Applying the Doctrine and Covenants to Your Life
Worried About the Second Coming? Here’s Why You Don’t Need to Be
We can prepare and look forward to the Savior’s return with joy.
As young adults, we have a whole lot of our futures ahead of us. And chances are, we don’t know what it’s going to look like.
What kind of job am I going to end up with? What’s my future family going to be like? Where will I live? What adventures will I have? What challenges will I face?
I think we can all agree that thinking about the future includes aspects of both fear and excitement, nervousness and anticipation. I personally love the idea that some of my best memories haven’t been created yet. That gives me so much to look forward to!
But there’s one thing in the future that always makes me a little bit more nervous than others—the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The Great and Dreadful Day
You know what I’m talking about. All those scary-sounding signs of the times we hear about. The “great and dreadful day”? (Doctrine and Covenants 110:16; emphasis added). False prophets and deceit, “wars and rumours of wars,” “famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes” (Matthew 24:6–7). Mountains being “made low” (Doctrine and Covenants 49:23), “waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:90), and stars falling and the sun not shining (see Matthew 24:3–7, 29).
And that all just sounds terrifying. Are those really the circumstances that the Savior will return to?
When I’m spiraling about the events of the Second Coming, I often turn to the scriptures and the words of the prophets for peace and reassurance. And what I’ve found is that even though His return holds a lot of unknowns, one thing is sure:
If we’re doing our best to live the gospel, we really don’t need to be afraid.
So rather than think about all the frightening things we associate with the Savior’s return, let’s think of how we can prepare ourselves for that day.
Preparing for His Coming
Think back to your first day of college or a new job. Remember how nervous and apprehensive you were? For me, I remember how all the unknowns compounded into one giant ball of anxiety.
But even though thinking about the Second Coming brings a lot of these same feelings, we’ve been taught how we can prepare. In a recent general conference, Elder Steven D. Shumway of the Seventy taught us that serving in the Church and fulfilling our callings will help us be prepared to meet the Savior:
“As we participate in God’s work, we prepare ourselves and others for Christ’s return. The Lord’s promise is compelling that callings, ministering, temple worship, following promptings, and other ways we embark in God’s work uniquely prepare us to meet the Savior. …
“In earnestly seeking to represent the Savior, we become more like Him. That is the best preparation for the sacred moment when each of us will kneel and confess that Jesus is the Christ.”
I’ve always been encouraged by the truth that the gospel helps us become more like Christ so we can better recognize Him when He comes again (see 1 John 3:2).
We learn in the scriptures that “charity is the pure love of Christ” that is “bestowed upon all who are true followers of … Jesus Christ.” And because we have the ability to pray and receive this kind of love, “when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure” (Moroni 7:47, 48).
President Russell M. Nelson taught: “Regular worship in the house of the Lord increases our capacity for both virtue and charity. … Increased time in the temple will help us prepare for the Second Coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We do not know the day or the hour of His coming. But I do know that the Lord is prompting me to urge us to get ready for that ‘great and dreadful day’ [Malachi 4:5].”
That Great Day
Clearly, that day is coming, regardless of how we feel about it. But I really don’t think that day is going to be dreadful for those of us who look forward with faith in Jesus Christ.
On that day, we will hear His voice (see Doctrine and Covenants 133:21–22).
We will see Him as He truly is, so full of glory “that the sun shall hide his face in shame, and the moon shall withhold its light” (see Doctrine and Covenants 133:49).
We will remember how He saved and redeemed us “in his love” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:53).
The faithful will “fall down and be crowned with glory” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:32).
We will be “filled with songs of everlasting joy” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:33).
The “gospel shall be preached unto every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:37).
Those faithful Saints who have passed will rise again and sing praises, “day and night” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:56).
He will “stand in the midst of his people, and shall reign over all flesh” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:25).
I can’t imagine a greater day than that!
Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught: “The best advice for [those afraid], for you, and for me is to follow the Savior’s teachings. His instructions are neither mysterious nor complex. When we follow them, we do not need to fear or be anxious.”
So next time you feel scared or worried or anxious about what might happen during the Second Coming—or the events leading up to it—just remember that the great will outweigh the dreadful for those who are trying to be like Him.
“Who can abide the day of his coming”? (Doctrine and Covenants 128:24).
By trusting in Jesus Christ, we can.