Article 10.—We believe ... That Christ will reign personally upon the earth, etc.
1. Christ's First and Second Advents.—The facts of Christ's birth in the flesh, of His thirty and three years of life among mortals, of His ministry, sufferings, and death, are universally accepted as attested history. Not alone do the records that the Christian world regards as sacred and inspired bear testimony concerning these facts, but the history written by man, and, in contrast, called profane, is generally in harmony with the biblical account. Even those who reject the doctrine of Christ's divinity, even they who refuse to accept Him as their Redeemer, admit the historical facts of His marvelous life, and acknowledge the incalculable effect of His precepts and example upon the human family.
2. In the "Meridian of Time" Christ was born to earth, amid humble surroundings,—in obscurity, indeed, to all except the faithful few who had been watching for the expected advent. His coming had been heralded through the previous centuries, even from the dawn of human existence; every prophet of God had borne record of the great events which were to characterize His advent. Every important incident connected with His birth, life, death, triumphal resurrection, and ultimate glory as King, Lord, and God, had been predicted; and even the details of the circumstances were given with exactness. Judah and Israel had been told to prepare for the coming of the Anointed One;[1065] yet, behold, when He came to His own they received Him not. Persecuted and despised, He trod the thorny path of duty, "a, man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;" and, finally condemned by His people, who clamored to an alien power for authority to execute their own diabolical sentence upon their Lord, He went to the death prescribed for malefactors.
3. To human judgment, it surely seemed that the Divine mission of Christ had been nullified, that His work had failed, and that the powers of darkness had become triumphant. Blind, deaf, and hard of heart were those who refused to see, hear, and comprehend the purport of the Savior's mission. Similarly benighted are they who reject the prophetic evidence of His second coming, and who fail to read the signs of the times, which declare the event, at once so terrible and glorious, to be near at hand. Both before and after His death, Christ prophesied of His appointed reappearance upon the earth; and His faithful followers are to-day waiting and watching for the signs of the great fulfillment. The heavens are flaming with those signals, and the burden of inspired teaching is again heard,—Repent, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
4. Christ's Second Coming Predicted; and Signs Described. Bible Prophecies.—The prophets of the Old Testament, and those of Book of Mormon record who lived and wrote before the era of Christ, had little to say regarding the second coming of the Lord, little indeed in comparison with their numerous and explicit predictions concerning His first advent. As they looked into the sky of futurity, and with prophetic power read the story of the heavenly orbs, their vision was dazzled with the brilliancy of the Meridian Sun, and they saw little of the glorious luminary beyond, whose proportions and radiance were veiled by the mists of distance. A few of them saw and so testified, as the following passages show: The Psalmist sang:—"Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him."[1066] These devouring and tempestuous conditions did not attend the coming of Bethlehem's Babe.
5. Isaiah cries:—"Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not; behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you."[1067] Aside from the evident fact that these conditions did not attend the first coming of Christ, the context of the prophet's words shows that he applied them to the last days, the time of restitution, the day of the "ransomed of the Lord," and of the triumph of Zion.[1068] Again Isaiah speaks:—"Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him."[1069]
6. The prophet Enoch, who lived twenty centuries before the first of those whose words are given above, spoke with vigor on the subject. His teachings do not appear under his own name in the Bible, though Jude, a New Testament writer, cites them.[1070] From the Book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, we learn concerning the revelation given to Enoch:—"And the Lord said unto Enoch, As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfil the oath which I have made unto you concerning the children of Noah."[1071]
7. Jesus taught the disciples that His mission in the flesh was to be of short duration, and that he would come again to earth, for we find them enquiring in this wise, "Tell us when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"[1072] In reply, our Lord detailed many of the signs of the latter times, the last and greatest of which He thus stated:—"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."[1073] With great clearness, Jesus spoke of the worldliness in which the children of men had continued to indulge, even on the eve of the Deluge, and on the day of the fiery destruction which befell the Cities of the Plains, and added:—"Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."[1074]
8. Another of our Lord's predictions concerning His second coming is as follows; His citation of the signs by which the approach of the event may be known is so impressive that we should read the description in its entirety:—"And they [the disciples] asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.... And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."[1075]
9. Again, by way of warning, the Lord said:—"Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."[1076]