Christ Will Not Return Until
The bride is Zion, learn how the bride is prepared for the day of the Lord.
Keith Kelsch
5/8/20247 min read
Zion Blueprint Bullet Points
Christ Will Not Return Until…
The phrase “Christ will not return until there is a bride” is not stated explicitly in scripture. However, there is a substantial scriptural case that the Lord returns to a prepared, covenant-faithful people, often symbolized as His Bride, or Zion. The strength comes from weaving together a theme found throughout the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants. Here are the strongest references.
The Marriage of the Lamb — The Bride Must Be Ready
Revelation 19:7–8, “Let us be glad and rejoice…for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.”
Notice the order:
1. The Bride prepares herself.
2. The marriage comes.
3. Christ appears in glory immediately afterward.
The emphasis is not that Christ prepares the Bride after He comes, but that the Bride prepares herself before the marriage.
The Wise Virgins, Matthew 25:1–13
The parable is often misunderstood.
The Bride is not one of the virgins.
The virgins are the attendants waiting for the Bridegroom.
The central message is: “They that were ready went in with him to the marriage.”
Only the prepared enter.
They cry together at midnight, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh,” but comes only after preparation, and with that preparation they can go out to meet Him. Matthew 25:6:
Doctrine and Covenants 45:56-59
The preparation is defined here. We cannot discuss the ten virgins without referencing this section in the Doctrine and Covenants because it gives us greater clarity.
56 And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins.
57 For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day.
58 And the earth shall be given unto them for an inheritance; and they shall multiply and wax strong, and their children shall grow up without sin unto salvation.
59 For the Lord shall be in their midst, and his glory shall be upon them, and he will be their king and their lawgiver.
These verses are significant because the Lord interprets the parable rather than merely repeating it. Notice the progression:
The parable is fulfilled at the Second Coming. The wise virgins are identified as those who:
have received the truth,
have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide,
and have not been deceived.
Their reward is not merely survival but an inheritance of the earth. They become a covenant community. The Lord dwells in their midst as both King and Lawgiver. Zion Is Called the Bride
Doctrine and Covenants 33:17, “Prepare ye… for the Bridegroom cometh.” The command is preparation.
Doctrine and Covenants 65:3, “Prepare ye the supper of the Lamb.” Again—Preparation precedes His coming. Zion Must Be Established First.
Doctrine and Covenants 45, This chapter gives us a timeline sequence:
Gospel preached (Zion gospel)
Jerusalem gathered
Zion established
New Jerusalem built
Glory of the Lord rests upon Zion
Then Christ comes.
Especially verses 66–71:
Zion becomes a place of refuge.
The wicked fear to fight against her.
Then comes the great day of the Lord.
This is one of the strongest chronological arguments for the bride that is prepared with the Truth, and uses the Holy Ghost as guide, and has not been deceived.
Enoch’s Zion, Moses 7
Enoch builds Zion.
The people become “of one heart and one mind”
There are “no poor among them.”
God calls them Zion.
Only after Zion is established does the prophecy move toward Christ’s future reign and the eventual reunion of Enoch’s Zion with the New Jerusalem (see Moses 7:62–64).
This strongly implies Christ returns to a Zion people, or to His bride.
Christ Comes to a Holy People, Doctrine and Covenants 133:52
“I have trodden the winepress alone…” Immediately afterward He gathers His saints. The saints already exist in Zion prior to His return.
The Church Presented Without Spot, Ephesians 5:25–27
Christ loves the Church “that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” Paul deliberately uses marriage language. The Church (or the people of Zion) becomes the Bride.
The New Jerusalem Is the Bride, Revelation 21:2
“I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down… prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Notice: The city itself is called the Bride. A prepared covenant society.
The Bride Says “Come”, Revelation 22:17
“The Spirit and the Bride say, Come.” The Bride exists before the Lord’s final appearing.
Zion Is the Defense Before the Day of Burning, Doctrine and Covenants 115:5–6
The gathering places become “a defense” before the judgments. Again, chronology matters.
Isaiah’s Marriage Imagery in Isaiah 62
“Thy land shall be married.”
“As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.”
Immediately surrounding this chapter are prophecies of Zion’s restoration before the Lord’s reign. Great are the words of Isaiah.
The Strongest Chronological Pattern
Across the scriptures, the recurring sequence is:
The gospel is restored (the gospel of Zion).
Israel is gathered.
A covenant people emerge.
Zion is established.
The Bride is ready.
The Bridegroom comes.
The marriage of the Lamb.
The Millennium.
This sequence appears consistently in Revelation 19–21, Doctrine and Covenants 45, Doctrine and Covenants 65, Moses 7, Isaiah 52, and Isaiah 62.
