I would love opinions on this paper and how it fits into everyone's timelines.
President Nelson, speaking in the October 2022 General Conference said: “In coming days, we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power that the world has ever seen. Between now and the time He returns “with power and great glory,”
Just a few days later his words were quoted on the Churches’ homepage with Joseph Smith – Matthew 1:36 in parenthesis immediately afterward; which reads:
“And, as I said before, after the tribulation of those days, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory;”
So, what is THE Sign?
“THE Sign”
The scriptures foretell the Second Coming of Jesus Christ with multitudes of signs that will precede and accompany His second advent. These prophecies strike both dread and doubt in the hearts of the wicked, promise hope for the followers of Jesus Christ and in the calm before the coming storms, generate feelings ranging from denial, to anxiety, to absolute terror in every one of us. How important are the signs of the times to those of us living in the Last Days? Why did the Lord, even thru His Old Testament prophets, provide lists of the latter-day events that would signal His impending return; are we to study these signs as part of the restored gospel or are they reserved for church fringe groups with a doom and gloom mentality? Modern day scripture provides answers to these questions.
“Even so it shall be in that day when they shall see all these things, then shall they know that the hour is nigh. And it shall come to pass that he that feareth me shall be looking forth for the great day of the Lord to come, even for the signs of the coming of the Son of Man.
And then they shall look for me, and, behold, I will come; and they shall see me in the clouds of heaven, clothed with power and great glory; with all the holy angels; and he that watches not for me shall be cut off. [1]”
As we "watch” for signs of the “second coming” we wonder, why do these terrible things have to happen at all and why do the faithful have to endure these coming terrors? The simplest answer is: because of man’s wickedness in every past dispensation, mighty changes have been wrought in the makeup and profile of this planet. Now, as a function of the “Restitution of all Things,” the earth, prior to the Lord’s Second Coming, will be restored to its original design. In other words: these things must happen to fulfill God’s plans for the salvation of all that hope to inherit this earth as their eternal abode.
The scriptures list numerous glorious yet horrific calamities that will precede the second coming of Jesus Christ but amongst those many signs is one all-important, sign of signs, referred to as THE sign of the Son of Man. Our understanding of this single sign, its symbolic meaning and how it will affect the world is key to seeing all the other signs of the Second Coming from a correct vantage point. The questions this study will address are: what will THE sign be, how does it relate to all other prophesied events and when will we see it.
The apostle Matthew describes the appearance of THE sign as an event that will cause everyone to mourn:
“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.[2]”
Latter-day scripture teaches that everyone will see THE sign together:
“And immediately there shall appear a great sign in heaven, and all people shall see it together.[3]”
Joseph Smith said that Jerusalem and her temple must be built and the waters of the Dead Sea healed before the Lord returns and then spoke of THE sign in these words: “…then will appear one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven. But what will the world do? They will say it is a planet, a comet, etc. But the Son of Man will come as the sign of the coming of the Son of Man, which will be as the light of the morning cometh out of the east. For as the light of the morning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, and covereth the whole earth, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Note the correlation between the words of Joseph Smith and Matthew 24. In summary, the symbol, that is THE sign of the Second Coming will be something seen by everyone “together,” will cause all to “mourn” and will cause people of the world to say, “…it is a planet”.
Are these prophets really speaking of a “planet” in our solar system near enough for everyone to see at the same time or did they mean we would all see something that just looked like a planet? Parley P. Pratt, with information obviously received from the prophet Joseph, said: “We are nowhere given to understand that all the stars will fall or even many of them: but only as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken with a mighty wind. The stars which will fall to the earth are fragments, which have been broken off from the earth from time to time, in the mighty convulsions of nature. Some in the days of Enoch, some perhaps in the days of Peleg, some with the ten tribes, and some at the crucifixion of the Messiah. These all must be restored again at the “times of restitution of all things.” This will restore the ten tribes of Israel; and also bring again Zion, even Enoch’s city. It will bring back the tree of life which is the midst of the paradise of God: that you and I may partake of it. When these fragments, (some of which are vastly larger than the present earth) are brought back and joined to this earth, it will cause a convulsion of all nature: the graves of the saints will be opened, and they rise from the dead; while the mountains will flow down, the valleys rise, the sea retire to its own place, the islands and continents will be removed, and earth be rolled together like a scroll. The earth will be many times larger[4] than it is now.[5]”
A similar statement, by Wilford Woodruff, also originating with the prophet, reads: “Joseph also said that when the city of Enoch fled and was translated, it was where the Gulf of Mexico now is; it left that gulf a body of water.”
