Revelation 7:2: And I saw another angel ascending from the east....

After John saw the four angels of life and death in Revelation 7:1,¹ he saw another powerful angel ascending from the east.² This angel appeared to John's view as the rising sun in the east after a long night of darkness called the Great Apostasy.³ Elias is the name⁴ or title for this angel⁵ if you will receive it.⁶ Elias is a name-title that represents all angels⁷ that are both preparers for,⁸ and restorers of,⁹ the gospel of Jesus Christ in the latter days.¹⁰

Several angels in this latter-day dispensation have exercised the keys of Elias¹¹ and have returned to earth as both preparers and restorers.¹² For example, three angels appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery on April 3, 1836¹³ and all three qualify as an Elias within the meaning of John's vision of the sixth seal.¹⁴ They include Moses, who restored the priesthood keys¹⁵ for the spiritual¹⁶ and temporal gathering¹⁷ of Israel,¹⁸ through the preaching of the gospel¹⁹ during the sixth seal.²⁰

The second angel in the vision of 1836 is actually called Elias, which is a name associated with Noah.²¹ In his mortal life, Noah preached repentance to a wicked people ripe for destruction.²² As the presiding patriarch after the flood,²³ Noah held the keys of the restoration of all things²⁴ and the keys of the Patriarchal Order of the Priesthood.²⁵ These keys were passed to his second son, Shem²⁶ (whose name was probably changed to Melchizedek),²⁷ and then to Abraham²⁸ with whom the Lord established the Abrahamic covenant.²⁹

Elijah was the third angel to qualify as an Elias in 1836. He appeared in the Kirtland Temple to restore the sealing power.³⁰ Among other things, the sealing power seals husbands and wives together for eternity in the new and everlasting covenant of marriage.³¹ Elijah had to restore this power so the 144,000 Servants could be sealed in their foreheads in fulfillment of John's vision of the sixth seal.³²

Moses, Elias, and Elijah were just three of many angels³³ that had their part in the restoration of all things during the sixth seal.³⁴ Therefore, in Revelation 7:2, the Elias that John saw ascending in the east was a composite³⁵ image representing all such angels.³⁶ For example, Moroni was another angel that John saw flying in the midst of heaven with the everlasting gospel,³⁷ and the keys of the Book of Mormon.³⁸ Joseph Smith is also considered an Elias because he holds all the keys of this dispensation and is therefore a restorer and a preparer of all latter-day people for the Second Coming.³⁹ John the Revelator's ministry among the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel also qualifies him as a preparer and restorer.⁴⁰ The composite Elias in John's vision must not to be confused with the spirit or doctrine of Elias, which pertains to the Aaronic (or preparatory) Priesthood.⁴¹

The composite image of Elias ascending from the east like the rising sun symbolizes the manner in which the restoration of the gospel has occurred. From the time of the First Vision in 1820, the light of the restored gospel has grown in the world like the rising of the sun.⁴² This is the pattern for many signs of the times that precede the Second Coming.⁴³ The rays of gospel light emerged from the darkness of the Great Apostasy,⁴⁴ and will continue to grow brighter and extend further in all the world as the sixth seal comes to an end.⁴⁵ When the angel from the east is fully ascended as the sun at noonday,⁴⁶ the four restoring and destroying angels of the sixth seal will unleash the four winds of destruction.⁴⁷ By these signs, all people may know that the sixth seal has come to an end; that the sealings of the sixth seal have been accomplished;⁴⁸ and the full gospel light has been committed to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.⁴⁹