Calamities of the Last Days

Chapters 8 and 9 of the Book of Revelation give a pretty gloomy description of some of the things that are going to befall the world in the last days before the Second Coming.  I think that we see similar language and themes scattered throughout the Doctrine and Covenants, giving a second witness that there will be rough times ahead on the earth as we are in the last days.  Here are some of the connections that I see: 

·         Before the first angel sounded, John described “voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake (Revelation 8:5).  In our dispensation the Lord said that there would be “the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds” (D&C 88:90).  So clearly we can expect great calamities of nature in the days ahead. 

·         When the first angel sounded, John wrote that “there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth” (Revelation 8:7).  The Lord told Joseph, “And there shall be a great hailstorm sent forth to destroy the crops of the earth” (D&C 29:16).  In another revelation we read concerning the signs of the Second Coming, “And they shall behold blood, and fire, and vapors of smoke” (D&C 45:41).  So hail, fire, and blood being a part of the last days are elements  common to both John’s revelation and the Doctrine and Covenants. 

·         The second angel’s sounding of the trumpet brought “a great mountain burning with fire” that was “cast into the sea” (Revelation 8:8).  The Doctrine and Covenants prophesies something similar, saying “the great and abominable church, which is the whore of all the earth, shall be cast down by devouring fire” (D&C 29:21).   

·         The fourth angel caused the sun and the moon to be smitten and “a third part of them was darkened” (Revelation 8:12).  The fifth angel brought to pass a similar change such that “the sun and the air were darkened” (Revelation 9:3).  Similarly in our day the Lord said, “before this great day shall come the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall be turned into blood, and the stars shall fall from heaven” (D&C 29:14).    

·         Also with the fifth angel “there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth” (Revelation 9:3).  It will apparently be so bad that men will “seek death” but won’t find it.  The Doctrine and Covenants does not mention locusts specifically but does speak of “pestilences of every kind” by which the Lord calls to His children (D&C 43:25).  We also have a similar (and scary) description of a different flying insect that will torment us: “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” (D&C 29:18).  That’s one sign of the Second Coming that I’m not looking forward to!

I’m sure there are other connections that we could find between the prophecies of the book of Revelation and the Doctrine and Covenants.  Together they stand together as a witness that in the last days “perilous times” shall indeed come.   Our strength and protection amidst this will be in “the blood of the Lamb” and the “word of [our] testimony” as we stand watch for the Second Coming (Revelation 12:11).