The Second Coming - The Great Day

Introduction

The Second Coming: it is capitalized because it is a significant, well-recognized event. The term evokes frightening images of natural disasters, wars, plagues, death, destruction, the earth heaving to and fro, the sun and moon darkened, the stars falling from the sky, and the mysterious "abomination of desolation". But such things are not the Second Coming. They are signs that the Second Coming is near. They are a final, desperate attempt by a loving God to awaken as many people as possible to prepare themselves for what comes after.

What comes after the signs is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer, our Savior, our loyal and true and best friend. He does not want to smash us and destroy us and wipe us out. He wants to love us and to have us feel and acknowledge and return that love. He wants to come back to the earth, his mortal home, to be with us, to rejoice with us, to have a fullness of joy with us, and to present a glorious planet and a faithful people as a gift to his - and our - Father. The coming of Christ may be a dreadful day for those who are not prepared to meet him, but for those who have looked forward to it and longed for it, it will be a Great Day.

The message of the Second Coming of Christ is not about destruction and fear, but about peace and love. "And now the year of my redeemed is come; and they shall mention the loving kindness of their Lord, and all that he has bestowed upon them according to his goodness, and according to his loving kindness, forever and ever" (D&C 133:52). It will indeed be a Great Day.

The Long-Awaited Day

From the beginning of this last dispensation, we have been told that the Lord's coming is near:

• D&C 1:12 "Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh."
• D&C 34:7 "For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, the time is soon at hand that I shall come in a cloud with power and great glory."
• D&C 38:8 "But the day soon cometh that ye shall see me, and know that I am; for the veil of darkness shall soon be rent, and he that is not purified shall not abide the day."
• D&C 110:16 "Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors."

Christ's Second Coming is only the beginning of a new and marvelous era for the earth and its inhabitants.  It is the opening scene in a millennium - the Millennium - of unprecedented opportunities to serve and participate in the Lord's great work to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. If we understood fully what the Millennium will be like, we would be so excited that we could hardly wait. It cannot get here soon enough.

Christ will reign personally on the earth (see D&C 133:25). He will walk among his saints, visit his temples (see D&C 36:8), and reign over the earth from his twin capitals of Jerusalem and Zion. "And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:3).

The thousand years of earth life that follow Christ's coming will be dedicated to missionary work, and its corollary, temple work. The veil between heaven and earth will be porous as messengers pass back and forth to ensure that all earthly ordinances are performed for every worthy soul who has every lived or is yet living during this time. An army of missionaries on both sides of the veil will be assisted by an army of physical beings in the temple who stand ready day and night to complete the work. There will be only one real work to do for the mortals in the Millennium, other than feeding and clothing and providing shelter for themselves, as all mortals since Adam have been required to do, and that is the work of salvation.

At the same time, the earth itself will be rearranged and transformed. The continents will be returned to their original positions, with the new and old Jerusalems being in close proximity to each other (see D&C 133:24-25). The earth shall be cleansed from the sins and pollutions that have befouled her (see JST, Hebrews 6:7). The earth will, in a literal sense, be re-created, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth (see D&C 29:23, Revelation 21:1). I suspect that in the same way that many of the sons of God participated in the original creation of the earth, they will be employed in this second creation.

Preparing for the Great Day

At Christ's coming, his faithful, mortal saints will be caught up (i.e., removed from the face of the earth) to meet him and to make way for the cleansing and re-creation that is to occur. At the same time, all of his faithful saints who have died will be resurrected and will join their mortal brothers and sisters in the happy throng around their Redeemer (see D&C 88:95-97). It does not really matter to the Lord which side of the veil we are on. What matters is that we are prepared.

The parable of the Ten Virgins is all about preparation and is directed at the members of the Church at the Second Coming. Ten virgins (worthy members of the Church) were invited to the wedding (the coming of Christ). The wedding parade was delayed, and while the virgins waited, their lamps went out. The bridegroom (Christ) came suddenly into view. All ten awoke and tried to prepare their lamps so they could join the parade. Five were wise and had brought extra oil with them just in case. The other five were not so wise and had no additional oil with which to fill their lamps. Those who were prepared joined the wedding party and entered in the bridegroom's feast. The others, though they eventually procured the needed oil, were too late and found themselves shut out (see Matthew 25:1-12). Speaking of this parable in General Conference in April 2004, Elder Dallin H. Oaks commented, "The arithmetic of this parable is chilling." Next time you are in sacrament meeting, look around the congregation. Someone on either side of you will not be present to meet the Bridegroom when he comes because they will not be prepared.

"I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left" (Luke 17:34-36).

Our responsibility for the Second Coming is not to read the signs and predict precisely the day and hour of his coming. It is rather, first, to prepare ourselves, and second, to help others to prepare.

