=Article 10.=--We believe ... That Zion will be built upon this
[the American]
continent, etc.
=1. Two Gathering Places.=--Some of the passages quoted in connection
with the dispersion and the subsequent re-union of Israel, make
reference to Jerusalem which is to be re-established, and Zion which
is to be built. True, the latter name is in many cases used as a
synonym of the first, owing to the fact that a certain hill within the
Jerusalem of old was known specifically as Zion, or Mount Zion; and
the name of a part is often used figuratively to designate the whole;
but in other passages, the separate and distinctive meaning of the
terms is clear. The prophet Micah, who ministered during the seventh
century before the birth of Christ, "full of power by the spirit of
the Lord, and of judgment, and of might,"[1016] predicted the
destruction of Jerusalem and its associated Zion, the former to
"become heaps," and the latter to be "plowed as a field;"[1017] and
then announced a new condition which is to exist in the last days,
when another "mountain of the house of the Lord" is to be established,
and this is to be called Zion.[1018] The two places are mentioned
separately in the prophecy:--"For the law shall go forth of Zion, and
the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."[1019]
[1016] Micah iii, 8.
[1017] Micah iii, 12; see also page 337 of this book.
[1018] Micah iv, 1.
[1019] Micah iv, 2; Isaiah ii, 2-3.
=2.= Joel adds this testimony regarding the two places from which the
Lord shall rule over His people:--"The Lord also shall roar out of
Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem."[1020] Zephaniah breaks
forth into song, with the triumph of Israel as his theme, and
addresses the daughters of both cities:--"Sing, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of
Jerusalem."[1021] Then, the prophet predicts separately of each
place:--"In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and
to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack."[1022] Furthermore, Zechariah
records the revealed will in this way:--"And the Lord shall yet
comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem."[1023]
[1020] Joel iii, 16.
[1021] Zeph. iii, 14.
[1022] Verse 16.
[1023] Zech. i, 17; See also ii, 7-12.
=3.= When the people of the house of Jacob are prepared to receive the
Redeemer as their rightful king, when the scattered sheep of Israel,
have been sufficiently humbled through suffering and sorrow to know
and to follow their Shepherd, then, indeed, will He come to reign
among them. Then a literal kingdom will be established, wide as the
world, with the King of Kings on the throne; and the two capitals of
this mighty empire will be, Jerusalem on the eastern hemisphere, and
Zion on the western. Isaiah speaks of the glory of Christ's kingdom in
the latter days, and ascribes separately to Zion and to Jerusalem the
blessings of triumph:[1024]--"O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get
thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good
tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid;
say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God."[1025]
[1024] Isa. iv, 3-4.
[1025] Isa. xl, 9.
=4. The Name "Zion"= is used in several distinct senses. By
derivation, the word _Zion_, or, as written by the Greeks, _Sion_,
probably meant _bright_, or _sunny_; but this commonplace
signification is lost in the deeper and more affecting meaning which
the word as a name and title came to acquire. As stated, a particular
hill within the site of the city of Jerusalem was called Zion. When
David gained his victory over the Jebusites, he captured and occupied
the "stronghold of Zion," and named it the city of David.[1026] "Zion"
then was the name of a place; and it has been applied as follows:
[1026] II Sam. v, 6-7; see also I Kings ii, 10, and viii, 1.
1. To the hill itself, or Mount Zion, and, by extension of
meaning, to Jerusalem.
2. To the location of the "mountain of the house of the Lord,"
which Micah predicts shall be established in the last days,
distinct from Jerusalem. To these we may add another application
of the name as made known through modern revelation, viz.:
3. To the city of Holiness, founded by Enoch, the seventh
patriarch in descent from Adam, and called by him Zion.[1027]
[1027] Pearl of Great Price: Moses vii, 18-21.
4. Yet another use of the term is to be noted--viz.: a metaphorical
one--by which the Church of God is called Zion, comprising, according
to the Lord's own definition, the pure in heart.[1028]
[1028] Doc. and Cov. xcvii, 21.
