The Second Coming and Our Preparation

With a global pandemic and a world turned upside down this year, there is naturally more interest in prophecies about the difficulties prophesied in the last days and the timing of the Second Coming. Certainly there may be some who feel with things like this happening the return of the Savior must be imminent. But to put things in perspective I think it is important to remember this about Christianity over the past 2000 years as Dr. Richard Holzapfel observed: “It has not been unusual for nearly every generation who has lived on the earth since the mortal ministry of Jesus Christ to believe they might witness the terrible events immediately preceding the Second Coming and be present at His coming.” Some in the days of Paul believed they would see the Savior’s return, but Paul had to remind them that there would first be an apostasy: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Later, “some Christians greeted the turn of the first millennium after Christ with the belief that the end of the world was at hand. There were even some who sold all their possessions, dressed in white clothing, and waited in a prayerful attitude in fields outside their cities as the church bells tolled the dawn of a new millennium.” Then even after the Restoration, the Saints have often believed the Second Coming would be in their day. Dr. Holzapfel commented, “Some Saints living in the 1860s believed that the great American Civil War was the beginning of the end. Another group of Saints thought that 1890 would be a decisive year, and still another generation of members of the Church were sure that the Great War that we now call World War I was the foretold destruction that would immediately precede the coming of Christ. Some of my parents’ generation, the so-called ‘Greatest Generation,’ believed that World War II was nothing more nor less than the beginning of the destruction that would be poured out upon all nations before the Second Coming.” He summarized, “From my personal observation today, nothing has really changed since the days of Paul: for generation after generation some people have become anxious about the timing of the Second Coming and have misread many of the prophecies found in sacred scriptures.”

               So what have our modern prophets and apostles taught us about the Second Coming recently? Perhaps if there is one word which sums it up, it is simply prepare. In a 2004 talk entitled Preparation or the Second Coming, President Oaks said, “We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming. And the preparation most likely to be neglected is the one less visible and more difficult—the spiritual.”  The next year Elder Hales gave a talk called Preparations for the Restoration and the Second Coming: “My Hand Shall Be over Thee” in which he questioned, “Do we have eyes to see that the events and prophecies of our time are preparing us for the Savior’s Second Coming?... That each of us will prepare ourselves to greet Him is my humble prayer.” In 2011 Elder Anderson gave a talk entitled Preparing the World for the Second Coming and said, “One of your important responsibilities is to help prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Savior…. Your mission will be a sacred opportunity to bring others to Christ and help prepare for the Second Coming of the Savior.” In a discourse last year entitled Preparing for the Lord’s Return, Elder Christofferson said, “It is supremely important to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ…. Let us do all we can to relieve suffering and sorrow now, and let us devote ourselves more diligently to the preparations needed for the day when pain and evil are ended altogether, when ‘Christ [shall] reign personally upon the earth.’” Each of those talks about the Second Coming has a form of the word prepare in the title and encourage us to prepare ourselves spiritually and help prepare the world for His return.                In our most recent general conference President Nelson declared, “Now as we contemplate this significant time in the history of the world and the Lord’s charge to gather scattered Israel in preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, we, the First Presidency and Council of the Twelve Apostles, issue the following proclamation.” In that proclamation our modern prophets and apostles stated, “We testify that those who prayerfully study the message of the Restoration and act in faith will be blessed to gain their own witness of its divinity and of its purpose to prepare the world for the promised Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Again he highlighted the need for us to help prepare for the return of the Savior. No man knows the hour, but we know that He will return and our best course of action is to prepare and to follow this direction from Him: “Wherefore, be faithful, praying always, having your lamps trimmed and burning, and oil with you, that you may be ready at the coming of the Bridegroom” (Doctrine and Covenants 33:17).