There is very little in here that I can find to disagree with:
"THE SIGN" of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ
The scriptures speak of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the signs that will precede and accompany His arrival. These prophecies strike dread in the hearts of the wicked, promise hope for the saints and in the calm before the coming storm, generates feelings that range from anxiety to shear terror for everyone. How important are the signs of the times to those of us that live in the Last Days? Why did the Lord, even through His Old Testament prophets, provide lists of latter-day events and conditions as signs of His impending return? Are we to study these signs as part of the restored gospel? These modern day scriptures provide the answer.
D&C 45:38-39 Even so it shall be in that day when they shall see all these things, then shall they know that the hour is nigh. And it shall come to pass that he that feareth me shall be looking forth for the great day of the Lord to come, even for the signs of the coming of the Son of Man.
44 And then they shall look for me, and, behold, I will come; and they shall see me in the clouds of heaven, clothed with power and great glory; with all the holy angels; and he that watches not for me shall be cut off.
Some signs refer to the restoration of the Lord's church but most speak of frightful calamities that will affect the whole world. Some even focus on events that will drastically disrupt the lives of members of the Lord's church here in the Rocky Mountains. Signs of the Second Coming started a long time ago and are fast becoming current events. The following are quotes from early church leaders, including the prophet Joseph Smith, and scriptures, both ancient and modern, about the signs that the world will witness as the great day of the Lord draws nearer. First, a short review of the "last days" judgments pronounced upon this nation, included to set the stage for the main focus expressed in the title of this study. To set this stage I begin with words of the prophet Joseph Smith: "I will prophesy that the signs of the coming of the Son of Man are already commenced. One pestilence will desolate after another. We shall soon have war and bloodshed. The moon will be turned into blood. I testify of these things, and that the coming of the Son of Man is nigh, even at your doors. ...The time is soon coming when no man will have any peace but in Zion and her Stakes."
Mosiah Hancock recorded a prophetic statement made by Joseph Smith, 8 days before his martyrdom: "There will be two great political parties in this country. One will be called the Republican, and the other the Democrat party. These two parties will go to war and out of these two parties will spring another party which will be the Independent American Party. The United States will spend her strength and means warring in foreign lands until other nations will say, "let's divide up the lands of the United States..."And another related statement by the prophet: "...the land will be literally left without a supreme government and every species of wickedness will run rampant. Father will be against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother. The most terrible scenes of murder and blood-shed and rapine that ever been looked upon will take place."
President Woodruff speaking of a time, still in our future, when all order in this nation will cease and mobs will begin to rule. The federal and state governments will literally cease to function.
"The judgments of God will now begin to rest more fully upon this nation and will be increased upon it, year by year. Calamities will come speedily upon it and it will be visited with thunder, lightning, storms, whirlwinds, floods, pestilence, plagues, war and devouring fire; the wicked will slay the wicked until the wicked are wasted away."
"Can you tell me where the people are who will be shielded and protected from these great calamities and judgments which are even now at our doors? I'll tell you. The priesthood of God who honor their priesthood and who are worthy of their blessings are the only ones who shall have this safety and protection. They are the only mortal beings. No other people have a right to be shielded from these judgments. They are at our doors; not even this people will escape them entirely."
President George Q. Cannon said: "You will see the day, and it is not far distant, when these mountains will be the stronghold of a free people, and when men will come here because the principles of the Constitution will be maintained here; and they will be protected in their political and religious rights." There will be no law and order; there will be confusion everywhere except here in the Rocky Mountains where the Church is headquartered. At first order will be maintained by the priesthood; there will be peace and security here while the rest of the nation destroys itself in anarchy. Because of this lawlessness, members of the church will not be the only ones that come to the Rocky Mountains seeking safety. George Q. Cannon, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, and Joseph Smith spoke to this fact.
Just prior to this time the call will go out for all Saints world wide to gather to the Rocky Mountains. Their instruction contained in D&C 133 will be "Let them, therefore, who are among the Gentiles flee unto Zion ...unto the mountains of the Lord's house. Go ye out from among the nations, even from Babylon, from the midst of wickedness, which is spiritual Babylon. But verily, thus saith the Lord, let not your flight be in haste, but let all things be prepared before you; and he that goeth, let him not look back lest sudden destruction shall come upon him." The Prophet Joseph Smith, speaking of the Saints that are called to gather to the Rocky Mountains gave this warning; "I prophecy, that that man who tarries after he has an opportunity of going, will be afflicted by the devil. Wars are at hand; we must not delay; but are not required to sacrifice. We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object. When wars come, we shall have to flee to Zion. The cry is to make haste. ...They will follow the Saints of God from city to city."
