Behold, I Come Quickly

When speaking of His Second Coming, Christ often admonishes, "Behold, I come quickly" (Revelation 3:11; Revelation 22:7,12, 20; D&C 33:18, 34:12, 35:27, 87:8, etc.). This admonition is often received by members of the Church as a reference to time or speed, suggesting that Christ will come again very soon. This common understanding of this phrase is appropriate and I am certainly not the one to discount it. I can, however, suggest an alternate meaning may also be intended.

In the Bible Dictionary, the word "quick" is defined as "living" or "alive". Similar definitions are found in older dictionaries where "quickly" is defined much more closely to the word "quicken," as in, "quickened by the spirit" or "made alive by the spirit". If we accept this alternate definition, Christ is not declaring the time of His Coming, rather the manner or way in which He will come. Christ will return full of life-- resurrected and powerful. He will come quickly, or as a vibrant, living being.

Accepting this definition also changes another frequent phrase in the Doctrine and Covenants. The Lord often says we should, "give heed unto my word, which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword" (D&C 6:2, 11:2, 27:1, etc.). Again, our new (or actually, very old) definition changes the meaning from a statement of timing to a statement of vibrancy. His word is alive and powerful. His word is vibrant.

Each of these examples correctly point to Christ as the source of life. Christ has said that he is the life (John 11:25, 14:6), the living water (John 7:38) and the God of the living (Matthew 22:32). We live by His word (Deut. 8:3, Matt. 4:4, D&C 84:44), or we have eternal life through His gospel and obedience to His commandments. We obtain the life of which Jesus speaks when we are baptized, or born again, as Christ told Nicodemus (John 3:3). Through this covenant, we become the children of Christ, or those to whom He gives life.

Jesus Christ will come again. He will come as a glorified, vibrant, powerful and resurrected being. We will see the prints of the nails on his hands and in his side, but He will be living flesh. We can secure eternal life for our souls as we have faith in Christ and His atonement, repent of all of our sins, make and keep sacred baptismal covenants, receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost and continue to endure faithfully. As we do so, we may go quickly to the place prepared for us in the kingdom of God.