What is
the Day of the
Lord? There are many references to
“that day” in our scriptures. Is it
something that occurs in only one day (as we think of a 24-hour
period), or
might the Day of the Lord (the Lord’s Day) include some, or much, of
the last
thousand years, or seventh millennium?
“But concerning the coming of the Lord,
beloved, I
would not have you ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the
Lord as
a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Pet 3:8).
In the
above quote,
Peter was speaking of the Lord’s return.
Will the day he returns be The Day of the Lord?
Among the many titles for Jesus Christ, one
of his titles is Lord of the Sabbath.
Could that also be a clue for defining the Day of the Lord? Could the words “The Lord’s Day” that
Christians equate with Sabbath be the same thing as the Day of the Lord? This paper proposes the idea that when the
prophets used the words THAT DAY or the LAST DAY or the LORD’S DAY,
that they
most often were referring to the DAY OF THE LORD, and that such a DAY
will
include much more than just a 24-hour period.
See just a couple of verses below which describe THAT DAY:
“But the day of the Lord will come
as a thief
in the night, in the which the heavens shall shake, and the earth also
shall
tremble, and the mountains shall melt, and pass away with a great
noise, and
the elements shall be filled with fervent heat; the earth also shall be
filled,
and the corruptible works which are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet 3:10).
“For, behold, the day cometh, that
shall burn
as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be
stubble;
and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of
hosts,
that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that
fear my
name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings;
and ye
shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread
down the
wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day
that I
shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts”
(Mal 4:1-3).
In both of
the above
references, THAT DAY is described as something that includes fervent
heat, and
fire, and being burned up. Yet notice
particularly in Malachi’s reference that other events are discussed
(besides
heat, fire, and burning). Malachi spoke
also of a people who will grow up as calves of the stall, and tread
down the
wicked. In other parts of his book,
Malachi spoke of how the Lord would make up his jewels in THAT DAY. He also said that a people would “return”
and discern between righteousness and wickedness in THAT DAY.
All of the
prophets
described THAT DAY. Isaiah foretold the
return of the remnant of Jacob, and how the Lord would make a
consumption, and
the Assyrian would lift up his staff after the manner of Pharaoh
(Isaiah 10),
and all of these are said to be occurrences of THAT DAY.
Nephi described how the Lord would set his
hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people in THAT
DAY (2
Nephi 9). Joseph Smith, Jr. wrote of
how the Lord intends to chasten and try his people in THAT DAY, even as
he
tried Abraham who was commanded to offer up his only son (Section 98).
There are
hundreds of verses describing a particular DAY. This
paper will be an attempt to explore what may be one of the
most misunderstood subjects in scripture.
In recent
years, many
Restorationists have become increasingly concerned about the signs of
the times,
and have arranged many prayerful gatherings and assemblies in hopes to
receive
guidance from the Lord. It is very
commendable to desire unity, and to pray for guidance.
But I sometimes worry about what it is that
we seek from the Lord. Do we want more
word from him? Do we want a
prophet? Do we want the Lord to appear
before us? Do we want a restored
church? Do we want to be endowed? Do we want deliverance? Are
we seeking signs, because sometimes the
Lord gives people what they want, even if he has to give such things in
his
wrath.
“Yea, signs come by faith, unto mighty
works, for
without faith no man pleaseth God: and with whom God is angry he is not
well
pleased: wherefore, unto such he showeth no signs, only in wrath
unto their
condemnation.” (Sec
63:3).
I would
have to
suppose that different people are seeking different things, even if
they are
coming together in unity. Here is a
very hard question. Do we need more
word from God, or has God already given us word sufficient for the day
in which
we live? I would like to explore a
small portion of God’s word and see how it fits with what we currently
desire
from the Lord.
“Say nothing but repentance unto this
generation: keep
my commandments, and assist to bring forth my work according to my
commandments, and you shall be blessed”
(Sec 6:4b).
There were
times in
history when God sent forth prophets to call people to repentance and
warn them
of impending destruction if they didn’t repent. It
would appear that such a time of warning began again in 1830,
and should be continuing unto this day.
Here it is again:
“Contend thou, therefore, morning by
morning, and day
after day; let thy warning voice go forth, and when the night cometh,
let not
the inhabitants of the earth slumber because of thy speech” (Sec 105:3).
The
restoration church
was given the call to go forth among the Gentiles for the last
time, binding up the law and
sealing up the testimony, to
prepare the saints for the judgment that was to come upon them.
“Therefore, tarry ye, and labor diligently,
that you
may be perfected in your ministry, to go forth among the Gentiles
for the
last time, as many as the mouth of the Lord shall name, to bind up
the law,
and seal up the testimony, and to prepare the Saints for the hour of
judgment,
which is to come; that their souls may escape the wrath of God, the
desolation
of abomination, which await the wicked, both in this world, and in the
world to
come” (Sec 85:23).
The
purpose of this
last ministry among the Gentiles was to prepare the hearts and minds of
the
saints so that their souls might escape God’s wrath, or desolation of
abomination. The church was called to
reprove (chasten) the world and set forth clearly and understandably
this
coming desolation.
“And verily I say unto you, the rest of my
servants,
Go ye forth as your circumstances shall permit, in your several
callings, unto
the great and notable cities and villages, reproving the world in
righteousness, of all their unrighteous and ungodly deeds, setting
forth
clearly and understandingly the desolation of abomination in the
last days” (Sec 83:24a).
The church
was to
preach how it is the Lord’s will that we purchase in Zion, since
receiving an
inheritance there could come only by purchase or by blood.
“Behold, the Land of Zion, I, the Lord,
holdeth it in
mine own hands; nevertheless, I, the Lord, rendereth unto Caesar the
things
which are Caesar's: wherefore, I, the Lord, willeth, that you should
purchase
the lands, that you may have advantage of the world, that you
may have
claim on the world, that they may not be stirred up unto anger; for
Satan
putteth it into their hearts to anger against you, and to the shedding
of
blood; wherefore the land of Zion shall not be obtained but by
purchase, or by
blood, otherwise there is none inheritance for you.
And if by purchase, behold, you are blessed;
and if by
blood, as you are forbidden to shed blood, lo, your enemies are upon
you, and
ye shall be scourged from city to city, and from synagogue to
synagogue, and but
few shall stand to receive an inheritance” (Sec 63:8).
How has
the church
done so far with the above instruction?
Have we preached nothing but repentance? Have
we taken seriously that this is a day of warning?
Have we awakened to our awful situation,
while
In other
words, do we
need more word from the Lord, or should we seek to better heed the word
we’ve
already been given? I fear that the
next word from the Lord may be a grand chastisement where he might say
something
like this:
“Now, behold, the nobleman, the lord of the
vineyard,
called upon his servants, and said unto them, Why! what is the
cause of this
great evil? ought ye not to have done even as I commanded you? and
after ye
had planted the vineyard, and built the hedge round about, and set
watchmen
upon the walls thereof, built the tower also, and set a watchman upon
the
tower, and watched for my vineyard, and not have fallen asleep, lest
the enemy
should come upon you? and, behold, the watchman upon the tower would
have seen
the enemy while he was yet afar off, and then you could have made ready
and
kept the enemy from breaking down the hedge thereof, and saved my
vineyard from
the hands of the destroyer”
(Sec
98:7).
According
to Section
85, among other places, the call went forth in the earliest days of the
Restoration to go forth among the Gentiles for the last time. In other words, we Gentile Christians are
receiving our final warning call. What
is that warning call? It is to repent,
so that we might be prepared for the hour of judgment, which is defined
also in
some places as “God’s wrath.” Note the
particular admonition to the elders of the Restoration (not the first
elders,
but the elders who would continue in the vineyard).
“Verily, I say unto you, Let those who are
not the
first elders, continue in the vineyard, until the mouth of the Lord
shall call
them, for their time is not yet come; their garments are not clean from
the
blood of this generation. Abide ye in the liberty wherewith ye are made
free;
entangle not yourselves in sin, but let your hands be clean, until the
Lord
come” (Sec 85:23-24).
The elders
are given
instruction to keep their hands clean until the Lord returns. Should we be waiting for the Lord’s
return? The scriptures could not be
more clear concerning the coming of the Lord.
We are told not to be deceived by a false Christ who is said to
be
“here” or “there” (see Matthew 24:26-27).
The coming of the Lord is described as an incredibly noisy
event, in
which the corruptible things of the heavens shall be dissolved and the
mountains melted with fervent heat (see 2 Peter 3:12).
He will roar like a lion the second time,
not as a quiet lamb like the first. And
furthermore, we are given to understand that a “false Messiah” will
make an
appearance in the last days. He is the
mouth of Revelation who speaks great things and the little horn of
Daniel. Even the Book of Mormon mentions a
false
Christ:
“And the Lord will set his hand again the
second time to
restore his people from their lost and fallen state.
