"The Redeemer Shall Come to Zion"
by Allison Andrews
The Second Coming. This is an event that is on many minds today. It was also a common point of interest during the early years of the Church when people were learning more about the signs and watching for the day that it would happen. Wilford Woodruff wrote, “Thus Ends the year 1867. O how time flies and how rapidly important Events are crowding upon Each other. The signs of the second coming of the son of man are manifest upon the Earth & in the Heavens. Zion is growing & rising & Great Babylon is fast ripening in iniquity & preparing for her final down Fall.”1 The Second Coming is a day that many members of the Church have to look forward to, although with it will come many trials and contentions in the world.
The Second Coming is also a major theme in Isaiah, as it says in Isaiah 59:19–20, “So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion.” Both an awe-inspiring and, to some, a frightful image is that of the Spirit of the Lord preparing to go against the enemy, but for the Saints who had suffered so much at the hands of the world, I’m sure such scripture would have been a comfort—to know that if they were righteous they would be lifted at the last day, and that their persecutors would be judged for their transgressions. I cannot fathom what the struggle would have been like for early members of the Church, but I am grateful for their continued faith and for the knowledge we have of the Second Coming of our Savior and Redeemer.
Some original text has been edited for clarity and readability.
Allison Andrews has been working as an Assistant Editor for the Wilford Woodruff Papers Project for six months. She is currently a student at BYU majoring in Editing and Publishing. Allison heard about the internship through her department at BYU and was excited at the prospect of practicing her editing skills while also learning more about Church history in a unique and cool way.