The Elements Shall Melt with Fervent Heat

My mind has been full of thoughts of the signs of the last days this week.This subject is as fascinating as it is frightening! I'll be teaching a lesson thisSunday about the second coming of Jesus Christ and the millennium, that much looked for thousand year period of peace when He will reign upon the earth. There is so much to understand! Once again gospeldoctrine.com, and a few other sites, have been a great help. Here are a few highlights:

D&C 88 : 87-91
87 For not many days hence and the earth shall tremble and reel to and fro as a drunken man; and the sun shall hide his face, and shall refuse to give light; and the moon shall be bathed in blood; and the stars shall become exceedingly angry, and shall cast themselves down as a fig that falleth from off a fig tree.
88 And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people.
89 For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand.
90 Annd also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds.
91 And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men's hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people.

Eventually, after great tribulation, the whole earth will be destroyed by fire:
True baptism involves baptism by water and by fire. The earth was baptized by water with the Flood and remains to be baptized by fire at the Second Coming. Indeed, much like us, the earth was created in innocence, suffered the effects of the Fall, has been redeemed by the Flood, will yet be sanctified by a baptism by fire, will eventually die and be resurrected, and finally will receive a celestial glory. (from gospeldoctrine.com)

2 Peter 3 : 9-10
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Elder McConkie noted:
“Not only will the Lord come in flaming fire, but that fire will produce fervent, glowing, intense heat, heat that has not been known in the entire history of the earth, heat that will cause the very elements to melt, the mountains to flow down at his presence, and the very earth itself, as now constituted, to dissolve.” (Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985], 645.)
Ezra Taft Benson
“I realize this is not a pleasant picture. I take no delight in its portrayal, nor do I look forward to the day when calamities shall come upon mankind. But these words are not my own; the Lord has spoken them. Knowing what we know as His servants, can we hesitate to raise a warning voice to all who will listen that they may be prepared for the days ahead?
“Silence in the face of such calamity is sin!
“But, there is a bright side to an otherwise gloomy picture— the coming of our Lord in all His glory. His coming will be both glorious and terrible, depending on the spiritual condition of those who remain.” (“Five Marks of the Divinity of Jesus Christ,”New Era, Dec. 1980, 49)

2 Peter 3 : 11-13
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
How will the heavens be destroyed? How could they be completely dissolved? In order to correctly understand what is meant, we need to understand that the term heavens in this passage refers to the earth's immediate atmosphere and not the heavens in which God dwells. In the scriptures, the term heaven is used to refer to our immediate atmosphere, ‘the fowl… may fly above the earth in the open expanse of heaven (Abr. 4:20, Gen. 1:20).
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Joseph Fielding Smith
The passing away of the heavens has reference to the heavens which surround the earth, not the sidereal (of, relating to, concerned with the stars) heavens. So we have a key to the meaning of one earth passing away and another coming. As our earth shall pass away and receive its resurrection, so has it been with other earths and so will it be with earths yet to come. They will be re-created, made eternal and find a place perpetually which the Lord has designed for them in the sidereal heavens. These great orbs that we see in the heavens are not ‘passing away.’ Most of them evidently have attained their state of permanency. They have filled the measure of temporal probation as this earth is now filling its probation of mortality, and when its work is finished as a temporal earth it will be exalted. Likewise will others be exalted as countless earths have been and have attained their state of immortality.” (Man, His Origin and Destiny [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1954], 274 - 275.)

Next comes the marvelous, miraculous, amazing part! I can't wait! But this has grown too long, so I must.