The Old Testament ends with these attention-getting words:

“For behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble:  and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.”  (Mal. 4:1).

Then follows the prophecy of Elijah’s coming in the last days.  This was quoted by Moroni when he visited Joseph Smith, but he said it differently than as is recorded in the Bible.  It is his last phrase to which I would like to call attention.

“Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood (meaning the sealing power), by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

“And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.

“If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.”  (D&C 2:1-3).

A day of burning and of great destruction is coming, and a great many people are in a condition to be wasted.  The day will be both great and dreadful.  To those who keep the commandments and who watch for the Lord’s coming, it will be a great day.  To those who are proud and who do wickedly, it will be a dreadful day.

Before the Lord came to the Nephites following His crucifixion and resurrection, there was another great and dreadful day.  It was prophesied by Nephi 600 years before it happened.  In vision Nephi saw the darkness, the lightnings, the thundering, the earthquakes, the tumultuous noises, the rending rocks, the mountains tumbling into pieces, the plains being broken up, cities being sunk, cities being burned with fire, and others tumbling to the earth.  (1 Ne. 12:4).

He says, “O the pain, and the anguish of my soul for the loss of the slain of my people!  For I, Nephi, have seen it, and it well nigh consumeth me before the presence of the Lord; but I must cry unto my God:  Thy ways are just.”  (2 Ne. 26:7).

I have often wondered what that day was like.  What would it have been like to have been there and to have experienced it?  How many were killed?  How many survived?

It was the righteous, and those who didn’t kill the prophets who survived.  The wicked were taken away.  Entire cities were destroyed because there were no righteous people in them.  The Savior named 16 cities that were destroyed because they killed the prophets and cast the righteous out.  (3 Ne. 9:1-13).  I suspect that there were more killed than who survived.

I have learned through my study of the scriptures that in a coming day I will have the opportunity to actually experience the upheavals that the Nephites experienced, because the whole thing is going to happen again.  Nephi said:

“But, behold, in the last days, or in the days of the Gentiles…they will be drunken with iniquity and all manner of abominations—

“And when that day shall come they shall be visited of the Lord of Hosts, with thunder and with earthquake, and with a great noise, and with storm, and with tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire.”  (2 Ne. 27:1-2).  (See also Isa. 13:6-13; Joel 2:28-32, 3:15-16; D&C 43:17-35, 88:87-91).

There are many who are in a condition to be wasted.  I heard yesterday the story of an arrogant bank CEO who is nothing more than a sophisticated thief.  He is in line to be wasted.  I saw the children of a woman who cohabits with a man.  She and the man are in a condition to be wasted, and through her example, is setting her innocent children up for a like fate.  I’m aware of many, many people around me whose lives center around beer and wine drinking, making money, and who give no thought to God except to take His name in vain.  These are in a condition to be wasted.  Those whose main thought is sex, and who use and produce pornography are in a condition to be wasted.  Those whose sole thought is self will be wasted.

Who will survive?

Joel said that it will be those who pray.  “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered.”  (Joel 2:32).

Doctrine and Covenants says that it will be those who keep the Word of Wisdom and the commandments.  “And all saints who remember to keep and do these sayings (the Word of Wisdom), walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones;

“And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures;

“And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.

“And I, the Lord, give unto them a promise, that the destroying angel shall pass by them, as the children of Israel, and not slay them.”  (D&C 89:18-21).

One-half of the members of the Church are inactive, and are in a condition to be wasted.  These are the five virgins in Jesus’ parable who failed to fill their lamps with oil even though they knew that the Bridegroom was coming.

We have some tough times ahead.  The righteous will be spared; but the proud and the wicked will be destroyed, leaving them neither root nor branch.  That means they’ll have no sealings.  They’ll have neither spouse, nor ancestors, nor children in the next life.  How tragic!  How awful!  How great the need to warn people.

“Many individuals are not in tune with sacred things.”  (Quentin L. Cook, The Ensign, May 2012, pg. 41).  However, if they are otherwise good people, they might be spared in the devastations that are coming.

The conditions among the Nephites that were attendant to Jesus’ first coming are going to be repeated.  First the people became very wicked.  Then the laws became corrupt.  Our present societies fulfill both of those conditions.

Next the government dissolved.  That is possible now.

Then came the destructions.  The more righteous of the people were spared.  They weren’t all members of the Church, but within a short time, all were converted, and 200 years of peace, prosperity and righteousness followed.

When the Lord comes again, the wicked will be destroyed.  Those that are left will become converted.  All will know the Lord, and a thousand years of righteousness will follow.

In order to be a participant in the Lord’s millennial reign, it’s necessary to be aware of waste.  To keep from being wasted we must not waste the days of our probation.  (2 Ne. 9:27).  We must not waste our substance with riotous living as the prodigal son did.  (Luke 15:13).  We must not spend our days in idleness.  (Alma 24:18).  We must not shed blood, or waste flesh when there is no need.  (D&C 49:21).

If we are prepared, our “barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall (our) cruse of oil fail.”  (1 Kings 17:14).

The earth is going to be laid waste.  (Isa. 24:1), and “the cities be wasted without inhabitant.”  (Isa. 6:11).  But the righteous will be caught up out of the mess (D&C 88:96-97, 109:75), and “…shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion.”  (D&C 101:18).

This whole scenario has happened once before.  Enoch and his city were taken up from the earth.  The scriptures refer to those that were left as “the residue.”  (Moses 7:20, 22, 28).  That’s another word for “waste” or “garbage.”  After the righteous were taken up, the earth was cleansed of the residue left on it.

The time is coming again.  It behooves us to be prepared.