Prophecies of the Last Days in Section 45

 In section 45 of the Doctrine and Covenants we have some eschatological verses in which the Lord compares his second coming to the things that happened in Jerusalem after his death in the meridian of time and at the time of the American Civil War.  The thing is, it is kind of hard to tell what verses refer to the events in Jerusalem, or the Civil War,  and which refer to the last days.  I decided it might be helpful to do a breakdown. 

Jesus introduces the comparison in vs 16, "And I will show it plainly as I showed it unto my disciples as I stood before them in the flesh, and spake unto them saying..." In other words our minds should be transported back to when Jesus was with his disciples who had asked him about his return. The footnote there takes us to Matthew 24: 3-26. We are watching him prophecy to those disciples about the destruction of Jerusalem. "And now ye behold this temple which is in Jerusalem, which ye call the house of God, and your enemies say that this house shall never fall.  But, verily I say unto you, that a desolation shall come upon this generation as a thief in the night, and this people shall be destroyed and scattered among all nations." (v 18-19)  Then he goes on to prophecy of the destruction of the temple, and the scattering of the Jews. (v 20)  Finally he sums up the flashback by saying "And it shall come to pass, that this generation of Jews shall not pass away until every desolation which I have told you concerning them shall come to pass." (21).  

We know from history that this prophecy came true.  A false Messiah rose up and stirred the Jews up into revolt against Rome.  In retaliation the Romans desolated Jerusalem, tore down the temple, and scattered the Jews in 70 AD. 

In the verses that follow Jesus compares the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD to the time the Saints are currently in. He talks about the "times of the Gentiles" (v. 25) which will be characterized by "wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth will be in commotion." (v 26)  But during these perilous times, "And when the times of the Gentiles is come in, a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fulness of the Gospel."(28).  So what time period are we in now?  The time of the restoration of the gospel.  

He starts then to prophecy of about the generation existing in 1830. "In that generation shall the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. and there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge, for a desolating sickness shall cover the land." There were actually several epidemics that occurred during the 1830-1850s in the United States. There were Yellow Fever epidemics in 1833 and 1851 and Scarlet Fever in 1847 and 1885. For most of these, the Latter Day Saints were spared because they had already left the main body of the United States and were isolated in the West. "But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved." (v 32.)

He also prophecies of war, "...yet men will harden their hearts against me, and they will take up the sword, one against another, and they will kill one another." (v. 33)  It is easy to see this as a prophecy of the Civil War, especially because it says they will take up the sword "one against another," rather than against an invading army or an enemy. 

So far we have seen prophecies of the destruction of Jerusalem, and prophecies of the 19th century.  After these prophecies, God finally refers to the last days. These prophecies are much more vague. "...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 they shall see signs and wonders...And they shall see blood, and fire, and vapors of smoke." (v. 39-40.) 

"And before the day of the Lord shall come, the sun shall be darkened and the moon be turned to blood, and the stars fall from heaven." (v. 42) These descriptions sound a lot like the Book of Revelation symbolic prophecies, rather than the specific prophecies about the fall of Jerusalem and the Civil War. From here on out he describes Jesus' appearance in a cloud, (v 44) the rapture (v. 45) and the resurrection (v. 45).  He also describes the judgement on the wicked. Those who willfully rebelled shall be "hewn down and cast into a fire." (v.50)  The Jews will recognize their fallen Lord, (v. 51-52) and heathen nations, who had no chance to learn of Christ shall be redeemed (v.54)  Finally, he hints that he is merely recounting what has already been revealed in the New Testament (presumably the Book of Revelation) when he says, "And now, I say unto you, it shall not be given unto you to know further concerning this chapter, until the New Testament be translated, and in it all these things shall be made known." (v. 60).

In summary, not all the dire prophecies in D&C 45 are prophecies of the last days.  Some are about the destruction of the Jews in 70 AD, and some are about the coming Civil War in (1860).  The ones that are about the second coming and beginning of the Millennium echo the symbolic prophecies we already have in the Book of Revelations. That are meant to assure us that even though Satan fights against the Saints, the Lord and his disciples will ultimately triumph. 

