LDS Quotes on the Second Coming
I prophesy, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, anguish and wrath and tribulation and the withdrawing of the Spirit of God from the earth await this generation, until they are visited with utter desolation. This generation is as corrupt as the generation of the Jews that crucified Christ; and if He were here to-day, and should preach the same doctrine He did then, they would put Him to death.
| Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 328
Before that sacred night in Bethlehem, the events of history and the words of the prophets of all dispensations prepared the way for the first coming of the Lord and His Atonement. Similarly, history and prophecy laid the groundwork for the Restoration of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Do we have eyes to see that the events and prophecies of our time are preparing us for the Savior’s Second Coming?
| “Preparations for the Restoration and the Second Coming: ‘My Hand Shall Be over Thee,'” Ensign, November 2005, p. 92
When I contemplate the rapidity with which the great and glorious day of the coming of the Son of Man advances, when He shall come to receive His Saints unto Himself, where they shall dwell in His presence, and be crowned with glory and immortality: when I consider that soon the heavens are to be shaken, and the earth tremble and reel to and fro; and that the heavens are to be unfolded as a scroll when it is rolled up; and that every mountain and island are to flee away, I cry out in my heart, What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness!
| Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 29
This cause will roll on in majesty and power to fill the earth. Doors now closed to the preaching of the gospel will be opened. The Almighty, if necessary, may have to shake the nations to humble them and cause them to listen to the servants of the living God. Whatever is needed will come to pass.
Many of these signs are being fulfilled. Wickedness is everywhere. Nations are constantly at war. Earthquakes and other calamities are occurring. Many people now suffer from devastating storms, drought, hunger, and diseases. We can be certain that these calamities will become more severe before the Lord comes.
However, not all the events preceding the Second Coming are dreadful. Many of them bring joy to the world.
| Gospel Principles, “Signs of the Second Coming,” p. 253
We live in a very difficult era in the history of the world, when Satan is going to and fro on the earth among the children of God, doing all manner of evil to thwart the desires of a righteous God. The scriptures teach us that Satan’s evil designs upon the peoples of the earth will intensify as the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ draws near at hand (see 2 Thessalonians 2:1-10; D&C 10:33; 52:14; 86:3-10). . . . It is so important that all of us understand that we live in the last dispensation of the fulness of time – that we are preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and that the adversary in these last days will be able to loose more evils upon the world.
| Ensign, November 2001, pp. 39, 41
“The great and crowning advent of the Lord will be subsequent to these two appearances [to his Temple and on the Mount of Olives]; but who can describe it in the language of mortals? The tongue of man falters, and the pen drops from the hand of the writer, as the mind is rapt in contemplation of the sublime and awful majesty of his coming to take vengeance on the ungodly and to reign as King of the whole earth.”
| “The Second Advent,” Millennial Star, 10 Sept. 1859, pp. 582-83; Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, p. 340
The coming of the Son of Man never will be, never can be, till the judgments spoken of for this hour are poured out, which judgments are commenced. . . . All this must be done before [the] Son of Man will make his appearance: wars and rumors of wars, signs in the heavens above [and] on the earth beneath, [the] sun turned into darkness [and the] moon to blood, earthquakes in diverse places, oceans heaving beyond their bounds, then one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven. But what will the world do? They will say it is a planet, a comet, and so forth. Consequently, the Son of Man will come as the sign of [the] coming of the Son of Man.
| Discourse of 6 April 1843, recorded by Willard Richards; WJS, p. 180
President Joseph Fielding Smith wrote: “If . . . the earth is to be restored as it was in the beginning, then all the land surface will again be in one place as it was before the days of Peleg, when this great division was accomplished. Europe, Africa, and the islands of the sea including Australia, New Zealand, and other places in the Pacific must be brought back and joined together as they were in the beginning.”
| Answers to Gospel Questions, 5:74) — Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, p. 340
“The day of the coming of the Lord is near. I do not know when . . . . I sincerely believe it will come in the very day when some of us who are here today [April 5, 1936] will be living upon the earth. That day is close at hand. It behooves us as Latter-day Saints to set our houses in order, to keep the commandments of God, to turn from evil to righteousness, if it is necessary, and serve the Lord in humility and faith and prayer.”
| Doctrines of Salvation, 3:2-3