“The Earth to Be Restored”
Isaiah 66:22–23
22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.
President Joseph Fielding Smith said:
“This new heaven and new earth are our own earth and its heavens renewed to the primitive beauty and condition. This is not the great last change which shall come at the end of the earth, but the change to take place at the coming of Jesus Christ. Moreover, when this change comes all things will be set in order. Enmity between man and man and beast and beast will cease. ‘The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord’ [Isa. 65:25]. Again it is written:
“‘For as the new heavens and new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord’—Isa. 66:22–23.
“In this restitution the sea will be driven back to the north and the land will again be in one place. The mountains shall be thrown down and the valleys exalted. This scripture has been looked upon as being merely a figure of speech, but it is a literal change which will take place when Christ comes.”
(The Restoration of All Things [1945], 23–24.)
