Doctrine and Covenants 133-134
“Prepare Ye for the Coming of the Bridegroom”
November 17 - November 23
scripture
quotes
Preparing Ourselves for the Second Coming
<p>“Let us be sure we thoroughly understand the most important things we can do to prepare ourselves for our Lord’s second coming to earth and, by our obedience and faithfulness, escape his punishment. The following are important considerations. We must set our lives and homes in order. This means a searching of our souls, an admittance of wrongdoing, and repentance where needed. It means keeping all of God’s commandments. It means loving our neighbor. It means living an exemplary life. It means being good husbands and wives. It means teaching and training our children in the ways of righteousness. It means being honest in all our doings, in business and at home. It means spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to all the peoples of the world.”</p>
Delbert L. Stapley, “To Make a People Prepared for the Lord,” October 1975 General Conference
The Gathering of the Faithful
<p>Another sign of the times is the gathering of the faithful (see D&C 133:4). In the early years of this last dispensation, a gathering to Zion involved various locations in the United States: to Kirtland, to Missouri, to Nauvoo, and to the tops of the mountains. Always these were gatherings to prospective temples. With the creation of stakes and the construction of temples in most nations with sizeable populations of the faithful, the current commandment is not to gather to one place but to gather in stakes in our own homelands. There the faithful can enjoy the full blessings of eternity in a house of the Lord. There, in their own homelands, they can obey the Lord’s command to enlarge the borders of His people and strengthen her stakes (see D&C 101:21 D&C 133:9, 14). In this way, the stakes of Zion are “for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth” (D&C 115:6).</p>
Dallin H. Oaks, “Preparation for the Second Coming”, April 2004 General Conference
What Would We Do Today?
<p>“Always we are cautioned that we cannot know the day or the hour of His coming. In the 24th chapter of Matthew Jesus taught: ‘Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up‘ ‘But would have been ready.’ ‘Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.’ What if the day of His coming were tomorrow? If we knew that we would meet the Lord tomorrow—through our premature death or through His unexpected coming—what would we do today? What confessions would we make? What practices would we discontinue? What accounts would we settle? What forgivenesses would we extend? What testimonies would we bear? If we would do those things then, why not now? Why not seek peace while peace can be obtained? If our lamps of preparation are drawn down, let us start immediately to replenish them. We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming. And the preparation most likely to be neglected is the one less visible and more difficult—the spiritual. A 72-hour kit of temporal supplies may prove valuable for earthly challenges, but, as the foolish virgins learned to their sorrow, a 24-hour kit of spiritual preparation is of greater and more enduring value.”</p>
Dallin H. Oaks, “Preparation for the Second Coming,” April 2004 General Conference
commentaries
Section 133 Context
<p>Section 133 ends what section 1 began. The November 1831 conference at Hiram, Ohio, planned to publish 10,000 copies of Joseph's revelations as <em>A Book of Commandments for the Government of the Church of Christ</em>. Joseph began to edit the revelations, and Oliver Cowdery made plans to take them to Independence, Missouri, for publication by William Phelps on the Church’s press. Joseph’s history says that</p> <blockquote> <p>at this time there were many things which the Elders desired to know relative to the preaching of the Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth, and concerning the gathering; and in order to walk in the true light, and be instructed from on high, on the 3rd of November, 1831, I inquired of the Lord and received the following important revelation, which has since been added to the book of Doctrine and Covenants, and called the Appendix.<a id="_ftnref1" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn1">[1]</a></p> </blockquote> <p>Section 133 continues and even escalates the apocalyptic tone of section 1. It announces that Christ will dramatically come soon. He will come to judge all that forget God, including the ungodly Latter-day Saints. So the Saints should prepare for his coming by sanctifying their lives and becoming Zion. “Go ye out from Babylon,” the Lord says again and again, solidifying the dualistic “Zion versus Babylon” typology he chose in sections 1 and 133 to frame the Doctrine and Covenants.