Section 29: Foreshadowing the Exodus

 Section 29 is the first eschatological section in the Doctrine & Covenants. Eschatology is the study of the end times. This section is often compared to the book of Ezekiel or the Book of Revelation because they also deal with the end times and have some of the same symbolic images.  One of the podcasts I listened to this week (I think it was Scott and Casey on Scripture Central) pointed out that there is also a lot of imagery here from the book of Exodus. This fascinated me since one of the things I am discovering this year is that the modern church was as much a restoration of the Old Testament worship as it is of the New Testament gospel.  

In the Exodus story, before the people leave Egypt, Moses calls down 10 plagues onto the Egyptians.  They are:, water into blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock dying, boils, hail that turns into fire, locust, darkness, and the death of the firstborn.  Once they left Egypt, the Hebrews were lead by a pillar of fire/smoke to Mount Sinai where they received the law. Let's see how many of these images we can find in D&C 29.

Hail: 29:16 (also and stars falling v. 14)
Flies: 29:18

Lice: (here maggots) 29:18
Darkness: 29:14
Pillar of Fire: 29:12
Mount Sinai: 29:13

It doesn't include all the images, but there is definitely enough that someone familiar with the Exodus story might notice the tie in, especially because of the mention of the Pillar of Fire and the Mount Sinai. Those images are exclusively related to the Moses story.

At this time Joseph Smith was working on the "translation" of the Bible, so maybe these ideas were already in his head when he received the revelation. The thing he didn't know, and nobody knew at that point except God, was that within 20 years the Saints would be making their own exodus from the United States, lead by a modern Moses, Brigham Young, to establish a new home/nation in the American West. As the Old Testament Exodus is the foundation story of the People of Israel, the Doctrine and Covenants is the foundation story of the modern church. Was the Lord intentionally foreshadowing?  Probably.  He loves to do that. Did anyone pick up on it at the time? Probably not.

The Woman in the Wilderness from Revelation 12

 Several of the podcasters I listened to this week referred the story of the woman who is cast into the wilderness in Revelation 12. I am not sure why.  Maybe there are some key words in this chapter that refer back to the passage in Revelation, but if so, they aren't super obvious to me. More than one commentator talked about it, so there must be something there.

In that story the woman is about to give birth (Revelation 12:2) but as soon as her child is born it is taken up to heaven. Then the woman flees into the wilderness (v. 6) where is she protected while the dragon fights against Michael and his hosts. Once the war is over the dragon his hurled to earth. He then pursues the woman, but she is miraculously saved and preserved (v. 15). Then when the dark ages are over, she is brought out of the desert and enthroned with the Lamb (21:9). The podcasters compared this to the apostacy and restoration.  The true church is the woman, who, after Jesus is taken into heaven, has to flee and hide because of persecution.  This leads to apostacy which is represented by the desert. The restoration is when the church is restored by Joseph Smith and takes its place as God's true church. I think that is a good interpretation of this scripture, but I think the image doesn't just have one interpretation. 

I tried to think up all the times this pattern was reenacted.  To be clear, this is the pattern

1. a start-up group of people bring forth something great but then immediately has to flee into the wilderness for safety.
2. While in the wilderness they are protected and nurtured.
3. When they are strong enough, they emerge from hiding.  
4. They are then ready to take their place next to God. 

The first place this happens is when the children of Israel, while still a small group, produce the Abrahamic covenant and religion, but within a few generations descend into Egypt so they won't die due to a famine.  There in the wilderness, although enslaved, they grow into a mighty nation. When they get strong enough they are lead out of Egypt into the Promised Land. They eventually conquer the people of the Promised Land establishing Jehovah worship at the temple as the dominant culture. 

Most Christian religions see the woman figure as Mary, who watches over the church between the time of Jesus' death until his return. It is she who will join Jesus on the throne at his second coming.

It happens again with the Latter-Day Saints. While small, the church produces the Book of Mormon and establishes a church.  It is then driven out of the USA and hides in the desert of Deseret, protected and safe from the Civil War.  In recent decades we have seen it then emerge from obscurity to become a major force for good in the world. 

This further confirms what I wrote in my last blog.  It really was essential for the continued success of the church to leave civilization and set up camp in Utah.  The whole Doctrine and Covenants document key events in that process. There they were able to grow in both size and cultural identity until now, we have gone to almost all the world, trying to bring people back to Christ.

I am curious if there are other instances of this pattern.  It feels like an archetype--like the wilderness journey, and the hero's journey--to me.  I will have to keep my eye open for it.