=5. Jerusalem.=--As a fitting introduction to our study regarding the
new Zion, yet to be built, as we shall presently see, on the western
hemisphere, let us briefly consider the history and destiny of
Jerusalem,[1029] the Zion of the eastern continent. The word Jerusalem
is generally believed to mean by derivation the _foundation_ or _city
of peace_. We meet it for the first time as Salem, the abode of
Melchizedek, high-priest and king, to whom Abram paid tithes, in the
nineteenth century before Christ.[1030] We find a direct statement
concerning the identity of Salem and Jerusalem by Josephus.[1031] As
noted, the city was wrested from the Jebusites by David;[1032] this
was about 1048 B.C. During the reigns of David and Solomon, the city
as the capital of the kingdom of undivided Israel acquired great fame
for its riches, beauty, and strength, its chief attraction being the
marvelous temple of Solomon which adorned Mount Moriah.[1033] After
the division of the kingdom, Jerusalem remained the capital of the
smaller kingdom of Judah.
[1029] See Note 1.
[1030] Gen. xiv, 18-20.
[1031] Ant. of the Jews I, chapter x.
[1032] II Sam. v, 6-7.
[1033] I Kin. v-viii; II Chron. ii-vii.
=6.= Among its many and varied vicissitudes incident to the fortunes
of war,[1034] may be mentioned:--the destruction of the city and the
enslaving of the inhabitants by Nebuchadnezzar, 588-585 B.C.;[1035]
its re-establishment at the close of the Babylonian captivity[1036]
(about 515 B.C.); and its final overthrow at the disruption of the
Jewish nation by the Romans, 70-71 A.D. In importance, and in the love
of the Jews, the city was the very heart of Jewry: and in the
estimation of Christians, it has ever been invested with sanctity. It
occupied an important place in the earthly mission of the Redeemer,
and was the scene of His death, resurrection, and ascension. The
Savior's high regard for the chief city of His people is beyond
question. He forbade that any should swear by it, "for it is the city
of the great King;"[1037] and because of its sins, He lamented over it
as a father for a wayward child.[1038]
[1034] I Kings xiv, 25; II Kings xiv, 13-14; xxv; II Chron. xii,
2-5; xxxvi, 14, 21; Jer. xxxix, 5-8.
[1035] Jer. lii, 12-15.
[1036] Ezra i-iii; Neh. ii.
[1037] Matt. v, 35; see also Psa. xlviii, 2; lxxxvii, 3.
[1038] Matt. xxiii, 37; Luke xiii, 34.
=7.= But, great as is Jerusalem's past, a yet greater future awaits
her. Again will the city become a royal seat, her throne that of the
King of Kings, with permanency of glory assured.
=8. The Latter-day Zion; New Jerusalem.=--The biblical statements
concerning the Zion of the last days as separate from the ancient or
the re-established Jerusalem of the east, are silent regarding the
geographical location of this second and modern capital of Christ's
kingdom. We learn something, however, from the Bible as to the
physical characteristics of the region wherein Zion is to be built.
Thus, Micah, after predicting the desolation of the hill, Mount Zion,
and of Jerusalem in general, describes in contrast the new Zion,
wherein the house of the Lord is to be built in the last days. These
are his words:--"But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the
mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of
the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people
shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and
let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God
of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his
paths; for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem."[1039]
[1039] Micah iv, 1-2.
=9.= The prophecy of Isaiah is not less explicit regarding the
mountainous character of the country of modern Zion;[1040] and,
furthermore, this writer assures us that the righteous man only shall
be able to dwell amid the fiery splendor of this new abode; and of him
the prophet says:--"He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall
be the munitions of rocks;" and adds the statement that the land shall
be very far off.[1041] In another passage, he mentions a gathering
place "beyond the rivers of Ethiopia," and, "on the mountains" where
the Lord is to "set up an ensign" to the world.[1042]
[1040] Isa. ii, 2-3.
[1041] Isa. xxxiii. 15-17.
[1042] Isa. xviii, 1-3.
