When Shall the Earth Rest?

In His explanation of the parable of the wheat and the tares, the Savior explained, “Behold, verily I say unto you, the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields” (Doctrine and Covenants 86:5). Apparently, the angels in heaven are even more anxious than the righteous here on the earth for the Second Coming to arrive and for the earth to be cleansed of wickedness. Another revelation puts it this way: “For all flesh is corrupted before me; and the powers of darkness prevail upon the earth, among the children of men, in the presence of all the hosts of heaven—Which causeth silence to reign, and all eternity is pained, and the angels are waiting the great command to reap down the earth, to gather the tares that they may be burned; and, behold, the enemy is combined” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:11-12). The heavenly hosts are pained at the powers of darkness that prevail on the earth and are waiting for the announcement that the Savior will go to the earth and evil will be stopped. Enoch beheld that the earth feels the same way about the wickedness of the children of men: “And it came to pass that Enoch looked upon the earth; and he heard a voice from the bowels thereof, saying: Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me? When will my Creator sanctify me, that I may rest, and righteousness for a season abide upon my face?” (Moses 7:48) There is so much wickedness on the earth that it figuratively cries out in protest. As Isaiah taught, rest and peace only come when there is righteousness; wickedness and unrest go together: “The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked” (Isaiah 57:20-21). The earth cannot truly have rest until there is no more wickedness.

            As Enoch had this vision of the earth, he earnestly sought to understand when that day would come that the earth would rest. He seems to have assumed that rest and righteousness would come once the Savior came in the meridian of time. Enoch “cried unto the Lord, saying: When the Son of Man cometh in the flesh, shall the earth rest? I pray thee, show me these things.” In answer to this he beheld the Savior on the cross and beheld that the earth was not at rest: “And he heard a loud voice; and the heavens were veiled; and all the creations of God mourned; and the earth groaned; and the rocks were rent; and the saints arose, and were crowned at the right hand of the Son of Man, with crowns of glory; And as many of the spirits as were in prison came forth, and stood on the right hand of God; and the remainder were reserved in chains of darkness until the judgment of the great day.” What he beheld was the exact opposite of the rest he hoped for: all the creations were mourning and the earth was groaning under the pain of the Savior’s atonement and the wickedness of the earth. And so, realizing that the earth would not rest in the meridian of time, “Again Enoch wept and cried unto the Lord, saying: When shall the earth rest?” He beheld the Savior’s ascension into heaven and called unto the Lord, “Wilt thou not come again upon the earth? Forasmuch as thou art God, and I know thee, and thou hast sworn unto me, and commanded me that I should ask in the name of thine Only Begotten; thou hast made me, and given unto me a right to thy throne, and not of myself, but through thine own grace; wherefore, I ask thee if thou wilt not come again on the earth.” He seemed to know at that point that when the Savior would come for the second time, the earth would finally rest. The Savior responded to him, “As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfil the oath which I have made unto you concerning the children of Noah; And the day shall come that the earth shall rest.” Thus we have the Lord’s promise that someday rest—meaning peace and righteousness—will finally come to the earth, and that will be when He comes again in glory. And so, the angels cry day and night unto the Lord, waiting anxiously for the word to come that it is time for His return. In the meantime, we must strive to prepare for Him by building up Zion and “gird up [our] loins, and be looking forth for the time of [His] coming.” And when that day comes, He promises, “And there shall be mine abode, and it shall be Zion, which shall come forth out of all the creations which I have made; and for the space of a thousand years the earth shall rest” (Moses 7:54-64). If we wonder why He doesn’t come sooner amidst the suffering and evil of the world today, we are in good company with Enoch and the angels and the earth itself, but we can trust that in His time He will indeed come again and usher in a thousand years of rest.