</p> <p>Zion will be rescued when the Lord comes. Babylon will be destroyed. “Hearken and hear, O ye inhabitants of the earth. Listen, ye elders of my church together, and hear the voice of the Lord; for he calleth upon all men everywhere to repent” (D&C 133:16). The angels have already been sent to announce that the hour of his coming nears. Indeed, that is the beginning of the Restoration. As section 133 explains, messengers commit the gospel to mortal prophets, who offer it to “some,” who then go to “many,” until “this gospel shall be preached unto every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (vv. 36–37). Then the Lord answers the prayers of his people, who have long pled, “O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, that thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence” (v. 39). He will answer “as the melting fire that burneth, and as the fire which causeth the waters to boil” (v. 41). He comes soon to sanctify the repentant and to burn the unrepentant.</p> <p>So how does the revelation answer the elders’ questions about preaching the gospel and gathering Israel? First, it emphasizes, the Saints must get themselves out of Babylon, and the only alternative is to “flee unto Zion” (D&C 133:12). Second, send the elders back in to rescue any who will repent. Send them first to the Gentiles and then to the Jews. They should “thrash the nations by the power of his Spirit” (v. 59) and send any who will repent on to Zion to be endowed with priesthood power and the blessings promised to the House of Israel. That’s why the revelations were given and why they are to be published to all mankind. “And unto him that repenteth and sanctifieth himself before the Lord shall be given eternal life. And upon them that hearken not to the voice of the Lord shall be fulfilled that which was written by the prophet Moses, that they should be cut off from among the people” (D&C 133:62–63).</p> <p>Section 133 answers the elders’ questions about preaching the gospel and gathering lost Israel. Other revelations give much more detailed instructions how to do those things. This one emphasizes why and when. To a fledgling group of fallible Latter-day Saints gathered in a private home, it sets forth an audacious scope of covering the globe with the restored gospel. It reiterates Christ’s great commission to take the gospel to every creature so that each can decide whether to repent or not. Moreover, there is no time to lose. The revelation's urgent tone emphasizes that Christ soon comes to judge an apostate world—Babylon.</p> <p>What resulted from this revelation? That little group of faltering Saints has grown exponentially and sent tens of thousands of its sons and daughters to the ends of the earth to preach the gospel and gather scattered Israel to Zion in anticipation of the Lord's second coming. It would be hard to overstate the motivating power of sections like 133. It is, as one early Saint declared, “fraught with so much heavenly intelligence.”<a id="_ftnref2" class="see-footnote" title="" href="#_ftn2">[2]</a></p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn1" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref1">[1]</a> “<a href="https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/172" target="_blank" rel="noopener">History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834]</a>,” 166, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed December 8, 2020; <em>The Evening and the Morning Star</em> (May 1833): 1:12.</p> <p class="footnote"><a id="_ftn2" class="footnote-label" title="" href="#_ftnref2">[2]</a> <em>The Evening and the Morning Star</em> (May 1833): 89.</p> </div>
D&C Contexts by Steven C. Harper
Commentary on D&C 133:7–16
<p>The Lord never allows a calamity to come upon the earth without first warning His people. An essential part of the work of the Church in the last days is to warn and gather together as many people as will leave Babylon and come to Zion. The proclamation on the family issued in 1995 ends with a powerful statement from the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve: “We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.”<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="see-footnote">[1]</a></p> <p>People in the latter days are gathering to safety through entering into sacred covenants and making changes in their lives that free them from the destructive influence of the world. At the time Doctrine and Covenants 133 was received, fleeing to Zion was a literal act. Most people who joined the Church in those days began preparations to physically gather to a Church center in Ohio or Missouri and live with the Saints. Later revelations explained that Zion was also “the pure in heart” (D&C 97:21). People can come to Zion as they abandon the empty and harmful practices of the world to embrace the commandments of God. In this way the borders of Zion are enlarged one heart at a time, as men and women choose a higher life of service and joy.</p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” ChurchofJesusChrist.org.</p> </div>
Doctrine and Covenants Minute by Casey Paul Griffiths