Scripture consistently portrays the Second Coming as the arrival of the Bridegroom to a prepared Bride—a covenant people who have become Zion, a people who know their God intimately and personally.
That formulation is well grounded in the biblical and Restoration texts.
It should behoove us to get a testimony of this Zion. The restored church today is not Zion, not even close. Prophets and apostles in the LDS church rarely talk or testify of this Zion or the Bride for Christ. To be a special witness of Christ should mean that you prepare the people to become the Bride to receive the Bridegroom. Since there is little reinforcement from church authorities to prepare the saints to establish Zion, we must become those spoken of in 1 Nephi 13:37.
Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 13:37
"And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost: and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be."
Those who build Zion follow three simple principles. We see these same principles in section 45 as we see them in 1 Nephi 13:37. When you combine both, you get the following:
They have received the truth which causes them to publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy.
They have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, or the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost.
They have not been deceived, which says they endure unto the end.
Doctrine and Covenants 65, explains: “Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God and the Bridegroom, and the Church is His bride.” It then defines those who will welcome Him as Saints who repent, receive ordinances, make covenants, keep those covenants, and become clothed in righteousness.
This corresponds directly with D&C 45:56–59:
The wise virgins receive truth.
They take the Holy Spirit as their guide.
They are not deceived.
They abide the day.
They inherit the earth.
The Lord dwells in their midst as King and Lawgiver.
That final condition is unmistakably Zion. It is not merely a collection of separately saved individuals. It is a people among whom Christ personally dwells and governs.
Something that is Remarkable
After searching the conference archives, I noticed something unusual. No prophet or apostle appears to have devoted an entire discourse to 1 Nephi 13:37. Yet the verse contains an extraordinary chain of promises: Those who seek to bring forth Zion have:
the gift and power of the Holy Ghost
endurance
exaltation
the Kingdom of the Lamb
the calling to publish peace
the Isaiah imagery of "beautiful upon the mountains."
That is an astonishing concentration of doctrine in a single verse. Notice the sequence when we show both 1 Nephi 13:37 in parallel with Doctrine and Covenants 45:56-59:
D&C 45:56–59: The Wise Virgins are those who...
Seek to bring forth Zion
Endure
Saved in the everlasting Kingdom of the Lamb
Publish peace
Beautiful upon the mountains
Receive truth,
Take the Holy Spirit for their guide,
Are not deceived,
Abide the day,
Inherit the earth,
And the Lord dwells in their midst.
The vocabulary is different, but the progression is strikingly similar. Both passages describe a covenant people prepared through the Holy Ghost who endure and ultimately live under the personal reign of the Lamb.
I think this may be one of the strongest scriptural threads available for a broader study of Zion, the Bride, and the ultimate preparation for the Lord's return. Scripture like this is what Zion Blueprint was born and why this voice and many others will begin to publish peace. This is not my words of peace; these are the Lord’s words of peace directly from his revealed scripture.
This peace that Zion promises is the light that will begin to break forth among those that sit in darkness. This is not new scripture; it is just ignored scripture. This is not new prophesy; it is turning our hearts to the prophesy of our fathers.
The scriptures do not describe a Church waiting for Christ.
They describe a Bride preparing for Him.
They do not describe scattered saints hoping to endure.
They describe a covenant people becoming of one heart and one mind.
They do not describe isolated disciples seeking only personal salvation.
They describe Zion.
From Genesis to Revelation, from Enoch to Isaiah, from the Book of Mormon to the Doctrine and Covenants, the pattern is remarkably consistent:
The Bride prepares.
Zion is established.
Then the Bridegroom comes.
If that pattern is true—and I believe the scriptures leave little room to deny it—then the greatest unfinished work upon the earth is not merely preaching the gospel.
It is preparing a people worthy to receive the King.
We have mastered the language of ordinances.
We have mastered the language of covenants.
But have we mastered the life those covenants were meant to create?
We covenant to live the law of sacrifice.
We covenant to live the law of consecration.
We covenant to become one.
Yet none of these can be lived in isolation.
Zion is not an individual achievement.
It is the collective expression of a covenant people within a closed stake of Zion.
The question before this generation is therefore not whether Christ will come. The question is whether He will find a Bride ready to receive Him.
Every generation has anticipated the Second Coming.
Ours may become the first generation called to prepare the Bride.
The Lord has already spoken the invitation:
"And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion..."
Scripture has declared the promise.
History is waiting for its fulfillment.
The only question left is this: will we spend our lives waiting for Christ...
or will we spend our life becoming the Bride He is waiting for?
We, the Residue of Saints, leave this message with you in His name, Amen.