| Menu |
Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. (10th prophet):
But, when Christ comes the second time it will be in the clouds of heaven, and it shall be the day of vengeance against the ungodly, when those who have loved wickedness and have been guilty of transgression and rebellion against the laws of God will be destroyed. All during the ministry of Christ wickedness ruled and seemed to prevail, but when he comes in the clouds of glory as it is declared in this message of Malachi to the world, and which was said by Moroni to be near at hand, then Christ will appear as the refiner and purifier of both man and beast and all that pertains to this earth, for the earth itself shall undergo a change and receive its former paradisiacal glory.
Source: McConkie, Bruce R., ed. Doctrines of Salvation: Sermons and Writings of Joseph Fielding Smith, Vol. 3. 11. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954-1955.
Oh, what sorrow, what mourning, what wailing shall rise in that day from the lips of all men in all nations, from all who have not made Christ -- the true Christ -- their King. How the Jews will mourn because they crucified their King. What sorrow will be in the hearts of the Mohammedans because they acclaimed him as one of the prophets and denied his divine Sonship. What tears will water the faces of all those whose fathers bequeathed false forms of worship to them. And how the Christians will wail -- wail until it will seem their very souls shall dissolve into nothingness -- for they, favored above all the kindreds of the earth, had the Holy Scriptures and could read the words of the ancient prophets and the holy apostles, and yet they did not believe the true gospel of the lowly one by whom salvation came. As Jesus said on Olivet, "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.
Source: McConkie, Bruce R. The Promised Messiah. The Messiah Series, 469 - 470. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981.