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" We are living at the commencement of the Millennium, and near the close of the 6,000th year of the world's history. Tremendous events await this generation. You can read an account of them in the revelations of St. John; the opening of the seals; the blowing of the trumpets; the pouring out of the plagues; the judgments of God which will overtake the wicked when Great Babylon comes in remembrance before God, and when the sword that is bathed in heaven shall fall on Idumea, or the world who shall be able to abide these things? Here we are living in the midst of these tremendous events.
The signs of heaven and earth all indicate the near coming of the Son of Man. You read the 9th, 10th and 11th chapters of the last Book of Nephi, and see what the Lord has said will take place in this generation, when the gospel of Christ has again been offered to the inhabitants of the earth. The Lord did not reveal the day of the coming of the Son of Man, but he revealed the generation. That generation is upon us. The signs of heaven and earth predict the fulfillment of these things, and they will come to pass.
I do not know that any people on the earth, except the Latter-day Saints, are looking for this great event. There may be exceptions, there may be men who believe in the second coming of Christ. The people called Millerites, believe in the second coming of the Savior, and they have set a great many days when it should take place. But he did not come, and he never will come until the revelations of God are fulfilled and a people are prepared for his coming. He will never come until the Jews are gathered home and have rebuilt their temple and city, and the Gentiles, have gone up there to battle against them. He will never come until his Saints have built up Zion, and have fulfilled the revelations which have been spoken concerning it. He will never come until the Gentiles throughout the whole Christian world have been warned by the inspired elders Of Israel. They are called to thrust in the sickle and reap, for the harvest is ripe and the time has come, which is referred to in this revelation, when the Lord commands the elders to go forth and warn the world for the last time, and call upon the inhabitants of the earth to repent.
Source: G. Homer Durham, ed. The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1946. 252 - 254.
We know categorically that from the fall of Adam to the Second Coming of Christ is a period of some six thousand years, and that the millennial era will then continue for another thousand years. Such is the chronology recited in the Bible, which has been confirmed by revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith. Our revelation speaks of "this earth during the seven thousand years of its continuance, or its temporal existence," and also specifies that Christ will come "in the beginning of the seventh thousand years." This in no way names the day nor the hour of our Lord's return, and it does not put a stamp of divine approval upon our calendars as they now exist. It simply lets us know that the Biblical account of the chronology relative to Adam and his posterity is either correct or substantially so. The number of years there recited is either accurate or so nearly so that it does not make any real difference for our purposes.
Source: McConkie, Bruce R. The Promised Messiah. The Messiah Series, 6 Vols. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1982. 606.