Orson Pratt, speaking of the future of this nation, said: "it will be a war of neighborhood against neighborhood, city against city, town against town, county against county, state against state, and they will go forth, destroying and being destroyed and manufacturing will, in a great measure, cease, for a time among the American nation. Why? Because in these terrible wars, they will not be privileged to manufacture, there will be too much blood shed, too much mobocracy, too much going forth in bands and destroying and pillaging the land to suffer people to pursue any local vocation with any degree of safety. What will become of millions of the farmers upon that land? They will leave their farms and they will remain uncultivated, and they will flee before the ravages armies from place to place; and thus will they go forth burning and pillaging the whole country; and the great and powerful nation, now consisting of some forty millions of people, will be wasted away, unless they repent."
Brigham Young, speaking of this future gathering, to the Rocky Mountains, said; "An inland empire will be established in these valleys of the mountains, which will be a place of refuge for millions of people to gather to, when the great day of the judgments of God comes upon the earth, and the righteous come here for safety. Our people will go East, West, North, and South, but the day will come, when they will be glad to come back. We will be shut out from the rest of the world."
Another description of conditions in the United States is recorded in a vision attributed to Wilford Woodruff: "as I passed along upon my way east, I saw the road full of people, mostly women, with just what they could carry in bundles on their backs traveling to the mountains on foot. I wondered how they could get through with such a small pack on their back. It was remarkable to me that there were so few men among them. It did not seem to me as though the cars were running. The rails looked rusty and abandoned." Joseph Smith said: "You will be so numerous that you will be in danger of famine, but not for want of seed time and harvest, but because of so many to be fed. Many will come with bundles under their arms to escape the calamities, and there will be no escape except by fleeing to Zion."
With the Lord's church; the Kingdom of God was restored to the earth and has continued to grow within the church's organizational structure. According to the Prophet Joseph Smith the Kingdom of God is be a separate organization from the Church of God and will in the last days emerge as the presiding world government; the political arm of God on earth and will, eventually grow to hold worldwide dominion. Eventually, after the Kingdom has been established the church will turn its attention to reclaiming Zion and the return to Missouri for the building of the New Jerusalem.
Joseph F. Smith describes the journey in these words. "When God leads the people back to Jackson County, how will he do it? Let me picture to you how some of us may be gathered and led to Jackson County. I think I see two or three hundred thousand people wending their way across the great plains enduring the nameless hardships of the journey, herding and guarding their cattle by day and by night, and defending themselves and little ones from foes on the right hand and on the left, as when they came here. Note: the Law of Consecration (the United Order) will be established for this journey and for settling in Missouri.
The scriptures lists the numerous glorious and yet horrific calamities that will precede the second coming of Jesus Christ, but there is one all important sign referred to as THE sign of the Son of Man. Our understanding of what this sign will be, its symbolic meaning and how it will effect the world is key to seeing all other signs of the Second Coming from a correct perspective. The questions this study will address are: what will it be and when will we see it?
THE Sign:
The New Testament apostle; Matthew describes the appearance of THE sign as an event that will cause "all" to mourn:
"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.
Latter-day scripture teaches that everyone will see THE sign together:
"And immediately there shall appear a great sign in heaven, and all people shall see it together."
Joseph Smith said that Jerusalem and her temple must be built and the waters of the Dead Sea healed before the Lord returns and then spoke of THE sign: ..."then will appear one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven. But what will the world do? They will say it is a planet, a comet, etc. But the Son of Man will come as the sign of the coming of the Son of Man, which will be as the light of the morning cometh out of the east."
"For as the light of the morning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, and covereth the whole earth, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be."
The symbol that is THE sign of the Second Coming will be something that "all people shall see ...together", and that will cause the people of the world to "say it is a planet".
A planet in our solar system, close enough for everyone to see together, or did these prophets mean something else? Parley P. Pratt, with information obviously received from the prophet, said: "We are nowhere given to understand that all the stars will fall or even many of them: but only "as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken with a mighty wind. The stars which will fall to the earth are fragments, which have been broken off from the earth from time to time, in the mighty convulsions of nature. Some in the days of Enoch, some perhaps in the days of Peleg, some with the ten tribes, and some at the crucifixion of the Messiah. These all must be restored again at the "times of restitution of all things." This will restore the ten tribes of Israel; and also bring again Zion, even Enoch's city. It will bring back the tree of life which is the midst of the paradise of God: that you and I may partake of it. When these fragments, (some of which are vastly larger than the present earth) are brought back and joined to this earth, it will cause a convulsion of all nature: the graves of the saints will be opened, and they rise from the dead; while the mountains will flow down, the vallies rise, the sea retire to it's own place, the islands and continents ill be removed, and earth be rolled together like a scroll. The earth will be many times larger than it is now." (Millennial Star, Vol. 1)
A similar statement, by Wilford Woodruff, also originating with Joseph Smith, reads: "Joseph also said that when the city of Enoch fled and was translated, it was where the Gulf of Mexico now is; it left that gulf a body of water."
