Signs of the Times and the Millennial Day
Joseph Fielding McConkie
Excerpts from Answers: Straightforward Answers to Tough Gospel Questions
Contents
FOR THE WORLD THE COMING OF Christ will, in the imagery of the scriptures, be as a thief in the night. They will be caught unaware. For the Latter-day Saints, however, that should not be the case. We have been given many prophetic signs of the times by which we are to know, if not the day and hour, surely the approximate time of the Lord's coming. For us the coming of Christ is to be as it is with the woman in travail, that is, the expectant mother in labor. Though the moment of birth is not known to her, the blessed event will neither be a surprise nor come too soon (see Thes. 5:2-8; D&C 106:4-5).
As we move closer to the time of the Second Coming, ours becomes a world increasingly "filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations" (3 Ne. 16:103). It will be, we are told, a day of false Christs, false prophets, and false doctrines. It will be a day in which the Prince of Darkness will gather his multitudes upon the face of the earth among all the nations of the Gentiles to fight against the Lamb of God. So evil will things become that our only promise of protection will be in keeping the sacred covenants we have made and in being "armed with righteousness and with the power of God" (1 Ne. 14:14).
Will the Second Coming be in the year 2000?
ANSWER
Not according to D&C 77:1. In his great apocalyptic vision, John the Revelator gives a prophetic description of the seven thousand years of earth's temporal history (see Rev. 5-10). While laboring on his translation of the Bible, Joseph Smith recorded a revelation explaining John's writings (see D&C 77:1). Both that revelation and the revelation of John along with D&C 88:1 affirm that earth's temporal history, contrary to all scientific theories, is confined to what John called seven seals, or seven thousand-year periods. It is generally thought by Latter-day Saints that Christ will return at the beginning of the final, or seventh, thousand-year period. This idea may have given rise to the notion that he will come in the year 2000, based on the understanding that there were four thousand years from the fall of Adam to the birth of Christ (see the Chronology chart in the LDS Bible Dictionary, 635) and that we are approaching the year 2000 after the birth of Christ. Thus six thousand years of earth's temporal history will have been completed and the stage set for the seventh thousand-year period, or the time of Christ's millennial reign.
Yet, in the Doctrine and Covenants we read: "In the beginning of the seventh thousand years will the Lord God sanctify the earth, and complete the salvation of man, and judge all things, and shall redeem all things, . . . and the sounding of the trumpets of the seven angels are the preparing and finishing of his work, in the beginning of the seventh thousand years—the preparing of the way before the time of his coming" (D&C 77:12). Rather than welcome Christ at this time, we are told, we will begin the preparations for his coming. The revelation, which takes the form of questions and answers, then asks, "When are the things to be accomplished, which are written in the 9th chapter of Revelation?" which describes the wars and plagues to be poured out during the seventh seal. The Lord answered, "They are to be accomplished after the opening of the seventh seal, before the coming of Christ" (D&C 77:13). Again we are told that the coming of Christ and the beginning of the seventh seal are not synonymous.
How close are we to the Second Coming?
ANSWER
The question cannot be answered by turning to a calendar. It can only be answered in terms of the events that have been prophesied to take place before Christ's return. After the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel, the most important event to precede the Second Coming is the declaration of the restored gospel throughout the nations of the earth (see Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:31; Moses 7:62). John the Revelator promised that the message of the restored gospel would go to "every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people" through the Book of Mormon (Revelation 14:6; D&C 133:37). In a revelation to Joseph Smith, we are told that everyone will be privileged to hear the fulness of the gospel "in his own tongue, and in his own language" by legal administrators (D&C 90:11). Alma tells us that "the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word" (Alma 29:8). In describing the vision shown to him and his father, Nephi tells us that there will be congregations of the Saints "upon all the face of the earth" before Christ's return (1 Ne. 14:12). John the Revelator tells us that before that day, there will be those among "every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" who have found redemption through Christ and have been ordained "kings and priests" (Rev. 5:9-10), meaning they had received the fulness of temple blessings.
This chain of thought suggests not only that the restored gospel must be freely taught among the Arab nations, for example, but that it must be taught in their native tongues by Arabs who are legal administrators of the gospel. It further requires that there be Latter-day Saint congregations throughout all Arab nations and that there be those in their congregations who have received the fulness of temple blessings. Some considerable time will be necessary for such promises to be fulfilled. It also suggests that we have a considerable labor ahead of us and that missionary work is still in its infancy.
Is Christ waiting for the members of his Church to become sufficiently righteous before he returns?
