millennial Messiah, pg. 525)
Appointed Places
(3 Nephi 21:1-2; Bruce R. McConkie, Millennial Messiah, pg. 171 )
1. First Vision - (JS-H 1:15-20)
2. Kirtland Temple - (Malachi 4:5-6; D&C 110:1-10)
3. Rocky Mountains - (Isaiah 2:2-3; Lorenzo Snow; LeRoi C. Snow, “An Experience of My Father,” Improvement Era, vol. 36, pg. 54-55)
14 – “In 1833 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was driven out of Jackson County, Mo., for the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ. There Bishop Partridge was tarred and feathered by the mob. That was the time of the falling of the stars in that country. Soon afterwards Bishop Partridge called for volunteers to go to Kirtland to see the Prophet. Two men volunteered out of those who had been driven from Jackson County. One was Parley P. Pratt and the other was Lyman Wight. They went to Kirtland and laid before the Prophet the circumstances, and the Prophet called these two men, and others, to go abroad and gather up the strength of the Lord's house and to prepare the camp of Zion. Parley P. Pratt came to my house. I had just been baptized. I was engaged for a year in furnishing lumber by contract. Parley P. Pratt told me it was my duty to lay aside all my temporal matters, go to Kirtland, and join Zion's camp. I obeyed his counsel. I arrived in Kirtland on Saturday and there met with Joseph and Hyrum Smith in the street. I was introduced to Joseph Smith. It was the first time that I had ever seen him in my life. He invited me home to spend the Sabbath with him, and I did so. They had meeting on Sunday.
On Sunday night the Prophet called on all who held the Priesthood to gather into the little log school house they had there. It was a small house, perhaps 14 feet square. But it held the whole of the Priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were then in the town of Kirtland, and who had gathered together to go off in Zion's camp. That was the first time I ever saw Oliver Cowdery, or heard him speak; the first time I ever saw Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, and the two Pratts, and Orson Hyde and many others. There were no Apostles in the Church then except Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. When we got together the Prophet called upon the Elders of Israel with him to bear testimony of this work. Those that I have named spoke, and a good many that I have not named, bore their testimonies. When they got through the Prophet said, ‘Brethren I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight, but I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother's lap. You don’t comprehend it.’ I was rather surprised. He said ‘it is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America it will fill the world.’ Among other things he said, ‘it will fill the Rocky Mountains. There will be tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints who will be gathered in the Rocky Mountains, and there they will open the door for the establishing of the Gospel among the Lamanites, who will receive the Gospel and their endowments and the blessings of God. This people will go into the Rocky Mountains; they will there build temples to the Most High. They will raise up a posterity there, and the Latter-day Saints who dwell in these mountains will stand in the flesh until the coming of the Son of Man. The Son of Man will come to them while in the Rocky Mountains.’
I name these things because I want to bear testimony before God, angels and men that mine eyes behold the day, and have beheld for the last fifty years of my life, the fulfillment of that prophecy. I never expected to see the Rocky Mountains when I listened to that man's voice, but I have, and do today. I will say here that I shall not live to see it, you may not live to see it; but these thousands of Latter-day Saint children that belong to the Sabbath schools, I believe many of them will stand in the flesh when the Lord Jesus Christ visits the Zion of God here in the mountains of Israel. And while I bear testimony before God, angels and men, that mine eyes behold the fulfillment of the revelation given that night, I just as much believe the remaining part of it will be fulfilled as I stand here in the flesh. I rejoice at seeing the progress of the work that lies before us. There is a great work before this people in the fulfillment of these prophecies that have been given. Joseph Smith was full of revelation. He foresaw this people, and this work until it was wound up.
My prayer to God is that we may pursue such a course that we may enjoy and receive all these blessings, and our posterity after us. Amen.” (Wilford Woodruff, CR, April 1898, pg. 57-58)
4. Adam-Ondi-Ahman - (D&C 27:5-14; D&C 107:53-56; D&C 116:1; Daniel 7:9-14)
15 – “We now come to the least known and least understood thing connected with the Second Coming. It might well be termed the best-kept secret set forth in the revealed word. It is something about which the world knows nothing; it is a doctrine that has scarcely dawned on most of the Latter-day Saints themselves; and yet it is set forth in holy writ and in the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith with substantially the same clarity as any of the doctrines of the kingdom. It behooves us to make a needed brief commentary about it.
Before the Lord Jesus descends openly and publicly in the clouds of glory, attended by all the hosts of heaven; before the great and dreadful day of the Lord sends terror and destruction from one end of the earth to the other; before he stands on Mount Zion, or sets his feet on Olivet, or utters his voice from an American Zion or a Jewish Jerusalem; before all flesh shall see him together; before any of his appearances, which taken together comprise the second coming of the Son of God—before all these, there is to be a secret appearance to selected members of his Church. He will come in private to his prophet and to the apostles then living. Those who have held keys and powers and authorities in all ages from Adam to the present will also be present. And further, all the faithful members of the Church then living and all the faithful saints of all the ages past will be present. It will be the greatest congregation of faithful saints ever assembled on planet earth. It will be a sacrament meeting. It will be a day of judgment for the faithful of all the ages. And it will take place in Daviess County, Missouri, at a place called Adam-ondi-Ahman.