=10.= The teachings of the Book of Mormon, and the truths made known
through revelation in the present dispensation, regarding the Zion of
the last days, while agreeing with the biblical record as to the general
description of the situation, and the glories of the city, are more
explicit in regard to the location. In these scriptures, the names
Zion and New Jerusalem are used synonymously, the latter designation
being given in honor of the Jerusalem of the east. John the Revelator
saw in vision a New Jerusalem as characteristic of the latter times.[1043]
Ether, writing 600 B.C. as a prophet among the Jaredites,--a people
who had inhabited parts of North America for centuries before Lehi and
his followers came to this hemisphere,[1044]--foretold the
establishment of the New Jerusalem on this continent, and emphasized
the distinction between that city and the Jerusalem of old.
[1043] Rev. xxi, 2.
[1044] See page 266.
=11.= The Nephite prophet, Moroni, in the synopsis of the writings of
Ether, says of the latter, that he saw concerning the land of North
America, "That it was the place of the New Jerusalem, which should
come down out of heaven, and the Holy Sanctuary of the Lord." And
adds: "Behold, Ether saw the days of Christ, and he spake concerning a
new Jerusalem, upon this land; And he spake also concerning the house
of Israel, and the Jerusalem from whence Lehi should come; after it
should be destroyed, it should be built up again a holy city unto the
Lord, wherefore it could not be a New Jerusalem, for it had been in a
time of old, but it should be built up again, and become a holy city
of the Lord; and it should be built unto the house of Israel: And that
a New Jerusalem should be built up upon this land, unto the remnant of
the seed of Joseph, for which things there has been a type: For as
Joseph brought his father down into the land of Egypt, even so he died
there; wherefore the Lord brought a remnant of the seed of Joseph out
of the land of Jerusalem, that he might be merciful unto the seed of
Joseph, that they should perish not, even as he was merciful unto the
father of Joseph, that he should perish not; Wherefore the remnant of
the house of Joseph shall be built upon this land; and it shall be a
land of their inheritance; and they shall build up a holy city unto
the Lord, like unto the Jerusalem of old; and they shall no more be
confounded, until the end come, when the earth shall pass away."[1045]
[1045] Book of Mormon, Ether xiii, 3-8.
=12.= Jesus Christ visited the Nephites in North America soon after
His resurrection, and in the course of His teachings said:--"And
behold, this people will I establish in this land, unto the fulfilling
of the covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be a
New Jerusalem. And the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of this
people; yea, even I will be in the midst of you."[1046] Our Savior
predicted further, as set forth in a previous lecture,[1047] that the
Gentiles, if they would repent of their sins, and not harden their
hearts, should be included in the covenant, and be permitted to assist
in the building of a city to be called the New Jerusalem.[1048]
[1046] III Nephi xx, 22.
[1047] See pp. 348-349.
[1048] III Nephi xxi, 22-24.
=13.= Ether the Jaredite, and John the Revelator, separated by more
than six centuries of time and prophesying on opposite hemispheres,
each saw the New Jerusalem come down from heaven, "prepared," says the
Jewish apostle, "as a bride adorned for her husband."[1049] We have
already spoken of the Zion of Enoch,[1050] a city once situated on the
North American continent, whose inhabitants were so righteous that
they too were called Zion, "because they were of one heart and one
mind."[1051] They, with their patriarch leader, were translated from
the earth, or, as we read, "it came to pass that Zion was not, for
God received it up into His own bosom, and from thence went forth the
saying, 'Zion is fled.'"[1052] But before this event, the Lord had
revealed unto Enoch the Divine purpose in regard to humanity, even
unto the last of time. Great events are to mark the latter days; the
elect are to be gathered from the four quarters of the earth to a
place prepared for them; the tabernacle of the Lord is to be
established there, and the place "shall be called Zion, a New
Jerusalem." Then Enoch and his people are to return to earth and meet
the gathered elect in the holy place.
[1049] Rev. xxi, 2.
[1050] Page 358.
[1051] Pearl of Great Price: Moses vii, 18.
[1052] Pearl of Great Price: Moses vii, 69; Doc. and Cov. xxxviii,
4; xlv, 11-12; lxxxiv, 99-100.