Wherefore,
he will proceed to do a marvelous work, and a wonder among the children
of
men. Wherefore, he shall bring forth
his words unto them, which words shall judge them at the last day; For
they
shall be given them for the purpose of convincing them of the
true Messiah,
who was rejected by them; And unto the convincing
of them that they need not look forward anymore for a
Messiah
to come, For
there
should not any come, save it should be a false Messiah, which should
deceive
the people” (2 Ne
11:28-33).
I
pray that my words will not be taken offensively by the
elders of the church, for I know that there are many wonderful elders
who are
more obedient servants than I, who work tirelessly for
Before
I get started, I should warn that this paper is full
of quotes from the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C), so for all of
those who
have discarded that book, it might be wise to save yourself time and
discard
this paper also. It is an irony, in my
opinion,
that our church has begun to discredit many parts of the D&C right
at the
very time when the D&C cries loudest from the dust, and could
answer many
of our questions. I am not ignorant
to
the fact that changes were made to the D&C, and for those who may
wonder
about my knowledge, I am also very familiar with David Whitmer’s,
“Address To
All Believers,” and also the good works of brother Jack Raveill. I have studied those changes made in the
D&C at quite some length, as we all should do.
There was a time when I also put the D&C aside, as many in
the Restoration have done. Thank the
Lord I was given the inspiration to pick it back up.
I’m thankful that such a nudging was given after I
had had plenty
of time to study both the Bible and Book of Mormon.
Having filled my mind with the words of the holy prophets, it
then became easier to discern the difference between true and false
prophets of
the latter days. If a piece of
scripture does not make sense, we tend to want to discard it as
unscriptural
rather than make the assumption that it could just be our lack of
understanding
at the time we’re reading it. Perhaps
we should be less quick to toss the scripture, and quicker to toss what
we
think we already understand. There’s
certainly nothing wrong with having to admit that we are occasionally
wrong,
just like there is nothing wrong with eating a little crow every now
and
then…it’s humbling, and God loves the humble.
We all
long for
“Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and
her
converts with righteousness”
(Isa
1:27).
Here is a
small
foretaste of that coming redemption:
“…go ye
straightway unto the land of my vineyard, and redeem my vineyard, for
it is
mine, I have bought it with money. Therefore, get ye straightway unto
my land; break
down the walls of mine enemies, throw down their tower, and scatter
their watchmen; and inasmuch as they gather together against you, avenge
me of mine enemies; that by and by I may come with the residue of mine
house
and possess the land” (Sec
98:7).
Most of my
Restorationist friends have a vision of
As many of
the saints
have come to understand, there will be many parallels between the
ancient
Israelites and the coming process of redemption. We,
too, will be brought out of
“Wherefore
say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you
out from
under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their
bondage,
and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with
great
judgments; And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to
you a
God; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you
out from
under the burdens of the Egyptians” (Exo
6:6-7).
“Remember,
and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the
wilderness; from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of
Egypt, until
ye came unto this place ye have been rebellious against the Lord” (Deu
9:7).
Just think
of what God
actually accomplished with the ancient Israelites.
He took slaves who couldn’t think for themselves, and turned
them
into free men. This is a task he must
accomplish again, and mankind is likely to be just as resistant now as
he was
then. Justice and wrath will be
served. What has been before, will be
again, and there is nothing new under the sun, thus saith the
scriptures in
Ecclesiastes.
Of course,
scripture
also tells us that the righteous will be spared from the Lord’s wrath. Are we righteous? That
may be the million dollar question. If the
redemption of
“Therefore
the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in
all
streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they
shall
call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful of
lamentation to
wailing. And in all vineyards shall
be wailing; for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord. Woe unto you that desire the day of
the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is
darkness, and not light”
(Amos 5:16-18).
I wonder
who the Lord
was speaking to through his prophet Amos.
Who might desire the Day of the Lord?
I used to think I desired it – that I was ready for the dominos
to fall;
that I was ready to see that prophet, and that I was ready for the Lord
to
start his marvelous work. Now while I,
too, mourn for all the evil in the world, have fewer friends and feel
more
peculiar by the day, I also realize how very blessed I am in my current
circumstances. Having learned more
about the Lord through the years, I now contemplate more seriously what
it is I
desire. I do pray “thy Kingdom come,”
and I do desire that Kingdom. However,
while the Lord still has his arm stretched out for me, I am grateful
for
whatever time I have left to repent and try to become perfected. We are certainly in bondage, but I fear it
does not yet compare to the bondage we have yet to face.
This is one of those “oppositions.” I
do, but I don’t, desire the Day of the
Lord.
"And
it shall come to pass that except this people repent, and turn unto the
Lord their
God, they shall be brought into bondage; and none shall deliver them,
except it
be the Lord, the Almighty God. Yea, and it shall come to pass that when
they
shall cry unto me, I will be slow to hear their cries; yea, and I
will
suffer them that they be smitten by their enemies. And except they
repent in
sackcloth and ashes, and cry mightily to the Lord their God, I will not
hear
their prayers, neither will I deliver them out of their afflictions" (Mos 7:35-37).
The day is coming when there will be only two churches. Nephi explained how the great and abominable church will war against the small church of the Lamb. In his vision, the church of the Lamb was scattered upon all the face of the earth at the time of this war.
“And it came to pass that I beheld that the great mother of abominations did gather together in multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; And they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory” (1 Ne 3:229-231).
From what I can tell, this sword of justice is going to come swiftly, and suddenly. The prophets spoke at length about this coming war; for example, in chapter 47, Isaiah said:
“For
thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast
said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted
thee; and
thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else besides me.
Therefore shall
evil come upon thee; thou shalt now know from whence it riseth; and
mischief
shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off; and desolation
shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.”
John
echoed Isaiah’s words in Revelation 18:
“How much she hath
glorified herself, and lived deliciously,
so much torment and sorrow give her; for she saith in her heart, I sit
a queen,
and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her
plagues come
in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be
utterly
burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.”
Jeremiah
wrote:
“O daughter of my people,
gird thee with sackcloth, and
wallow thyself in ashes; make thee mourning, as for an only son; most
bitter
lamentations, for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us” (Jer 6:26).
Habakuk
wrote:
“Shall not all these take
up a parable against him, and a
taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that
which is
not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay! Shall
they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that
shall vex
thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?” (Hab 2)
Paul
wrote:
“For when they shall say,
Peace and safety; then sudden
destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child;
and they
shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day
should
overtake you as a thief” (1 Th 5).
Interestingly
enough, Satan just so happens to be making
plans for a “sudden” establishment of his kingdom.
“When we at last
definitely come into our kingdom by the aid
of coups de’tat prepared everywhere for one and the same day,
after the
worthlessness of all existing forms of government has been definitely
acknowledged…” (Protocol # 15)
“They have overthrown all forms of social
order to
erect on the ruins the throne of the King of the Jews; but their part
will be
played out the moment he enters into his kingdom.” (Protocol
#23)
There is much to
be learned in scripture concerning the “nakedness” of the Whore. For example, John the Revelator said
that
the Beast would hate the Whore, make her naked, and burn her with fire. Isaiah also had much to say concerning this
nakedness:
“Moreover the Lord saith,
Because the daughters of Zion are
haughty, and walk with stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes, walking
and
mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet; Therefore
the Lord
will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion,
and the
Lord will discover their secret parts” (Isa 3).
“Making
the Whore naked” means to expose Gentile
Christianity for what she has become in these latter days.
Even if every church understood this
prophecy, they would most likely believe themselves to be exempt from
it. However, as I understand it, no church
will
be exempt in that day. There will be
two churches only, and the church of the Lamb will be but a remnant.
Not
surprisingly, Satan has already worked out the details
of this “two church” scenario among his higher initiates:
“When the time comes
finally to destroy the papal court, the
finger of an invisible hand will point the nations towards this court. When, however, the nations fling themselves
upon it, we shall come forward in the guise of its defenders as if to
save
excessive bloodshed. By this diversion,
we shall penetrate to its very bowels and be sure we shall never
come out
again until we have gnawed through the entire strength of this place. The King of the Jews will be the real Pope
of the Universe, the patriarch of an international Church.” (Protocol
#17)
I believe that the nations will begin “flinging
themselves
upon the papal court” some time soon after The Da Vinci Code
makes its
grand appearance in
Is the sword of justice inevitable?
What could we possibly do now to help
ourselves? In the days of
Judgment
I’m not sure why, but I used to picture judgment day as something that was “not very pleasant,” yet not too terrifically horrible either. Although I’ve never quite had the Protestant mindset, I did figure that I would ultimately end up in paradise or some kind of place called hell. Restorationists have D&C 76, so we have a somewhat broader perspective of heaven and hell. We know there are different “glories,” and naturally, we all want celestial. Yet in spite of these three glories, the Lord also spoke often about just two possible scenarios…those who will gather on his right hand, and those who will gather on his left…those who enter into his rest and those who must be cast into the fire.
“If they be good, to the resurrection of everlasting life; and if they be evil, to the resurrection of damnation, being on a parallel, the one on the one hand, and the other on the other hand, according to the mercy, and the justice, and the holiness which is in Christ, who was before the world began” (3 Ne 11:33).
