The next part of the chapter warns us that Christ will return “in an hour [we] think not.” This part of the chapter gives a good description of what the role of Christ is supposed to be, stating that he’s our advocate with the father, that he will plead our cause. I’ve heard Christ compared to our lawyer before, and it makes a lot of sense to me. We might not be able to make our case well for ourselves, but Christ knows us and the thoughts and intents of our hearts. He knows our motivations even better than we do, and our intentions matter to God. I like the idea of the best lawyer in the world (Jesus), representing us in the best way possible to argue our case before God to secure the best outcome for each of us.
We’re told not to harden our hearts, and advised to “be not troubled.” We’re told that the summer, or Christ’s return, is nigh at hand. This metaphor of the fig leaves is also in the Bible. It says that when we begin to see the signs of the times, or the events preceding the second coming, then we can know that the time is almost here. We’re taught that those signs that precede his coming are like the spring buds on the trees. I always think of these scriptures when I see the buds forming on the trees, and it’s something cool to think about this time of year. We see the buds on the trees, but summer isn’t here yet. If you’re not paying attention summer creeps up on you and one day you wake up and the trees have leaves and it’s 80 degrees. It really is that quick. Especially if you aren’t taking notice. One day the trees are bare, and suddenly the flowers or leaves have blossomed. The swiftness which spring turns to summer I think was chosen for this reason.
We’re admonished to repent, to tell others to repent, for “in an hour when ye think not the summer shall be past, and the harvest ended . . .” These scriptures remind me of the reference in the bible where the second coming is compared to a woman travailing in childbirth. Everyone knows she’s pregnant. She knows she’s pregnant. And this goes on for months and months. Until suddenly, it’s time. She’s going into labor and the baby is coming and nothing can stop it. It’s got to happen. This metaphor too is interesting because, like in the fig leaves, there's a whole lot of time when it seems like nothing is happening. maybe there's a little bit going on. It seems like a lot of waiting from the outside. The woman might have some symptoms, she get's bigger and rounger, but there's not a whole lot going on. Behind the scenes things are changing, but until the chaos of the big event, the birth, the world goes on normally. In the metaphor of the worman, it's pretty clear when the birth will be, if you’re paying attention. You might not know the “date or time” but you have a pretty darn good idea of the season and sequence of events. You can tell just by looking at the signs that the birth is imminent.
We’re supposed to tell the world to repent, to become better, to be messengers before Christ “to prepare the way before [him].” I got a strong sense that we shouldn’t procrastinate--our improvement, our own repentance, our willingness to learn and study. We don’t know what the future holds, so we need to prepare while the preparing is good. Sometimes you’ll have more time, or more emotional energy, and we need to prepare now, instead of assuming we have time. I’m not necessarily saying that the coming of Christ is about to happen (although the parable of the ten virgins warns us not to be complacent about that), I’m saying that due to circumstances in our lives there are times we will have more adversity, or hardship, or trials of our faith than others. Because of this, we need to be working on our defenses before we need them. We need to build our armour, our resilience, our faith, and our ability to be guided before the test of our faith. We need to study and prepare for the test before we take it.
President Nelson said, “Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses--yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will ‘grow into the principle of revelation.’” We really do believe some very interesting things, and I sometimes think most of us are living way below the privileges we may be entitled to (I feel like they’ve said that in conference before too). In this talk from 2018 Conference he said that God really does want to tell us things and reveal things to us.
While many of the signs of the Second Coming, or the signs of the times, are scary, we have to try not to view them through the lens of fear. You’ve probably heard that fear and faith can’t coexist in someone at the same time. This is a psychological phenomenon called cognitive dissonance. We have a hard time holding opposing things in our minds, and we end up choosing one or the other. These scriptures that tell us about the calamities and chaos that will come, but there’s another side to that coin. They aren’t just warnings of danger or dreadful things to come. They're also supposed to be faith promoting signs that God’s promises are about to be fulfilled. I try to think of it was a yin and yang thing. There is opposition and balance in the universe, and as scary or dreadful as things might be, they are also supposed to be equally wonderful at the same time. As the depravity, evil, and corruption in the world become more apparent, so too will the opposing forces of goodness, virtue, and purity increase.
There’s a lot to read about the Second Coming and the events leading up to it. I won’t go into that here. I do encourage people to study it on their own. How can you watch for the signs, how can you know how unfurled the buds on the trees are, unless you’re paying attention? Unless you know what to look for?
We are admonished to stand in Holy places. What does this mean? Is it a physical location? While it can be, it’s not necessarily a geographical location. Zion is described as the pure in heart. It is intention, or the intents of our hearts. It is our state of mind. While the world is at war and calamities are befalling people and nations, the scriptures tell us that “great things await [us, who seek to follow Christ].” Though war, calamity, chaos, turmoil, natural disasters, and the taking of peace from the earth are hallmarks of the last days, this bleak picture isn’t the whole reality.
Sometimes we forget the other side of the coin. As Satan rages in the hearts of some men, others establish a place called the New Jerusalem, or Zion, which is a “a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety. . .” The wicked won’t come to Zion, but the world will reach a point “that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety.” Those who live in Zion, this New Jerusalem, are “the only people that shall not be at war one with another.”