Section 45 of the Doctrine and Covenants says: “And they shall see signs and wonders, for they shall be shown forth in the heavens above”; if THE sign is to be a planet, what will be this heavenly wonder’s affect upon the earth, its land and the oceans?
“He shall command the great deep, and it shall be driven back into the north countries, and the islands shall become one land; …and the earth shall be like as it was in the days before it was divided.[6]”
The foot note for “divided” in this verse is: Gen 10: 25 “…Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; [7]” Elder Pratt makes reference to the division of the earth in the days of Peleg that will be reversed with the restitution of all things: “Many changes were made upon the earth in the days of Enoch; and no doubt the flood occasioned still greater; but we must look to the days of Peleg for the division of the earth into continents and islands, and the letting in of the waters upon the equatorial regions, [8]”
“Letting in the waters” brings to mind the question: from where? The only force that could possibly hold earth’s oceans at the North Pole, both prior to the day of Peleg and again at a future date, is gravity. Remember this will be part of the “restitution of all things” and will require gravity generated by something of sufficient size and relatively close to the earth. Peleg; a grandson of Shem, Noah’s son, lived on the earth when the world’s oceans long held at the north pole were released, causing what had to have been a flood second only to the great flood of Noah’s day. “…like it was before it was divided” means that the earth as we know it will change drastically with the restoring of THE sign to its place above the earth. Is it possible that “the earth divided” means that half of the planet separated itself from what we now know it to be and moved to another location? Bathsheba W. Smith, wife of President George A. Smith wrote in her “Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith": “I heard him say; Peradventure, the Ten Tribes were not on this globe, but a portion of this earth cleaved off with them, went flying into space, and when the earth reels to and fro like a drunken man, and the stars from heaven fall, it would join on again. [9]”
Oceans “driven back into the north countries[10]” and then held at the North Pole[11], may also be the cause of what President John Taylor saw in his last-days vision: “I seemed to be standing on the west bank of the Missouri River opposite the City of Independence, but I saw no city. I saw the whole states of Missouri and Illinois and part of Iowa were a complete wilderness with no living human being in them” If its gravity that will eventually pull “the great deep …back into the north countries,” the water presently filling the Gulf of Mexico would move northward across the United States and Canada as the object generating the gravitation pull moves closer and closer. This would literally sweep Missouri and its neighboring states clean of all inhabitants. Another statement, this time from Heber C. Kimball supports this conclusion: “Missouri will be swept so clean of its inhabitants that, as President Young tells us, when we return to that place, “there will not be left so much as a yellow dog to wag his tail.”
We have, from a list of scriptures and inspired teachers established that the whole world will see “one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven”, that it will look like “a planet” but will actually be one the “fragments, which have been broken off from the earth” sometime in the distant past, that [12]the oceans, will “be driven back into the north countries” and consequently “the whole states of Missouri and Illinois” will be swept clean of all living beings. The vision we’ve painted here is mind-boggling but it lends understanding to several seemingly unassociated scripture stories like this one in Revelation 6. These verses describe a scene so terrifying that it will cause “the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man” to hide “in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains” and to wish they could call for “the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the [13]face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:” In the verses preceding these we learn that this terror will follow “a great earthquake” of such unimaginable magnitude that it will cause “every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”
Normally in a catastrophe of this magnitude people would be busy rescuing the injured, clearing rubble and rebuilding damaged structures. There will be endless survival concerns but this scripture speaks of hiding; from what? Will THE sign that has drawn the oceans to the North Pole, swept the populace off the mid-American states and caused an earthquake to end all earthquakes still be ominously poised overhead? Will this terrifying scene be taken as, “the face of him that sitteth on the throne,” - the Lord?
