The End Draweth Nigh

I was struck with the sense of urgency found in the final verses of the allegory of the olive tree in Jacob 5. These verses describe the work of the Lord in the last days, and we can see that the Lord of the vineyard is anxious for the work to get accomplished as soon as possible. We read first this lament from the Lord: “I have stretched forth mine hand almost all the day long, and the end draweth nigh. And it grieveth me that I should hew down all the trees of my vineyard, and cast them into the fire that they should be burned” (v47). The end is coming and the Lord is anxious to save His vineyard. Instead of destroying the vineyard because of its corruption, He and His servant chose to nourish it one last time. He instructed with urgency: “Wherefore, go to, and call servants, that we may labor diligently with our might in the vineyard, that we may prepare the way…. Wherefore, let us go to and labor with our might this last time, for behold the end draweth nigh, and this is for the last time that I shall prune my vineyard…. Wherefore, dig about them, and prune them, and dung them once more, for the last time, for the end draweth nigh” (v61-62, 64). So, three times He emphasized that the end was drawing nigh and that they needed to act accordingly. After the servant gathered together other servants, the Lord again gave similar instructions, “Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh…  And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them;… And thus they labored, with all diligence, according to the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard, even until the bad had been cast away out of the vineyard, and the Lord had preserved unto himself that the trees had become again the natural fruit” (v71-72, 74). Again He emphasized that the end was night at hand and that the time would “speedily” come when they could not work anymore. So they went to work without delay because of the impending end coming to the vineyard, and the servants labored with all their might knowing that the Lord needed their work before it was too late.  

               These verses remind me of the hymn The Time is Far Spent that we often sang in missionary zone conferences on my mission. My mission president seemed to love the song and we sang it much faster than the indicated tempo, helping instill in us a sense of urgency to accomplish the work of the Lord. In the first verse we sing:      

The time is far spent; there is little remaining

To publish glad tidings by sea and by land.

Then hasten, ye heralds; go forward proclaiming:

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven’s at hand, 

The time is short to do the great work of the Lord, and He wants us “anxiously engaged” to accomplish it like the servants in the allegory of the olive tree. There is relatively little time remaining before the Savior will return, and so we work to prepare ourselves and the world for His arrival. This doesn’t mean we have to be always rushed, but we should feel the importance of striving each day to do our best to accomplish those things He would have us do. President Nelson recently gave us this encouragement in a talk called Now is the Time: “Yes, we should learn from the past, and yes, we should prepare for the future. But only now can we do. Now is the time we can learn. Now is the time we can repent. Now is the time we can bless others and ‘lift up the hands which hang down.’ As Mormon counseled his son Moroni, ‘Let us labor diligently; … for we have a labor to perform [while] in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.’” The only time in which we can work indeed is now, and so like Mormon we should strive to labor diligently while it is in our power and we are still in this tabernacle of clay.