9/10/2018 - Section 109:74-80

September 10, 2018

Section 109:74-80

Second Coming Timeline, Kirtland Temple Dedicatory Prayer, Last Days, Earth Education, Happiness and Joy, Life Journeys,

These last few verses are the close of the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland temple. And they speak of the things that will happen at the second coming of Christ. Parley P Pratt wrote about this saying “and in connection with the glorious coming of Jesus Christ, the earth will undergo a change in its physical features, climate, soil, productions, and in its plitcal, moral and spiritual government.” I’m not sure which of those changes would be the most dramatic, but I long for the second of them. Parley P Pratt continues: “Its mountains will be leveled, its valleys exalted, its swamps and sickly places will be drained and become healthy, while its burning deserts and its frigid polar regions will be redeemed and become temperate and fruitful.” I am not going to worry about the things that I have no control over, but I am hoping that mountains and valleys will be left because of their majesty and beauty. And if Christ is to appear to many in the valley of Adamondiamman, then my hopes of the future landscape may be founded in fact. The important thing is that Christ WILL come, and all WILL recognize him for who he was and who he is. There will be an end to the ‘earth schooling’ we have all gone through, and there will be a beginning to the next stage of our learning and growth.

We know this will happen, but we have no idea of exactly how, or when, or where. Orson Pratt wrote about the period of time after the angel sounds a trump ‘loud and long’ (D&C 88:94) saying, there will be “silence in heaven for the space of half and hour. Whether the half hour here spoken of is according to our reckoning –thrity minutes, or whether it be according to the reckoning of the Lord we do not know. We know that the word hour is used in some portions of the Scriptures to represent quite a lengthy period of time. For instance, we, the Latter-day Saints are living in the eleventh hour, that is in the eleventh period of time; and for aught we know the half hour during which silence is to prevail in heavens may be quite an extensive period of time.” The student manual, p 203, says: “If this measurement refers strictly to the Lord’s time—one thousand of man’s years to one day for the Lord—the ‘half hour’ would be approximately twenty-one years.” Elder Pratt continued; “During the period of silence all things are perfectly still; no angles flying during the half hour; no trumpets sounding; no noise in the heavens above; but immediately after this great silence the curtain of heaven shall be unfolded as a scroll in unfolded.”

These are fascinating events to ponder upon. BUT I have no control over them. I have no idea when they will come, only that they WILL come. So my job is to follow the course that brings me the greatest happiness and fulfillment. And my experimentations of the past 68 years are that that course is following the Lord’s commandments, and repenting when I fail, and talking it all over with my Father every morning and every night. To me, it doesn’t matter when these things will happen. To me the all important thing is to make the best use of my ‘earth education’ ---to be able to enrich my mind, my heart, and my total being (thus change my mind, my hear, and my total being)…which will allow me to be more of a help and a blessing to those around me. That is happiness. That is joy.