Gird Up Your Loins~Part 2

The other day I wrote this post and thought that I might like to add something again today. Over my life from time to time I have heard people discussing the Second Coming of Christ and how scary it is. I have heard people say I am not ready yet to give up life as we know it, I still want to see my children grow up and have children of their own, or do thus and such first.

I have always found that a little perplexing. Why Scary? I guess if they really analyzed it what they mean is the things leading up to it will be scary. We do see evidence of that for sure. But if our heart is in the right place it will be a great day...not just dreadful. Through prophesy we know that no one except our Father in Heaven knows when this will occur, but the Lord has given us enough scriptural information to know ~ the time is at hand. We are truly Saturday's warriors living in the last days of the earth, as we know it. All we need to do is look around to realize things are accelerating and Satan is having his field day right now.

But we know that when He comes again there will be a thousand years of no sin, with peace, perfect health, no death, etc. How can we not want to say, "Hasten the Day!" If we have prepared ourselves by adding a little oil each day we should not fear.

Anyone who has held and loved a perfectly innocent baby that is seriously ill in their arms will want that day to come sooner than later! Anyone that has felt the ravages of war, or been the victim of a crime, or suffered in any number of ways should want to see Him return, and soon. If we are converted to Christ we will know Him when we see Him return and we will be filled with immense joy.

Gospel scholars often speak of something being a 'type and an image' of Christ. An example would be when we are baptized it is a 'type and an image' of Christ's death and resurrection. I am not a gospel scholar in the time honored sense, by any means, but I had this thought while pondering and praying a few years ago and to me it is true.

This is a painting of Jesus comforting his mother
but I see it as the way He will comfort
us all when we return to His presence.

Isn't everyone going to be present for the second coming? We may not be standing on the earth when THE Second Coming of Christ occurs but we will all have our own opportunity to experience it when we pass from this life to the next. Will our return not be our own personal 2nd coming when we see Him again?

Just like we fear the events leading to the Second Coming of Christ like natural disasters, wars and rumors of wars, escalating crime, heartlessness, etc... we can definitely fear the approach to our own personal second coming. We should not fear our passing, but I think it is human to have some fear about what we will need to pass through to get there. Our death itself will be sweet, but the road may be rocky getting there with terrible illness, pain, suffering or whatever. Just like the Second Coming we do not know when it will occur. Only God is in charge of that. I just personally see a lot of similarities between the two events.

So my point here is that we should all be getting ready for the Second Coming, the big one and the smaller one. Because whichever one we do experience, we will experience one of them. And we should travel the same road in preparation for both. By staying on the path to the tree of life through our faithfulness to the gospel of Jesus Christ we need not fear. We just add a little oil everyday and we will be protected.

Isn't that why we are constantly being reminded to study ponder and pray? Isn't that why we attend church, serve others and try to become more like Christ in word and deed? This is the time to prepare to meet God. When the need arises, the time for preparation is past. Step by step, day by day we can be ready and waiting for His return. And I love knowing how this story will end (although not really end, right?)~Christ will be victorious and the righteous will be with Him forever. We will be given all that He has by His grace, for doing so little in return. That is the definition of an endowment, receiving a lot by committing to a little. And that is why we do go forward with a perfect brightness of hope, laying all fears at the feet of the Savior.


The art work on this page contains the paintings of Liz Lemon Swindle, an artist I love for her amazing interruptions of the events of the Life of the Savior. Her work can be viewed here: Many of her paintings are for sale and they are magnificent when seen in person.