I Have Come Before the Fire

Truman Madsen stated in a lecture about the Prophet Joseph Smith, “Lorenzo Snow reported a day when someone came and asked Joseph (it had happened hundred of times), ‘Who are you?’ He replied, ‘Noah came before the flood. I have come before the fire.’” In other words, Joseph Smith has come to help prepare the world for the return of the Savior when the righteous shall be lifted up and the wicked shall be burned. This statement from Joseph Smith is consistent with the message he received from Moroni at a very early age when Moroni quoted this scripture from Malachi: “For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch” (JSH 1:37). So though the gospel message is one of peace and comfort, it is also one of warning as the Lord stated in His preface of the Doctrine and Covenants when He declared: “And the voice of warning shall be unto all people…. And again, verily I say unto you, O inhabitants of the earth: I the Lord am willing to make these things known unto all flesh; For I am no respecter of persons, and will that all men shall know that the day speedily cometh; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand, when peace shall be taken from the earth, and the devil shall have power over his own dominion. And also the Lord shall have power over his saints, and shall reign in their midst, and shall come down in judgment upon Idumea, or the world” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:34-36). The message of the Restoration is to all the world, warning of difficulty and destruction because of the wickedness of the world leading up to His return when the earth will be cleansed with fire.

               Many other scriptures in the Doctrine and Covenants also highlight the fact that the Lord seeks to warn the world of what is to come. He instructed missionaries, “And let your preaching be the warning voice, every man to his neighbor, in mildness and in meekness. And go ye out from among the wicked. Save yourselves” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:41-42). He similarly said in another revelation, “And that every man should take righteousness in his hands and faithfulness upon his loins, and lift a warning voice unto the inhabitants of the earth; and declare both by word and by flight that desolation shall come upon the wicked…. For this is a day of warning, and not a day of many words” (Doctrine and Covenants 63:37,58). In the olive leaf revelation the Lord also instructed missionaries, “Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor.” And what are they to warn about? A few verses later the Lord explained, “That their souls may escape the wrath of God, the desolation of abomination which awaits the wicked, both in this world and in the world to come” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:81,85). For those who reject the Savior, they will face the wrath of God as they suffer for their own sins, whether that be in this life or in the next. To Sidney Rigdon the Lord similarly instructed, “And in all his journeyings let him lift up his voice as with the sound of a trump, and warn the inhabitants of the earth to flee the wrath to come” (Doctrine and Covenants 124:106). The Lord wishes to warn all the world that His wrath is coming upon the earth and that we must repent and flee wickedness for our protection. This coming weekend we have the opportunity to hear from modern day prophets who will similarly warn us to turn away from evil, repent, and protect ourselves by making and keeping covenants with the Lord. Their message to all is just as important as Noah’s was to his generation when he sought to save them from the flood.