..‘He (Adam) is the father of the human family, and presides over the spirits of all men, and all that have had the keys must stand before him in this grand council.’ Every prophet, apostle, president, bishop, elder, or church officer of whatever degree—all who have held keys shall stand before him who holds all of the keys. They will then be called upon to give an account of their stewardships and to report how and in what manner they have used their priesthood and their keys for the salvation of men within the sphere of their appointments.
...And we need not suppose that all these things shall happen in one single meeting or at one single hour in time. It is proper to hold numerous meetings at a general conference, some for the instruction of leaders, others for edification of all the saints. In some, business is transacted; others are for worship and spiritual refreshment.
...Adam-ondi-Ahman—meaning the place or land of God where Adam dwelt—is at a place called Spring Hill, Daviess County, Missouri.” (Bruce R. McConkie, Millennial Messiah, pg. 578, 582, 585, 587)
16 – “All who have held keys of Priesthood, will then have to give an account to those from whom they received them… The Elders give an account to [their] Presidents… Those Presidents and the Seventies give an account to the Twelve Apostles; the Twelve to the First Presidency; and they to Joseph… Joseph delivers his authority to Peter… and Peter to Moses and Elias, who endued him with this authority on the Mount; and they to those from whom they received them.” (John Taylor, The Government of God, pg. 115)
5. New Jerusalem - (D&C 97:15-16; D&C 84:3-4; D&C 45:66-70; Ether 13:8; Moses 7:60-64; JST Genesis 9:21-25)
17 – “Temples in the New and Old Jerusalems. We expect to see the day when temples will dot the earth, each one a house of the Lord; each one built in the mountains of the lord; each one a sacred sanctuary to which Israel and the Gentiles shall gather to receive the blessings of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Perhaps they will number in the hundreds, or even in the thousands, before the Lord returns. During the Millennium their presence will be everywhere, for the billions of church members will all be entitled to the fulness of the ordinances and blessings of the Lord's holy houses. But there are two great temples in particular, two glorious houses of the Great Jehovah, that must be built by his people before he comes—one in Jerusalem of old, the other in the New Jerusalem.” (Bruce R. McConkie, Millennial Messiah, pg. 277)
18 – Joseph Smith was alleged to have said that “the City of Enoch would again take its place in the identical spot from which it had been detached, now forming that chasm of the earth, filled with water, called the Gulf of Mexico.” (Hoyt W. Brewster, Behold, I Come Quickly, The Last Days and Beyond, pg. 165)
19 – “There will be wars and rumors of wars, signs in the heavens above and on the earth beneath....Then will appear one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven. But what will the world do? They will say it is a planet, a comet, etc.” (Joseph Smith, TPJS, p. 286-287)
20 – “As the saints in Enoch’s day built the City of Zion—a City of Holiness, a place of refuge from the carnality of the world- so the saints in our day are organized into stakes of Zion. These stakes are part of the church structure, and all who forsake the world and seek to be one with those of Enoch’s day gather into the stakes of Zion, where they find refuge from the carnality and evils of the world.” (Bruce R. McConkie, New Witness for the Articles of Faith, pg. 332-333)
21 – “There appear to be no new or complex doctrines that would account for the unique outcome in the city of Enoch. One will look in vain in the scriptures for a single spectacular teaching that accounts for this singular and spectacular event. Clearly, what made these people unique was their serious and steady application of the simple teachings of Jesus Christ.” (Neal A. Maxwell, Of One Heart, pg. vi.)
