The scriptures marry two prophetic items when studied closely: (1) the arrival of Jesus for his public second coming and (2) the darkening of the sun. This association apparently did not escape the notice of Joseph Smith, who had a rather interesting explanation for it that he had shared in private conversations. Joseph was known to teach many precious gems in such settings and many of those teachings are only preserved in second-hand accounts. Even sections 130 and 131 of the Doctrine and Covenants wouldn’t exist were it not for the notes of a third party to such conversations—Joseph often revealed without writing or dictating a formal revelation himself.
For reference here are examples of scriptures that make the above association plain between the coming of Jesus and the darkening of the sun:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:29 – 30; cf. Mark 13:24 – 26).
“And before the day of the Lord shall come, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon be turned into blood, and the stars fall from heaven. And the remnant shall be gathered unto this place; and then they shall look for me, and, behold, I will come; and they shall see me in the clouds of heaven, clothed with power and great glory; with all the holy angels; and he that watches not for me shall be cut off” (D&C 45:42 – 44).
To understand Joseph’s explanation, it must first be noted that most modern, accepted models of the workings of the universe are insufficient to fully capture the truths that Joseph understood. There are scientists out there, however, who have pioneered alternative explanations that often do mirror Joseph’s teachings in remarkable ways and point to simple explanations of the universe, often discoverable by simply reassessing basic assumptions. For example, standard scientific models say that gravity is the fundamental force governing the movement and operation of celestial bodies, whereas plasma cosmologists (sometimes called “electric universe” proponents) argue that electricity is the fundamental force. Where the standard model argues for a “big bang,” plasma cosmology says that matter never had a beginning or end but the universe simply has ever-shifting regions of chaos, or unorganized matter, and order. These parallels, between Joseph Smith’s cosmology and the conclusions of plasma cosmologists, was forcefully riveted to my mind when I saw Hugh Nibley’s personal notes affirming the same observations in a book on the subject that I read from his personal library stored at BYU.
Relative to the question, what are the clouds of heaven, as asked in this blog post’s title, it must first be noted that plasma cosmologists consider the sun not to be a nuclear reactor floating through space but rather a conductor of galactic electrical currents—an illuminated lightbulb, if you will—in a string or network of lights plugged into a filament whose power source is the galactic center. The earth then too is a conductor of these same energies coming in a stepped down transformation from the sun. The worlds are connected by invisible currents of energy. With this context in place, the sun’s source of illumination can be understood to be the product of energetic input instead of nuclear output. The photosphere of the sun (highlighted in the blog feature image at the top of this post) is a sheath or layer of plasma clouds, if you will, around some sort of planetary core (see fig. 1 below). Just what that core is may never be known by mortal instruments. But the point is that the sun is wrapped in a bright layer of undulating, cloud-like plasma and that therefore the sun’s light does not come from the sun itself but from the photosphere that surrounds it.
Now we turn to the teachings of Joseph Smith. What follows are the words of William W. Phelps who reconstructed or recopied his funeral sermon given on the 29th of June, 1844, for long-term preservation, albeit some eleven years later in 1855. The sermon is electrifying to read, and I will quote from only a small portion of it relevant to the subject of this blog post:
“He seemed to have been educated among the sons of God, where the ‘morning stars’ sang together, and could weigh or describe consequences, materiality, kingdoms, and their inhabitants, with a familiarity as simple as a farmer’s boy would describe his father’s orchard. The present light of the sun, said he, came from the ‘clouds of heaven,’ which surrounded it; when they [come] away with the savior, to fulfill his second coming, the sun will be darkened, and all flesh, that remains, will see it” (William W. Phelps as quoted by Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker. “The Joseph/Hyrum Smith Funeral Sermon.” BYU Studies 23:1. Accessed 18 Jan. 2026).
There is something arresting in the scriptural “clouds of heaven” having been a discreet reference all along to the cloud-like photosphere of the sun. This is the type of wisdom that Joseph had “at-the-ready” throughout his life. The imagination is similarly stunned at the image of that glowing hot plasma being drawn off the sun and onto or around God the Son as he approaches the earth. This is why the sun is simultaneously darkened at Christ’s coming!
Is it any wonder then that Peter, 2,000 years ago, warned us so clearly that no unclean thing would survive the great and terrible ‘day of the Lord’? Spiritualists would reason his language was symbolic, but Joseph provides the context to understand he was being dreadfully literal. Reread the following scriptures with the thought in mind of a divine being conducting the mighty powers of a galactic super current about his person while approaching the earth:
“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.
“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.
“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 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? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:9 – 13).
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