Robert L. Millet - Living in the Millennium

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down

with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;

and a little child shall lead them. They shall not hurt nor destroy

in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the

knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Isaiah 11:6, 9

The hour is nigh, and that which was spoken by mine apostles

must be fulfilled; for as they spoke so shall it come to pass;

for I will reveal myself from heaven with power and great glory,

with all the hosts thereof, and dwell in righteousness with men

on earth a thousand years, and the wicked shall not stand.

Doctrine & Covenants 29:1011

Preface

For many years, beginning long before I began the research for this project, I have often found myself singing or whistling two favorite hymns, the words of which have simply become a part of me. The first hymn beckons to each one of us:

Come, let us anew our journey pursue,

Roll round with the year,

And never stand still till the Master appear.

His adorable will let us gladly fulfill,

And our talents improve,

By the patience of hope and the labor of love.

Our life as a dream, our time as a stream

Glide swiftly away,

And the fugitive moment refuses to stay;

For the arrow is flown and the moments are gone.

The millennial year

Presses on to our view, and eternitys here.

The other hymn is one that moves me to the core and creates a feeling of sweet anticipation for a time and a day grander than the present:

Jehovah, Lord of heaven and earth,

Thy word of truth proclaim!

Oh, may it spread from pole to pole,

Till all shall know thy name.

We long to see thy Church increase,

Thine own new kingdom grow,

That all the earth may live in peace,

And heavn be seen below.

Roll on thy work in all its powr!

The distant nations bring!

In thy new kingdom may they stand,

And own thee God and King.

One general chorus then shall rise

From men of evry tongue,

And songs of joy salute the skies,

By evry nation sung.

I love the music of these two grand anthems, to be sure, but it is the words that stir my soul and motivate me to live better than I do now, that remind me that today is a day of preparation for a greater time. Those amazing words point us toward a day when the Lord Jesus will come down and be with us, when the Christ will dwell among his people, when the Savior will transform this fallen earth into a paradisiacal world.

Living in the Millennium is the sequel to Living in the Eleventh Hour (Deseret Book, 2014). In that study, we discussed many of the signs of the times, events that will take place and attitudes that will exist in the years leading up to the Second Coming, the knowledge of which can do much to prepare each of us for that great and dreadful day. We spoke of such things as mens hearts failing them, false Christs and false prophets, standing in holy places, preaching the gospel to all the world, the gathering of Israel, wars and rumors of wars, the fall of the great and abominable church, and the establishment of the New Jerusalem. Our intent in that volume was to undertake a serious study of the times and doings of those days leading up to the Saviors glorious appearance.

In this companion volume, we will begin by looking more closely at what we have come to call Christs preliminary appearances, that is, private comings of the Master to selected groups before he appears to all people. Then we will turn to the scriptures and the prophetic word to discover what it will be like when the lowly Nazarene returns in majesty and power to cleanse the earth by fire, remove wickedness and wicked people, and initiate a thousand years of goodness and peace. If there is anything in my research for this project that has surprised me, it is how extensively the prophets have spoken of life on the millennial earth and of the grand events that will unfold when Satan no longer has power over the hearts of our Heavenly Fathers children. God and his anointed servants have spoken in remarkable detail of this transcendent and delightful time. Then we will turn our attention to the resurrection and the day of judgment that every man, woman, and child will experience as they are called upon to render an account of how they have spent their time and expended their resources during their second estate. Finally, we will bask in the light of the marvelous revelations that unfold to our view the nature of life in the kingdoms of glory hereafter. It is an amazing journey, an exciting and sacred education.

One of the themes running through both books is encouragement to face the future soberly but optimistically. We live in troubled timesvery troubled times, President Boyd K. Packer said. We hope, we pray, for better days. But that is not to be. The prophecies tell us that. We will not as a people, as families, or as individuals be exempt from the trials to come. No one will be spared the trials common to home and family, work, disappointment, grief, health, aging, ultimately death.

What then shall we do?... We need not live in fear of the future. We have every reason to rejoice and little reason to fear. If we follow the promptings of the Spirit, we will be safe, whatever the future holds. We will be shown what to do.

On another occasion President Packer taught simply. Fear and faith are antagonistic to one another, and it is our obligation to promote faith, not fear; so stand steady.

Like Living in the Eleventh Hour, this work is a private endeavor and not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Brigham Young University, where I worked for some thirty years and where this project was begun and completed. Although I have sought, perhaps even more than with any other book I have ever written, to be in harmony with holy scripture and the teachings of latter-day prophets, I alone am responsible for the conclusions drawn from the evidence cited.

Notes

Come, Let Us Anew, Hymns, no. 217.

Jehovah, Lord of Heaven and Earth, Hymns, no. 269.

Packer, Mine Errand from the Lord, 399400.

Packer, Mine Errand from the Lord, 400.

Chapter 1

The End of Time