Who May Abide the Day of His Coming?
Book of Mormon Notes - Friday, March 8, 2024, 3 Nephi 24 continued
What did the Father teach the Jews through the words of Malachi, what did the Son teach the Nephites through the same words of Malachi, and what, therefore, do the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost teach us through the same words of Malachi?
That, of course, is for each individual to understand for himself or herself.
A few essential things are clear, and clearly outlined in McConkie’s chapter heading:
The Lord’s messenger will prepare the way for the Second Coming
Christ will sit in judgment
Israel is commanded to pay tithes and offerings
A book of remembrance is kept
Let’s take a closer look at these essential points.
The Lord’s messenger will prepare the way for the Second Coming
Interestingly the name Malachi means “my messenger,” “my angel,” or “messenger of God.” Thus God’s angel, or messenger, his prophet Malachi, prophesied of another messenger who would prepare the way before the Lord. It is important to note that Jesus expounds upon the message of Malachi beginning with the preface “Thus said the Father unto Malachi.” Thus, when the Father spoke to Malachi about sending His messenger to prepare the way before Him, that messenger must be Jesus Christ Himself. The rest of the first verse supports this interpretation:
Thus said the Father unto Malachi—Behold, I will asend my bmessenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly ccome to his temple, even the dmessenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in; behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts. (3 Nephi 24:1)
Jesus Christ is the Messenger of the Covenant. Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained:
Our Lord is the Messenger of the Covenant. (Mal. 3:1.) He came in his Father’s name (John 5:43), bearing his Father’s message (John 7:16–17), to fulfill the covenant of the Father that a Redeemer and Savior would be provided for men. (Moses 4:1–3; Abra. 3:27–28.) Also, through his ministry the terms of the everlasting covenant of salvation became operative; the message he taught was that salvation comes through the gospel covenant. (Mormon Doctrine, p. 488.)
Jesus Christ came in His Father’s name, bearing His Father’s image, and fulfilled His Father’s covenant that a Redeemer and Savior would be provided for us. Malachi gave this prophesy before Christ’s First Coming, and therefore it may refer to Christ’s First Coming and His appearance in the Temple at Jerusalem. But Jesus Christ repeats Malachi’s prophesy to the Nephites after He had already fulfilled His ministry, mission, and Atoning Sacrifice. Therefore, Malachi’s prophesy points toward Jesus Christ’s Second Coming. Then what is meant by the sudden appearance of the Lord in the Temple?
Jesus Christ will make more than one appearance before He comes in the clouds of Heaven for all flesh to see Him together (D&C 88:93; 101:23). At least one of those appearances includes a sudden visit to His Temple, yet to be built, in Jackson County, Missouri:
Malachi recorded the promise, speaking of latter-day events, that ‘The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple.’ (Mal. 3:1.) Certainly the Almighty is not limited in the number of appearances and returns to earth needed to fulfill the scriptures, usher in the final dispensation, and consummate his great latter-day work.
This sudden latter-day appearance in the temple does not have reference to his appearance at the great and dreadful day, for that coming will be when he sets his foot upon the Mount of Olivet in the midst of the final great war. The temple appearance was fulfilled, in part at least, by his return to the Kirtland Temple on April 3, 1836; and it may well be that he will come again, suddenly, to others of his temples, more particularly that which will be erected in Jackson County, Missouri.
In this connection it is worthy of note that whenever and wherever the Lord appears, he will come suddenly, that is ‘quickly, in an hour you think not.’ (D. & C. 51:20.) His oft repeated warning, ‘Behold, I come quickly’ (D. & C. 35:27), means that when the appointed hour arrives, he will come with a speed and a suddenness which will leave no further time for preparation for that great day.” (Mormon Doctrine, pp. 693–94.)
Jesus Christ appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple on April 3, 1836. In his history, Joseph Smith wrote:
In the afternoon, I assisted the other Presidents in distributing the Lord’s Supper to the Church, receiving it from the Twelve, whose privilege it was to officiate at the sacred desk this day. After having performed this service to my brethren, I retired to the pulpit, the veils being dropped, and bowed myself, with Oliver Cowdery, in solemn and silent prayer. After rising from prayer, the following vision was opened to both of us.
What did the Prophet Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery see?
The aveil was taken from our minds, and the beyes of our cunderstanding were opened.
We asaw the Lord bstanding upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under his feet was a paved work of pure cgold, in color like amber.
His aeyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his bcountenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his cvoice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of dJehovah, saying:
I am the afirst and the last; I am he who bliveth, I am he who was slain; I am your cadvocate with the Father.
Behold, your sins are aforgiven you; you are clean before me; therefore, lift up your heads and brejoice. (D&C 110:1-5)
This is not all that they saw and heard. Moses, Elias, and Elijah also appeared to them and committed to them sacred keys. Thus Malachi’s prophesy was fulfilled when the Lord came suddenly to the Kirtland Temple on April 3, 1836. This event helps us to understand why the Church’s recent acquisition of the Kirtland Temple, along with many other great things, is such exciting news.
But McConkie suggests that Malachi’s prophesy of the Lord’s sudden coming to His Temple may have more than one fulfillment, and that the Lord will come again, suddenly, to others of His Temples, more particularly to that which will be erected in Jackson County, Missouri.