Section 45 of the Doctrine and Covenants says: "And they shall see signs and wonders, for they shall be shown forth in the heavens above... if THE sign is to be a planet, what will be this heavenly wonder's affect upon the earth, its gravity, its oceans?
D&C 133: 23 "He shall command the great deep, and it shall be driven back into the north countries, and the islands shall become one land; ...and the earth shall be like as it was in the days before it was divided." foot note: Gen 10: 25 "...Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided;"
Orson Pratt makes reference to the division of the earth in the days of Peleg, a division that will be reversed with the restitution of all things: "Many changes were made upon the earth in the days of Enoch; and no doubt the flood occasioned still greater; but we must look to the days of Peleg for the division of the earth into continents and islands, and the letting in of the waters upon the equatorial regions," (The Seer, vol. II)
"Letting in the waters", brings to mind the question: from where? The only force that could possibly drive and then hold earth's oceans at the North Pole, both in the day of Peleg and again at a future date, is gravity. Remember this will be part of the "times of restitution of all things" and that it will require gravity generated by a planet of sufficient size and that is relatively close to the earth. Peleg; a grandson of Shem; Noah's son, lived on the earth at the time that the world's oceans long held at the north pole were released, causing what had to have been a flood second only to the flood of Noah. "like it was before it was divided" means that the earth as we know it will change drastically with the restoration of this sign to its place above the earth. Does "the earth divided" mean that half of it separated itself and moved to another location? Bathsheba W. Smith, wife of President George A. Smith wrote in her " Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith": "I heard him say; Peradventure, the Ten Tribes were not on this globe, but a portion of this earth cleaved off with them, went flying into space, and when the earth reels to and fro like a drunken man, and the stars from heaven fall, it would join on again." (Juvenile Instructor Vol. 27 - June 1892}
Oceans "driven back into the north countries" and then held at the North Pole, may be the cause of what John Taylor saw in a vision: "I seemed to be standing on the west bank of the Missouri River opposite the City of Independence, but I saw no city. I saw the whole states of Missouri and Illinois and part of Iowa were a complete wilderness with no living human being in them" If it is gravity that pulls "the great deep ...back into the north countries," the water presently filling the Gulf of Mexico would move northward, as the object generating the gravitation pull moves closer and closer. This would literally sweep Missouri and its neighboring states clean of all inhabitants.
Heber C. Kimball: "Missouri will be swept so clean of it's inhabitants that, as President Young tells us, when we return to that place, 'there will not be left so much as a yellow dog to wag his tail.' "
We have, from a list of scriptures and inspired teachings, established that the whole world will see "one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven", that it will appear to be "a planet", that it will be one the "fragments, which have been broken off from the earth" some time in the distant past, that "the great deep"; the oceans, "shall be driven back into the north countries", and that "the whole states of Missouri and Illinois": will consequently have "no living human being in them."
The vision painted here is mind-boggling, but it lends understanding to several scriptures like this one in Revelation 6. These verses describe a scene so terrifying that it will cause "the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man" to hide "in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains" and to wish they could call for "the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:" In the preceding verses we learn that this fear follows "a great earthquake" of such immense magnitude that it will cause "every mountain and island were moved out of their places." In a catastrophe of this magnitude people would be busy rescuing the injured, clearing the rubble, and rebuilding damaged structures. There would be many survival concerns, but the scripture speaks of hiding. Will this sign that has drawn the oceans to the North Pole, swept the population off the mid American states, and caused an earthquake to end all earthquakes still be ominously perched overhead? Will this scene be taken to be, "the face of him that sitteth on the throne;" the Lord?
Another example worth considering is: the motive of the builders of the tower of Babel. Remember we're speaking of restoring to the earth portions that were removed anciently. First read Genesis 11:4, look into the sky, and ask yourself: would anyone really convince themselves that they could "build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven" without being able to see their destination. Now, picture the sky with THE sign near enough for its gravitational pull to hold the oceans at the North Pole and ask your self the same question. Orson F. Whitney in 1889 said: "This sounds, indeed, like a fairy tale ...intelligent enough to build a great tower of which the world has not since seen the counterpart, ...could cherish the idea that they could actually reach the sun, moon, or one of the stars, simply by piling brick upon brick and stone upon stone. But the Prophet Joseph Smith, whose mission it was to shed light upon the darkness of this generation, is said to have declared that it was not their intention to reach heaven, but to reach Zion, which was then suspended in mid-air, between heaven and earth, or at such a height as to render the project feasible".
