A HOLY EXPECTATION

 

“In our day we look forward with hope and joy to the Second Coming of the Son of Man, and to the setting up of the millennial kingdom of peace and righteousness, over which he shall assume personal rule for the space of a thousand years. We do not know and shall not learn either the day or the hour of that dreadful yet blessed day. We are expected to read the signs of the times and know thereby the approximate time of our Lord’s return and to be in constant readiness thereof.

“There was an element of this same uncertainty associated with his first coming, although such appears to have arisen because of lack of faith on the part of the people and not from the deliberate design of the Lord to withhold such knowledge from them.”

-          Bruce R. McConkie, “The Promised Messiah”, p 457

The Jews had anxiously expected the Messiah for many generations and by the time the Saviour was born, their whole social structure was alive with the Messianic hope. Therefore, there was no surprise to anyone, when the wise men came from the east, asking: “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2).

It was prophet Micah, that the chief priests and scribes quoted to Herod, who had prophesied 700 years earlier that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2-4). The Jews knew there were prophecies of His birth but they had ‘no eyes to see and no ears to hear’ (Ezekiel 12:2) and so they did not fully understand the obscured scriptures regarding the time (see Isaiah 49:8; Daniel 9:24-26; Matthew 13:16,17;).

It was the wise men of the east who had prophetic insight. It is presumed that they themselves were Jews who lived in one of the nations of the East as millions of Jews did back then. They were the devoted members of the House of Israel who studied the scriptures under inspiration, read the signs, and became the first witnesses of the birth of their King. The world knew nothing of these prophecies. (see Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 1, 358).

So it is with us and the Second Coming. We do not know the day of the Saviour’s return but we are expected to read the signs of the times and be in constant rediness.

Why do we need to be ready? Because this time, the Saviour will not come as a baby but as the King of Kings “to recompense unto every man according to his work…” (D&C 1:10)……We need to be ready because every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ and that He sits upon the throne of God forever and ever…..(D&C 88:104). Our genuine and heartfelt testimony of this will be our passport to the Kingdom of Heaven.

We need to be wise….

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: Following the Star by Greg Collins)