Perhaps we are not meant to fully comprehend these things in our mortal state; nevertheless, the prophets sure did seem to understand what the Lord meant when he said “judgment.” If they could understand it, why can’t we? Let’s consider what we know so far.
The Lord will judge the inhabitants of the earth:
“Therefore, thus saith the Lord, I will arise in that day, I will stand upon the earth, and I will judge the earth for the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy; and their cry hath entered into mine ear” (Psa 12:5).
The Lord will judge his people:
“For the Lord will judge his people, and he will not repent himself concerning his servants” (Psa 135:14).
The Lord will judge us, and save us:
“For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King; he will save us” (Isa 33:22).
When the Lord judges, people are recompensed for their abominations. In the Hebrew, recompense means “reward” and “avenge” so for various wrongdoings, people will be rewarded and avenged accordingly. By being judged, people will come to know the Lord.
“Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations. And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity; but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord” (Ezek 7:3-4).
Pharaoh was a type for this kind of judgment. He didn’t know the Lord.
“And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I
should obey
his voice to let
Judgments were performed so that Pharaoh and all
of
“But Pharaoh will not hearken unto you,
therefore I
will lay my hand upon
When the Lord spoke of judgment or great judgment, he was apparently talking about much more than just making us realize our own guilt (although guilt recognition is part of it – see 2 Nephi 6:34). He judges us because he wants us to know him. Apparently, the Lord loves us so much that he will do whatever it takes to get our attention, and to cause us to want to be his bride.
“And I will bring you out of the midst
thereof, and
deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments
among you.
Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of
At least one
prophet asked to be quickened according to the Lord’s judgments.
“Great are thy tender mercies,
O Lord; quicken me
according to thy judgments” (Psa 119:156).
Quickened means
translated into an “unnatural” (immortal) state. Notice
that he mentioned “mercies” and “judgments” in the same
sentence. That’s because the merciful
God who died for us is the same God who is the almighty judge of us. Mercy did not replace justice. The atonement did not nullify the “just”
side of God, rather, it made for a perfect God who is both just
and
merciful (see
“And now the plan of
mercy could not be brought about,
except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for
the sins
of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands
of
justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also” (Alma
19:97).
If
anyone watched the movie, Gods and Generals (one
of my favorites), they might recall General Stonewall Jackson having a
little
conversation with his wife one night.
Thomas Jackson said, “I fear the Lord’s judgments,” to which his
wife
replied, “It is a loving God we serve, Thomas.” Which
of the two was more correct? As I
understand it, they were both right. The
God we serve is both merciful and
just. After all, it was the same God in
the Old Testament as it was in the New.
The law of the Old Testament was given by the same lawgiver –
Jesus
Christ.
The
Protestant theology of “no more judgment” has been one
of the all-time greatest hindrances to knowing the Lord.
This is a very hard saying, but the Gentiles
who deny his justice are not much different than the Jews who deny his
mercy. What do we suppose the Lord
meant in Section 76:6f when he said, “these are they who receive of
the
presence of the Son, but not of the fullness of the Father.” Restorationists have traditionally
interpreted 76:6f to describe a coming eternal reward; however, it
could
instead be describing a people who lack understanding concerning God’s
fullness. Numerous Christians would
seem to fit this category.
Christ
is judge, and one day he will judge
“Standing afar off for
the fear of her torment, saying,
Alas, alas, that great city
Perhaps one of the
most revealing, and frightening, passages concerning judgment comes
from the
D&C:
“Ye call upon my name for
revelations, and I give them unto
you; and inasmuch as ye keep not my sayings which I give unto you, ye
become
transgressors, and justice and judgment is the penalty which is
affixed unto
my law: therefore, what I say unto one I say unto all, Watch, for
the
adversary spreadeth his dominions and darkness reigneth; and the anger
of God
kindleth against the inhabitants of the earth; and none doeth good, for
all
have gone out of the way” (Sec 81:1).
Scarier
still, it is said that we are ignorant of the term
“judgment.”
“Great men are not always
wise; neither do the aged
understand judgment” (Job 32:9).
The
Lord has always yearned for his people to know him.
Paul preached of knowing Christ.
“That I may know him,
and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made
conformable unto
his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the
just”
(Phil
3:10-11).
“That the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of
him; The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye
may know what
is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance
in the saints” (Eph 1:17-18).
Why did the Lord
bring the ancient Israelites out of the
“And I will take you to
me for a people, and I will be to
you a God; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God,
which
bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” (Exo
6:7).
Why did God
establish holidays, like the Feast of Tabernacles?
“Ye shall dwell in booths
seven days; all that are
Israelites born shall dwell in booths; That your generations may know
that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I
brought them
out of the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God” (Lev
23:42-43).
Why
is the Lord going to perform a Greater Exodus in the
time to come?
“Therefore say unto the
house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord
God; I do not this for your sakes, O
house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned
among
the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which
was
profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of
them; and the
heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when
I shall
be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will take you from
among the
heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into
your own
land”
(Ezek 36:22-24).
There
will be a Greater Exodus. I recently heard
a Messianic Jew compare the former exodus to the
coming one. He said that instead of
three sets of three judgments (with a final one), there will be seven
sets of
three judgments (with a final one). In
other words, if we thought that
“Therefore, behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that they
shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of
Israel out
of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which
led the
seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all
countries
whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land” (Jer
23:7-8).
In
the following verse, we can clearly see that “knowing the
Lord” and being “judged” are related:
“Ye shall fall
by the sword; I will judge you in the border of
We have heard it
said that all knees will bow before the Lord.
That means that in time, we will all know him.
“Wherefore, he will
manifest himself unto them in power and
great glory, unto the destruction of their enemies, when that day
cometh when
they shall believe in him; And none will he destroy that believe in
him. And
they that believe not in him, shall be destroyed, both by fire, and by
tempest,
and by earthquakes, and by bloodsheds, and by pestilence, and by
famine. And they
shall know that the Lord is God, the Holy One of
The following scripture speaks of a people (Jews/Israel) who would be scattered, becoming a hiss and a byword among nations, yet because of the Lord’s tender mercies, he promised he would one day gather them. Look at the order of events of that gathering in the following verses:
“And
because they turn their hearts aside (Jews/Israel), saith the prophet,
and have
despised the Holy One of Israel, they shall wander in the flesh, and
perish,
and become a hiss and a byword, and be hated among all nations;
Nevertheless, when
that day cometh, saith the prophet, that they no more turn
aside
their hearts against the Holy One of Israel, then will he remember
the
covenants which he made to their fathers; Yea, then
will he
remember the isles of the sea;
Yea, and all the people who are of the house of Israel, will I
gather
in, saith the Lord, according to the words of the prophet
Zenos, from
the four quarters of the earth” (1 Ne 5:252).
The verses above explain that the gathering will
come after
“Nevertheless,
the Lord will be merciful unto them, that when they
shall come
to the knowledge of their Redeemer, they shall be gathered
together
again to the lands of their inheritance” (2 Ne 5:29).
Yet
in the scripture below, knowledge comes after a
gathering.
“O house of Israel, and
then shall the remnants which shall
be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, be gathered in from the
east,
and from the west, and from the south, and from the north; and they
shall be
brought to the knowledge of the Lord their God, who hath redeemed
them” (3
Ne
9:49).
So
knowledge comes before the gathering and after the
gathering. What does that mean?
Like
early
A
time is coming when the whole earth will be full of the
knowledge of the Lord.
“The
wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down
with the
kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a
little
child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young
ones
shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned
child
shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor
destroy in
all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge
of the
Lord, as the waters cover the sea.... And in that day there shall
be a root
of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people: to it shall
the
Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious” (2 Ne 9:121-125).
Will we “get knowledge” in our immortal bodies?
“O how
great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God
must
deliver up the spirits of the righteous, and the grave deliver up the
bodies of
the righteous; And the spirit and the body is restored to itself again,
and all
men become incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls,
having a
perfect knowledge like unto us, in the flesh; Save it be that our
knowledge
shall be perfect”
(2 Ne 6:31-33).
Ezekiel
wrote:
“And ye
shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your
graves, O my people,
and brought you up out of your graves.
And shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall
place you
in your own land; then shall ye know that I the Lord have
spoken it, and
performed it, saith the Lord” (Ezek 37:13-14).
Carefully
compare
the words of Malachi, Isaiah, and Joseph Smith, Jr. below.
Malachi
wrote:
“Then
shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked,
between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” (Mal 3:18).
Joseph Smith also spoke of that discernment, and described it as the Lord’s “strange work” and “strange act:”
“…that I may proceed to bring to pass my act, my strange act, and perform my work, my strange work. That men may discern between the righteous and the wicked, saith your God” (Sec 98:12e).
Now
compare
Isaiah’s words:
“For the
Lord shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the
valley of
Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to
pass his
act, his strange act” (Isa 28:21).
It
takes
all three prophecies to connect these dots.
