The Timing of the Second Coming

In the Olivet Discourse the Savior said this about the last days, “So likewise, mine elect, when they shall see all these things, they shall know that he is near, even at the doors; But of that day, and hour, no one knoweth; no, not the angels of God in heaven, but my Father only.  But as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man” (JSM 1:40).  Referencing this verse of scripture Elder Ballard said this many years ago regarding the Second Coming: “I am called as one of the Apostles to be a special witness of Christ in these exciting, trying times, and I do not know when He is going to come again. As far as I know, none of my brethren in the Quorum of the Twelve or even in the First Presidency knows. And I would humbly suggest that if we do not know, then nobody knows, no matter how compelling their arguments or how reasonable their calculations.”  Many of course over the years have tried to pinpoint the exact timing of the Lord’s return, but if we believe the scriptures then we must believe that nobody knows when the Savior is coming again. 

               And yet, I have heard it suggested that this statement from Amos means that the Lord’s prophet must know when the coming of the Son of Man is: “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).  I don’t know that we can use that scripture to assume that the prophet must know when the Second Coming is, especially given Elder Ballard’s statement.  Perhaps the Lord will simply tell the prophet the moment He is about to come—the verse in Amos says nothing about the timing of when the Lord will reveal things to the prophet.  We might also take from the Lord’s statement in JSM 1:40 that even the Savior doesn’t know when He is coming again.  But I don’t think that’s consistent with other scriptures.  For example, the prophet Jacob said, “O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel!...  O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it” (2 Nephi 9:19-20).  Given the way that Jacob used the phrase the “Holy One of Israel” in 2 Nephi 6:9, it’s clear that he is referring to the Son and not the Father.  When the Savior was among the Nephites after His resurrection, “he did expound all things, even from the beginning until the time that he should come in his glory—yea, even all things which should come upon the face of the earth, even until the elements should melt with fervent heat, and the earth should be wrapt together as a scroll, and the heavens and the earth should pass away” (3 Nephi 26:3).  It seems to me pretty unlikely that the Savior could explain all of that and yet still not know when the Second Coming was.  In our dispensation the Savior said this about His knowledge, “Thus saith the Lord your God, even Jesus Christ, the Great I Am, Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end….  The same which knoweth all things, for all things are present before mine eyes” (D&C 38:1-2).  Clearly the Savior knows all things (perhaps He didn’t during His mortal ministry), and so He must know when He is going to come again.  Of course, the important part for us is to simply prepare, for we will likely not know until it happens.