“When the Lord Shall Appear He Shall Be Terrible unto Them”
Doctrine and Covenants 45:74–75
74 For when the Lord shall appear he shall be terrible unto them, that fear may seize upon them, and they shall stand afar off and tremble.
75 And all nations shall be afraid because of the terror of the Lord, and the power of his might. Even so. Amen.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
“It is not a pleasant thing to think of that which lies ahead for worldly people, for those in all nations who walk in carnal paths, for those in the Church who do not keep the commandments. ‘The time is soon at hand that I shall come in a cloud with power and great glory,’ saith the Lord. ‘And it shall be a great day at the time of my coming, for all nations shall tremble’ (D&C 34:7–8). ‘For when the Lord shall appear he shall be terrible unto them, that fear may seize upon them, and they shall stand afar off and tremble. And all nations shall be afraid because of the terror of the Lord, and the power of his might’ (D&C 45:74–75).
“Is it any wonder that men in that day, as Jesus promised, shall say ‘to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us’? (Luke 23:30.) Yea, in that day shall be fulfilled that which is written: ‘And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?’ (Rev. 6:15–17).
“Does it seem strange that the meek and lowly Nazarene is also a God of vengeance? Are modern religionists in the cults of Christendom so imbued with the idea that He is a God of mercy that they forget completely that He is also a God of justice? Can He be a God of rewards without being a God of punishments?
“Truly, wrath and vengeance are bedfellows. When the Lord pours out His wrath without measure, the wicked suffer the vengeance of a just God in exactly the same proportion. It is their day of reckoning; they are given measure for measure as their deeds warrant; it is a day of retribution and avengement. It is ‘the day when the Lord shall come to recompense unto every man according to his work, and measure to every man according to the measure which he has measured to his fellow man’ (D&C 1:10).”
(The Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man [1982], 499–500.)
