Elder Gerald Lund, emeritus General Authority Seventy, began writing his book The Coming of the Lord nearly 50 years ago. In the years since his book was published in 1971, Elder Lund has learned many more things about the Second Coming and has even seen some of the prophesied signs of the Savior’s Second Coming fulfilled. In this week’s episode of All In, Elder Lund sits down with host Morgan Jones to answer questions from Twitter users on the topic that he has studied for nearly half a century.
Read an excerpt of Elder Lund’s interview below or listen to the full interview here.
MJ: One question that came up on Twitter that I had never heard of is this thing about rainbows. So, there was a quote by Joseph Fielding Smith where he talks about “bows,” and I wondered is there truth to this thought that rainbows will serve as a sign of the Second Coming or the lack thereof?
GL: Actually, though it sounds weird, the answer is yes. Joseph Fielding Smith talked a lot about it, but the original statements came from Joseph Smith. I’ll read you one of them. He says, "I have asked of the Lord concerning His coming; and while asking the Lord, He gave a sign and said, 'In the days of Noah I set a bow in the heavens as a sign and token that in any year that the bow should be seen the Lord would not come; but there should be seed time and harvest during that year: but whenever you see the bow withdrawn, it shall be a token that there shall be famine, pestilence, and great distress among the nations, and that the coming of the Messiah is not far distant'" (Joseph Fielding Smith, "Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith," Section Six 1843-44, p.341).
Now what we’re not sure [about] is [that] he says the same thing in another place, but he says “if you watch the rainbow”—he doesn’t talk about it being withdrawn. What does that mean? Do we actually see it jerked away? Do we just not look? But for Noah, the rainbow was a sign of the Lord’s covenant that He would never again cause the earth to be flooded. So for some reason, and He’s never given any further explanation, it seems to be that at some point the rainbow will be a signal of coming distress. So I watch rainbows all the time.
Read more about why no rainbows appearing in the sky could be a sign of the Second Coming here.