Here are some quotes and scriptures that list some things that must happen before the Second Coming of Christ:
And so, guided by inspiration,
we began to go from one nation and one culture to another. Someday, in
the providences of the Lord, we shall get into Red China and Russia and
the Middle East, and so on, until eventually the gospel will have been preached everywhere, to all people; and this will occur before the second coming of the Son of Man (Matt. 24:14; JS-M 1:31).
Not
only is the gospel to go, on a priority basis and harmonious to a
divine timetable, to one nation after another, but the whole history of
God's dealings with men on earth indicates that such has been the case
in the past; it has been restricted and limited where many people are
concerned. For instance, in the day between Moses and
Christ, the gospel went to the house of Israel almost exclusively. By
the time of Jesus, the legal administrators and prophetic associates
that he had were so fully indoctrinated with the concept of having the
gospel go only to the house of Israel that they were totally unable to
envision the true significance of his proclamation that after the
Resurrection they should then go to all the world. They did not go to
the gentile nations initially. In his own ministration, Jesus preached
only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and had so commanded the
Apostles (Matt. 10:6).
It is true that he made a few minor
exceptions because of the faith and devotion of some gentile people.
There was one woman who wanted to eat the crumbs that fell from the
table of the children, causing him to say, "O woman, great is thy
faith." (Matt. 15:28; see also Mark 7:27-28; Matt. 9:10; Luke 7:9.) With
some minor exceptions, the gospel in that day went
exclusively to Israel. The Lord had to give Peter the vision and
revelation of the sheet coming down from heaven with the unclean meat on
it, following which Cornelius sent the messenger to Peter to learn what
he, Cornelius, and his gentile associates should do. The Lord commanded
them that the gospel should go to the Gentiles, and so it was. (Acts
10:1-35.) There was about a quarter of a century, then, in New Testament
times, when there were extreme difficulties among the Saints. They were
weighing and evaluating, struggling with the problems of whether the
gospel was to go only to the house of Israel or whether it now went to
all men. Could all men come to him on an equal basis with the seed of
Abraham?
There have been these problems, and the Lord has
permitted them to arise. There is not any question about that. We do not
envision the whole reason and purpose behind all of this; we can only
suppose and reason that it is on the basis
of preexistence and of our premortal devotion and faith.
You know
this principle: God "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to
dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before
appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek
the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him" (Acts
17:26-27)-meaning that there is an appointed time for successive nations
and peoples and races and cultures to be offered the saving truths of
the gospel. There are nations today to whom we have not gone-notably Red
China and Russia. But you can rest assured that we will fulfill the
requirement of taking the gospel to those nations before the second
coming of the Son of Man.
And I have no hesitancy whatever in saying that before the Lord comes,
in all those nations we will have congregations that are stable,
secure, devoted, and sound. We will have stakes of Zion. We will have
people who have progressed in spiritual things to the point where they
have received all of the blessings of the house of the Lord. That is the
destiny.
(Bruce R. McConkie, Sermons and Writings of Bruce R. McConkie , pp. 163-164)
Judah must return, Jerusalem must be rebuilt, and the temple, and water come out from under the temple, and the waters of the Dead Sea be healed. It will take some time to rebuild the walls of the city and the temple, &tc.; and all this must be done before the Son of Man will make His appearance.
There will be wars and rumors of wars, signs in the heavens above and
on the earth beneath, the sun turned into darkness and the moon to
blood, earthquakes in divers places, the seas heaving beyond their
bounds; then will appear one grand sign of the Son of Man in heaven. But
what will the world do? They will say it is a planet, a comet,
etc. But the Son of man will come as the sign of the coming of the Son
of Man, which will be as the light of the morning cometh out of the
east. (April 6, 1843.)
(Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, selected and arranged by Joseph Fielding Smith, p.286)
D&C 42:26-36
26 But if he doeth it again, he shall not be forgiven, but shall be cast out.
27 Thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor, nor do him any harm.
28 Thou knowest my laws concerning these things are given in my scriptures; he that sinneth and repenteth
not shall be cast out.
29 If thou lovest me thou shalt serve me and keep all my commandments.
30 And behold, thou wilt remember the poor, and consecrate of thy properties for their support that which thou hast to impart unto them, with a covenant and a deed which cannot be broken.
31
And inasmuch as ye impart of your substance unto the poor, ye will do
it unto me; and they shall be laid before the bishop of my church and
his counselors, two of the elders, or high priests, such as he shall
appoint or has appointed and set apart for that purpose.
32 And it
shall come to pass, that after they are laid before the bishop of my
church, and after that he has received these testimonies concerning the
consecration of the properties of my church, that they cannot be taken
from the church, agreeable to my commandments, every man shall be made
accountable unto me, a steward
over his own property, or that which he has received by consecration,
as much as is sufficient for himself and family.
33 And again, if
there shall be properties in the hands of the church, or any individuals
of it, more than is necessary for their support after this first
consecration, which is a residue to be consecrated unto the bishop, it
shall be kept to administer to those who have not, from time to time,
that every man who has need may be amply supplied and receive according
to his wants.
34 Therefore, the residue shall be kept in my
storehouse, to administer to the poor and the needy, as shall be
appointed by the high council of the church, and the bishop and his
council;
35 And
for the purpose of purchasing lands for the public benefit of the
church, and building houses of worship, and building up of the New
Jerusalem which is hereafter to be
revealed--
36 That
my covenant people may be gathered in one in that day when I shall come
to my temple. And this I do for the salvation of my people.
Teenagers
also sometimes think: "What's the use? The world will soon be blown all
apart and come to an end." That feeling comes from fear, not from
faith. No one knows the hour or the day (see D&C 49:7), but the end
cannot come until all of the purposes of the Lord are fulfilled. Everything that I have learned from the revelations and from life convinces me that there is time and to spare
for you to carefully prepare for a long life.
One day you will
cope with teenage children of your own. That will serve you right.
Later, you will spoil your grandchildren, and they in turn will spoil
theirs. If an earlier end should happen to be in store for someone, that
is more reason to do things right.
(Boyd K. Packer, Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled , p.52-)
Moses 7:62-64
62
And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send
forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his
resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men;
and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as
with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; (notice that they will look for the coming of the Lord after they have gathered to the New Jerusalem) for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem.
63 And the Lord said unto Enoch: Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there,
and we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see us; and we
will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our
necks, and we will kiss each other;
64 And there shall be mine
abode, and it shall be Zion, which shall come forth out of all the
creations which I have made; and for the space of a thousand years the
earth shall rest.
D&C 45:26
26
And in that day shall be heard of wars and rumors of wars, and the
whole earth shall be in commotion, and men's hearts shall fail them, and they shall say that Christ delayeth his coming until the end of the earth.
(notice that Joseph Smith - Matthew defines the destruction of the
wicked at the Second Coming as the end of the world whereas
the end of the earth is at the end of the Millennium when the earth
dies and is resurrected again - see JS-M 1 4, 55 and D&C 88:25-26)
JS-M 1:4
4
And Jesus left them, and went upon the Mount of Olives. And as he sat
upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying:
Tell us when shall these things be which thou hast said concerning the
destruction of the temple, and the Jews; and what is the sign of thy
coming, and of the end of the world, or the destruction of the wicked, which is the end of the world?
JS-M 1:55
55
And thus cometh the end of the wicked, according to the prophecy of
Moses, saying: They shall be cut off from among the people; but the end of the earth is not yet, but by and by.
D&C 88:25-26
25 And again, verily I say unto you, the earth abideth
the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law--
26 Wherefore, it shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quickened, and the righteous shall inherit it.
