In the weeks since General Conference and President Nelson’s clear invitation to prepare for the Second Coming of the Lord, I, like many of you, have been thinking about what it means to prepare for that day, that Joel prophetically described as “great and terrible.” (Joel 2:11)
I have only begun my deep-dive study of his talk, which will take some time to fully dissect, but I am learning so much in the process. For the past two days, I have been focused on one footnote – footnote number 6. In two days, I have yet to scratch the surface of that footnote, which links to four different blocks of scripture. But, even though I do not yet understand everything, I want to teach you what the Spirit has been teaching me because it feels important. And because I am literally amazed at the insight I have gained from a few scriptures.
For context, I will read President Nelson’s words attached to this footnote, although my study led me in a bit of a different direction:
“Jesus Christ will govern from both old Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem ‘built upon the American continent.’ From these two centers, He will direct the affairs of His Church.”
When I listened to this talk for the first time, this part grabbed my attention because I had never considered that Christ would direct His Church from both the old Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem. The footnotes took me to D&C 45:48-66 and, as I read, verses 56-57 called me to dig deeper:
“And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins.
For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day.”
The phrase, “abide the day,” caught my attention because I had just read it in D&C 38:8 a few days prior:
“But the day soon cometh that ye shall see me, and know that I am; for the veil of darkness shall soon be rent, and he that is not purified shall not abide the day.”
Having seen it twice within a matter of days, my curiosity heightened. In both instances, the Lord was using this phrase in reference to His Second Coming. What did it mean?
I looked up the word “Abide” in the Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, which was printed around the same time Joseph Smith was recording the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants. There were several definitions that intrigued me, including “to be firm or immovable,” “to remain or continue,” “to be prepared for,” and “to bear or endure.”
So, using elements of several of those definitions, I have concluded that, if we are to abide the day of the Lord’s coming, we must be prepared to endure whatever it takes to firmly remain with Him.”
To further understand, let’s go to Malachi 3:1-2:
“Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap.”
This, too, is obviously speaking of the Second Coming when the Lord will “suddenly” return to His temple. But there is that phrase again, “who shall abide the day of His coming?” Followed by another question I love: “Who shall stand when he appeareth?”
Of course, I love the word stand, and this is what I picture when I say it: who will stand with Jesus when He comes? Who will be prepared to abide the day? Who will be able to weather the storms leading up to His long-awaited return to rule as King of King and Lord of Lords?
Followed these questions about abiding and standing, we learn that Christ is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap. What does that mean, and why is it significant here?
From the June 2016 edition of The New Era, I learned that:
1. A refiner of silver extracted silver from ores with lead (such as lead sulfide, or galena).
2. He heated the ore in a fire and sifted the lead out of the ashes.
3. He placed the lead in a dish known as a cupel, which was made of bone ash or clay containing calcium carbonate, and heated it in a furnace to 1,600–1,800˚F (900–1,000˚C).
4. When the metal reached the right temperature, the refiner introduced oxygen by blowing air over it through a bellows.
5. Litharge, or silver dross, would form on the surface of the molten metal, and the refiner would blow or scrape it off, leaving pure silver. Litharge was also absorbed into the cupel as the lead reacted with the calcium carbonate.
6. A refiner would usually apply this process twice, reintroducing lead to the silver so that newly formed litharge could remove any remaining impurities.
The process was delicate, requiring just the right temperature and just the right amount of lead. The refiner would often know he had achieved pure silver by seeing its unmistakably pure glowing light.
When we think of the refiner’s fire as a symbol for the Lord’s purification of us, it is clear that it is never comfortable. To remove all of the impurities, the fire has to be 1600-1800 degrees. That is some serious heat! But the result is unmistakably pure glowing light.
Quentin L. Cook said, “There are many kinds of challenges. Some give us necessary experiences. Adverse results in this mortal life are not evidence of lack of faith or of an imperfection in our Father in Heaven’s overall plan. The refiner’s fire is real, and qualities of character and righteousness that are forged in the furnace of affliction perfect and purify us and prepare us to meet God.”