God will perform a “strange work” so that man can discern
between
righteousness and wickedness. But
first, he will have to fight some battles, which are compared to
battles fought
at
Question:
Will this strange work and strange act of discerning
righteousness from
wickedness happen after a resurrection?
Take a look at
“Therefore
we are thus highly favored, for we have these glad tidings declared
unto us in
all parts of our vineyard. For behold, angels are declaring it unto
many at
this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the
hearts of
the children of men to receive his word,
at
the time of his coming in his glory” (Alma 10:22-23).
“And
there was no inequality among them, for the Lord did pour out his
Spirit on all
the face of the land, to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to
receive the
word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming,
That they might not be hardened against the word, that they might not
be
unbelieving, and go on to destruction, But that they might receive the
word
with joy, and as a branch be grafted into the true vine, that they
might enter
into the rest of the Lord their God” (Alma 11:26-28).
Did
we catch that?
In our mortal bodies, we (not only
The D&C also speaks of being taught on the Day of the Lord:
“Again I
say, hearken ye elders of my church whom I have appointed: ye are not
sent forth
to be taught, but to teach the children of men the things which I have
put into
your hands by the power of my Spirit; and ye are to be taught from on high.
Sanctify
yourselves and ye shall be endowed with power, that ye may give
even as
I have spoken. Hearken ye, for, behold, the great day of the Lord
is nigh at
hand.”
(Sec
43:4).
Might all this “being taught from on high” have anything to do with Isaiah’s words?
“Whom
shall he
teach knowledge? and whom shall he make
to understand doctrine? them that
are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must
be upon
precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a
little,
and there a little; For with stammering lips and another tongue will he
speak
to this people” (Isa
28:9-11).
In
Alma chapter 11, we learn that when this teaching or
instruction comes, we will either receive it or reject it, and the
consequences
of each decision are interesting to say the least – we will either “go
on to
destruction” (if we reject it) or we will “enter into the Lord’s rest”
(if we
receive it). What exactly is the Lord’s
rest?
“And in
that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an
ensign of the
people: to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be
glorious” (2
Ne 9:125).
The
Sabbath Day is a
day of rest. Remember that Jesus is
called Lord of the Sabbath. Is
this yet another reference to THAT DAY or THE LORD’S DAY or the DAY OF
THE
LORD? It certainly would seem so.
“Wherefore,
we labored diligently among our people, that we might persuade them to
come
unto Christ, and partake of the goodness of God, that they might enter
into his
rest, lest by any means he should swear in his wrath they should
not enter
in, as in the provocation in the days of temptation, while the
children
of Israel were in the wilderness” (Jac
1:7).
Now we
learn something
even more interesting. The ancient
Israelites (in the wilderness) provoked the Lord and were not allowed
to enter
into his “rest.” Keep reading:
“Therefore,
whosoever repenteth, and hardeneth not his heart, he shall have claim
on mercy
through mine only begotten Son, unto a remission of his sins; and these
shall
enter into my rest.
And
whosoever will harden his heart and will do iniquity, behold, I swear
in my
wrath that he shall not enter into my rest. And now my
brethren, behold
I say unto you, that if ye will harden your hearts, ye shall not enter
into the
rest of the Lord; Therefore your iniquity provoketh him, that he
sendeth
down his wrath upon you as in the first provocation, Yea,
according to
his word in the last provocation, as well as the first, to the
everlasting
destruction of your souls; therefore, according to his word, unto the
last
death, as well as the first”
(Alma 9:55-59).
While
some of the above may be a bit confusing, one thing is
perfectly clear. The wrath that the
ancient Israelites endured could be the same kind of wrath the future
Israelites will have to endure, if they provoke the Lord as the
ancients
provoked him. This is good news and bad
news. The good news is that not all of
the ancient Israelites provoked the Lord.
The bad news is that the majority of them did provoke him.L
Can
we begin to see why it is so important that we
sufficiently prepare our hearts and minds right now, while still in our
mortal
bodies? Apparently, this time of
preparation that we have in our flesh will largely determine the
choices we
make at the Lord’s coming, which will then determine whether we enter
into his
“rest” or “go on to destruction.” The
Psalms writer, among others, spoke of these events.
“Harden
not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation
in the
wilderness;
When
your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long
was I
grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in
their
heart, and they have not known my ways;
Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my
rest” (Psa
95:8-11).
We
should not assume that the Lord always temporally
(physically) spares the righteous.
Bible history reveals quite a different story, in fact. Almost all of the holy prophets were slain
for their testimony. The Lord’s mission
is to save mankind from spiritual destruction, not physical
destruction. Our
hope should be in the heavenly
“Do ye
suppose that, because so many of your brethren have been killed because
of
their wickedness? I say unto you, If ye have supposed this, ye have
supposed in
vain; for I say unto you, There are many who have fallen by the sword;
And
behold, it is to your condemnation; for the Lord suffereth the
righteous to be
slain, that his justice and judgment may come upon the wicked;
therefore ye
need not suppose that the righteous are lost because they are slain;
but
behold, they do enter into the rest of the Lord their God”
(Alma 27:28-29).
Here are
the
requirements for entering into the Lord’s rest:
“But that
ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name,
and
watch and pray continually that ye may not be tempted above that which
ye can
bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek,
submissive,
patient, full of love and all long suffering; having faith on the Lord;
Having
a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God
always in
your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day, and enter
into his
rest; And may the Lord grant unto you repentance, that ye may not
bring
down his wrath upon you, that ye may not be bound down by the chains of
hell,
that ye may not suffer the second death”
(Alma 10:28-30).
“Therefore
nothing entereth into his rest, save it be those who have
washed their
garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all
their
sins, and their faithfulness unto the end” (3
Ne 12:32).
Consider
what was said
about Ammon’s accomplishment, after he had converted many hearts to the
Lord:
“…
behold the number of your sheaves (Ammon’s converts to the
Lord), and they
shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted; yea, they
shall not be beaten down by the storm, at the last day; Yea,
neither
shall they be harrowed up by the whirlwinds; but when the storm cometh,
they
shall be gathered together in their place, that the storm can not
penetrate to
them; yea, neither shall they be driven with fierce winds,
whithersoever the
enemy listeth to carry them. But behold, they are in the hands of the
Lord of
the harvest, and they are his; and he will raise them up at the
last day” (
Was Jesus
saying that
there would be a storm on the DAY OF THE LORD?
Why not? Remember, scriptures
are repetitive. History repeats itself. Everything that happens in this world will
take on greater significance in the world to come.
“Behold, this is according to the law and
the
prophets: wherefore trouble me no more concerning this matter, but
learn that
he who doeth the works of righteousness, shall receive his reward, even
peace in
this world, and eternal life in the world to come” (Sec 59:5).
“The
eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is
the hope
of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in
the
saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who
believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought
in
Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right
hand in
the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might,
and
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but
also in
that which is to come” (Eph
1:18-21).
It
would certainly seem that some
extraordinary things are going to happen in the Day of the Lord. We will be taught from on high.
We will either accept or reject that
teaching, based upon our actions in this mortal life.
Some will enter into the Lord’s “rest,” and others will go on to
“destruction.” How well we have
prepared ourselves in this life will apparently determine how well we
weather
the storm in THAT DAY. Pretty
mind
boggling, isn’t it? Pretty different
than the sermons the Christian world has become accustomed to hearing
week
after week.
The
following speaks of a time when a “veil” will be removed
from the eyes of the Jews or House of Israel.
“Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech; And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished; But their minds were blinded; for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when their heart shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away” (2 Cor 3:12-16).
D&C
sections 36 and 63 explain something new about this
veil.
“…and
the day shall come that the earth shall rest, but before that day,
shall the
heavens be darkened, and a veil of darkness shall cover the
earth;
and the heavens shall shake, and also the earth; and great tribulations
shall
be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve; and
righteousness
will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the
earth,
to bear testimony of my Only Begotten” (Sec 36:12).
Not
only
the Jews, but the whole earth would be darkened by a veil.
“I, the
Lord, am angry with the wicked; I am holding my Spirit from the
inhabitants
of the earth”
(Sec 63:9).
This
veil
of darkness has apparently been around for quite awhile.
The Lord told the early saints of the
Restoration that this veil of darkness was over even their eyes!
“I
am in your midst and ye can not see me, 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:
wherefore,
gird up your loins and be prepared” (Sec 38:2).
In
Section 67, the Lord became even more specific concerning
this veil of darkness that prevails over the whole earth:
“And again, verily I say unto you, that it is your privilege, and a promise I give unto you that have been ordained unto this ministry, that inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent, and you shall see me and know that I am; not with the carnal, neither natural mind, but with the spiritual; for no man has seen God at any time in the flesh, except quickened (made alive; restored; unnatural state) by the Spirit of God; neither can any natural man abide the presence of God; neither after the carnal mind; ye are not able to abide the presence of God now, neither the ministering of angels; wherefore continue in patience until ye are perfected. Let not your minds turn back, and when ye are worthy, in mine own due time, ye shall see and know that which was conferred upon you by the hands of my servant Joseph Smith, Jr. Amen” (Sec 67:3-4).