In a certain sense, therefore, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ has already happened. We might also consider that the first Second Coming of Jesus Christ took place in the Sacred Grove, in the Spring of 1820.
On a related note, in her 2016 devotional address “Becoming the Person You Were Born to Be,” Sister Wendy Nelson asked an intriguing question:
What if you learned that the Savior had already returned to this earth—that He, as part of His Second Coming, had already met with some of His true followers in several marvelous, large gatherings13—gatherings about which the world, including CNN and the blogosphere, knew nothing. If you found out that the Savior was already on the earth, what would you desperately want to do today, and what would you be willing and ready to do tomorrow?
Sister Nelson’s footnote #13 takes us back to Bruce R. McConkie, this time in his book The Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man (1982), 575. (see also here)
We would probably like to know more about Jesus Christ’s appearances in the several marvelous, large gatherings with His true followers. The rest of Malachi’s message, however, seems to point forward still to another of the Lord’s sudden appearances in His Temple, and a time of judgment and destruction.
But who may aabide the day of his coming, and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a brefiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap.
And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall apurify the bsons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may coffer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
And I will come anear to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the bsorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false cswearers, and against those that doppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the efatherless, and that turn aside the fstranger, and fear not me, saith the Lord of Hosts.
For aI am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. (3 Nephi 24:2-6)
This brings us to the second essential point:
Christ will sit in judgment
This day of Christ’s coming points to a quickly approaching future event, a day that shall burn as an oven, when Jesus Christ will cleanse or baptize the earth with fire. When asked who he was, the Prophet Joseph Smith was known to reply: “Noah came before the flood. I have come before the fire.” The same fire that will destroy the wicked will purify and refine the righteous. Remember Nephi’s prophesy:
For behold, saith the prophet, the time cometh speedily that Satan shall have no more power over the hearts of the children of men; for the day soon cometh that all the proud and they who do wickedly shall be as astubble; and the day cometh that they must be bburned.
For the time soon cometh that the fulness of the awrath of God shall be poured out upon all the children of men; for he will not suffer that the wicked shall destroy the righteous.
Wherefore, he will apreserve the brighteous by his power, even if it so be that the fulness of his wrath must come, and the righteous be preserved, even unto the destruction of their enemies by fire. Wherefore, the righteous need not fear; for thus saith the prophet, they shall be saved, even if it so be as by fire. (1 Nephi 22:15-17)
The fire that saves the righteous will destroy the wicked. It is a good way for the world to end. The sons of Jacob, or the righteous among the House of Israel, will not be consumed. When Jesus Christ suddenly comes to His Temple again, He will be like a brefiner’s fire, and like fuller’s soap. He will refine and apurify the bsons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver.
I love this part of Handel’s immortal masterpiece: Messiah. We need this refining fire and fuller’s soap, not only to cleanse and purify us so that we may coffer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness, but also to deliver us from the wicked. The Lord’s appearance in His Temple will be sudden, and His judgment and witness will be especially swift against very specific kinds of sinners:
adulterers
those that oppress the widow and the efatherless
those that fear not the Lord
Are there really sorcerers among us? Adulterers, false swearers, and oppressors, certainly… but sorcerers? Malachi would not have prophesied, and Jesus Christ would not have repeated his prophesy if a swift witness against these kinds of sinners were not necessary. A sorcerer is one who foretells events by casting lots. John the Revelator prophesied that in the last days, when Babylon is destroyed, sorcery would be such a grievous problem that all nations would be deceived by it:
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. (Revelation 18:23)
What is the Greek word that has been translated into the English word “sorceries”?
sorcery.�
φαρμακείᾳ (pharmakeia)
Noun - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 5331: Magic, sorcery, enchantment. From pharmakeus; medication, i.e. magic.
Sorcery is pharmakeai - the root of words such as pharmacy and pharmaceutical. Where have we seen pharmaceuticals in the last days? Another way to read St. John the Revelator’s prophesy is as follows:
“for thy business men were the great men of the earth; for by thy pharmaceuticals were all nations deceived.”
Big Pharma, adulterers (including the leaders and promoters of the sex industry), liars, corrupt business men and politicians, oppressors, the uncharitable, and those who don’t fear the Lord - they will all be consumed in the great conflagration.
This brings us to the third essential point:
Israel is commanded to pay tithes and offerings
Recently there has been much confusion surrounding this very simple and clear doctrine, so much so that Elder Anderson was constrained to speak on the topic in the most recent general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Like Elder Anderson, Malachi and the Lord have been very clear about the doctrine of tithing, and the promised blessings for obedience to the law of tithing:
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say: Wherein have we robbed thee? In atithes and bofferings.
Ye are cursed with a curse, for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.
Bring ye all the atithes into the storehouse, that there may be bmeat in my house; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the cwindows of heaven, and pour you out a dblessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the adevourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the fields, saith the Lord of Hosts.
And all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of Hosts. (3 Nephi 24:8-12)
The following verses also describe popular attitudes and dispositions in the last days.
This brings us to the fourth and final essential point in this chapter:
A book of remembrance is kept
Quite simply, this is the book that we want to be in. (see 3 Nephi 24:16-18)