Why is it significant that the Lord is compared to the refiner’s fire in reference to His Second Coming? Perhaps, it is, in part, because the world is hot and getting hotter. Symbols such as this have many layers of meaning, and I do not claim to understand all of them. But the prophecies of this time make it clear that all things will be in commotion. Will we be prepared to stand with Jesus in spite of the intensifying heat?
In President Nelson’s talk, I think it was interesting (and significant) that he spoke of two major trials in his life – the unexpected passing of his first wife, Dantzel, and having a gun pointed to his head and fired by armed robbers in Africa. The gun misfired, and he, Wendy, and the others with them were able to escape. (He tells this whole story in his biography, and I think everyone should read it!) But, through both of those heart-wrenching challenges, he felt peace and comfort.
Why do you think he included those experiences in his talk about preparing for the Second Coming? Perhaps, he was acknowledging that similar challenges will be part of this journey for all of us. But, with the Lord’s help, our refiner’s fire will not consume us. We will be able to find peace amid the storm. We will be able to abide the day.
Now, let’s talk for a minute about the fuller’s soap. Back to the New Era explanation: “A fuller’s job was to cleanse and whiten cloth. In Jerusalem, the cleansing process took place in a fullers’ field outside the city because of the smell. Dirt and oils were removed from the wool so that it would be pure white and ready to be dyed, if desired.
Soap contained alkaline substances such as sodium carbonate or potassium carbonate...These chemicals remove oil (and the dirt that clings to it) by combining with the oil molecules to make them water soluble…With the cloth soaking in soap and water, the fullers beat or stamped it to remove the impurities (the Hebrew word for fuller comes from a root meaning “to tread”).”
For me, the symbolism of Jesus as a fuller’s soap brings up images of Gethsemane. The name Gethsemane means “oil press.” Think of what Jesus experienced there, as blood was pressed from every pore of His body, staining His garments with blood so that our garments can be washed clean.
Again, the Hebrew meaning for “fuller” comes for a root meaning “to tread.” In D&C 133, another section which references Christ’s Second Coming, it says, in verses 50-51, “And his voice shall be heard: I have trodden the wine press alone, and have brought judgment upon my people, and none were with me…and their blood have I sprinkled upon my garments, and stained all my raiment.”
Fuller: to tread
Christ: tread the winepress alone -stained His garments with our blood – so that He might make us clean.
Fuller’s job was to cleanse and whiten cloth. That requires some force to remove the impurities. Do we see the symbolism of the fuller’s soap?
There is so many layers of meaning here. But, remember what Malachi said just before he compared Christ to a refiner’s fire and fuller’s soap: Who will abide the day? Who will stand when He appeareth?
So, let’s return to those important questions by turning to JSH 1:36. In the verses leading up to this, Joseph tells about how he was praying for forgiveness of his sins and follies, and asking God for a manifestation of his standing before Him. In response to that prayer, the Angel Moroni came to visit him, and told him about the gold plates that contained the fulness of the everlasting gospel.
After telling him about the plates and the Urim and Thummim, Moroni started quoting the Old Testament, beginning with part of Malachi 3. That chapter starts with these words, which I already quoted:
“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye shall seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Why was this the first scripture (of several Old Testament prophecies) that Moroni quoted to Joseph Smith, and then repeated several times throughout the course of that night? Do you think Joseph recognized himself as the messenger of whom Malachi prophesied, whose job it was to prepare the way for the Lord to return to His temple?
Moroni then quoted several other Old Testament prophecies, including Malachi chapter 4 - with a few variations – a chapter that is all about Israel gathering to the temple in the days preceding His Second Coming.
He then quoted Isaiah 11, saying it was about to be fulfilled. This chapter is about the latter-day gathering of Israel in the days leading up to the Second Coming.
