"For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
But unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall."
3 Nephi 25:1-2
This is talking about the Second Coming, and as always there is scary imagery... burning as an oven we might joke about now because it is the middle of summer and hot hot hot, but even on the worst days, it isn't as bad as an oven, which is typically at least a couple of hundred degrees hotter than the worst summer. So, yikes. But for the righteous there is healing and safety. The image of calves in the stall for me isn't all positive. Some of it seems scary and trapped, but I don't think that is what the Lord was saying here. Comparing to Malachi 4:2, the words "grow up" in the original give more of a sense of playing and leaping... not being trapped. I think the core idea is protected from predators... led home to sleep, then led to pasture (food, freedom) and back again, safe from everything, the same way the image of Christ as our shepherd is meant to convey a sense of being taken care of and led the right way.
It requires a little bit of humility perhaps to connect with the sheep and calf imagery, and to understand the need for protection from God, but no matter how much we have learned, or how cool we are, we always need Christ in our lives. God is the one who can teach us what we need to know, and protect us from the scary stuff to come... when the imagery and the warnings are made real. Let's stick with Christ and listen to the Spirit so that we can guide our lives, help our loved ones, make the whole world better, and become our best selves. God only wants what is best for us, but that doesn't mean that obstacles, problems, and scary things won't happen. It just means that he will help us through them and help us learn and become so much more as we have faith in him and follow his guidance and commandments.
