“The Sun Shall Be Darkened in His Going Forth and the Moon Shall Not Cause Her Light to Shine”

W. Cleon Skousen

To get a more vivid picture of what Isaiah is seeing, we refer to a modern revelation where the Lord describes the terrifying calamity which so impressed Isaiah. It says "the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall be turned into blood, and the stars shall fall from heaven, ... and there shall be a great hailstorm sent to destroy the crops of the earth.... I the Lord God will send forth flies upon the face of the earth, which shall take hold of the inhabitants thereof, and shall eat their flesh, and shall cause maggots to come in upon them ... and the flesh shall fall from off their bones, and their eyes from their sockets."1

In this same section of scripture the Lord says that many will be destroyed by "devouring fire" and Isaiah says the people will be amazed at one another for their faces "shall be as flames." In verse 9 Isaiah reminds his reader that he is now talking about the "day of the Lord." In verse 10 he describes the sun, moon and stars in chaotic confusion just as the modern revelation describes them. At some point in this terrifying episode of horror the scriptures indicate that the Saints will be "lifted up."2 And since these are the Saints that God will need to have restored to the earth during the Millennium, we assume they are merely temporarily transfigured.

Treasures from the Book of Mormon

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