6. Old Jerusalem - (Mt. of Olives/Armeggedon) - (Revelation 9, 11:1-2; Ezekiel 38-39, 47; Zechariah 13:6; 14:4-7; D&C 77:15; D&C 133:20-25; D&C 45:48-53)
22 – “Judah must return, Jerusalem must be rebuilt, and the temple, and water come out from under the temple, and the waters of the Dead Sea be healed. It will take some time to rebuild the walls of the city and the temple, &c.; and all this must be done before the Son of Man will make His appearance.” (Joseph Smith, HC, 5: 337)
23 – “Who shall build this temple? The Lord himself shall do it by the hands of his servants the prophets. …Who are those ‘That are far of’” who shall come to Jerusalem to build the house of the Lord? Surely they are the Jews who have been scattered afar. By what power and under whose authorization shall the work be done? There is only one place under the whole heavens where the keys of temple building are found. There is only one people who know how to build temples and what to do in them when they are completed. That people is the Latter-day Saints… It will be built by Jews who have come unto Christ…[who are members of] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” (Bruce R. McConkie, Millennial Messiah, pg. 279-280)
24 – “The bankrupt nations, envying the wealth of the sons of Judah, will seek a pretext to make war upon them, and will invade the holy land to take a prey and a spoil.” (Charles W. Penrose, Millennial Star, September 10, 1859, pg. 582-583)
25 – “Now here is the difference between Zion and old Jerusalem. The Jews, or many of them, will gather back to Jerusalem in a state of unbelief in the true Messiah, believing in the prophets but rejecting the New Testament, and looking for the Messiah to come, honest-hearted no doubt, many of them. And they will rebuild Jerusalem after the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. While in that state of unbelief Gog and Magog, the inhabitants of Russia and all those nations in northern Europe and northern Asia, a great multitude, will gather against the Jews before Jesus comes, and they will fill up the great valley of Armageddon, the great valley of Jehosaphat and all the surrounding valleys; they will be like a cloud covering the land. Horses and chariots and horsemen, a very great army, will gather up there to take a spoil. For you know when the Rothschilds and the great bankers among the Jewish nation shall return back to their own land to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, carrying their capital with them, it will almost ruin some of the nations, and the latter will go up against Jerusalem to take a spoil. And they will succeed in taking half the city captive; and when they are in the act of destroying that city, behold the Lord will come with all his Saints, and he shall stand his feet on the Mount of Olives, ‘And in that day’ says the Prophet Zachariah ‘shall the Lord go forth and fight against all those nations that have fought against Jerusalem, and their flesh shall consume away upon their bones, their eyes in their sockets.’ This great calamity comes upon the Jewish nation in consequence of their unbelief in the true Messiah.” (Orson Pratt, JD, March 10, 1872, 14:352-353)
26 – “There will be the great earthquake. The earthquake will not be only in Palestine. There will not be merely the separation of the Mount of Olives, to form a valley that the Jews may escape, but the whole earth is going to be shaken. There will be some dreadful things take place, and some great changes are going to take place, and that you will find written in the book of Ezekiel (38:17-23), which I did not read to you.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, The Signs of the Times, pg. 144-145)
27 – “In the first instance, we have the earth on a move like a chased roe (Isaiah 13:13-14) and in the second place, we have it married (Isaiah 62:4). And from the whole, and various scriptures we learn, that the continents and islands shall be united in one, as they were on the morn of creation, and the sea shall retire and assemble in its own place, where it was before; and all these scenes shall take place during the mighty convulsion of nature, about the time of the coming of the Lord.” (Parley P. Pratt, A Voice of Warning, pg. 120)
7. World - (D&C 101:23; Ether 2:7-12, 15; D&C 106:4-5)
28 – “CHRIST WILL COME IN DAY OF WICKEDNESS. When we become ripe in iniquity, then the Lord will come. I get annoyed sometimes at some of our elders who when speaking say the Lord will come when we all become righteous enough to receive him. The Lord is not going to wait for us to get righteous. When he gets ready to come, he is going to come—when the cup of iniquity is full—and if we are not righteous then, it will be just too bad for us, for we will be classed among the ungodly, and we will he as stubble to be swept off the face of the earth, for the Lord says wickedness shall not stand.
Do not think the Lord delays his coming, for he will come at the appointed time, not the time which I have heard some preach when the earth becomes righteous enough to receive him. I have heard some men in positions and places of trust in the Church preach this, men who are supposed to be acquainted with the word of the Lord, but they failed to comprehend the scriptures. Christ will come in the day of wickedness, when the earth is ripe in iniquity and prepared for the cleansing, and as the cleanser and purifier he will come, and all the wicked will be as stubble and will be consumed.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, DS, 3:3)
Grooming and Preparation for the Wedding Supper
(D&C 45:56-57; D&C 87:8; D&C 133:4-5, 14; JS-Matthew 1:37-51)
29 – “Perhaps, ironically, the recent secular prophecies about the coming cataclysms may create a fresh interest in the doctrine of the second coming of Christ. The youth and all members of the Church need to accept the reality of Christ’s return in majesty and power before that event occurs; for, as C. S. Lewis put it, it will do men little good to kneel down when it is no longer possible to stand up, for when the ‘author of the play comes on stage, the play is over.’” (Neal A. Maxwell, New Era, Jan 1971, pg. 9)
30 – Treasure — “To treasure it, one must not only read and study but seek in humility and obedience to do the commandments given, and gain the inspiration which the holy Spirit will impart.” (Joseph Fielding Smith, DS, 1:305)
31 – Treasure — “Not read, not study, not search, but treasure up the Lord’s word. Posses it, own it, make it yours by both believing it and living it.” (Bruce R. McConkie, DNTC, 1:662)
32 – Watch — “Prayerful watching does not require sleepless anxiety and preoccupation with the future, but rather the quiet, steady, attention to present duties.” (Howard W. Hunter, Ensign, May 1974, pg. 18)
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