As part of the physical changes occurring at the Second Coming, several scriptures symbolically note that the heavens or the earth will be changed or transfigured (D&C 63:21); they will be wrapped or “rolled together as a scroll”; see, for example, Isaiah 34:4; Revelation 6:14; 3 Nephi 26:3; Mormon 9:2; Doctrine and Covenants 88:95.
President Brigham Young elaborated: “If anybody wants to know what the Priesthood of the Son of God is, it is the law by which the worlds are, were, and will continue for ever and ever. It is that system which brings worlds into existence and peoples them, gives them their revolutions—their days, weeks, months, years, their seasons and times and by which they are rolled up as a scroll, as it were, and go into a higher state of existence.”6
Commenting on Isaiah 34:4, gospel scholar Daniel H. Ludlow wrote: “At least three possible interpretations might explain the phrase ‘the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll’: 1. The weather phenomena of the last days (D&C 43:25; 133:69) or the manifestations in the skies. (Rev. 6:14; D&C 29:14.) 2. The sealing of the heavens after the completion of one phase or glory of the earth; or the opening of the veil of heaven, indicating a new age. (D&C 77:8; 133:69.) 3. The completion of the work of the telestial world in anticipation of the Millennium and the Second Coming. (D&C 88:95; 101:23.)”7
On the symbolic use of the lion, compare 3 Nephi 20:16 and 21:12.
“Rolled Together as a Scroll”
As part of the physical changes occurring at the Second Coming, several scriptures symbolically note that the heavens or the earth will be changed or transfigured (D&C 63:21); they will be wrapped or “rolled together as a scroll”; see, for example, Isaiah 34:4; Revelation 6:14; 3 Nephi 26:3; Mormon 9:2; Doctrine and Covenants 88:95.
President Brigham Young elaborated: “If anybody wants to know what the Priesthood of the Son of God is, it is the law by which the worlds are, were, and will continue for ever and ever. It is that system which brings worlds into existence and peoples them, gives them their revolutions—their days, weeks, months, years, their seasons and times and by which they are rolled up as a scroll, as it were, and go into a higher state of existence.”6
Commenting on Isaiah 34:4, gospel scholar Daniel H. Ludlow wrote: “At least three possible interpretations might explain the phrase ‘the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll’: 1. The weather phenomena of the last days (D&C 43:25; 133:69) or the manifestations in the skies. (Rev. 6:14; D&C 29:14.) 2. The sealing of the heavens after the completion of one phase or glory of the earth; or the opening of the veil of heaven, indicating a new age. (D&C 77:8; 133:69.) 3. The completion of the work of the telestial world in anticipation of the Millennium and the Second Coming. (D&C 88:95; 101:23.)”7
On the symbolic use of the lion, compare 3 Nephi 20:16 and 21:12.