The Scripture Citation Index (scriptures.byu.edu) caught me this morning (again.)
I was thinking about President Nelson's talk in General Conference last October when he quoted Isaiah 40:5, “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”
This morning, I'd been reading in Doctrine and Covenants section 29:9, a kinda scary verse. "I, the Lord of Hosts, will burn them up," He warns the "proud and those who do wickedly." The final phrase is "that wickedness shall not be upon the earth."
I never really thought about what that would look like, other than scary.
But, after looking up that phrase from Isaiah in the Scripture Citation Index, and compiling multiple sources mentally, it seems that the Lord's very Being is the fiery cause.
Exodus 24:17 states: "And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel."
In other words, the appearance of the LORD is the fire. President Nelson suggested in his talk that, by contrast to what Doctrine & Covenants 29 warns, "That day will be full of joy for the righteous."
What makes the difference?
Immediately my mind goes to the chosen text from Handel's Messiah: "But who may abide the day of His coming?" Malachi 3:2. The remainder of that chapter in Malachi suggests several actions we can take:
* "return unto Me"
* bring tithes and offerings to the LORD's storehouse
* return to His ordinances
* keep His ordinances
* walk humbly before God
* don't make the mistake of calling the proud "happy"
* fear the LORD and speak often with those who also fear Him
* think upon His name
* have your name (by doing the above) written in the "book of remembrance"
* belong to Him, like a son or daughter, to be spared
* return and discern between the righteous and the wicked
* serve the LORD
All of these make me want to look them up on the Scripture Citation Index and dig even deeper--but they also give me a chance to examine whether I'm keeping His ordinances.