There
is a temporal and a spiritual veil. The
spiritual veil is described in the above
verses. Those ministers of the early
restoration were told that if they would become sufficiently humble,
they could
see God in a “quickened” state.
However, notice that the verses went on to say that they were
not
sufficiently humble. They were not able
to abide God’s presence. If they
were not able to abide it, do we think we are able to abide it? Now it gets even more interesting. Notice that the veil of darkness will not be
rent (removed) until the “revelation to come” which I will soon show is
John’s
Revelation:
“Behold, it is my will, that all they who call on my name, and worship me according to mine everlasting gospel, should gather together and stand in holy places, and prepare for the revelation which is to come when the veil of the covering of my temple, in my tabernacle, which hideth the earth, shall be taken off, and all flesh shall see me together” (Sec 98:5a).
Isaiah
spoke of that day:
“And the glory of the
Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh
shall see it together” (Isa 40:5).
It turns out that this temporal veil of darkness is a covering for the glory of the Lord. It is this veil that keeps us from seeing him right now! God is literally going to open the heavens like a scroll when it has been rolled together (see Revelation 6:14) and we will all see the Lord’s face at the same time.
The following tells us specifically that the “revelation” reference in Section 98 is specifically referring to John’s revelations. In other words, when this veil is removed, John’s revelations will be unfolded before our eyes:
“Behold, when ye shall rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, then shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world from you; Yea, when ye shall call upon the Father in my name, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, then shall ye know that the Father hath remembered the covenant which he made unto your fathers, O house of Israel; And then shall my revelations which I have caused to be written by my servant John, be unfolded in the eyes of all the people” (Eth 1:111-113).
It would seem,
then, that the book of Revelation is mostly a book about the
resurrection and
thereafter. Who would have guessed that
one?
What about the sealed
portion (book of Ether) that we’re all looking forward to? Might there be any clues as to when it will
come forth?
“And he
commanded me that I should seal them up; and he also hath commanded
that I should
seal up the interpretation thereof; wherefore I have sealed up the
interpreters, according to the commandment of the Lord. For the Lord
said unto
me, They shall not go forth unto the Gentiles until the day that
they shall
repent of their iniquity, and become clean
before the
Lord; And in that day that they shall exercise faith in
me, saith
the Lord, even as the Brother of Jared did, that they may
become
sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them
the things
which the Brother of Jared saw, even to the
unfolding unto
them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the
Son of God,
the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them
are” (Eth
1:99).
The sealed portion will not come forth until:
1)
The
Gentiles repent and become clean before the Lord.
2)
The
Gentiles exercise the same kind of faith as the brother of Jared
(remember that
the brother of Jared saw the Lord).
3)
The
Gentiles are sanctified in Christ (see Ezekiel 38 for that time frame).
4)
All
the Lord’s revelations are revealed (see above discussion of John’s
revelations).
Need
we
even bother to debate anyone who claims to have the sealed portion
today?
Isaiah
also
spoke about this veil of darkness:
“And he
will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast
over all
people, and
the veil
that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in
victory;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the
rebuke of his
people shall he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath
spoken it”
(Isa 25:7).
We have all heard about fire and brimstone. I have heard “fire” discussed in the context of literally burning up the earth, which makes sense, as we know that the earth is yet to undergo a baptism by fire.
I have also heard “fire” discussed in the context of hell, where evil people will roast like steak on a grill – when they’re browned on one side, they’ll be flipped over to be roasted on the other side – eternally and forever burning with unquenchable heat. This description of “hell” and being eternally roasted sounds more like something from man’s dull imagination. What did the Lord say?
“And his
people wrought righteousness, and obtained heaven, and sought for the
city of
Enoch which God had before taken, separating it from the earth, having
reserved
it unto the latter days, or the end of the world; And hath said, and
sworn with
an oath, that the heavens and the earth should come together; and the
sons
of God should be tried so as by fire” (Gen 14:34-35).
In this context, the Lord tries his people (note: the sons of God) as by fire. Fire hurts. Fire also purifies. Zechariah spoke of how a third part of a people will go “through the fire” and be refined like silver is refined; trying them as gold is tried. In the end, those third will say “The Lord is my God.” Sounds like they will get some knowledge when they go through that fire.
“And I
will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as
silver is refined,
and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on my name, and I
will hear
them; I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my
God” (Zec
13:9).
The
prophets often spoke of “fire” and “judgment” in the same context. Matthew wrote:
“But I
say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in
danger
of his judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, or
Rabcha,
shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say to his
brother, Thou
fool, shall be in danger of hell fire” (Mat 5:24).
Peter wrote:
“But the
heavens, and the earth which are now, are kept in store by the same
word,
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of
ungodly men” (2 Pet
3:7).
Zephaniah spoke of the fire of the Lord’s jealousy:
“Therefore wait ye upon
me, saith the Lord, until the day
that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the
nations, that
I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even
all my
fierce anger; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire
of my
jealousy. For then
will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon
the name
of the Lord, to serve him with one consent” (Zep 3:8-9).
Before the return of
Let’s explore other scripture concerning fire, beginning with the Old Testament:
“And
Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle,
This is
the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses; Only the
gold, and
the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, Every thing that
may abide the
fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be
clean; nevertheless it shall
be purified
with the water of separation; and all that abideth not the fire ye
shall make
go through the water. And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh
day, and ye
shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp” (Num 31:21-24).
Eleazar was speaking of actual gold, silver, and precious temporal or physical things. In spiritual terms, we are the Lord’s gold and silver and precious things.
“For
thou, O God, hast proved us; thou hast tried us, as silver is
tried. Thou
broughtest us into the net; thou laidest affliction upon our loins.
Thou
hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and
through water;
but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place” (Psa 66:10-12).
Isaiah
wrote of the Lord’s people having to pass through fire:
“But now
thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed
thee, O
Israel, Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy
name;
thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with
thee; and
through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest
through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon
thee.
For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of
We will all go through some kind of fire, but some will not be touched by the flames, where others will be in great torment with the flames. I get a little nervous about this whole judgment thing because there is much talk of being judged as we have judged others. In other words, if we are hypocrites in any way, we will not escape God’s judgment. Can any one of us say in all honesty that we are “not guilty” of hypocricy from time to time? What about our despising having to suffer, whether physically or emotionally? Are we ever envious of those who seem to drift through this life so effortlessly? Many times I have heard Christians wonder why the Lord allows some to suffer as they do. We should look very carefully at what the Lord has to say about these things:
“And
thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and
doest
the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and
long suffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to
repentance? but, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest
up unto
thyself wrath against the
day of wrath
and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to
every man
according to his deeds” (Rom 2:3).
Some
might
try to argue that this judgment, or passing through fire, happens to
the Lord’s
people only in this mortal life.
Let’s hope so. I’ll offer my
opinion
to this question in just a minute. For
now, let me just remind us that there is a coming “judgment
day” and
there is no mistaking that the prophets foretold it.
“To
administer justice unto all; to come down in judgment upon all,
and to convince all the ungodly of their ungodly deeds, which they have
committed; and all this in the day that he shall come;
For it
is a day of power; yea, every valley shall be filled, and every
mountain and
hill shall be brought low; the crooked shall be made straight, and the
rough
ways made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:9-11).
Should we tremble? I know I tremble when I think about it. If I considered myself to be an obedient child of the Lord, I wouldn’t tremble. But I recognize my inadequacies and lack of perfection. Do I repent enough? Repentance requires confession, reconciliation, and change, and none of these things come easily. We are living in times of great prosperity, and it is very easy to be disobedient when there are no immediate consequences. Yes, I fear the Lord. He did not send his prophets to cry repentance only to the Jews. Our own books cry repentance from the dust and I suspect we are just about ripe for some new prophets who will be crying it again. Let’s hope we don’t stone them like our ancestors stoned their prophets (scriptures suggest that we will try).
“For the
day soon cometh, that men
shall come
before me to judgment, to be judged according to their works.
And many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in
thy name; and in thy name cast out devils; and in thy name done many
wonderful
works? And then will I say, Ye never knew me; depart from me ye
that work
iniquity” (Mat 7:31-33).
Tremble, yes, but
I am also comforted by the experiences of men like Shadrach, Meschach,
and
Abed-nego who went into fire, yet were not burned by its flames (Dan
3:12). I am also particularly comforted
by the promise that as often as we repent, we are forgiven.
“Yea, and as
often as my people repent, will I forgive them their trespasses against
me.” (Mos 11:139).
I would ask, do we believe that God is unchanging; that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever? Is he a respecter of persons? We say that we believe Jesus is God, but Christians sometime fail to understand that God is also Jesus. The God who was feared in the Old Testament is the same God who is loved in the New. We are both the children of our “Father God,” and the friend and future bride of our “Husband God.” Though we look forward to our coming marriage with the Son, at no time were we advised that we are no longer the Father’s children.