ANSWER
The scriptures describe a state of wickedness that will usher in the Millennium, not a state of righteousness. Malachi speaks of the time of Christ's return as "the great and dreadful day" (Malachi 4:5), one in which the proud and the wicked shall be burned as stubble. In modern revelation we learn that Christ will come clothed in red, for his garments will appear as if they had been dyed in the wine-vat. He will say, "I have trodden the wine-press alone, and have brought judgment upon all people; and none were with me; and I have trampled them in my fury, and I did tread upon them in mine anger, and their blood have I sprinkled upon my garments, and stained all my raiment; for this was the day of vengeance which was in my heart" (D&C 133:50-51). An earlier revelation describes this as a time of lamentation:
And there shall be weeping and wailing among the hosts of men. . . .
And it shall come to pass, because of the wickedness of the world, that I will take vengeance upon the wicked, for they will not repent; for the cup of mine indignation is full; for behold, my blood shall not cleanse them if they hear me not.
Wherefore, I the Lord God will send forth flies upon the face of the earth, which shall take hold of the inhabitants thereof, and shall eat their flesh, and shall cause maggots to come in upon them;
And their tongues shall be stayed that they shall not utter against me; and their flesh shall fall from off their bones, and their eyes from their sockets;
"And it shall come to pass that the beasts of the forest and the fowls of the air shall devour them up.
And the great and abominable church, which is the whore of all the earth, shall be cast down by devouring fire, according as it is spoken by the mouth of Ezekiel the prophet, who spoke of these things, which have not come to pass but surely must, as I live, for abominations shall not reign.
(D&C 29:15-21)
Many like passages could be quoted, but the idea is clear that it will be a wicked, not a righteous, world that greets the returning Christ. It is true that Nephi says the righteousness of the people will bind Satan (see 1 Ne. 22:261 Ne. 22:26), but the context is millennial, so we know that this event follows the destruction of the wicked. The story Nephi is telling in that passage is one in which the Saints are saved by divine intervention and Satan is bound by the power of the priesthood. Nephi is teaching us that the Millennium can be brought in only by the power of God, thereafter to be maintained by the righteousness of the people (see 1 Ne. 22:15-17; D&C 45:55). This sequence of events has been known at least from the days of Enoch, to whom the Lord said: "As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfil the oath which I have made unto you concerning the children of Noah; and the day shall come that the earth shall rest, but before that day the heavens shall 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" (Moses 7:60-61). Thus Enoch describes "the day of the righteous" and "the hour of their redemption" as taking place in the Millennium, when he and those of his city will join those preserved by the power of God (Moses 7:67).
Though a state of wickedness will usher in the Millennium and the return of Christ, a sizable number of faithful Saints will be prepared to meet him. Describing these events, Nephi said he "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. 14:14).
Will the faithful be called on to walk back to Missouri?
ANSWER
This is a classic Mormon myth. No scriptural justification can be given for it. It is true that a temple will yet be built in Jackson County, Missouri, which city will become the administrative headquarters for the Church. That does not mean, however, that all the faithful must live there or that those who go must arrive on foot.
During the time of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, it was necessary for members of the Church to gather to Zion for both spiritual and physical safety. This is not necessary in our day, nor is it desirable. Temples are now being built throughout the world, and the Saints in many nations are able to participate in all the programs of the Church. For some years now members of the Church throughout the world have been asked to remain in their homelands to build up the Church where they live. Elder Bruce R. McConkie made that point in an area conference in Mexico City, and President Harold B. Lee repeated his statement for the direction of the whole Church in a subsequent general conference: "The place of gathering for the Mexican Saints is in Mexico; the place of gathering for the Guatemalan Saints is in Guatemala; the place of gathering for the Brazilian Saints is in Brazil; and so it goes throughout the length and breadth of the whole earth. Japan is for the Japanese; Korea is for the Koreans; Australia is for the Australians; every nation is the gathering place for its own people" (in Conference Report, April 1973, 7).
In his vision of the last days Nephi saw congregations of the Saints "upon all the face of the earth" and said that they "were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory" (1 Ne. 14:14). Describing the Church in the millennial day, Isaiah used the imagery of a tent: "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited" (3 Ne. 22:2-3; Isa. 54:2-3).
In D&C 45:66 the New Jerusalem is called "a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God." We are further told that "the glory of the Lord shall be there, and the terror of the Lord also shall be there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it, and it shall be called Zion. And it shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety. And there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven; and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another. And it shall be said among the wicked: Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand. And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion, singing with songs of everlasting joy" (D&C 45:67-71).