Another scriptural example worth considering is the motive of the builders of the tower of Babel. Remember, this event happened before the day of Peleg and that we’re speaking of restoring to the earth portions that were removed anciently. First read Genesis 11:4 and then look into the sky and ask yourself: would anyone really convince themselves that they could “build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven” without being able to see their destination. Now, picture the sky with THE sign we speak of, near enough, large enough for its gravitational pull to hold the oceans at the North Pole and ask yourself the same question. Orson F. Whitney in 1889 said: “This sounds, indeed, like a fairy tale …intelligent enough to build a great tower of which the world has not since seen the counterpart …could cherish the idea that they could actually reach the sun, moon, or one of the stars, simply by piling brick upon brick and stone upon stone. But the Prophet Joseph Smith, whose mission it was to shed light upon the darkness of this generation, is said to have declared that it was not their intention to reach heaven, but to reach Zion, which was then suspended in mid-air, between heaven and earth, or at such a height as to render the project feasible”.
Elder Joseph Young of the First Council of the Seventy and the brother of Brigham Young, claimed to have learned the following from Joseph Smith himself: “…Enoch and his people, with the city which they occupied, and the foundations on which it stood, with a large piece of earth immediately connected with the foundations and the city, had assumed an aerial position within the limits of our solar system…” Another student of the prophet, Orson Pratt noted: “The descendants of Noah not having faith sufficient to be caught up into Zion, concluded to build a tower sufficiently high to get there without being under the necessity of receiving a translation. From this it appears that the early descendants of Noah had an idea that Zion was located somewhere near the earth. [14]”
To generate a picture of this scene in our mind we have to consider the moon’s size and proximity to the earth and its minimal tidal influence upon earth’s oceans. Then try to imagine a globe of sufficient size and position to lift and hold [15]all the earth’s sea-water at the North Pole. This scene also helps us understand why the Lord uses a scroll as the scriptural symbol of the restitution of the earth to its pre-flood paradisiacal condition. Picture planet sized “fragments” and this earth as they roll toward each other across the immensity of space and envision a scroll, seen from the end, as it is being rolled together.
“And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.[16]”
“…the earth should be wrapt together as a scroll[17]”
“…at his great command the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll[18]”
“…that great day when the earth shall be rolled together as a scroll[19]”
“Fragments, which have been broken off,” but still designated to be part of this earth, “shall be rolled together as a scroll.”
According to the prophet Joseph Smith THE sign of the second coming of Jesus Christ will be the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel returning to the earth and Orson Pratt, of another similar event, wrote: “This city will, most probably, not rest upon the earth but hover over it… This proves that there will be a glorified place above the surface of the earth… The Zion of Enoch, therefore, will probably be very near the earth, located over the American continent where it was anciently built; and most likely, will partake of the diurnal and annual revolutions of the earth, so as not to change its relative position in regard to the western hemisphere of our planet.”
In a statement above, the Apostle Parley P. Pratt spoke about “fragments… broken off from the earth” returning during the restitution of all things. He spoke not just about the City “of Enoch” but also of the lost “ten tribes.” Another friend and onetime bodyguard of the Prophet, Philo Dibble is said to have received a diagram from the Prophet in 1842, which indicated the arrangement of this earth as a triple planet, at the time when the Ten Tribes were directed to the northern sphere. Also, in an article published in the March 1892 Young Woman’s Journal, O. B. Huntington, an intimate associate of the Prophet Joseph Smith and a Patriarch in Springville, Utah mentioned that the earth, originally had two wings and drew them as semi-circles giving the earth the appearance of having polar elongations.
The scene we’re considering also lends understanding to and makes it easier to picture the ten tribes traveling from the northern axis of the earth to the American continent.
“And they who are in the north countries shall come… …and they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence. And an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep.[20]”
Is this verse describing a melting ice cap; is it melting because THE sign has moved into a position close enough to affect global climate? A “restitution of all things” would, of course, return the earth to its pre-flood condition. Something, not here now, will transform the climate and environment of the earth into a terrarium-like condition.
“…the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.[21]”
These are just a few examples, there are [22]others, that when considered in the light of the vision suggested above become clearer and easier to picture in our mind. In this essay we have established that THE sign of the second coming of Jesus Christ will be a now hidden planet moving into a position very close to the earth. Homer Brown was asked: “…can you give us some explanation …of the verse …which speaks of the Ten Tribes of Israel on part of the earth which now forms another planet?”
