You non/ex Mormons are having too much fun talking to yourselves.
So, I will go back to Telstar’s log which has some substance. Telstar, I appreciate your thoughtful interpretation.
I always like to have fun, no matter who I’m talking to.
That ‘interpretation’ is not just my own, as you can probably tell from the other responses posted, but thanks for the pat on the head.
In the passage in Acts, Peter said that Jesus would not return until the “times of the restitution of all things.” Your are correct that this “restitution” would occur immediatly before the final judgement and resurrection. John, one of the last living apostles, saw in a vision an angel who had the everlasting gospel to preach to every nation at that time: “for the hour of his judgement is come.”
The key word in your assessment is ‘immediately’. When Jesus returns on the clouds of Heaven for all to see, the very end will already be here. The entire Tribulation will be over and done, except for the resurrection and Final Judgement. Then, will come the complete restoration of the New Heaven and the New Earth. There is no gap in ‘time’ from the point when Jesus appears, to Judgement, and*** everyone*** that is still alive, and the souls that are in Heaven and hell, will all see it when it happens, no matter where they are. ‘Time’ as a construct on this earth, will no longer exist, because at that point, the earth will become eternal, just like Heaven is now. There is no such thing as ‘time’, as we know it, in Heaven.
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgemnt is come.” (Rev. 14:6-7)
That particular part of the Apocalypse refers to the everlasting Gospel, and the ‘angel’ that brings it to the earth is the Catholic Church. She wrote it and has been preaching it from the very beginning, when Jesus still walked the earth. There is only one Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it has already been preached for 2000 years. It will continue to be preached by Her, unabated, until Jesus returns. It has already spread to every corner of the world, so there is a strong possibility that it may actually be getting very close to the ‘last days’, or ‘the end of time’.
Contrary to some people’s erroneous opinions, especially those that don’t understand that particular Book by John, the “end times” have been progressing, exactly as he envisioned them, ever since he first wrote it. But, it’s not necessarily in any true ‘chronological’ order, because it involves many things that overlap in ‘time’. For the most part, it is a revelation of the spiritual progression of mankind from the time of the creation, all the way through to the general resurrection and Judgement. There is some prophecy concerning the ‘real world’ involved in it, but most of it is related to Jesus, and the spiritual mission of the Catholic Church that He established and founded on Peter.
Whatever Joseph Smith or anyone else has ‘interpreted’ about it, is most likely, completely wrong.