And Acts 3:22-23, which says that “every soul which will not hear that prophet (Christ) will be destroyed from among the people.” Moroni explained that that day of destruction (or, as Moroni explained, “cutting off”) was not here yet, but would soon come.
And then Joel 2:28-32, which is maybe my favorite. The first part of the chapter is all about the desolation preceding the Second Coming, followed by these verses that Moroni quoted to Joseph Smith, with an explanation that this was not yet fulfilled, but was soon to be:
28.And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
I absolutely love how, despite the prophesied calamities, the Lord promises to pour out his spirit upon all flesh, including servants, handmaids, sons, and daughters. And that those who call on the name of the Lord shall find deliverance in Mount Zion.
Mount Zion is a reference to the temple.
In the Old Testament book of Joel, written hundreds of years before the Savior’s mortal birth, a prophet of the Lord tells us that, in the days preceeding the Second Coming – our days – days that would be (and now ARE) filled with calamities - the saints who called upon the Lord would find deliverance in the temple.
And Moroni, before showing young Joseph Smith where the plates that would become the Lord’s primary conversion tool were buried, really wanted him to understand that the Savior would be coming again soon, and that he would be instrumental in preparing the way for Him to gather His people and return to their midst as King of King and Lord of Lords. And that the temple would be a vital piece in that process.
Although Joseph found the plates in the place that Moroni had described, he would not be permitted to take them for another four years, in September of 1827. The first copies of the Book of Mormon were not published until two and half years later, on March 26, 1830.
And, nine months later, in January 1831, the Church held a conference at which Joseph Smith presented a revelation he received, which is now recorded in Doctrine and Covenants Section 38. There were only a few hundred members at the point, but persecution was already mounting. What did the Lord want the members of His baby church to know?
Among other things, He told them how to escape the power of the enemy and become clean. How were they to do this? “Go to the Ohio; and there I will give you my law; and there you shall be endowed with power from on high.” (v.32)
Although the construction of the Kirtland temple would not begin for another two and a half years, the Lord was already pointing His people in that direction with a promise to endow them with power from on high. This additional power would, among other things, help these saints faithfully navigate the challenges they would face, which would be many.
As soon as the Church was organized and the Book of Mormon published, the Lord was pointing his saints to the temple.
The Lord’s commandment to build a temple, and His promise to endow the early saints with additional heavenly power is consistent with the Old Testament prophecy and promises of which we have spoken, and which Moroni quoted to Joseph Smith:
“Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. For in Mount Zion (the temple)…shall be deliverance.”
And President Nelson, just one month ago, told us the same thing in different words:
“As we keep our temple covenants, we gain greater access to the Lord’s strengthening power. In the temple, we receive protection from the buffetings of the world. We experience the pure love of Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father in great abundance! We feel peace and spiritual reassurance, in contrast to the turbulence of the world.
Here is my promise to you: Every sincere seeker of Jesus Christ will find Him in the temple. You will feel His mercy. You will find answers to your most vexing questions. You will better comprehend the joy of His gospel.”
Did Old Testament prophets know what we would be facing today, in the days leading up to the Savior’s return? Yes.
Isaiah, Joel, Micah, Malachi, and others shared detailed prophecies about the challenges that we are not living through and preparing for.
And what instruction did they give us that we might “abide the day?” Find deliverance in Mount Zion - the Mountain of the Lord – the House of the God of Jacob. The temple. (See Isaiah 2:1-2, Joel 2:32, Micah 4, Malachi 3-4)
The temple has always been the answer because Jesus Christ is the answer, and everything we learn in the temple point us to Him. If we are to abide the day of His coming, and all of the prophesied challenges that will happen before we get there, we must firmly plant our feet on Mount Zion.
There, we will find peace.
There, we will find hope.
There, we will find joy.
There, we will find deliverance.
There, we will find Him.
With Him by our side, there is no need to fear. Endowed with power from on high, we will be able to abide the day and joyfully stand when He comes again.
