The Second Coming

This morning I listened to a BYU devotional again by Richard Holzapfel, one of my instructors when I was a student.  He spoke about the Second Coming and emphasized two points. The first was that if you think the Second Coming is imminent for you in your lifetime, then you should consider that so has just about every Christian since the first century.  We need not get caught up in the fervor of particular events and assume that means Christ will be here tomorrow—as President Packer said in 2003, “You young people, move ahead in your lives. It is a marvelous time to be alive. The world is not going to come to an end. You are going to have time to stand, as I stand now, talking about your children and your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren” (see here).  So clearly we have time to plan and live our lives to the fullest—those of this generation may very well not be on the earth when the Savior comes again despite the ever-increasing wickedness we see around us.  The second point made by Brother Holzapfel was that we need to focus on the positive events surrounding the time of the Second Coming.  One of those is the fact that the gospel will go to all of the world and we are eye-witnesses to that miracle.  As he put it, “The gospel is spreading across the nations of the earth. Although we are relatively few in number, nevertheless the destiny of this Church is such that before the Lord’s coming there shall be Saints upon all the face of the earth.” 

                After listening to this I decided to search in the scriptures to see what prophecies there are concerning the gospel going to all the world.  In the New Testament, Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matt 24:14). Later as He was ascending into heaven, He said to the apostles, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matt 28:19)  So the gospel must go to all nations before the Second Coming is to be here.  In our dispensation the Lord has again made this fact very clear.  Referring to the ancient prophecy of Daniel, one revelation says, “The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth” (D&C 65:2).  He’s made the commandment clear to the Saints in the last days that this is a great responsibility of the Church.  He told Joseph, “Therefore, go ye into all the world; and unto whatsoever place ye cannot go ye shall send, that the testimony may go from you into all the world unto every creature” (D&C 84:62).  To the President of the Twelve He said he was “chosen to bear testimony of my name and to send it abroad among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people” (D&C 112:1).  In the revelation containing the “law of the Church” the Lord mandated, “And I give unto you a commandment that then ye shall teach them unto all men; for they shall be taught unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people” (D&C 42:58). 

In the Book of Mormon we learn as well that the gospel will indeed go to all the world.  For example, the Three Nephites would “minister unto all the scattered tribes of Israel, and unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, and shall bring out of them unto Jesus many souls” (3 Nephi 28:29).  Nephi recorded that “it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall commence his work among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, to bring about the restoration of his people upon the earth” (2 Nephi 30:8).  Nephi also saw in vision this: “I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth….  The covenant people of the Lord… were scattered upon all the face of the earth” (1 Nephi 14:12, 14).  Members of the Church of the Lamb will be located throughout all the nations of the earth.  To the boy Joseph the angel Moroni prophesied that his name “should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people” (JSH 1:33).  If Joseph’s name is to be spoken good of in all the nations of the earth, then it must be that the message of the Restoration has reached them. 

                So as we contemplate the Second Coming, we should focus on the fact that we still have great missions individually and collectively to fulfill, and that life is indeed worth living to the fullest even in a wicked world.  As Elder Neil Anderson just said in conference: “We also live in the glorious time of the Restoration, when the gospel is being taken to all the world…. The thought of His coming stirs my soul. It will be breathtaking!” (Thy Kingdom Come).