“And when the Lord saw fit to hide / The ten lost tribes away, / Thou, earth, was severed to provide / The orb on which they stay." / And thus, from time to time, thy size / Has been diminished til / Thou seemest the law of sacrifice / Created to fulfill. / A restitution yet must come, / That will to thee restore, / By that grand law of worlds, thy sum
Of matter heretofore.”
“Yes I can …Sister Eliza R. Snow …was asked by my grandmother: “Eliza, where did you get your idea about the Ten Lost Tribes being taken as you explained in your hymn …386 of the Hymn Book?” She answered, “Why, my husband, the Prophet Joseph told me about it.”
Next we will address when THE sign will appear. Several scriptures link the common elements of the appearance of THE sign to one frightful event in the future: the battle of Armageddon. To end a three-and-a-half-year siege upon the city of Jerusalem the Savior, Jesus Christ, will come into the world to rescue the besieged Jews. According to Zechariah:
“…the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.[23]”
This Old Testament prophet then includes a detail about the day of the rescue that ties this scripture to other prophesies about this event:
“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”
Though not emphasized as such, to consider the breaking of the Mount of Olives down the middle with the opposing halves moving away from each other, creating “a very great valley,” to be just another earthquake is probably a bit of an understatement. The book of Revelation, again speaking of “a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon[24]” describes the magnitude of the earthquake, along with “voices, and thunders and lightening,” as a “great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great” and concludes with “every island fled away and the mountains were not found.”
This earthquake to end all earthquakes will be caused by the same gravitation pull that will pull the seas of the world back to the “north countries.” It will, by lifting and then releasing the rotating earth’s upper crust similar to the moon’s tidal influence upon the oceans of the world, level every mountain range on the planet, thus returning the surface of the earth to its original pre-flood condition. What did the world in Adam and Eve’s day look like? Genesis 7 says that the flood waters were only fifteen cubits, less than 25 feet deep, “and the mountains were covered.”
Ezekiel described in specific detail the destruction that will be caused by the earthquake resulting from the global influence of THE sign:
“at the same time, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, …there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.[25]”
Zechariah continues with a second element unique to this prophesied event:
“…And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.”
Latter day scripture weaves the prophesied elements of the great battle of Armageddon and the appearance of the Savior on the Mount of Olives together with the appearance of THE sign of His Coming and the subsequent global earthquake:
“For not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man; and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light; …earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand. …And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men’s hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people. …And immediately there shall appear a great sign in heaven, and all people shall see it together.[26]”
Isaiah explains that that which has served as the earth’s source of light for six thousand years, the sun, will be displaced with the LORD Himself or as has been used in numerous other prophecies, the sign of the Lord:
“The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. [27]”
Obviously, something about our night follows day order is going to change before the second coming. Will THE sign be self-luminous or perhaps reflective like a moon, will it partially obscure the light of the sun and moon; partially shading us from the sun and instead of pitch-black nights, twilight? Revelation 21:25 speaking of the celestialized earth says: “for there shall be no night there.”
“But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be[28]”.
THE sign’s appearance will open a new age, with new landscape and what will seem to be a whole new world, but it will simply be the restitution of the original creation. Following the appearance of THE sign that all people shall see there will be silence.
“And there shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour; and immediately after shall the curtain of heaven be unfolded, as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up, and the [29]face of the Lord shall be unveiled; And the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened and be caught up to meet him. And they who have slept in their graves shall come forth, for their graves shall be opened; and they also shall be caught up to meet him …They are Christ’s, the first fruits,[30]”
This is of course, speaking of the Coming of Jesus Christ in power and glory; the morning of the first resurrection when the saints, both the living and the resurrected dead, will be caught up to meet Him. This “…half an hour” is not the “…about the space of half an hour” mentioned in Revelation 8:1 which began on April 6, 2000 and ended “about” 20 years later. This period of time sounds like His Coming in glory will happen immediately following His dramatic appearance upon the Mount of Olives; however, His Glorious return, with the hosts of Heaven, will not to be concurrent with the appearance of THE sign.