The language of this text in the Doctrine and Covenants seems somewhat at odds with the passages from Isaiah and 3 Nephi quoted above. There we speak of the dispersal of the righteous throughout the nations of the earth, whereas the text in the Doctrine and Covenants implies a gathering of the righteous to Jackson County, the center stake of Zion. This apparent discrepancy is resolved in the principle that all revelation is subject to interpretation by the light of subsequent revelation. For instance, D&C 115:6 tells us that the gathering upon "the land of Zion, and upon her stakes, may be for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth." Joseph Smith further told us that Zion "consists of all North & South America but that any place where the Saints gather is Zion which every righteous man will build up for a place of safety for his children" (Jessee, "Joseph Smith's 19 July 1840 Discourse," 392; see also Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 362).
In the Millennium, will righteous mothers be able to rear children who died before maturity?
ANSWER
We find the following recorded in the History of the Church: "Sister M. Isabella Horne said: `In conversation with the Prophet Joseph Smith once in Nauvoo, the subject of children in the resurrection was broached. I believe it was in sister Leonora Cannon Taylor's house. She had just lost one of her children, and I had also lost one previously. The Prophet wanted to comfort us, and he told us that we should receive those children in the morning of the resurrection just as we laid them down, in purity and innocence, and we should nourish and care for them as their mothers. He said that children would be raised in the resurrection just as they were laid down, and that they would obtain all the intelligence necessary to occupy thrones, principalities and powers. The idea that I got from what he said was that the children would grow and develop in the Millennium, and that the mothers would have the pleasure of training and caring for them, which they had been deprived of in this life'" (History of the Church, 4:556 n).
Are false Christs a serious threat in the Christian world today?
ANSWER
Every once in a while some deluded soul comes along proclaiming himself to be either Christ or the Holy Ghost. These pretenders receive little attention and fade from the scene quickly. It seems evident from the scriptures that Christ's principal concern in warning about false Christs in the last days was with false ideologies or false doctrines relative to himself and his redemptive role—that is, false systems of salvation. His warning anticipates that in the last days there would be a great proliferation of messengers professing to speak in the name of the Lord while teaching all manner of foolish and false doctrines.
In a prophetic description of the promised Messiah, Isaiah said "his visage" would be more "marred" than that of any man (Isa. 52:14). Though no mortal man has endured what Christ did in his matchless labor of atonement, the effect of his suffering was not such that it distorted his appearance in a manner to justify this prophecy. Significantly, the resurrected Christ gave a dual meaning to these words by applying them to another servant of the Lord in the last days (see 3 Ne. 20:44). We understand that servant to be Joseph Smith, who died a martyr's death, though not in a manner to distort his appearance, either. This evidence suggests that the distortion of image spoken of by Isaiah may refer to the manner in which the promised servant and his labors were to be misinterpreted and misperceived. Surely, the image of no one in earth's history has been as often or as completely distorted as that of Jesus of Nazareth. In like manner, Joseph Smith was promised that his name (image or visage) would be had for both good and evil among all nations and peoples of the earth (see JS-H 1:33).
More has been written about Christ in the last two decades than in the previous two thousand years—most of it false. In such sources Christ has been "portrayed as a Marxist who provides the blueprints for an economic and social reform; as a Black Messiah who stood against an exploitative white nation, Rome, as a liberator who proclaimed that God's Kingdom belongs to the poor; and as the Prince of Peace who shows the way for nuclear disarmament" (Charlesworth, Jesus within Judaism, 26). Along with being the special advocate of the revolutionary and the social reformer, Christ has been depicted as a magician, a charismatic teacher, and a "marginal" Jew who argued with the religious leaders of the day.
The idea, it seems, is to assimilate Jesus into the image and likeness of one's own ambitions. Thus he becomes the model for peasants and kings, celibates and fathers, pacifists and soldiers, hermits and gentlemen, feudal lords and revolutionaries. For some he is the gentle shepherd-teacher; for others he is the rod of iron with which they seek to beat their opponents into submission. Eschewing the idea that any authority or commission is necessary to speak in the name of Christ, many have taken it upon themselves to promise salvation to anyone willing to accept their right to teach his gospel and profess his grace. Others suppose themselves to be his authorized representatives—who alone can perform the ordinances of salvation—by virtue of a priesthood saturated with the blood of the Saints and soiled with endless evils. Still others, declaring him to be incomprehensible and unknowable, assume that any course of action that suits their fancy is acceptable to him. All such deny the principle of revelation by which Christ would direct the actions of any who legitimately represented him.
