Chapter 25
At the Second Coming,
the proud and wicked will be burned as stubble—Elijah will return before that
great and dreadful day—Compare Malachi 4. About A.D. 34.
Christ continues to quote Malachi, continuing with Chapter
4.
The day will come when the proud shall burn. Scriptures tell us, “For it is the day of the
Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion” (Isaiah
34:8).
“To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of
vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn” (Isaiah 61:2).
“For it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that
day whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off
from among my people, O house of Israel;
“And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as
upon the heathen, such as they have not heard” (3 Nephi 21:20-21).
“Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand
shall find out those that hate thee.
“Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine
anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour
them.
“Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their
seed from among the children of men” (Psalms 21:8-10).
“I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye
not returned unto me, saith the Lord” (Amos 4:11).
“And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire;
hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 1:23).
They will burn and become stubble. “Behold, they shall be as
stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the
power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit
before it” (Isaiah 47:13).
But unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of
Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow
up as calves in the stall.
However, the righteous will be healed by the Son of Righteousness.
“For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no
good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalms 84:11).
“And after he had anointed Coriantum to reign in his stead
he lived four years, and he saw peace in the land; yea, and he even saw the Son
of Righteousness, and did rejoice and glory in his day; and he died in peace” (Ether
9:22).
They will go forth and grow up as calves in the stall. “And
the earth shall be given unto them for an inheritance; and they shall multiply
and wax strong, and their children shall grow up without sin unto salvation” (D&C
45:58).
“And the time cometh speedily that the righteous must be led
up as calves of the stall, and the Holy One of Israel must reign in dominion,
and might, and power, and great glory” (1 Nephi 22:24).
They will tread down the wicked. “And my people who are a
remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a
lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep,
who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can
deliver” (3 Nephi 21:12).
They will be ashes under the feet of the righteous in the
day the Lord burns the wicked.
Moses was commanded while in Horeb, to get, for all Israel,
the statues and judgements. “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in
law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert,
and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb” (Exodus 3:3).
“And [Elijah] arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the
strength of that meat [HEB food] forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the
mount of God” (1 Kings 19:8).
Before the Lord comes (“the great and dreadful day of the Lord”),
Elijah will be sent. The Lord told
Joseph Smith, “Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of
Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord”
(D&C 2:1).
During the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, Elijah
returned. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey received keys from him.
“After this vision had closed, another great and glorious
vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without
tasting death, stood before us, and said:
“Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the
mouth of Malachi—testifying that he [Elijah] should be sent, before the great
and dreadful day of the Lord come—
“To turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the
children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse—
“Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into
your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord
is near, even at the doors” (D&C 110:13-16).
When Elijah comes, he will turn the heart of fathers to the
children and the heart of the children to their fathers.
“The literal meaning of heart as an essential body part has
remained about the same, but the word also has a metaphorical extension, so
that heart in 3 Nephi 25:6 refers to one’s thoughts and feelings, not the
physical organ of the human circulatory system … The word heart is also a
cognate with the word courage, which comes to us from Latin, so by metaphorical
extension the phrase take heart in English means ‘have courage.’”[1]
If this does not occur, the Lord will strike the Earth with
a curse.
[1] What's
in a Word? Etymology! Cynthia L. Hallen, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 12/1 (2003).
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