Key to establishing a timeline for His return is to remember: “that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years. [31]” Calculating half an hour of a thousand year day establishes a period of almost twenty one years between the appearance of THE sign and the return of Jesus; this will allow ample time, after the battle of Armageddon, for the chores foretold by Ezekiel to be performed prior to His coming in Power and Glory.
“Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken. And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the handstaves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years: So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, saith the Lord God. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamon-gog. And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land. …And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.[32]”
We can establish when THE Sign will appear by taking chronological steps backward from Christ’s appearance at the climactic conclusion of the Battle of Armageddon. There are multiple scriptures foretelling a day when Gog: the modern day Russia from “out of the north parts” will mount a siege, the abomination of desolation, upon the city of Jerusalem that will last three and a half years:
“…and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time (battle of Armageddon): and at that time thy people shall be delivered (by Jesus Christ upon the Mount of Olives), …And one said …How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, …it shall be for a time, times, and an half (3 ½ years); and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people (Israel), all these things shall be finished. [33]”
“And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days” (3 ½ years).
“But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months[34]” (3 ½ years).
“And they (people of the world) worshipped the dragon (the devil) which gave power unto the beast (government): and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months” (1,260 days symbolic of years)
“Gog” with [35]“Persia, Ethiopia and Libya …will think an evil thought;” and “in the latter years …come into the land …against the mountain of Israel, …to the land of unwalled villages; …to carry away silver and gold. [36]” This assault will turn into a 1,290 day, 42 month, three and a half year campaign, the prophesied “abomination of desolation” and will conclude 45 days later with the appearance of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem. Then an earthquake of incalculable magnitude will literally level every mountain range on earth and all men worldwide will witness the appearance of THE sign of the Second Coming; this milestone event will be followed by a twenty-year ten month “half an hour,” and then the world will witness the long awaited Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Just kidding.
Gordon Lee Woods
[1] D&C 45:38&44
[2] Matthew 24:30
[3] D&C 88:93
[4] Elder Pratt’s, “the earth …larger than it is now,” is obviously his description of the returning portions listed, taking their original positions in the earth. I believe it is also referencing the fractured crust of the earth being healed by returning it to pre-flood diameter. “And thus the face of the whole earth became deformed, …And behold, the rocks were rent in twain; they were broken up upon the face of the whole earth, insomuch that they were found in broken fragments, and in seams and in cracks, upon all the face of the land” (3 Nephi 8:17–18). Could our mountain ranges have been formed, as adjacent tectonic plates were pushed, by unbelievable pressures until plates literally slid up and over adjoining plates, all around the globe. And, as they slide back to positions beside each other, the diameter of the earth would increase dramatically.
[5] Millennial Star vol 1
[6] D&C 133:23
[7] Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary definition for lands divided is: to assign, to distribute. In this particular instance divided is defined as: to split, to be split, cleave.
[8] The Seer – vol 2
[9] Juvenile Instructor vol 27 – June 1892
[10] D&C 133:23
[11] Genesis 1:9 “gathered together unto one place…”
[12] D&C 133:23
[13] D&C 88:87-95
[14] The Seer – vol 2
[15] Gen 1:9
[16] Rev 6:14
[17] 3 Ne 26:3
[18] Mor 5:23
[19] Mor 9:2
[20] D&C 133:26-27
[21] Gen 2:5&6
[22] Example D&C 133:46-49
[23] Zech 14:2-7
[24] Rev 16:16
[25] Ezekiel 38
[26] D&C 88:87-95
[27] Isaiah 60:19-20
[28] Zech 14:7-8
[29] Rev 6:16
[30] D&C 88:95-98 Many believe this to be the silence described in Rev 8:1 which describes “about half an hour”; it began on April 6, 2000 and ended “about” 20 years later and will be followed by the battle of Armageddon. Section 88 reads to be “half an hour” followed “immediately” by the resurrection of the “first fruits”.
[31] 2 Peter 3:8
[32] Ezek 39:8-21
[33] Dan 12:1 & 11
[34] Rev 11:2 & 13:4-5
[35] Ezekiel 38:5-13
[36] Rev 20:8
Thank you, that was a fascinating read! A lot of information to think about!