As Stubble

One of the facts about the second coming that the scriptures teach is that the wicked will be burned in some way.  This was prophesied by Malachi at the very end of the Old Testament: "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" (Malachi 4:1).  The Lord reiterated this in our day.  In speaking about the "coming of the Son of Man" He said, "For after today cometh the burning—this is speaking after the manner of the Lord—for verily I say, tomorrow all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, for I am the Lord of Hosts; and I will not spare any that remain in Babylon" (D&C 64:24).  He repeated this prophecy again in another revelation concerning the events of the Second Coming: "And also that which was written by the prophet Malachi: 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" (D&C 133:64).  He also revealed in another revelation that the wicked would indeed face fire in the day of His coming: "And the saints also shall hardly escape; nevertheless, I, the Lord, am with them, and will come down in heaven from the presence of my Father and consume the wicked with unquenchable fire" (D&C 63:34).  Clearly there will be some kind of fire and burning for the wicked at the time He comes again.  

In David Ridges' book 50 Signs of the Times he suggests that this burning that will take place is not a literal fire that will fill the earth but is due to the fact that the wicked simply will not be able to endure the glory of Christ’s presence.  This is supported I think by a couple of scriptures.  The apostle Paul wrote, "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming" (2 Thessalonians 2:8).  Similarly, the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph, "For a desolating scourge shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth, and shall continue to be poured out from time to time, if they repent not, until the earth is empty, and the inhabitants thereof are consumed away and utterly destroyed by the brightness of my coming" (D&C 5:19).   Both of these say that the wicked will be destroyed because of the "brightness" of His coming.  This suggests that the light emanating from the Savior will be such that wicked will not be able to endure it, whereas the righteous will be "quickened and be caught up to meet him" (D&C 88:96).  The Savior is so full of light and glory that without some kind of transfiguration, one could not endure His presence.  When the prophet Joseph saw the Savior in person in the Kirtland Temple he described Him with the phrases "flame of fire" and "brightness of the sun," and in the First Vision he similarly used the language of "pillar of light" and "brightness of the sun" to describe the Father and the Son (D&C 110:3, JSH 1:16).  He who is “in the sun, and the light of the sun” will come to earth in such glory that His light will cause those that cannot endure His presence to be, in the words of Malachi, as “stubble” (D&C 88:7).