D&C 29 - The Last Days, Animals, and Agency

Verse 21: Is the destruction a bit harsh?

President Woodruff commented: “No man can contemplate the truth concerning the nations of the earth without sorrow, when he sees the wailing, the mourning, and death, that will come in consequence of judgments, plagues, and war. It has already begun, and it will continue to multiply and increase until the scene is ended, and wound up. Do I delight in the destruction of the children of men? No. Does the Lord? No. He gives them timely warning, and if they do not listen to His counsel, they must suffer the consequences” (Journal of Discourses, 2:201).

Verse 23: A New Heaven and a New Earth

A New Heaven: “This earth will be rolled back into the presence of God,” declared the Prophet Joseph Smith, “and crowned with celestial glory” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 181). Brigham Young taught that the earth will move through space to “return again unto the presence of the Father” (Journal of Discourses, 17:143). Thus, the heavens will literally become new for those who inhabit the earth as celestial beings.

A New Earth. Following the Millennium the earth will “be prepared for the celestial glory; For after it hath filled the measure of its creation, it shall be crowned with glory, even with the presence of God the Father; that bodies who are of the celestial kingdom may possess it forever and ever” (D&C 88:18-20). Further, the Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “this earth, in its sanctified and immortal state, will be made like unto crystal and will be a Urim and Thummim to the inhabitants who dwell thereon” (D&C 130:9).

Verse 24: Animals in God's Creation

Joseph Smith taught that all animals fill the measure of their creation and are saved in the Celestial Kingdom (D&C 77:2).

“I suppose John saw beings there of a thousand forms, that had been saved from ten thousand times ten thousand earths like this,—strange beasts of which we have no conception: all might be seen in heaven. The grand secret was to show John what there was in heaven. John learned that God glorified Himself by saving all that His hands had made, whether beasts, fowls, fishes or men; and He will glorify Himself with them. Says one, ‘I cannot believe in the salvation of beasts.’ Any man who would tell you that this could not be, would tell you that the revelations are not true. John heard the words of the beasts giving glory to God, and understood them. God who made the beasts could understand every language spoken by them. The four beasts were four of the most noble animals that had filled the measure of their creation, and had been saved from other worlds, because they were perfect: they were like angels in their sphere. We are not told where they came from, and I do not know; but they were seen and heard by John praising and glorifying God” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 291-92).

Verse 36: Agency and Satan's attempt to destroy it

“When the Eternal Father announced his plan of salvation-a plan that called for a mortal probation for all his spirit children; a plan that required a Redeemer to ransom men from the coming fall; a plan that could only operate if mortal men had agency-when the Father announced his plan, when he chose Christ as the Redeemer and rejected Lucifer, then there was war in heaven. That war was a war of words; it was a conflict of ideologies; it was a rebellion against God and his laws. Lucifer sought to dethrone God, to sit himself on the divine throne, and to save all men without reference to their works. He sought to deny men their agency so they could not sin. He offered a mortal life of carnality and sensuality, of evil and crime and murder, following which all men would be saved. His offer was a philosophical impossibility. There must needs be an opposition in all things. Unless there are opposites, there is nothing. There can be no light without darkness, no heat without cold, no virtue without vice, no good without evil, no salvation without damnation.” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Millennial Messiah: The Second Coming of the Son of Man, p. 666.)

Joseph Fielding Smith on agency and rights:

“I have heard people say, and members of the Church too, ‘I have a right to do as I please.’ My answer is: No, you do not. You haven’t any right at all to do just as you please. There is only one right that you have, and that is to do just what I read to you: keep the commandments of Jesus Christ. He has a perfect right to tell us so. We have no right to refuse. I do not care who the man is; I do not care where he lives, or what he is—when the gospel of Jesus Christ is presented to him, he has no right to refuse to receive it. He has the privilege. He is not compelled to receive it, because our Father in heaven has given to everyone of us in the Church and out, the gift of … agency. That … agency gives us the privilege to accept and be loyal to our Lord’s commandments, but it has never given us the right to reject them. Every man who rejects the commandments of our Father in heaven is rebellious.” (President Joseph Fielding Smith, CR, April 1967, p. 120-121.)