Elder Joseph Young of the First Council of the Seventy and the brother of Brigham Young, claimed to have learned the following from Joseph Smith himself: "...Enoch and his people, with the city which they occupied, and the foundations on which it stood, with a large piece of earth immediately connected with the foundations and the city, had assumed an aerial position within the limits of our solar system..." Another student of the prophet, Orson Pratt noted: "The descendants of Noah not having faith sufficient to be caught up into Zion, concluded to build a tower sufficiently high to get there without being under the necessity of receiving a translation. From this it appears that the early descendants of Noah had an idea that Zion was located somewhere near the earth." (The Seer, Vol. II)
To generate a picture of this scene in our mind we have to consider the moon's size, it's proximity to the earth, and it's minimal tidal influence upon earth's oceans. Then try to imagine a globe of sufficient size and position to lift and hold all the earth's sea-water at the North Pole. This scene will also help us understand why a scroll was used as a scriptural symbol of the restitution of the earth to its pre-flood paradisiacal condition. We can easily picture, in our minds eye, another planet and the earth as they roll toward each other across the immensity of space and envision a scroll, seen from the end, being rolled together.
Isaiah 34:4 ...the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll
Revelation 6:14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
3 Nephi 26:3 ...the earth should be wrapt together as a scroll
Mormon 5:23 ...at his great command the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll
Mormon 9:2 ...that gporeat day when the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll
According to the prophet Joseph Smith THE sign of the second coming of Jesus Christ will be the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel returning to the earth and Orson Pratt, of another similar event, wrote: "This city will, most probably, not rest upon the earth but hover over it... This proves that there will be a glorified place above the surface of the earth... The Zion of Enoch, therefore, will probably be very near the earth, located over the American continent where it was anciently built; and most likely, will partake of the diurnal and annual revolutions of the earth, so as not to change it's relative position in regard to the western hemisphere of our planet."
In a statement above, the Apostle Parley P. Pratt spoke about "fragments... broken off from the earth" returning during the restitution of all things. He spoke not just about the City "of Enoch" but also of the lost "ten tribes." In an article published in the March 1892 Young Woman's Journal, O. B. Huntington, an intimate associate of the Prophet Joseph Smith and a Patriarch in Springville, Utah mentioned that the earth had two wings and drew them as semi-circles giving the earth the appearance of having polar elongations. Another friend, and onetime bodyguard of the Prophet, Philo Dibble is said to have received a diagram from the Prophet in 1842, which indicated the arrangement of this earth as a triple planet, at the time when the Ten Tribes were directed to the northern sphere.
The scene we are considering lends understanding to and makes it easier to picture the ten tribes traveling from the northern axis of the earth to the American continent. D&C 133 is describing a melting ice cap, is it melting because it will be covered by "the great deep"?
Verse 26: And they who are in the north countries shall come... ...and they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence. 27 And an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep.
A "restitution of all things" would, of course, return the earth to its pre-flood condition. Something, not here now, will transform the climate and environment of the earth into a terrarium-like condition.
Genesis 2 ...the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
These are just a few examples, there are others that when considered under the light of the vision suggested above become clearer, easier to picture in our mind.
Revelation 8 ...a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; ...and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, ...and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
In this study we have established that THE sign of the second coming of Jesus Christ will be a now hidden planet moving into a position very close to the earth. The next question we will address is: when will all the earth see THE sign.
Several scriptures link the common elements of the appearance of THE sign to one frightful event in the future; the battle of Armageddon. Near the end of a three and half year siege upon the city of Jerusalem the Savior, even Jesus the Christ, will come to the rescue of the Jews. According to Zechariah: "the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle." The Old Testament prophet then outlines a couple of things about the day of the rescue that tie this scripture to other prophesies about this event: "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
Though not emphasized as such, to consider the breaking of the Mount of Olives down the middle with the opposing halves moving away from each other, creating "a very great valley," to be just another earthquake is probably a bit of an understatement. The book of Revelation, again speaking of "a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon" describes the magnitude of the earthquake, along with "voices, and thunders and lightening," as a "great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty and earthquake, and so great" and concludes with "every island fled away and the mountains were not found." This earthquake to end all earthquakes will be caused by the same gravitation pull that will drive the seas of the world back to the "north countries." It will, by lifting and then releasing the rotating earth's upper crust; similar to the moon's tidal influence on the oceans of the world, level every mountain range on the planet, thus returning the surface of the earth to its original mountain-less condition. Genesis 7 says that the flood waters were just fifteen cubits; less than 25 foot deep: "and the mountains were covered." Ezekiel 38 described in specific detail the destruction to be caused by the earthquake resulting from the appearance of THE sign: "at the same time, when "Gog shall come against the land of Israel, ...there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground."
