We should look inward and answer for ourselves each question (in bold below) that is asked.
Today I have felt prompted to speak of the importance of preparation for a future event of supreme importance to each of us—the Second Coming of the Lord.
Four matters are indisputable to Latter-day Saints:
(1) The Savior will return to the earth in power and great glory to reign personally during a millennium of righteousness and peace.
(2) At the time of His coming there will be a destruction of the wicked and a resurrection of the righteous.
(3) No one knows the time of His coming.
(4) The faithful are taught to study the signs of it and to be prepared for it.
Biblical and modern prophecies give many signs of the Second Coming. These include:
- The fulness of the gospel restored and preached in all the world for a witness to all nations.
- False Christs and false prophets, deceiving many.
- Wars and rumors of wars, with nation rising against nation.
- Earthquakes in divers places.
- Famine and pestilence.
-
An overflowing scourge, a desolating sickness covering the land.
- Iniquity abounding.
- The whole earth in commotion.
- Men’s hearts failing them.
These signs of the Second Coming are all around us and seem to be
increasing in frequency and intensity. For example, the list of major
earthquakes in The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2004 shows
twice as many earthquakes in the decades of the 1980s and 1990s as in
the two preceding decades (pp. 189–90). It also shows further sharp
increases in the first several years of this century. The list of
notable floods and tidal waves and the list of hurricanes, typhoons, and
blizzards worldwide show similar increases in recent years (pp.
188–89). Increases by comparison with 50 years ago can be dismissed as
changes in reporting criteria, but the accelerating pattern of natural
disasters in the last few decades is ominous.
Another sign of the times is the gathering of the faithful (see D&C 133:4).
In the early years of this last dispensation, a gathering to Zion
involved various locations in the United States: to Kirtland, to
Missouri, to Nauvoo, and to the tops of the mountains. Always these were
gatherings to prospective temples. With the creation of stakes and the
construction of temples in most nations with sizeable populations of the
faithful, the current commandment is not to gather to one place but to
gather in stakes in our own homelands. There the faithful can enjoy the
full blessings of eternity in a house of the Lord. There, in their own
homelands, they can obey the Lord’s command to enlarge the borders of
His people and strengthen her stakes (see D&C 101:21; D&C 133:9, 14).
In this way, the stakes of Zion are “for a defense, and for a refuge
from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without
mixture upon the whole earth” (D&C 115:6).
The Lord
said, “And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable
be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins” (D&C 45:56).
Given
in the 25th chapter of Matthew, this parable contrasts the
circumstances of the five foolish and the five wise virgins. All ten
were invited to the wedding feast, but only half of them were prepared
with oil in their lamps when the bridegroom came. The five who were
prepared went into the marriage feast, and the door was shut. The five
who had delayed their preparations came late. The door had been closed,
and the Lord denied them entrance, saying, “I know you not” (Matt. 25:12). “Watch therefore,” the Savior concluded, “for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 25:13).
The
arithmetic of this parable is chilling. The ten virgins obviously
represent members of Christ’s Church, for all were invited to the
wedding feast and all knew what was required to be admitted when the
bridegroom came. But only half were ready when he came.
What
if the day of His coming were tomorrow? If we knew that we would meet
the Lord tomorrow—through our premature death or through His unexpected
coming—what would we do today? What confessions would we make? What
practices would we discontinue? What accounts would we settle? What
forgivenesses would we extend? What testimonies would we bear?
If
we would do those things then, why not now? Why not seek peace while
peace can be obtained? If our lamps of preparation are drawn down, let
us start immediately to replenish them.
We
need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events
prophesied at the time of the Second Coming. And the preparation most
likely to be neglected is the one less visible and more difficult—the
spiritual. A 72-hour kit of temporal supplies may prove valuable for
earthly challenges, but, as the foolish virgins learned to their sorrow,
a 24-hour kit of spiritual preparation is of greater and more enduring
value.
What
is the state of our personal preparation for eternal life? The people
of God have always been people of covenant. What is the measure of our
compliance with covenants, including the sacred promises we made in the
waters of baptism,
in receiving the holy priesthood, and in the temples of God? Are we
promisers who do not fulfill and believers who do not perform?
Are
we following the Lord’s command, “Stand ye in holy places, and be not
moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly”? (D&C 87:8).
What are those “holy places”? Surely they include the temple and its
covenants faithfully kept. Surely they include a home where children are
treasured and parents are respected. Surely the holy places include our
posts of duty assigned by priesthood authority, including missions and
callings faithfully fulfilled in branches, wards, and stakes.
“Wherefore,”
the Savior tells us, “be faithful, praying always, having your lamps
trimmed and burning, and oil with you, that you may be ready at the
coming of the Bridegroom—For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you,
that I come quickly” (D&C 33:17–18).
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