We do not need to be overly concerned about the signs of the times. The saints who are on the earth at the Second Coming will be no more surprised by that day than were Noah and his family when the rains started. Noah may not have known the day and hour that the rain would begin, but he was diligent in preparing the ark and collecting the animals. It did not matter to him whether the rain started a day, a week, a month, or a year after he completed his preparations. What mattered was that he was faithful and obedient, he fulfilled the commandments of God, and he was ready. The timing was up to the Lord. (See JS-Matthew 1:38-48).

We prepare ourselves by partaking of the Atonement of Christ. "Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless" (2 Peter 3:14). The only way we can have peace and be "without spot, and blameless" is through a remission of our sins by the Atonement.

• Moroni 8:11 "Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins."
• Matthew 26:28 "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
• Acts 10:43 "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins."
• Helaman 14:13 "And if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his merits."
• 3 Nephi 7:16 "Therefore, [Nephi] being grieved for the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds—went forth among them in that same year, and began to testify, boldly, repentance and remission of sins through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ." 
• D&C 19:31 "And of tenets thou shalt not talk, but thou shalt declare repentance and faith on the Savior, and remission of sins by baptism, and by fire, yea, even the Holy Ghost."

Once we are reconciled to God through Christ, we must retain that remission of sins through continued obedience. King Benjamin taught his people:

And again I say unto you as I have said before, that as ye have come to the knowledge of the glory of God, or if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, and have received a remission of your sins, which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel. And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of your sins; and ye shall grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created you, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true. (Mosiah 4:11-12)

Christ will come to his temple as one of the events that mark his Second Coming (see D&C 36:8). I would speculate that there will be a general invitation to all temple recommend holders to come to their temple at a specific time to participate in this supernal event. It will not be a happy moment if we have let our recommends lapse.

After we have obtained our own remission of sins, our next duty is to others, beginning with our families and extending to our neighbors and acquaintances. "Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor" (D&C 88:81). "And more blessed are you because you are called of me to preach my gospel— To lift up your voice as with the sound of a trump, both long and loud, and cry repentance unto a crooked and perverse generation, preparing the way of the Lord for his second coming" (D&C 34:5-6).

When we are prepared and we have helped others prepare, we need not fear the Second Coming, but we will "look forward" and "hasten unto" this Great Day (see 2 Peter 3:10-14).

Bringing the Second Coming Into Our Lives

The Millennium and the Second Coming can begin at any time in our individual lives, regardless of the timing of the great event that the world will recognize. Just as we can each become a "Zion person" here and now, regardless of the location of Enoch's physical city, we can become a "Millennial person" here and now, regardless of the timing of Christ's arrival. There is nothing to stop us today from individually living the law of consecration and all of the laws of the celestial kingdom, which are the laws of Zion and which are the laws of the Millennium.

To the degree that we seek the Savior today, we can bring the Millennium into our life. We can allow the Lord to rule and reign in our lives. We can be about missionary work and temple work. We can seek the will of the Lord for us and strive to always be obedient. We can learn to have faith and rely on the power of the priesthood. We can receive revelation daily and learn to "speak the words of Christ" through the Holy Ghost (see 2 Nephi 32:2-3).

The Lord revealed through the Prophet Joseph in the earliest days of the restored Church: "But the day soon cometh that ye shall see me, and know that I am; for the veil of darkness shall soon be rent, and he that is not purified shall not abide the day" (D&C 38:8). And later the Lord declared: "And there shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour; and immediately after shall the curtain of heaven be unfolded, as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up, and the face of the Lord shall be unveiled" (D&C 88:95). Everyone will see Christ when he arrives in power and great glory in the clouds of heaven, but not everyone will recognize him. The saints who have sought his face diligently will not only see Christ, but they will know who he is when he comes.

Conclusion

Have you ever thought about why you were sent to earth at this specific time? You were not born during the time of Adam and Eve or while pharaohs ruled Egypt or during the Ming dynasty. You have come to earth at this time, 20 centuries after the first coming of Christ. The priesthood of God has been restored to the earth, and the Lord has set His hand to prepare the world for His glorious return. These are days of great opportunity and important responsibilities. These are your days. 

I testify of the majesty, but most of all, of the certainty of this magnificent event. The Savior lives. He will return to the earth. And whether on this side of the veil or the other, you and I will rejoice in His coming and thank the Lord that He sent us to earth at this time to fulfill our sacred duty of helping prepare the world for His return.

-- Neil L. Andersen, General Conference, October 2011.

Let us be found doing our duty, no matter which side of the veil we are on, when Christ comes again. It will truly be a Great Day.