The Godhead was the most confusing subject in the Old Testament, and it remains the most confusing in the New Testament. There is a plurality between Father and Son, yet they are One. One represents justice (Father) and the other mercy (Son). As children, we love our parents, however we also fear their punishments when we have been disobedient. In fact, it is our relationship with our parents that should help convince us that we can both love and fear at the same time. As children grow and mature, the fear they have for their parents tends to be overshadowed with respect and honor. See any parallels?
Like Stonewall Jackson’s wife, I love the Lord tremendously, but like Stonewall himself, I also fear him. Now granted, I can say with reasonable certainty that there are some people who have much more to fear than I do. I do not count myself among the following recipients of the Lord’s flames:
“Stand
now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries,
wherein
thou hast labored from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to
profit, if so
be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy
counsels. Let
now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand
up, and
save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they
shall be as
stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves
from
the power of the flame; there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor
fire to
sit before it” (Isa
47:12-14).
I
am not a
believer in astrology, and I’m not a client of fortune tellers. Knowing what I now know about astrology,
wizards, witches, and magic, I actually abhor all these things. Frankly, as a student with an elevated
understanding of secret combinations, there are some judgments by fire
that I
am actually looking forward to:
“Thine
hand shall find out all thine enemies; thy right hand shall find out
those that
hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of
thine
anger; the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire
shall
devour them. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and
their seed
from among the children of men. For they intended evil against thee;
they
imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.
Therefore
shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine
arrows
upon thy strings against the face of them” (Psa 21:8-12).
There are certain individuals who are hardened beyond redemption. I feel fairly certain that those reading this paper are not among them.
“And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues; and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and thy gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds” (Rev 16:8-11).
The Lord only wants his children to return to him – that’s what he wants. We can see in certain scripture that many of his children will be slow to return. They will blaspheme the Lord and refuse to repent, even in all their pain and anguish. This is precisely what happened to Pharaoh; his heart was hard. Yet in the end, even Pharaoh knew the Lord. He, too, will bow the knee.
The Lord’s judgments are requisite. We should have fewer reasons to fear the Lord as we mature and go on to perfection in our lives. Like children who mature and come to respect and even appreciate their parents’ discipline and chastisement, we should increasingly come to respect and appreciate it when the Lord disciplines and chastises us. If we cannot recognize this development in ourselves, then we need to pray for this discernment. It was this very subject that often caused the prophets to cry and mourn for their people.
If we are obedient children, we have little to fear. If we think we are perfectly obedient, maybe we need to spend more time in scriptures. By having a healthy fear (or respect) for the Lord, we should have less difficulty facing the flames when it comes time to face them, whether it be in this life or after this life -- realizing that whatever he puts us through is completely requisite.
The important thing is that now is the time for preparing our hearts and minds to face the Lord and his judgments. Now is the time to repent.
So what is my gut feeling about all this “fire”
stuff? I believe that “fire” comes to
all of God’s jewels, if not in our flesh and blood, then in our flesh
and
bones. Persecuted prophets, martyrs,
and all who have faced judgment in the wilderness (by whatever means)
have
surely experienced their fire while in their flesh and blood,
and will
be exempt from his wrath by fire in the world to come.
I do also believe that with the signs of
our times as they are, we (this generation) may soon get the chance to
go
through our share of fire while in our flesh and blood, whether
as
martyrs, or as being tried in the wilderness.
Remember that when the Lord returns, only a remnant will be
quickened,
and insight tells me that the same remnant (the eagles amid the
carcass) will
be exceedingly tried prior to that quickening.
Many of them will endure scourging from city to city and
synagogue to
synagogue trying to make it to the
“…fear shall come upon every man, and the Saints also shall hardly escape” (Sec 63:9b).
Remember that only a small remnant (after much tribulation) will be received into the cloud when the Lord returns. The rest of the world will remain to face a different kind of fire, apparently along with the resurrected “prisoners” which I will discuss more in a moment. We can assume, and hope, that we will be that righteous remnant; however, to qualify we best not have been deceived in the two-church prophecy Nephi spoke so much about. If we are on the wrong side at that time, we’ll not be received into the cloud. Remember that six very ugly sounding seals must be opened prior to the Lord’s return. I can only imagine what most Christians would think as they read these words. “I won’t be deceived! No not me!” I sure hope they’re right, however, the delusion Paul foretold is very strong.
“And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (2 Th 2:11).
Our Lord doesn’t want a temple made of tarnished gold and silver. He wants a sparkly and perfected temple. Are these sayings hard? Is it easier to believe that the Lord has forsaken justice for mercy?
“And it
came to pass that I said unto them, that I knew that I had spoken hard
things
against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I
justified,
and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore,
the
guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very
center.
And now, my brethren, if ye were righteous, and were willing to hearken
to the
truth, and give heed unto it, that ye might walk uprightly before God,
then ye
would not murmur because of the truth, and say, Thou speakest hard
things
against us”
(1 Ne
5:2-3).
There
was a
reason all the prophets wept sore for the people who wouldn’t hear them. They understood the word “fire.”
For
some time, I have been attempting to compile a drawing
or diagram of Revelation. My first
attempt was to match up all descriptions of the sun, moon, and stars
prophecy to see how other related prophecies would fall before and
after those
heavenly signs. The result of such a
feat was the lining up of the following events:
- 6th
seal of Revelation
- 4th
judgment trump of Revelation
- 4th
plague of Revelation
- 1st resurrection
trump of Section 85
In
other words, certain signs in the sun, moon, and stars
could be seen in virtually all of these prophecies.
While it made for an interesting picture of the future, it left
many more questions than it did answers.
For one thing, those heavenly signs were not exactly the same. In the 6th seal, for example, the
sun becomes black, the moon becomes as blood, and the stars fall from
the
sky. Yet in the 4th plague
of Revelation, the sun scorches men with fire and great heat (not
exactly the
same as the sun becoming black, and there is no mention of moon and
stars).
So I started over
(see diagram called “Judgment”). This
diagram was not an easy task, and remains a work in progress. Not being a graphics expert, trying to
drawing such events on a computer is almost impossible.
Drawing them by hand was hard enough. Plain
and precious parts were removed from
our bibles, and though there are many fill-in-the-blanks provided in
the Book
of Mormon and especially Doctrine and Covenants, there are still
questions. Yet having said that, I am
amazed at how many prophecies do line up and make quite a bit of sense.
In
Revelation chapter 6, there are seven seals. I have heard many interpretations of these
seals…everything from historical to futuristic. (I
believe they represent both, but it is the future
interpretation I am most concerned with):
The
first four seals represent horsemen. The first
is a person who gets a
crown and goes forth conquering. Many
people increasingly believe this to be the Lord (this is also the
Catholic
interpretation, by the way). I believe
this rider is a false messiah or counterfeit king.
The second represents war. The
guy with the crown will apparently have the power to get us
to take up our swords against our neighbors.
The third represents a change in law.
I’ve little doubt that this is the coming “Moral” or “Natural”
or
“Noahide” laws. The fourth
represents death and hell, which needs no explanation.
Finally, in the midst of the four horseman
there appears to occur a major economic crisis. The
fifth seal represents martyrs, and the sixth
seal represents everything from a great earthquake, to mountains being
removed
from their place, to a great hailstorm, to great fear among the people
for fear
of the Lord’s wrath soon to come. It is
this sixth seal that precedes the Lord revealing himself in the
clouds. It is this sixth seal
which has the signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And
then comes the seventh seal, in which there is silence
in heaven, and seven judgment trumpets prepare to sound.
Move
now to Section 85, where we are also given much
information concerning seven trumpets.
Section 85 gives the most complete picture of Revelation, though
still it is not a perfect picture. It
definitely allows us to connect dots and fill in blanks that otherwise
have
confused the eschatologists for centuries.
The first trumpet speaks of silence in heaven, and then
the
Lord’s face being revealed to the whole world.
Those still alive will be quickened at that time, and there will
be a
resurrection of the righteous (Celestial Glory, Sec 76).
Obviously, this first trumpet matches the
seventh seal of Revelation 6, so we can assume that all trumpets
following
thereafter are events that come after a resurrection. That, alone, provides us enormous advantage
for understanding the end-time scenario.
The second trumpet is the redemption (resurrection) of
those in
the prison house (Terrestrial Glory, Sec 76).
The third trumpet is the spirits of men who come forth
to be
judged and who are found under condemnation (Telestial Glory, Sec 76). They are not resurrected “in the flesh”
until the end of the thousandth year, yet notice that they are “coming
forth.” The fourth trumpet are
those souls
who are “filthy still” and scripture says that they must remain [I
assume
remain on the earth] until the very end.
The description of the “filthy still” can be found in places
like
Section 76:4 which speaks of the sons of perdition for whom there is no
forgiveness. The fifth trumpet
is the angel with the everlasting gospel who flies through the midst of
heaven. The sixth trumpet is the
angel who cries “
How
many of us Restorationists have realized that two of the
three “glories” are to be brought forth and cast into the fire on THAT
DAY?
Terrestrial:
“Behold, these are they
who died without law; and also they
who are the spirits of men kept in prison, whom the Son
visited, and
preached the gospel unto them, that they might be judged according to
men in
the flesh, who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but
afterwards
received it” (Sec 76:6c).
