The Timing of the Second Coming

A recent popular video among Latter-day Saints has suggested a timeline of the Second Coming and the fact that He will return within the next 13 years. This response reminds us that we really cannot be so certain, as the prophets and apostles have consistently taught. President Brigham Young said this in 1868: “It was remarked by Elder Woodruff that he did not think it would be a hundred years before the Savior will come. It is no matter about when he will come; I do not think the Father has yet been pleased to reveal it to any man upon the earth, and I do not known that He has revealed it to the angels. He had not done so in the days of the Savior, and I do not think that He has yet revealed it. Whether He comes today, tomorrow, this week, next week, this year, or next year, it matters not; we should be prepared for His coming, and this should satisfy us.” A few years later Orson Pratt similarly said, “It may be well for us, in the examination of that great event, the second coming of Christ, to refer to some of the predictions of inspired writers in regard to the time of our Savior’s revelation from the heavens. I do not mean to say the day nor the hour of his coming, for that is unknown, no man that lives on the face of the earth knows anything about the day or the hour; neither will there be any man on the earth prior to the coming of the Lord who will know the day and the hour, for it is hidden from mortal man.”

                In 1970 President Harold B. Lee said this in general conference, “One of our brethren is supposed to have had a patriarchal blessing saying that he would preside over the Church when the Savior came. This is, of course, false. Another one among us has been said to have declared that there are some living today who will see the Savior when he comes. This again is fictitious. Well, the Master said that the time of his coming would be as a thief in the night, that of the time of his coming not even the angels of heaven would know. If we would stop to think of it, nobody with any authority would ever say that such a declaration could be authentic.” About a decade later President Hinckley was reported to have given a prophecy about how the Savior would come on the morning of the Sabbath and on April 6^th. From his remarks people were making predictions about the very date of the Second Coming, and President Hinckley responded to this in a devotional address: “I assume that no one in the Church would think that a member of the Council of the Twelve would make such statements as these attributed to me. Furthermore, should any such idea have come into my mind, it would not have stood unchallenged with the President of the Church seated immediately behind me. The fact is that the whole thing is a fabrication. Why anyone would indulge in this kind of speculation I cannot understand.… Of course I do not know when the Savior will come. He himself said: ‘O that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.’” He continued, “If anyone were to ask me the day and the hour of the Second Coming, I could only answer that I do not know.”

                About two decades after that, Elder Ballard spoke at a BYU devotional about the last days and said this: “So can we use this scientific data to extrapolate that the Second Coming is likely to occur during the next few years, or the next decade, or the next century? Not really. 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 Council of the Twelve or even in the First Presidency know. And I would humbly suggest to you, my young brothers and sisters, that if we do not know, then nobody knows, no matter how compelling their arguments or how reasonable their calculations. The Savior said that ‘of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only’ (Matthew 24:36). I believe when the Lord says ‘no man’ knows, it really means that no man knows. You should be extremely wary of anyone who claims to be an exception to divine decree.”

                More recently in 2011 President Packer also counseled the youth in 2011: “Sometimes you might be tempted to think as I did from time to time in my youth: ‘The way things are going, the world’s going to be over with. The end of the world is going to come before I get to where I should be.’ Not so! You can look forward to doing it right—getting married, having a family, seeing your children and grandchildren, maybe even great-grandchildren.” The message of the leaders of the Church has always been that we do not know the exact timing of the Second Coming. What we do know is that we need to prepare for the Second Coming—that is what is important. As the Savior said, “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come…. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 24:42-44). Just about every generation of Christians since the Savior left earth has thought that the Second Coming was just around the corner, so we should be hesitant when we hear the same report for our day. Our attitude should be that of Alma’s who looked forward to the first coming of the Savior (and which was not in his day): “And now we only wait to hear the joyful news declared unto us by the mouth of angels, of his coming; for the time cometh, we know not how soon. Would to God that it might be in my day; but let it be sooner or later, in it I will rejoice” (Alma 13:25). We rejoice to know that the Savior will return someday, and for now we must spiritually prepare ourselves whether His coming be in our day or not.