Zechariah continues with a second element unique to this prophesied event: "...And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light." Modern day scripture, section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants, weaves the prophesied elements of the great battle Armageddon and the appearance of the Savior on the Mount of Olives into the appearance of THE sign of His Coming and the associated earthquake in these words: "For not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man; and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light; ...earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand. ...And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men's hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people. ...And immediately there shall appear a great sign in heaven, and all people shall see it together.
With a picture of THE sign in your mind read: Isaiah. 60:19-20; The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
Will THE sign be self-luminous or perhaps reflective like a moon, will it partially obscure the light of the sun and moon?
Zech. 14:7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. 8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
Section 88 describes what will happen following the appearance of THE "great sign in heaven" that "all people shall see ...together" "And there shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour; and immediately after shall the curtain of heaven be unfolded, as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up, and the face of the Lord shall be unveiled; And the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened and be caught up to meet him. And they who have slept in their graves shall come forth, for their graves shall be opened; and they also shall be caught up to meet him ...They are Christ's, the first fruits,"
This is of course, speaking of the Coming of Jesus Christ in power and glory and the morning of the first resurrection when the saints, both the living and the resurrected dead will be caught up to meet him and then descend with Him. This appearance however, will not occur when Christ comes to Jerusalem to rescue the Jews. Section 88's "...half an hour" sounds like the Second Coming of the Savior will happen a short time after He makes His appearance upon the Mount of Olive until we remember: "that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Half an hour of a thousand year day is about twenty one years which will allow ample time, after the battle, for the chores prophesied by the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel to be performed.
Ezek. 39:8-21 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken. And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamon-gog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. ...And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
Taking a chronological step backward: before Christ makes His appearance at the climactic conclusion of the Battle of Armageddon, Gog; the modern day Russia, from "out of the north parts", will mount a siege; the abomination of desolation, upon the city of Jerusalem that will last three and a half years:
Dan. 12 ...and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time (battle of Armageddon): and at that time thy people shall be delivered (by Jesus Christ upon the Mount of Olives), ...And one said ...How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, ...it shall be for a time, times, and an half (3 ½ years); and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people (Israel), all these things shall be finished.
Dan. 12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days (3 ½ years).
special note: verse 12 tells when the Savior will make His appearance: Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. (3 ½ years plus 45 days)
Rev. 11:2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months (3 ½ years).
Rev. 13:4-5 And they (people of the world) worshipped the dragon (the devil) which gave power unto the beast (McConkie - government): and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months (3 ½ years)
"Gog" with "Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya ...will think an evil thought;" and "in the latter years ...come into the land ...against the mountain of Israel, ...to the land of unwalled villiages; ...to carry away silver and gold." This assault will turn into a 1,290 day; 42 month; three and a half year campaign; the "abomination of desolation" and will conclude 45 days later with the appearance of the Savior Jesus Christ in Jerusalem at which time an earthquake will literally level every mountain range on the earth and all men worldwide will witness the appearance of THE sign of the His Second Coming. This milestone event will be followed by a twenty one year "half an hour," then and only then will the world witness the long awaited second coming of Jesus Christ to reign upon the earth for a thousand years.
In conclusion, referencing again the restitution of all things before the Second Coming: in an interview of Homer Brown of the Forest Dale ward, Granite Stake: "Brother Brown, can you give us some light and explanation of the fifth verse ...which speaks of the Ten Tribes of Israel on part of the earth which now forms another planet, according to the composer, Eliza R. Snow?"
Eliza R. Snow a wife of the prophet wrote this poem:
"And when the Lord saw fit to hide
The ten lost tribes away,
Thou, earth, was severed to provide
The orb on which they stay."
And thus, from time to time, thy size
Has been diminished til
Thou seemest the law of sacrifice
Created to fulfill.
A "restitution" yet must come,
That will to thee restore,
By that grand law of worlds, thy sum
Of matter heretofore.
"Yes, sir, I think I can-I think I can answer that question. Sister Eliza R. Snow, when visiting my grand parents, was asked by my grandmother: "Eliza, where did you get your idea about the Ten Lost Tribes being taken as you explained in your hymn on page 386 of the Hymn Book?" She answered as follows, "Why, my husband, the Prophet Joseph told me about it."
