….We Seek After These Things!

Here is my basic outline for my lesson coming up this Sunday. I am reading two things not in the lesson that I think will help, they are not important to the general lesson.
When you ponder the second coming, what are your different thoughts, opinions and emotions.

Read the first paragraph of The Tale of Two Cities
Does this paragraph from a famous novel help define what the times before the second coming will be like?

Read the paragraph in Don Parry’s book about using the scriptures in our studies.(The Signs of the Times book)

In September 1832, Joseph and Emma Smith and their sixteen-month-old daughter, Julia, moved from the Johnson farm in Hiram, Ohio, back to Kirtland. There they moved into the general store owned by Newel K. Whitney, where they would live for more than a year. The Smith family lived on the second floor of the store and part of the first floor that was not used for business. Joseph and Emma’s son, Joseph Smith III, was born while the family lived in this store. The Prophet also received many revelations there.
One such revelation came on Christmas Day in 1832. The Prophet spent part of this day at home, deep in contemplation about the serious problems facing the nations of the world at that time. “Appearances of troubles among the nations became more visible this season than they had previously been since the Church began her journey out of the wilderness,” the Prophet said.1 Events in the United States were leading toward civil war, and outbreaks of deadly diseases were widespread throughout the world. While “praying earnestly on the subject,”2 the Prophet received the revelation now found in section 87 of the Doctrine and Covenants. The Lord revealed to Joseph that before the Second Coming, war would be poured out upon all the nations and natural calamities would chasten the people:

Scripture 1
D&C 87: 6, 8
6 And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn; and with famine, and plague, and earthquake, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath, and indignation, and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations;
• • •
8 Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen.

Two days later, on December 27, the Prophet received another revelation that contained much information about the Second Coming. On that day, a conference of high priests had gathered in the Prophet’s “translating room,” the room in the Whitney store where Joseph did much of his work on the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. The minutes of the conference record: “Brother Joseph arose and said, to receive revelation and the blessings of heaven it was necessary to have our minds on God and exercise faith and become of one heart and of one mind. Therefore he recommended all present to pray separately and vocally to the Lord for [Him] to reveal His will unto us concerning the upbuilding of Zion and for the benefit of the Saints.”
Each high priest “bowed down before the Lord” and then spoke of his feelings and determination to keep the commandments of God.3 Shortly thereafter, the Prophet began to receive the revelation from God that would later become section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants. This revelation contains some of the scriptures’ most detailed prophecies about the coming of the Lord and the establishment of a thousand-year period of peace

What was the preparation for the revelation give in D&C 88?

How can this concept be applied to you as you prepare to study about the prophecies concerning the second coming?

Why are we given knowledge of the second coming?

So we can watch and be prepared.

Quote #1
It is for us to be righteous, that we may be wise and understand; for none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand, and they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever. [Daniel 12:3]

How can we prepare?
Quote #2

“Let us be wise in all things, and keep all the commandments of God, that our salvation may be sure. Having our armor ready and prepared against the time appointed and having on the whole armor of righteousness, we may be able to stand in that trying day.

What is a promised blessing of being prepared?

Quote#3
“Yea, lift up your heads and rejoice, for your redemption draweth nigh. We are the most favored people that ever have been from the foundation of the world, if we remain faithful in keeping the commandments of our God. Yea, even Enoch, the seventh from Adam, beheld our day and rejoiced [see Moses 7:65–67], and the prophets from that day forth have prophesied of the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and rejoiced at the day of rest of the Saints; yea, and the Apostle of our Savior also did rejoice in his appearance in a cloud with the host of heaven, to dwell with man on the earth a thousand years [see Revelation 1:7]. Therefore we have reason to rejoice.

What has God given us to help us prepare for the coming of his Son?

(signs)

Scripture 2
D&C 106: 4-5
4 And again, verily I say unto you, the coming of the Lord draweth nigh, and it overtaketh the world as a thief in the night—
5 Therefore, gird up your loins, that you may be the children of light, and that day shall not overtake you as a thief.

What does the phrase “as a thief in the night” suggest about the Lord’s coming?
Why do you think the day of the Lord will not overtake the children of the light as a thief in the night?

Look through pages 251-253, what are some of the signs given?

How can we feel peace among some of the trials that we are to experience or witness?

When will the Lord come?
What are to believe when someone says they have seen the Sign of the Son of Man? (Do you know what that sign is?)

Quote #4
Regarding a man who claimed to have seen the sign of the Son of Man, the Prophet Joseph Smith said: “He has not seen the sign of the Son of Man, as foretold by Jesus; neither has any man, nor will any man, until after the sun shall have been darkened and the moon bathed in blood; for the Lord hath not shown me any such sign; and as the prophet saith, so it must be—‘Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.’ (See Amos 3:7.) Therefore hear this, O earth: The Lord will not come to reign over the righteous, in this world, in 1843, nor until everything for the Bridegroom is ready

Look through pages 256 and 258

What are the conditions going to be like during the Millennium?

Is there anything that stands out that you never noticed before?

Quote#5
“It has been the design of Jehovah, from the commencement of the world, and is His purpose now, to regulate the affairs of the world in His own time, to stand as a head of the universe, and take the reins of government in His own hand. When that is done, judgment will be administered in righteousness; anarchy and confusion will be destroyed, and ‘nations will learn war no more.’

What are the promised blessings to occur at the end of the Millenium?

“After the little season [of Satan’s last rebellion] is expired and the earth undergoes its last change and is glorified, then will all the meek inherit the earth, wherein dwelleth the righteous.”