Our duty is to raise up a generation of men and women worthy to receive the coming of the Lord

Divine law tells us to prepare for that which is yet to come. Today the world is ripening in iniquity, which will destroy civilization as we now know it. The scriptures attest that “the anger of the Lord is kindled, and his sword is bathed in heaven, and it shall fall upon the inhabitants of the earth. . . . and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, . . . of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people” (D&C 1:13–14). “The devil shall have power over his own dominion. And also the Lord shall have power over his saints, and shall reign in their midst” (D&C 1:35–36).
Our duty is to raise up a generation of men and women worthy to receive the coming of the Lord. For he will come—to Jackson County, Missouri, to be sustained as King of Kings—and he will come also to Israel to be hailed as Lord of Lords. Then his millennial reign will be ushered in.
You young, strong, and faithful men and women will bear the burden of the kingdom of God upon the earth as these days of destiny come. May God bless you as you prepare for them that you may know the divine creation of the human body you possess, the reality of the spirit, the power of love, and the dependability and incontrovertibility of divine law.
Russell M. Nelson — talk given in 1974