In another sense, false Christs are persons or organizations that profess the power to liberate us from whatever bondage they assure us we are in. Korihor, the great antichrist in the Book of Mormon, sought to liberate the Nephite people from what he called their foolish traditions and from the influence of their leaders (see Alma 30:13, Alma 30:23, Alma 30:24, Alma 30:27).
Aren't the ten tribes together in a body waiting for the instruction to return?
ANSWER
No. This is another classic Mormon myth. Four fundamental principles preclude such a possibility:
First, the doctrine of a universal apostasy. We simply cannot have it both ways. We cannot argue that the apostasy was universal on the one hand and that it did not include the ten tribes on the other. If the apostasy was universal, then no people remained unaffected by it. The idea that somewhere a group of people retained the faith, kept the priesthood, and had prophets is simply incompatible with the idea of an apostasy that covers the whole earth.
It has even been argued that the ten tribes are no longer on the earth and thus remained unaffected by the apostasy here. This argument is sustained by quoting Deut. 30:4Deut. 30:4: "If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee." We have it from Joseph Smith, who held the keys of the gathering, that the phrase "outmost parts of heaven" means "the breadth of the earth" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 85).
Second, the doctrine of a universal restoration. That is, the "restoration of all things," as spoken by the "mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began" (D&C 27:6; see also Acts 3:21; D&C 86:10). The promise that "all things" are to be restored affirms that "all things" were lost. You can hardly restore the priesthood or any of its offices if that priesthood and its offices are already here. Repeatedly the scriptures tell us that the restored gospel must go to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. Again, we cannot have it both ways. We cannot claim the divine commission to gather Israel out of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people and at the same time argue that they have not been scattered among every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.
As to teaching the gospel in our dispensation, the Lord has said that the first should be last and the last should be first. That is, that the Jew to whom the gospel was first taken in the meridian dispensation will be the last to whom it will be taken in this dispensation. Ours is the day of the Gentile, to whom we now take the gospel (see 1 Ne. 13:421 Ne. 13:42). By Gentile, the prophetic writers mean those not of the house of Judah. Most of them will be Israelite by descent (as declared in patriarchal blessings) but Gentile by culture.
Third, Moses appeared to Joseph Smith and gave him the "keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north" (D&C 110:11). Keys are the "right of presidency," or the authority by which one presides. If the authority to preside over these events rests with Joseph Smith and his successors—this is, if they are in a position to govern the kingdom of God in all the earth—then they cannot rest with another people or other prophets. Only the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the authority to bring these events to pass. Missionaries are sent out by the president of the Church to gather Israel. If you want to know where Israel is, simply watch where the president of the Church sends missionaries.
Fourth, virtually hundreds of scriptures state the message, in language that is both plain and absolute, that Israel is to be gathered from the four quarters of the earth. Consider this text in 3 Ne. 5:24-26: "And as surely as the Lord liveth, will he gather in from the four quarters of the earth all the remnant of the seed of Jacob, who are scattered abroad upon all the face of the earth. And as he hath covenanted with all the house of Jacob, even so shall the covenant wherewith he hath covenanted with the house of Jacob be fulfilled in his own due time, unto the restoring all the house of Jacob unto the knowledge of the covenant that he hath covenanted with them. And then shall they know their Redeemer, who is Jesus Christ, the Son of God; and then shall they be gathered in from the four quarters of the earth unto their own lands, from whence they have been dispersed; yea, as the Lord liveth so shall it be. Amen."
This may well be the most emphatic text in all of holy writ. No other text begins and ends with the announcement that if what it is saying is not so, then God does not exist. Thus we can only conclude that if Israel is not gathered from all the face of the earth, that is, if they are somewhere in a body simply waiting to come back, then there is no God.
In D&C 133:26-34 we are told that the tribes of Israel will in a future day "come in remembrance before the Lord; and their prophets shall hear his voice" and lead them back to the "boundaries of the everlasting hills," where they shall be crowned with blessings by the children of Ephraim. This is simply to say that after missionaries have gathered them to the waters of baptism, bestowed the blessings of the restored gospel upon them, and established the Church in their midst, they will be organized according to the pattern of the Church. Inspired leaders will be called from among their number, as has been the case wherever the gospel has been taken. At the appropriate time the president of the Church—he who holds the keys of the gathering of Israel and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north—will direct the leaders, or prophets, who serve under his direction among the various congregations of Israel to bring their people to the temples of the Lord that they might be crowned with glory and receive the fulness of gospel blessings (see D&C 42:11).
