“The Second Coming of the Savior, No. II” The Evening and the Morning Star (Independence, Missouri) 2, no. 13 (June 1833): 99.
IN the 4th number of the Star, the second coming of the Savior was commenced, and we again continue the same subject, for the instruction of those who hope to see him in the flesh.
This is one of the greatest subjects that we can write upon in these last days. It is a subject that concerns all men. For the warning voice has gone forth in these last days, for all men to be prepared for the time when he comes in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Notwithstanding all, or the most of christendom, pretend to believe, that the Millennium will soon be ushered in and cause a spiritual reign of the Savior over mankind, still, the plain fact, that he will come down in person and reign on earth with the righteous, a thousand years, seems to be as foreign to the minds of those who pretend to believe that the bible is true, except those who believe in the fulness of the gospel, as his birth and ministry were to the Jews.
Now if the church of Christ had no other prophecy than that of Moses, and Peter’s words added to it, the disciples would be bound to believe that Jesus Christ would, at some time or other, come on earth, and that all who would not repent and become righteous, would be cut off.
Moses said, The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken. Peter said, that Christ should come again, for said he, the heavens must receive him until the times of restitution of all things, &c., and that this Jesus was the same of whom Moses spake.
This prophetic language, in connection with what precedes it, is enough to convince any rational man, that the Savior will come again in person, and the wicked be destroyed. For the language is equally as plain that he will come the second time in person, as it was that he would come the first. And all who deny this fact, deny his word. For it is plainly set forth in his word, that he will come again on earth before the last great day of judgment; and all who believe his word, who are acquainted with his Spirit, and who know his voice, know that this is true.
If Peter did not mean that Jesus Christ should be sent again, (for this was after his crucifixion) what did he mean? But he proved his words from the prophecy of Moses, that the Lord had come once, and then said that he should come again. The great mistake which the world, or which the Jews made, and which the Gentiles now make, is, in supposing one thing for another, or, thinking that when the word of the Lord directly says one thing, that it does not mean as it says, but must be applied some other way, or be turned into some other meaning; when they deny that any one can speak moved by the Holy Ghost in these last days, that God does not inspire men now to give revelations, and that his word is infallible, eternal truth, and will never pass away, and yet they will, by their own wisdom, figure a something directly different from the plain, precious, and easy word of God; and say, Listen ye to my precept, for behold, I show unto you a more excellent way. And all have a different precept, and all show a different way, and we ask where are they all going, and where will they all land?
The Jews supposed that when the Messiah came, he would come with power and great glory, and subdue all enemies under his feet. They expected the Savior to come but once; they were disappointed, and fell upon that Rock, and were broken and scattered.
The Gentiles received the Savior spiritually, and they never expect him in person again: When Paul says: And to you, who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day.—And also the Lord said, that he would come in the clouds of heaven.
It is really strange that men blind themselves, and miss the truth; but so it is. The Gentiles are in the same dilemma for the second coming, that the Jews were for the first, and although the Jews fell upon the Rock and were broken, yet they have the promise of mercy, while those upon whom the Rock shall fall, will be ground to powder.
Enoch, who walked with God while Zion was upon the earth in the first thousand years, said, the Savior was to come in the meridian of time, and then again in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfill the oath which he made unto him concerning the children of Noah.
The day shall come that the earth shall rest, but before that day, the heavens shall be darkened, and a vail of darkness shall cover the earth; and the heavens shall shake, and also the earth, and great tribulations shall be among the children of men, but my people will I preserve; and righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth to bear testimony of mine Only begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men: and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine own elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an holy city, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called ZION, a New Jerusalem.
It is clearly expressed in the sacred volume, that before the great day of the Lord, there shall be great distress and trouble, such as was never before, nor should be afterward: But immediately after the tribulation as those days, shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Our Savior said to the three Nephites who desired to tarry: Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my beloved, which was with me in my ministry, before that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me; therefore more blessed are ye, for ye shall never taste of death, but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father, unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled, according to the will of the Father, when I shall come in my glory, with the powers of heaven.