We’re told not to harden our hearts, and advised to “be not troubled.” We’re told that the summer, or Christ’s return, is nigh at hand. This metaphor of the fig leaves is also in the Bible. It says that when we begin to see the signs of the times, or the events preceding the second coming, then we can know that the time is almost here. We’re taught that those signs that precede his coming are like the spring buds on the trees. I always think of these scriptures when I see the buds forming on the trees, and it’s something cool to think about this time of year. We see the buds on the trees, but summer isn’t here yet. If you’re not paying attention summer creeps up on you and one day you wake up and the trees have leaves and it’s 80 degrees. It really is that quick. Especially if you aren’t taking notice. One day the trees are bare, and suddenly the flowers or leaves have blossomed. The swiftness which spring turns to summer I think was chosen for this reason.
We’re admonished to repent, to tell others to repent, for “in an hour when ye think not the summer shall be past, and the harvest ended . . .” These scriptures remind me of the reference in the bible where the second coming is compared to a woman travailing in childbirth. Everyone knows she’s pregnant. She knows she’s pregnant. And this goes on for months and months. Until suddenly, it’s time. She’s going into labor and the baby is coming and nothing can stop it. It’s got to happen. This metaphor too is interesting because, like in the fig leaves, there's a whole lot of time when it seems like nothing is happening. maybe there's a little bit going on. It seems like a lot of waiting from the outside. The woman might have some symptoms, she get's bigger and rounger, but there's not a whole lot going on. Behind the scenes things are changing, but until the chaos of the big event, the birth, the world goes on normally. In the metaphor of the worman, it's pretty clear when the birth will be, if you’re paying attention. You might not know the “date or time” but you have a pretty darn good idea of the season and sequence of events. You can tell just by looking at the signs that the birth is imminent.
We’re supposed to tell the world to repent, to become better, to be messengers before Christ “to prepare the way before [him].” I got a strong sense that we shouldn’t procrastinate--our improvement, our own repentance, our willingness to learn and study. We don’t know what the future holds, so we need to prepare while the preparing is good. Sometimes you’ll have more time, or more emotional energy, and we need to prepare now, instead of assuming we have time. I’m not necessarily saying that the coming of Christ is about to happen (although the parable of the ten virgins warns us not to be complacent about that), I’m saying that due to circumstances in our lives there are times we will have more adversity, or hardship, or trials of our faith than others. Because of this, we need to be working on our defenses before we need them. We need to build our armour, our resilience, our faith, and our ability to be guided before the test of our faith. We need to study and prepare for the test before we take it.
President Nelson said, “Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses--yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will ‘grow into the principle of revelation.’” We really do believe some very interesting things, and I sometimes think most of us are living way below the privileges we may be entitled to (I feel like they’ve said that in conference before too). In this talk from 2018 Conference he said that God really does want to tell us things and reveal things to us.
While many of the signs of the Second Coming, or the signs of the times, are scary, we have to try not to view them through the lens of fear. You’ve probably heard that fear and faith can’t coexist in someone at the same time. This is a psychological phenomenon called cognitive dissonance. We have a hard time holding opposing things in our minds, and we end up choosing one or the other. These scriptures that tell us about the calamities and chaos that will come, but there’s another side to that coin. They aren’t just warnings of danger or dreadful things to come. They're also supposed to be faith promoting signs that God’s promises are about to be fulfilled. I try to think of it was a yin and yang thing. There is opposition and balance in the universe, and as scary or dreadful as things might be, they are also supposed to be equally wonderful at the same time. As the depravity, evil, and corruption in the world become more apparent, so too will the opposing forces of goodness, virtue, and purity increase.
There’s a lot to read about the Second Coming and the events leading up to it. I won’t go into that here. I do encourage people to study it on their own. How can you watch for the signs, how can you know how unfurled the buds on the trees are, unless you’re paying attention? Unless you know what to look for?
We are admonished to stand in Holy places. What does this mean? Is it a physical location? While it can be, it’s not necessarily a geographical location. Zion is described as the pure in heart. It is intention, or the intents of our hearts. It is our state of mind. While the world is at war and calamities are befalling people and nations, the scriptures tell us that “great things await [us, who seek to follow Christ].” Though war, calamity, chaos, turmoil, natural disasters, and the taking of peace from the earth are hallmarks of the last days, this bleak picture isn’t the whole reality.
Sometimes we forget the other side of the coin. As Satan rages in the hearts of some men, others establish a place called the New Jerusalem, or Zion, which is a “a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety. . .” The wicked won’t come to Zion, but the world will reach a point “that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety.” Those who live in Zion, this New Jerusalem, are “the only people that shall not be at war one with another.”
I like this verse in Doctrine and Covenants 45:70 which says, “And it shall be said among the wicked: Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand.” I’ve thought a lot about that and wondered what it meant. Why would the wicked not want to come against Zion? I’ve wondered if the warriors or protectors of Zion would just be scary, if they were strong and powerful and the bad guys didn’t know why. Maybe it would be because the people of Zion weren’t afraid to defend themselves against people who would otherwise hurt them, and they didn’t have reservations killing people who would destroy them if given the chance. Either way, if the world really does go to crap, we can gather together to a place of like minded individuals, and there, if nowhere else in the world, we can experience peace, refuge, and safety, guarded by our terrible warriors who strike fear in the hearts of the wicked.
If the world gets scary, anyone who wants to can have access to peace. We have access to guidance. We have access to power. As we seek truth, we need to try to find the most reliable and trustworthy sources. Are we listening to random people on Facebook or Social Media? Are we watching the news and listening to politicians? Or are we going to the source of truth and learning how to be guided by the Holy Ghost? Are we seeking truth from God? Obviously easier said than done. If the world keeps going crazy and changing, maybe it’s because God really is hastening His work.