Relative to the prophetic promises that we will receive scriptural records from the ten tribes and "all the nations of the earth" (2 Ne. 29:12), it must be understood that those records, like all revelation, must come through the proper channels. When the ten tribes return, the scriptural records they bring with them will be the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. The very purpose of the Book of Mormon is to gather Israel, of which, obviously, the ten tribes are a large part. The record and testimony of the progenitors of the ten tribes will go to their descendants as the Book of Mormon is going to the descendants of Lehi.
Doesn't the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and the return of the Jews to the Holy Land constitute one of the most important signs of the times?
ANSWER
The gathering of Israel as spoken of in the scriptures is destined to take place under the direction of the priesthood. Let it be stated again that the keys of the gathering of Israel rest with the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They do not rest with the United Nations or with any other politically appointed body. The gathering spoken of by the ancient prophets is to be first to Christ and the saving principles of his gospel and only then to lands of inheritance. Salvation is found in covenants, not in geography. Faith, repentance, baptism, and the reception of the Holy Ghost are and ever will be the first principles of any nation or kingdom established by the true God of Israel.
Israel was scattered anciently when she broke the covenants of salvation that she had made with her God, and she will be gathered only when she returns to those sacred covenants. Lands of inheritances are simply an outward, or physical, token of those covenants. Jacob taught:
"After they have hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks against the Holy One of Israel, behold, the judgments of the Holy One of Israel shall come upon them. And the day cometh that they shall be smitten and afflicted.
"Wherefore, after they are driven to and fro, . . . many shall be afflicted in the flesh, and shall not be suffered to perish, because of the prayers of the faithful; they shall be scattered, and smitten, and hated; 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. 6:10-11).
Yet again, Jacob said: "Wherefore, because of their iniquities, destructions, famines, pestilences, and bloodshed shall come upon them; and they who shall not be destroyed shall be scattered among all nations.
"But behold, thus saith the Lord God: When the day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh, upon the earth, unto the lands of their inheritance" (2 Ne. 10:6-7).
Nephi taught the same principles: "Wherefore, the Jews shall be scattered among all nations; yea, and also Babylon shall be destroyed; wherefore, the Jews shall be scattered by other nations.
"And after they have been scattered, and the Lord God hath scourged them by other nations for the space of many generations, yea, even down from generation to generation until they shall be persuaded to believe in Christ, the Son of God, and the atonement, which is infinite for all mankind—and when that day shall come that they shall believe in Christ, and worship the Father in his name, with pure hearts and clean hands, and look not forward any more for another Messiah, then, at that time, the day will come that it must needs be expedient that they should believe these things.
"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 [the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the organization of his Church] 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. . . . [And] his name shall be Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (2 Ne. 25:15-19).
The present gathering of Jews to Palestine may be preparatory to the events spoken of in scripture, but it certainly does not fulfill them. It is a gathering for spiritual, not temporal, purposes of which the scriptures speak.
AT ISSUE
The first and perhaps most common misconception relative to the millennial day is simply how close we are to it. The time cannot be properly estimated in days, months, or years. It must be measured in events, the chief of which is the extent to which the gospel has been taught among the nations of the earth. Suffice it to say, so much still needs to be done before the promise is fulfilled that the gospel will be taken to those of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people that we can safely say that we are generations removed from the final winding-up scene.
The second most common misconception relative to the Millennium centers in the idea that it will take place as soon as we are sufficiently righteous. Such a conclusion contradicts the many scriptural passages that identify the return of Christ as a day of wrath and vengeance, a day of cleansing. It is to be at a time of wickedness, not of righteousness. There will, of course, be many faithful Saints scattered throughout the world who will be prepared to receive the returning Christ, but their righteousness will not hasten that which is fixed (see McConkie, Millennial Messiah, 26, 405).
The Millennium is a day of sanctification, of cleansing. It is a period in which the earth will rest from the sin and wickedness of the present day. It is a time in which Satan will be bound by the power of the priesthood, the gospel declared, and all things restored to their proper and perfect state. Things hidden from before the foundation of the earth will be revealed, the continents will unite into one land, the lost tribes will be restored, and faithful parents will be granted the privilege of rearing children who died in infancy.
The time of Christ's return has been known to the Father from the beginning (see Matt. 24:36). We have no power either to hasten that day or to delay it.
