II. "But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth?" From this it seems that it will be difficult to abide the day of his coming, and to stand when he appeareth in fulfillment of this prophecy of Malachi's. Was it so when Jesus came in the meridian of time to make his great atonement for man? Let the life of Jesus answer. Passing by the days of his childhood and youth, we may see him emerge from the obscurity of his uneventful life at Nazareth in the full bloom of perfected manhood. He applies to John for baptism, that he might fulfill all righteousness; and as from the watery grave he is brought forth, lo! a voice from heaven proclaims him the Son of God. From that time he becomes a teacher of men. On the peaceful hills, and in the quiet hamlets of Galilee, or along the pleasant shores of the lake of that name, men heard his gracious words, and admired while they marveled at the wisdom of one untaught in schools and unlearned in man's petty wisdom. The synagogues of the Jews also resounded with his doctrines, and the tones of his voice so mild among the pastoral people of Galilee, swelled into mighty notes of denunciation, when he approached the centers of population where wickedness more abounded. His arraignment of the priests, his denunciation of the national hypocrisy, his condemnation of the false traditions which were making of no effect the law of God—all this delivered in the tone of undoubted authority, brought upon him the wrath of a corrupt priesthood, which conspired to kill him.
The priests were successful. They were careful to arouse the people against him; and often the Son of God sought safety from their violence by flight. At the last he was betrayed into their hands; dragged unceremoniously before the high priest at midnight; thence to the Sanhedrim, where he was tried and condemned, and afterwards mocked, beaten and spit upon; next morning he is brought before Pilate for the confirmation of the sentence of death; and though the Roman judge could see nothing in his conduct which would warrant the sentence, the cries of the rabble prevailed over his better judgment, and Jesus was condemned to crucifixion. Through the streets of Jerusalem bending beneath the weight of his own cross, and scourged with cords by the soldiery, to the infinite delight of the rabble which shouted at his heels, Jesus moved towards the place of his execution. Arriving there he is stripped of his clothing, his limbs are stretched to the cross, and through the quivering flesh the nails are driven. The cross is erected, and on either side, is placed a criminal condemned to execution. Before him now pass the mocking rabble with which the chief priests mingle. Tauntingly they pass by and do him mock reverence, saying, "Hail King of the Jews—hail!" "He saved others," they shout, "let him save himself. Let him come down from the cross and we will believe on him." "He trusted in God—let him deliver him now, if he will have him—" and amid such taunts as these the Son of God expired.
Tell me, was it difficult to abide that day of his coming? Or difficult to stand in that day of his appearing? Clearly it was not. But when the Son of God shall come in the glory of his Father, to reward every man according to his works; when he shall come with "ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him;"21 when he shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, then there will be pertinence in the questions, "Who may abide the day of his coming?" "Who shall stand when he appeareth?"
III. The argument may be pushed further still. When the Lord comes suddenly to his temple, in fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy, he is to "sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." Did Jesus do so when he was on earth nineteen centuries ago? No; the sons of Levi were not purified, neither then nor at any time since have they offered an acceptable offering unto the Lord.
IV. "Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years." Did such a result as this follow the appearance and mission of Jesus in Palestine, when he came to be offered as a sacrifice for sinful man? On the contrary, Judah was rejected; his temple was destroyed, so that not one stone was left upon another that was not cast down; Jerusalem was made desolate, and for many centuries has been trodden under foot of the Gentiles, while her children, as outcasts, have wandered among the nations, a hiss, a byword; and a reproach.
In the light of all these circumstances, it is perfectly clear (1) that the terms of Malachi's prophecy concerning the Lord coming suddenly to his temple, were not fulfilled in his first appearing, and hence the prophecy must refer to some subsequent appearing, which is to be followed with a blessing upon the house of Israel, the purifying of the sons of Levi, and the re-establishment of Jerusalem; (2) that preceding that glorious coming a messenger will be sent to prepare the way.
The prophecy of Malachi, without doubt, refers to some glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus, such as that prophesied by the New Testament writers, when they predict that he shall come in the glory of his Father to judgment, before which event, however, a great preparatory work is to be performed: the gospel restored to earth and preached to all nations as a witness, Israel gathered, the Jews restored to Palestine, a temple builded to which the Lord may come, and a people prepared to receive him. This preparatory work the reader will recognize in the work founded by Joseph Smith. And if John the Baptist was a special messenger to prepare the way for the coming of Christ, and he is to prepare the way for his second coming as well as for his first, the reader will remember that it was this personage who appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, and conferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood. That Priesthood, according to the teachings of Joseph Smith, holds "the keys of the ministering of angels, and the preparatory gospel." Moreover, when John the Baptist conferred that Priesthood upon the two men named, he told them that it would "never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness,"22 a promise so similar to that made in the prophecy of Malachi that it surely argues some connection between this angel's message and the fulfillment of that prediction.
In further evidence that the work founded by Joseph Smith, is one to prepare the way for the glorious appearing of Messiah let the following instructions and admonitions given early in the history of the Church of Christ in this dispensation to the elders of the church be considered:
"Behold, I sent you out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned, to warn his neighbor. Therefore, they are left without excuse, and their sins are upon their own heads. * * * Therefore, tarry ye, and labor diligently, that you may be perfected in your ministry to go forth among the Gentiles for the last time, as many as the mouth of the Lord shall name, to bind up the law and seal up the testimony and to prepare the saints for the hour of judgment which is to come; that their souls may escape the wrath of God, the desolation of abomination which awaits the wicked, both in this world and in the world to come. * * * Abide ye in the liberty wherewith ye are made free; entangle not yourselves in sin, but let your hands be clean, until the Lord come; for not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man, and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light, and the moon shall be bathed in blood, and the stars shall become exceeding angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a fig tree.
"And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people; for after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground, and shall not be able to stand. And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea, heaving themselves beyond their bounds. And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men's hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people; and angels shall fly through the midst of heaven, crying with a loud voice, sounding the trump of God, saying, Prepare ye, prepare ye, O inhabitants of the earth; for the judgment of our God is come: behold, and lo! the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him."23
"Hearken, and lo, a voice as of one from on high, * * * Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has