“And after this, another
angel shall sound, which is the second
trump; and then cometh the redemption of those who are Christ's at
his
coming; who have received their part in that prison which is
prepared
for them, that they might receive the gospel, and be judged according
to men in
the flesh”
(Sec 85:28a-b).
“And it shall come to
pass that when the second trump
shall sound, then shall they that never knew me come forth, and shall
stand
before me; And then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, that
I am
their Redeemer; but they would not be redeemed. And then will I confess
unto
them, that I never knew them; and they shall depart into
everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mos 11:133-135).
Telestial:
“these are they who
suffer the wrath of God on the earth;
these are they who suffer the vengeance of eternal fire” (Sec 76:7p-q).
Now
come the seven judgment trumpets of Revelation
chapters 8 and 9. These particular
trumpets represent that fire, or judgment.
Ezekiel 5 and Zechariah 13 speak of “third parts” which will
experience
much wrath. Notice in these judgment
trumps that there is a lot of discussion of “third parts.”
The first trump is hail, fire, and
blood, and a third of the trees and grass burns up.
The second trump is a great mountain burning (volcano?)
where a third of the sea becomes blood.
The third trump is a great star falling from heaven like
a lamp
(asteroid?) and a third of the waters are made bitter.
The fourth trump darkens a third of
the sun, moon, and stars. The fifth
trump opens the bottomless pit and allows demon-like locusts to
torment men
who will wish for death but not be able to die. The
sixth trump releases angels from the bottomless pit
who will be allowed to slay a third of men (this is the 200 million man
army)
for an hour, a day, a month, and a year.
Finally, the seventh trump sounds like the return of
Christ, who
comes down from heaven and sets his right foot on the sea and left foot
on the
earth. The book of Revelation says that
this is when the seven thunders prepare to sound their voices. These judgment trumps line up perfectly with
the seven resurrection trumpets of Section 85.
In other words, it would appear that at least the persons in
Terrestrial
and Telestial glories will be cast into this judgment fire along with
those who
are still alive upon the earth (which will be many).
There
are three angels in Revelation chapter 14, and their
trumpet warnings are laid out in a specific order.
The first is the one with the everlasting gospel.
The second cries that
The
two witnesses of Revelation 11 will seemingly make their
appearance after the sixth judgment trumpet of Revelation.
For a long time, I have suggested that the
Two Witnesses of Revelation chapter 11 will go head to head with the
Beast and
False Prophet of Revelation chapter 16.
According to the diagram, I was correct in that assessment,
except that
I never would have guessed that their scenario would come after the
resurrection! I had always assumed that
the mark of the beast, and all these scenarios of miracles and plagues
would
happen prior to a resurrection and prior to the Lord’s return in the
cloud. Finally, I now have something in
common with the pre-tribulation rapture believers!
The
final seven plagues cannot happen until
the mark of the beast is implemented, and therefore, will not occur
until
almost the very end of the judgment process.
We can know this because the first plague involves grievous
sores on
those who have taken the mark of the beast.
Another clue that the plagues come later on is because of John’s
description of them – he described them as the “last plagues” (Rev
15:1).
The
last seven plagues are as follows. The first
is sores on those who took
the mark. The second turns the
entire sea (not just a third) into blood.
The third turns all the rivers and fountains to blood. The fourth causes the sun to scorch
men with great heat. The fifth
is much like the plague of
Although
judgments and plagues appear to be instituted at
different times, they also appear to have some overlap (same goes for
the
resurrection trumps). The parallels
between all the seventh trumps are unmistakable – all are “final”
scenarios
where “it is finished.”
In
those final seven plagues, John interjected the words, “Behold,
I come as a thief” between the sixth and seventh plague. This also parallels the seven judgment
trumps where the mighty angel returns to put one foot on earth and the
other on
the sea. I have wondered if this will
mark the Lord’s third coming where he will be clothed with a
vesture
dipped in blood (see Revelation 19), having taken final vengeance on
the
world. Wow. There
are so many clues provided to us in scripture, and I have
read many books and many interpretations on these subjects. Not one comes close to the description I
have just outlined; but a good reason for that is because the world
does not have
Sections 76 and 85, and because we, ourselves, have either not
understood those
sections or we have entirely discarded them.
Incidentally, I have been studying the book of Revelation for a
number
of years. Only now have I felt
comfortable enough with my understanding and interpretation to write a
paper of
this magnitude. Who would know that it
would take that final piece – the D&C – to help all the rest of it
make any
sense.
This
diagram should give a whole new appreciation for the
words “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.”
This law of retribution is also consistent with the law of
Moses,
which explained that the “eye for an eye” statute did not apply to
“Behold, the day of the
Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath
and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the
sinners
thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations
thereof shall
not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and
the
moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world
for evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity; I will cause the arrogancy of the
proud to
cease, and will lay down the haughtiness of the terrible; I will make a
man
more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of
Ophir.
Therefore, I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of
her
place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce
anger” (2
Ne
10:9-13).
“For finding fault with
them, he saith, Behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of
Israel
and with the house of Judah; Not according to the covenant that I made
with
their fathers, in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out
of the
land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I
regarded them
not, saith the Lord. For this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
saith the
Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their
hearts; and I
will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people;
And they shall not teach every man his
neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all
shall know
me, from the least to the greatest. For
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their
iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb 8:8-12).
“And they shall be mine,
saith the Lord of hosts, in that
day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth
his own
son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the
righteous
and the wicked, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him
not” (3
Ne
11:20-21).
If God’s judgment
means putting all these people “through the fire” in order that they
might be
his people, then does God have a plan to save all of mankind? We are warned of false teachers who say that
God saves “all people” at the last day.
A good example of this teaching is found in
“And it
came to pass that in the first year of the reign of Alma in the
judgment seat,
there was a man brought before him to be judged; a man who was large,
and was
noted for his much strength; And he had gone about among the people,
preaching
to them that which he termed to be the word of God, bearing down
against the
church; Declaring unto the people that every priest and teacher ought
to become
popular; and they ought not to labor with their own hands, but that
they ought
to be supported by the people; And he also testified unto the
people that
all mankind should be saved at the last day, and that they need not
fear nor
tremble, but that they might lift up their heads and rejoice; For
the Lord
had created
all
men, and had also redeemed all men; and in the end, all men should have
eternal
life” (Alma 1:3-7).
Only a few days
ago, I stumbled onto a Christian website which basically promoted this
same
teaching; that God has redeemed all mankind, and that therefore, we all
have
nothing to fear. In fact, in one of
their writings, they said that we cannot love and fear God at the same
time,
and that he does not even want us to fear him.
These teachings are apparently nothing new, and they are also
just as
wrong as they ever were.
“Hear, O ye
heavens, and give ear, O earth, and rejoice ye inhabitants thereof, for
the
Lord is God, and beside him there is no Savior; great is his wisdom;
marvelous
are his ways; and the extent of his doings, none can find out; his
purposes
fail not, neither are there any who can stay his hand; from eternity to
eternity he is the same, and his years never fail. For thus saith the
Lord, I,
the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and
delight to
honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end” (Sec 76:1-2).
While there is
much scripture that speaks to the subject of who will be saved, the
most
revealing dialogue can be found in Section 76.
“Thus saith the Lord, concerning all those who know my power, and have been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves, through the power of the Devil, to be overcome, and to deny the truth, and defy my power; they are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say it had been better for them never to have been born; for they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the Devil and his angels, in eternity, concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come; having denied the Holy Spirit, after having received it, and having denied the only begotten Son of the Father; having crucified him unto themselves, and put him to an open shame: these are they who shall go away into the lake of fire and brimstone, with the Devil and his angels, and the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power; yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath; for all the rest shall be brought forth by the resurrection of the dead, through the triumph and the glory of the Lamb, who was slain, who was in the bosom of the Father before the worlds were made” (Sec 76:4).
Here is something
to chew on. Most people appreciate it
when parents chastise or discipline their children (if it is deserved)
because
such chastisement produces honorable future citizens.
Most people would also consider it a heinous crime if a neighbor
burned up (and destroyed) his children.
Yet many Christians preach that God is going to burn up
(destroy) most
of his children. What?
Do we think we are more compassionate than
God? Aren’t his ways higher than ours?
“For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts”
(Isa 55:9).
In conjunction
with
“And Enoch
also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold,
the Lord
cometh with ten thousand of his saints, To execute judgment upon
all, and
to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds
which
they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which
ungodly
sinners have spoken against him”
(Jude 14-15).
“And to you who
are troubled rest with us, when 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 Th 1:7-8).
I hope that what
I’ve written produces a greater appreciation for why the prophets cried
“repent” or “hell-fire.” Brethren, we
don’t want to experience the kind of hell-fire the Lord has described
in John’s
book of Revelation. Roasting “in hell”
like steak on a grill is such an incomprehensible description of hell
that most
people have not even concerned themselves with it.
