Second Coming

Do you remember these 10 prophetic invitations?

“I call upon you to talk of Christ, testify of Christ, have faith in Christ and rejoice in Christ!” —President Russell M. Nelson

The gallery features the famous painting “The Second Coming,” which the Church commissioned in the 1970s.

While we often focus on scary “signs of the times” like wars and earthquakes, we can find comfort in the many hopeful signs of the Savior’s return.

Many of us would like to know when the Second Coming is going to happen. After all, it is the latter days, so we know the event is closer than it ever has been before. But when will it actually take place?

Over and over the Lord has indicated that the day of His coming is soon—and yet we are still waiting for their fulfillment.

While as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are taught to prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ, we don't have to anxiously obsess over it.

The Joseph Smith Translation of Matthew 24 states that “the sign of the Son of Man” will be seen in heaven after the days of tribulation and after “the powers of heaven” (or the stars) are “shaken” or fall from the sky.

Do you know all the details of what will happen at the time of the Lord's Second Coming? Chances are some of these doctrinal gems may surprise you.

The Church's recent emphasis on self-reliance and gathering Israel are leading us to be more prepared for the Second Coming. Learn more:

The commotion in the world in undeniable. It can be helpful to recognize that some of these events and problems may be the fulfillment of long foretold prophesy.

While serving as a General Authority Seventy, I had one of those unexpected teaching moments that life presents to us. This was when the financial crash was in full swing and our country was experiencing the most drastic drop in the economy since the Great Depression. Every day there were new announcements. The stock market crash. The collapse of the housing market. Major banks, mortgage companies, retirement funds, and investment houses were failing. There was talk of massive government bailouts. Unemployment was skyrocketing. A dark cloud had settled over the country and was spreading to other nations.

All In host Morgan Jones spoke with Elder Lund about what he believes experiences today mean in regard to the Second Coming.

In the April 2020 issue of the Ensign, President Russell M. Nelson shared a message on being prepared for the Second Coming of the Savior.

Ezekiel 38–39 contains a vision that exhibits some important traits of apocalyptic revelation. It depicts an invasion of "Israel" by a foreign power called "Gog" of the land of "Magog," the "chief prince of Meshech and Tubal" (Ezek. 38:2). Gog and his forces will attack the "mountains of Israel," whose people will have been "brought forth out of the nations" (Ezek. 38:8). Like "a cloud to cover the land," Gog and his allies—"a great company, and a mighty army"—will advance on the Lord's people (Ezek. 38:15–16). But the Lord will not allow them to succeed. With earthquake, sword, pestilence, blood, rain, hailstones, fire, and brimstone, the Lord will intervene to stop Gog's attack; he and his armies will be slaughtered (see Ezek. 38:19–39:8). So massive will be Gog's armies, and so thorough their defeat, that for seven years the people of Israel will gather the weapons of their defeated enemies and use them for fuel. Their corpses will be so abundant that it will take seven months to bury them. Even after that, individuals will be employed to go through the land to find the bodies not yet buried (see Ezek. 39:9–16). Next is depicted a huge feast, at which birds and animals will gorge themselves on the blood and flesh of the slain (see Ezek. 39:17–20; see also D&C 29:20).

The signs of the times can sometimes have us feeling gloomy or despondent. But the Savior’s promise can give us hope and optimism.

According to Latter-day Saint scriptural texts, the Lord Jesus Christ, before He appears to the entire world in power and great glory, will make several preliminary appearances on the earth.

From time to time, in the face of wickedness, the Lord dispatches an angel to destroy one or more persons. In fact, both the scriptures and modern prophets use the expression “destroying angel.”

One of our favorite places to go for family vacation is called Craters of the Moon in Idaho. It’s a weird place that’s covered with miles and miles of black lava rocks and dormant volcanoes. It looks much like the surface of the moon, except that there’s no vegetation on the moon. Craters, at least, has a few trees and some sagebrush. Nearby, there’s a place called Hell’s Half Acre. The name says it all. It’s similar to Craters of the Moon, but it’s more burned looking.

Despite apostolic warnings and repeated admonishments to avoid becoming caught up with Second Coming sensationalism and apocalyptic alarm, there have been many in every generation that assume the answer to the age-old question “When will He come again?” is “Now.”

Famines, pestilences, earthquakes, tribulations, hailstorms, scourges, sickness, commotion, killing, iniquity, blood—these are just some of the calamities prophesied about in the scriptures. But if we “have taken the Holy Spirit for [our] guide,” we will be prepared and need not fear.

Author’s Note: With this lesson, we come to the end of the Old Testament Manual. A time or two we have strapped on the aqualung and gone deep, but most of the time we have floated serenely on the surface of this marvelous reservoir of knowledge, experience, and power. Forty-eight lessons are hardly enough time and space to do justice to a book of this depth and complexity. I hope you will not assume that you have now studied the Old Testament. You have studied the parts of the Old Testament that the Gospel Doctrine Manual emphasizes, and (in these lessons) brief segments that I have highlighted. The Old Testament is worth revisiting many times in your life. As we study it with hearts opened and prepared to receive the lessons the Lord has taught us there, we will gain a broader understanding and greater depth of spiritual knowledge.

