Does the first resurrection happen before the millennium begins?

Question

Hi Gramps,

Jesus said that no man would know of the second coming of Jesus Christ, I believe he referenced it as “thief in the night.” My question is this. The Savior was introduced by Father in Heaven to young Joseph Smith to end the great apostacy unknown to the world as perhaps the “thief in the night” reference. Can we suppose that the second coming has already been started and the great and dreadful day of the Lord will be his official “second coming” that everyone in the world will recognize?  If this is true doesn’t the first resurrection happen before the millennium begins?  Just wondering if you could clarify.

Nate

Answer

Hi Nate,

Some two thousand years ago, an Angel dispatched from the courts of Glory announced to shepherds in the field:

“Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

 

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

 

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

 

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

 

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:10-14)

Few were aware or recognized the birth of the promised Messiah, though many had awaited and proclaimed that he would come. Jesus entered mortality as a babe in the manger as the stars looked down where he lay.

When our Lord returns again it will not be to the meekness of the manger, it will be as the recognized Redeemer and Lord of the Universe and the stars that once looked down where he lay will fall from the heavens in a witnessing way and as Isaiah 40:5 records:

 “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”

As described in D&C 88:95-98:

“And there shall be silence in heaven for the space of half an hour; and immediately after shall the curtain of heaven be unfolded, as a scroll is unfolded after it is rolled up, and the face of the Lord shall be unveiled; And the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive, shall be quickened and be caught up to meet him.

 

And they who have slept in their graves shall come forth, for their graves shall be opened; and they also shall be caught up to meet him in the midst of the pillar of heaven.

 

They are Christ’s, the first fruits, they who shall descend with him first, and they who are on the earth and in their graves, who are first caught up to meet him; and all this by the voice of the sounding of the trump of the angel of God.”

We can apply the words of Paul to the Thessalonians 1Thessalonians 5:2-4 to our day and time when he said:

” For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

 

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

 

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”

Indeed Nate, we are not in darkness, for we have the Gospel restored in its fullness and a Prophet called by God to lead and direct his church and his people in preparation for the return of Jesus Christ.

Gramps