Moreover, when Christian teachers make “being saved” so easy,
why
also should the world be concerned with any coming hell-fire? Yet we can be sure that the prophets
understood this hell-fire. They saw it. The Lord showed it to them so that they
would cry out all the more to repent. That
fire is described in great detail in John’s book, and our other books
explain
that many people will have to pass through it, and feel its flames. The Lord refines all of his people in
order that they might be fit for the kingdom, and fire is what it takes
to
refine us. We either take it in this
world, or we get it in the world to come.
If we think that getting it in the world to come will be easier,
we do
not understand the Lord.
Remember what
Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down
his
life for his friends” (John 15:13).
If they persecuted Jesus, they will persecute us.
The servant is no greater than the master,
and though we all have experienced varying degrees of persecution, most
of us
Americans really don’t know what true persecution is.
These are the sermons I wish we could hear from the pulpit. These are the words that will soon be
delivered in our ears one way or another – we would be wise to prepare
for
them.
One more thing I
want to mention, and I do so hesitatingly, even though it goes to the
heart of
this paper’s subject matter. The Lord
revealed something extraordinary in Section 18:
“ Wherefore, I command
you to repent, and keep the
commandments which you have received by the hand of my servant Joseph
Smith,
Jr., in my name; and it is by my almighty power that you have received
them;
therefore I command you to repent--repent, lest I smite you by the
rod of my
mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be
sore--how sore
you know not! how exquisite you know not! yea, how hard to bear you
know
not! “For, behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that
they might
not suffer, if they would repent; but if they would not repent,
they must
suffer even as I; which suffering caused myself, even God, the
greatest
of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to
suffer
both body and spirit, and would that I might not drink the bitter cup,
and
shrink; nevertheless, glory be to the Father, and I partook and
finished my
preparations unto the children of men; wherefore, I command you
again to
repent, lest I humble you by my almighty power, and that you confess
your sins,
lest you suffer these punishments
of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest,
yea, even in the least degree, you have tasted at the time I withdrew
my
Spirit. And I command you that you preach naught but repentance, and
show not
these things unto the world until it is wisdom in me; for they cannot
bear meat
now, but milk they must receive; wherefore, they must not know these
things,
lest they perish (Sec 18:2).
“They must not know these
things lest they perish?” Why
did the Lord say that? I suspect he said
it because of the
likelihood that people would misinterpret these passages, and bring
themselves
into destruction. I pray by writing
these things that I have not brought others to confusion.
I especially hope no one thinks that they
will have another chance to repent “after” this life, because that idea
might
go right to the heart of why the Lord said the world wasn’t ready to
receive
these things. If we are not well versed
in the Lord’s word, it would be easy to misinterpret these judgments. Brothers and sisters, we have got to
repent NOW with all our hearts in preparation for judgment day. If God gives us fire in this life, let us
try to rejoice in it as did the prophets before us, and endure it as
they did
with great patience. We do not
want to experience the kind of fire he will produce in THAT DAY.
Is
The
sons of Mosiah reminded me of our own early
restorationists who taught with power and authority, and suffered many
afflictions such as hunger, thirst, and fatigue (verses 1-20).
“Be patient in
afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but
endure them, for lo, I am with you, even unto the end of thy days” (Sec
23:4b).
Ammon,
the chief among them, brought to mind what I might
envision in a coming prophet(s). When
he said to the brethren, “Encircle the flocks round about, that
they flee
not; and I go and contend with these men which do scatter our flocks,”
it
reminded me of the parable of the redemption of
“But thus saith the Lord;
even the captives of the mighty
shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered;
for the
mighty God shall deliver his covenant people. For thus saith the Lord,
I will
contend with them that contend with thee, and I will save thy children” (Isa
49:25).
When
men lifted up their clubs to smite Ammon, he smote off
their arms with his sword. No one could
hurt Ammon, even though many tried.
Later, the servants of King Lamoni explained to the King that
Ammon
“could not be slain.” This reminded me
that many will also seek to destroy a coming seer, but that the Lord
will not
allow him to be destroyed.
“And thus prophesied
Joseph, saying: Behold, that seer will
the Lord bless; And they that seek to destroy him, shall be confounded:
For
this promise, of which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of thy
loins,
shall be fulfilled” (2 Ne 2:25-27).
King
Lamoni became greatly astonished at Ammon’s works, and
sent for him. When Ammon arrived to see
the king, King Lamoni was speechless for the space of an hour. When Ammon then perceived his thoughts and
questioned him further, the king still could not answer.
This reminded me of the coming prophecy that
“kings will shut their mouths.”
“As many were astonished
at thee; (his visage was so marred
more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men,) So shall he
sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for
that which
had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not
heard shall
they consider” (3 Ne 9:82-83).
Later,
King Lamoni was converted after having the plan of
redemption expounded to him. He was so
converted, in fact, that he fell to the earth as if he were dead, which
was a
type for our temporal death. Ammon
declared that the veil of unbelief had been cast away from the
king’s
mind (remember the discussion of the veil that will be removed at the
Lord’s
coming?). Ammon thereafter said to the
queen that her husband was not really dead, but that he was “sleeping
in God,”
and that he would rise again the next morning, which he did. This “rising up” would be a type for the
resurrection.
Beginning about
verse 178, it said that King Lamoni and his people became a righteous
people
and that a church was established among them, and that the Lord began
to pour
our his spirit upon them. This sounds
much like the prophecy given by Jesus for a future time.
“But if they will repent,
and hearken unto my words, and
harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them… And
then shall
the power of heaven come down among them” (3 Ne 10).
The
work of the Lord did commence among the Lamanites at
that time (verse 179). This is the same
kind of scenario Jesus foretold concerning a future time.
“Yea, the work shall
commence among all the dispersed of my
people, with the Father, to prepare the way whereby they may come unto
me, that
they may call on the Father in my name; Yea, and then shall the work
commence,
with the Father, among all nations, in preparing the way whereby his
people may
be gathered home to the land of their inheritance” (3 Ne
10:6-7).
One of the very
next events was Ammon’s brethren being delivered from a prison. King Lamoni’s father argued with his son
concerning their release, called them sons of a liar, and explained how
they
had robbed their fathers. There are
many types in these passages, but the primary type concerns the release
of the
brethren from the prison. It seems
clear that King Lamoni’s father was a type for God the Father who will
say “Will
a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me.”
King Lamoni acted in the capacity of our heavenly mediator,
Jesus
Christ, and the prisoners were indeed released. Those
who were released from prison were naked, and their skins
were worn because of being bound with strong cords.
They had suffered much affliction. Consider
the following scripture in lieu of these observations.
- “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have
robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and
offerings”
(Mal 3:8
and 3 Ne 11:11).
- “And after this, another angel shall sound,
which is the second trump; and then cometh the redemption of those who
are
Christ's at his coming; who have received their part in that prison
which
is prepared for them, that they might receive the gospel, and be judged
according to men in the flesh” (Section 83:28).
- “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he
that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and
they see
his shame”
(Rev 16:15).
- “O that ye would awake; awake from a deep
sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains
by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of
men,
that they are carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery
and wo”
(2 Ne
1:27).
-
“Now this is the
state of the souls of the wicked; yea, in darkness, and a state of
awful,
fearful, looking for, of the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon
them;
thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise,
until the
time of their resurrection” (Alma 19:47).
There are other
types and shadows in this chapter, as I am sure there are in every
chapter. I was equally surprised when I
recently identified how Nephi had been a type for Joseph of Egypt. He was the youngest of his brethren. His brethren hated him. His
father loved him the most. He was more
obedient than his brothers. His brethren
believed he was trying to
become ruler over them. His brethren
bound him with cords (Joseph’s brothers threw him into a pit). Both parents grieved over their
children. Once they had reached their
appointed lands, their families prospered mightily.
The Lord led Nephi and his family to the Promised Land, much
like
he led Joseph to
This paper has
primarily been a discussion about judgment day and fire, which I
believe is
only one feature of the LORD’S DAY, or the Day of the Lord. Judgment and fire is only one side of
God. We know he has a merciful
side. Scriptures concerning THAT DAY
are loaded with so many fascinating and unimaginable events that we can
only
try (unsuccessfully) to visualize such a time.
We are given to know that the house of Israel will possess a
people and
take them for servants and handmaids, and take captive those whose
captives
they were, ruling over their oppressors (oh my!). Gentiles
will carry
I want to conclude
on this note. For the reasons outlined
in this paper, and much more, my testimony in the Lord Jesus Christ has
become
unshakable. So long as I have control
of my senses, there is absolutely no way anyone could convince me that
our
scriptures are uninspired. They not
only fit together in a cohesive pattern, but the Gentiles (as was
foretold) are
either blind to that pattern or have collectively rejected the books
that
reveal it. In some ways, the words from
the prophets crying from the dust are higher than our mortal minds can
comprehend. I am but an infant in
perceiving the mysteries of our Lord, but even in my infancy, I have
seen
enough to convince me with a stubborn faith that the Lord is my God.
“For a small
moment
have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a
little
wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting
kindness will
I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer” (Isa 54:7-8).