Corrections

[But with a disclaimer by Kent in the introduction of his book, Lost Tribes & Last Days (Deseret Book, 2005):  “But these chapters are interpretations, not the real thing, and I encourage readers to seek answers not here but in the revealed sources themselves” (3).]

Modern Israel’s non-fulfillment of ancient promises

Jackson quotes Bruce R. McConkie in The Millennial Messiah: 

“As all the world knows, many Jews are now gathering to Palestine, where they have their own nation and way of worship, all without reference to a belief in Christ or an acceptance of the laws and ordinances of his everlasting gospel.  Is this the latter-day gathering of the Jews of which the scriptures speak?  No! It is not; let there be no misunderstanding in any discerning mind on this point.  This gathering of the Jew to their homeland, and their organization into a nation and a kingdom, is not the gathering promised by the prophets.  It does not fulfill the ancient promises”(56).

My personal view:  As an oddball among the huge multitudes of American evangelical dispensationalists who would take issue with McConkie’s words, I agree. 

Identity of the millennial David

Recently it has been suggested by some that the millennial David, who will be Israel’s “shepherd” (Ezek. 34:23), “king,” and “prince for ever” (Ezek. 37:25), will be someone other than Jesus Christ.  This idea is nowhere to be found in the scriptures, and it contradicts clear revealed evidence.  It appears to come from a misinterpretation of poetic images in the Old Testament, where metaphors such as branch, shepherd, and David are used interchangeably with words like king and prince with regard to Israel’s millennial ruler.[3]  There is no mystery involved in the identity of the millennial king David.  The passages refer to Jesus Christ, who was a descendant of David in the flesh and who is and ever will be the true Shepherd and King of Israel (109).

I partially quote Footnote #3:

The idea that the millennial David is someone other than Christ seems to be a rather recent idea that may not have appeared in the Church until the second half of the twentieth century.  It does not seem to be reflected either in the Journal of Discourses or in any general conference talks (111n3).

My personal view:  Holding to the evangelical view of Jesus, I agree that He is Ezekiel’s David.

Restoration

For Latter-day Saints the word restoration usually evokes thoughts of Joseph Smith and the restoration of lost truth and authority in the latter days.  But the restoration, in its greatest sense, involves much more than that.  As Ezekiel reported, it includes the gathering of the dispersed of Israel (see Ezek. 37:21), their reestablishment in promised lands (see Ezek. 37:21-22, 25), the restoration of Judah and Israel into one nation (see Ezek. 37:22), the restoration of their status as a worthy covenant people before the Lord (see Ezek. 37:23-24, 26-28), and the restoration of the Lord himself to his rightful position as Israel’s divine king (see Ezek. 37:22, 24-25).  These constitute the central focus of Ezekiel 37 and of many other important prophecies as well.  For all of these, the Lord provided a sign:  the bringing together of the two inscribed pieces of wood—the “stick of Judah” and the “stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim” (Ezek. 37:19) (114).

My personal view:  If we could move beyond the talk of National Geographic diptychs and sacred records in Ezekiel 37, I would be very encouraged by this statement.

Gog and Magog

Apocalyptic elements are readily apparent in this vision, suggesting that it is an apocalyptic scene and not a transcript of one specific future event.  The latter-day setting of the prophecy seems clear.  The Lord’s people are called “Israel,” and they have been “gathered out of many people” and “brought forth out of the nations” (Ezek. 38:8).  Israel here seems to represent neither a political entity nor a geographical location but the Lord’s people wherever they may be.  Israel, after all, is the family name of the Lord’s Saints, the members of his Church who have gathered to the covenants of his gospel throughout the earth.  In the symbolic vision, Gog, coming with vast armies from distant unknown lands, sets as his goal the devastation and plunder of the Lord’s people.  In apocalyptic fashion, the figure “Gog” here probably does not represent a real person or nation who will attack the Saints with military force but the powers of evil that are arrayed against the Saints, manifested in many ways, many places, and many times.  Satan is the very embodiment of this evil and the archenemy of the Lord and his followers.  As the vision depicts, the forces of evil will not be allowed to prevail.  With a mighty act so characteristic of apocalyptic scenes, the Lord himself will intervene to put an end to evil and its consequences.

When will this prophecy be fulfilled?  All around us, we can see evidence that the battle is already raging today.  Although apocalyptic typology often represents categories rather than specific individuals or events, there are enough close parallels between this prophecy and others that the timeframe for its fulfillment seem apparent.  The key to understanding Ezekiel’s vision is to turn to modern revelation, where there is a clearer view of the last days and of the Lord’s people in that period.  In the time in which we now live, the gathering of the house of Israel and the establishment of Zion have commenced.  Satan’s forces are engaged in relentless battle against individual Saints and the Church.  As other scriptures teach us, their efforts will increase in intensity as the coming of Christ draws near (see I Ne. 14:11-14; JS-M 1:30).  Like the hosts of Gog, however, they will not succeed in their efforts to destroy the Lord’s Church.  Instead, wickedness will be wiped from the earth in preparation for his coming in glory, which will usher in a thousand-year era of millennial peace (136-137).

