By Frank M Keele

So how soon is the second coming? Well, it’s a lot closer than many of us think, at least it’s a lot closer if your one of those who think that the gospel is going to be preached in all the world before the Lord comes. The confusion comes from our interpretation of this short passage of scripture…

“And again, this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come, or the destruction of the wicked” (JSM v 31)

It’s true that our Lord’s coming is associated with the end of the (telestial) world and it’s transformation into a terrestrial world or it receiving it’s paradisiacal glory but it is a fallacy to assume that the Lord won’t appear before then.

For example, will we not still be preaching the gospel and administering the ordinances of salvation to the Jews just after the Lord appears to them? And remember, that will be after his second appearance, right? And what about the heathen nations? In D&C section 45, just after the description of the Lord’s appearance to the Jews, we read in verse 54, “And then shall the heathen nations be redeemed, and they that knew no law shall have part in the first resurrection; and it shall be tolerable for them.”

Will those of the heathen nations “have part in the first resurrection” without us preaching the gospel unto them… and again, this is after the Lord’s second appearance! And so we conclude that the gospel will be preached before, in-between and after the Lord’s first two appearance.

And so we should evict the thought from our brains that the Lord will not appear until after the gospel has been preached in all the world… and open our minds to the possibility that his second coming is likely much closer than we thought!

You are also invited to check out the interactive second coming timeline here or join us in The Bridegroom Cometh Facebook group…