"While we certainly desire to be fully prepared for His coming, we should not allow ourselves to get caught up in the newest spiritual fad. So what are some things that must take place before Christ begins to reign on planet earth?"

As I completed the writing for my book about the last days, Living in the Eleventh Hour, it occurred to me that there might be some value in continuing the trek, completing the story, if you will. I honestly had not anticipated a sequel. And so the next weekend I began what might be called a review of the literature. I turned first to the standard works and was absolutely blown away by how much the prophets have spoken about the millennial period. While I was certain that much of my data would come from the Doctrine and Covenants, I was stunned by the doctrinal detail in the Old Testament. I knew that the book of Revelation would be tremendously fertile ground, but I had not realized that the four Gospels, the epistles of Paul and Peter, and the teachings of modern prophets and apostles like Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and Orson Pratt would be so fruitful as well.

Although there are many things we don’t know about the Millennium, there are several things we know as revealed through the scriptures and modern-day prophets.

As a child, I would always look out the window after a rainstorm and scan the grey sky overhead.

Sierra Leone, Mexico, Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico, Lousiana, Las Vegas, California, Somalia—the number of disasters in the past few months is astounding.

A seven-headed beast? Four beasts with six wings? A man eating a bitter little book that was as sweet as honey? Twenty-four elders and 144,000 servants? A great red dragon and a woman in the wilderness? The number 666? The Book of Revelation can be captivating, if not a bit bewildering. Yet a careful look at the interpretations and applications of these symbols and prophecies is one key to preparing for the Second Coming and enjoying a study of John’s panoramic vision.

In the course of only a few weeks, there have been horrendous mudslides in Sierra Leone, three catastrophic hurricanes along the southeastern coast of the United States and across multiple other islands in the Caribbean, devastating floods in the U.S., India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and other places across the world, destructive fires in the northwest United States, tragic earthquakes, and all sorts of other natural disasters.

We live in the latter days, a time when the fullness of the gospel is on the earth but so are many challenges and struggles unique to this time.

A Chicago editor bragged that he could edit the entire New Testament into one paragraph. This is his offering: “He was born. He lived. He died. He’s coming back, and he’s not very happy.” Of course, He is coming back, and however far away that remarkable day might be, it closer now than it was yesterday. The purpose of this lesson is to give some instruction in recognizing the signs of His coming, and to give encouragement about being prepared when it happens, for, as Elder Maxwell said,

In working as a religious educator for almost four decades, I have been delighted to witness a significant rise in what might be called scriptural literacy or gospel scholarship among the young people of the Church. This is a tribute to devoted mothers and fathers, advisers and teachers, seminary and institute instructors. Our members are simply more capable and adept at utilizing the standard works in finding answers to their questions, seeking divine guidance, and explaining or defending the teachings of the restored gospel to those not of our faith.

Most of us have heard the scripture referring to the Second Coming as the “great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Malachi 4:5), but why is it that most of us forget the “great” part and focus on the “dreadful” side of things?

Over the last several weeks, it seems everyone from the Huffington Post to USA Today is talking about the "Mormon Preppers"–a small group of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are overstocking their food storage and updating their 72 hour kits under the premise that the world is ending.

We hear them all the time, statements about the world “going to hell in a hand basket,” sighs and longings for “the good old days,” warnings of rampant moral decay and declarations to all who want to follow God that they are living in “enemy territory.” For those prone to depression and anxiety, such framings of the world and today’s moral and spiritual state exacerbate their struggles. For children, these notions feed fears and cause some to wonder if this world is really worth engaging. There are also dozens of other subtle ways that these kinds of assessments can act against our emotional, spiritual, and physical health and well-being. The most tragic aspect of these sorts of pessimistic framings is that according to studies from many fields, the data does not prove this tale of hopeless, inevitable continual decay to be justified. Violence is down, freedom is up, and scores of other social health and happiness indexes largely show things trending in positive directions. If this is true, how, then, should we think about the apocalypticism that affects so much discussion in both the world and in Mormonism? In this episode, Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon and panelists—LDS therapists Natasha Helfer Parker and Marybeth Raynes, and philosopher and intellectual historian James McLachlan—discuss these messages and their persistence, the strength of the evidence for their accuracy, and their effects on people in general and those prone to depression and anxiety in particular. As all the panelists recognize, it is important to strike a healthy balance between optimism and pessimism, and there is a strong need for everyone to be alert to dangers and take reasonable steps for their protection. But for those who haven’t found this balance (or for those who love someone like this), they offer suggestions for how people might learn to concentrate on different, more positive messages. They also discuss possible ways we might talk with and offer fresh framings about the world situation to our children and loved ones who are overly wrought with doomsday fears.

Preparation: Print the scriptures or song titles below on individual sheets of yellow or gold cardstock. Cut each cardstock into a large star shape, so the scripture is in the middle of the star. Obtain a picture of Christ’s birth and a picture of His second coming. Post the two pictures on opposite sides of the board and draw a vertical line down the middle of the board between the two pictures. Place the stars facedown on a table at the front of the room. Obtain tape or magnets to attach the stars to the board during the presentation.

Revelation 5, 6; 19-22

Supplement from "Preparing the World for the Second Coming" by Neil L. Andersen

Supplement from "Preparation for the Second Coming," by Dallin H. Oaks