Footnotes at Doctrine and Covenants 29:20-21 identify Ezekiel 38-39 as the prophecy referred to in this revelation.  Though the wording is not exactly the same, the identification is certainly correct, because it is the closest thing in Ezekiel to the content of Doctrine and Covenants 29:21 (139-140n1).

My personal view:  I agree to a Gog and Magog context for Armageddon and at the end of a literal millennium.  But honestly, I am currently wrestling over the extent of typology and symbolism in apocalyptic revelation.

The Millennial Sacrifices

But the scriptures make it clear that the law of Moses and its sacrifices were ended with the atonement of Christ (see Alma 34:13-14; Heb. 10:18), and so it does not seem reasonable that a temple for the performance of Mosaic animal offerings will ever be built, especially during the Millennium when there will be no death (see chapter 21 in this volume for further exploration of this matter).[2] (144-145)

As we will see in greater detail in chapter 21, Joseph Smith taught that to make the Restoration complete, sacrifice will be restored, though not those sacrifices that were revealed with the law of Moses.  But because animal sacrifice ended with Christ, it seems likely that the sacrifice of which the Prophet spoke will be a short-term or one-time event in fulfillment of Malachi 3:3-4, to signal that the Levites are again in the covenant and have assumed their rightful priesthood function in the house of Israel (147n2).

My personal view:  I disagree.  Presently, I find compelling the arguments of sacrifices as a visual, continual memorial in the millennium to the Lord’s one-time vicarious sacrifice.

The Millennial Temple

Ezekiel’s vision portrayed the future temple by means of familiar Old Testament temple images because his readers would not have recognized or comprehended a temple like ours today.  The Lord communicates with people in their own language and according to their level of understanding (see D&C 1:24), and in this vision he taught ancient Jews of millennial things by using images drawn from their own time and experience.  The design, purpose, and ordinances of modern temples would have made no sense to them, just as they make no sense to Jews and other Christians today.  Clearly, the real millennial temple will be much different from its visionary symbol (145).

My personal view:  I disagree.  If a person believes in a literal temple to be built in the millennium, why not give allowance for the perfect dimensions and emphasis laid out by Ezekiel?

Idea of the temple being built before the Second Coming

On 6 April 1843, Joseph Smith stated, as recorded by Willard Richards:  “Jerusalem must be rebuilt.  Judah return, must return & the temple water come out from under the temple—the waters of the dead sea be healed.—it will take some time to build the walls & the Temple. &c & all this must be done before Son of Man will make his appe[ara]nce, wars & rumours of wars. signs in the heavens above on the earth beneath Sun turned into darkness moon to blood. Earthquakes in divers places, oceans heaving beyond their bound.”  Based on the edited version of this passage in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, some argue that a temple must be built in Jerusalem before the second coming of Jesus.  It appears, however, that the passage may not have been edited well.  The events in the first part of the passage (before “&c &”) fit much better in a millennial context, and the list of things that “must be done before [the] Son of Man will make his appearance” most likely begins with “wars & rumours of wars.”  Moreover, for all we know from the original manuscript, the “&c &” may represent some omitted words and the passing of some time (147-148n4).

My personal view:  This is the first time I have heard this from a BYU professor.  The textual criticism on the Joseph Smith quote is intriguing.  And in my present though not infallible understanding, I do see a glorious temple built in the Messianic millennium.

Proclamations on absolute exclusivity of the LDS Church in eschatology

1.  “Of the three major branches of Israel discussed here—the northern ten tribes, the descendants of Lehi, and the Jews—the Jews alone have retained a knowledge of their origin and identity.  Yet in the gospel sense, they too are separated from the covenants that God made with their forefathers, excepting those who have become members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” (44).

2.  [Ezekiel 37:22]—“This is a prophecy of greatest importance that still has not been fulfilled.  But we know who the two nations are today, and we know what must be done before they will be brought together.  Judah consists of the Jews, who, though scattered in most of the nations of the earth, still, to a large extent, have retained their identity.  Aside from those who have accepted the restored gospel, they are still removed from the blessings of the covenants which the Lord established with their fathers in biblical times.  Israel is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the vast majority of whose members belong (either by birth or by adoption) to the northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.  They have gathered to the Church from their scattered state throughout the world.  The prophesied reunification of the two groups will come when the descendants of Judah accept the covenants of the gospel of Jesus Christ and join with their brothers and sisters of Israel in the Lord’s Church” (118).

3.  “Some have suggested that Ezekiel foresaw Jews in the Holy Land building an Old Testament temple independently of the Church of Jesus Christ and without knowledge of his gospel.  But if they did, it would not be in fulfillment of prophecy or according to divine plan, because the keys of temple building are found only in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (see D&C 110:13-16) [3]” (145).

Footnote #3 quotes McConkie, “There is only one place under the whole heavens where the keys of temple building are found.  There is only one people who know how to build temples and what to do in them when they are completed.  That people is the Latter-day Saints” (147n3).

My personal view:  As a Christian fundamentalist, though I wholeheartedly embrace the Bible promoting absolute exclusivity and world-wide dominion through the King, Jesus Christ in eschatology, I disagree with Jackson over who will be the church agent.

By the way, I have a question for LDS friends.  Is the extensive use of quotes (4 pages worth from the 177 in Jackson’s book) in this Internet post infringing upon the “fair use” policy for publicly discussing a book published by Deseret Book?