=14.= We have seen that the names Zion and New Jerusalem are used
interchangeably; and, furthermore, that righteous people as well as
sanctified places are called Zion; for, by the Lord's special word,
Zion to Him means "the pure in heart."[1053] The Church in this day
teaches that the New Jerusalem seen by John, and by the prophet Ether,
as descending from the heavens in glory, is the return of exalted
Enoch and his righteous people; and that the people or Zion of Enoch,
and the modern Zion, or the gathered elect on the western continent,
will become one people.
[1053] Doc. and Cov. xcvii, 21; Pearl of Great Price: Moses vii,
18; also Doc. and Cov. lxxxiv, 100.
=15.= The Book of Mormon is explicit in foretelling the establishment
of Zion on the western continent; but the precise location was not
revealed until after the restoration of the priesthood in the present
dispensation. In 1831, the Lord commanded the elders of His Church in
this wise:--"Go ye forth into the western countries, call upon the
inhabitants to repent, and inasmuch as they do repent, build up
churches unto me; and with one heart and with one mind, gather up your
riches that ye may purchase an inheritance which shall hereafter be
appointed unto you; and it shall be called the New Jerusalem, a land
of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the
Most High God; and the glory of the Lord shall be there, and the
terror of the Lord shall also be there, insomuch that the wicked will
not come unto it, and it shall be called Zion."[1054]
[1054] Doc. and Cov. xiv, 64-67; read further, verses 68-71.
=16.= Later revelations called the elders of the Church to assemble in
western Missouri,[1055] and designated that place as the land
appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the Saints.[1056]
"Wherefore this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of
Zion."[1057] The town of Independence was named as "the center place,"
and the site for the temple was designated, the Saints being counseled
to purchase land there, "that they may obtain it for an everlasting
inheritance."[1058] On August 3rd, 1831, the temple site thus named
was solemnly dedicated by the prophet, Joseph Smith, and his
associates in the priesthood.[1059] The region round about was also
dedicated, that it might be a gathering place for the people of God.
[1055] Doc. and Cov. lii, 2-3; see Note 2.
[1056] Doc. and Cov. lvii, 1-2
[1057] Verse 2.
[1058] Verses 4-5.
[1059] See Note 3.
=17.= Such, then, is the belief of the Latter-day Saints; such are the
teachings of the Church. But the plan of building up Zion has not yet
been consummated. The Saints were not permitted to enter into
immediate possession of the land, which was promised them as an
everlasting inheritance. Even as years elapsed between the time of the
Lord's promise to Israel of old that Canaan should be their
inheritance, and the time of their entering into possession
thereof,--years devoted to the people's toilsome and sorrowful
preparation for the fulfilment,--so in these latter-days, the Divine
purpose is held in abeyance, while the people are being sanctified
for the great gift, and for the greater responsibilities associated
with it. In the meantime, the honest in heart are gathering to the
valleys of the Rocky Mountains; and here, in the tops of the
mountains, exalted above the hills, temples have been erected, and all
nations are flowing unto this region. But Zion shall yet be
established on the chosen site; she "shall not be moved out of her
place," and the pure in heart shall surely return, "with songs of
everlasting joy to build up the waste places of Zion."[1060]
[1060] Doc. and Cov. ci, 17-18; see also ci, 43, 74, 75; ciii, 1,
11, 13, 15; cv, 1, 2, 9, 13, 16, 34; cix, 47; cxxxvi, 18.
=18.= But gathered Israel cannot be confined to the "center place,"
nor to the region immediately adjacent; other places have been and
will be appointed, and these are called Stakes of Zion.[1061] Many
stakes have been established in the regions inhabited by the
Latter-day Saints, and these are to be permanent possessions; and
thence will go those who are appointed from among the worthy to
receive possession of their inheritances. Zion is to be chastened, but
only for a little season,[1062] then will come the time of her
redemption.
[1061] Doc. and Cov. ci, 21; see page 215.
[1062] Doc. and Cov. c, 13.
=19.= That time will be appointed of God, yet it is to be determined
according to the faithfulness of the people. Their wickedness causeth
the Lord to tarry; for, saith He:--"Therefore, in consequence of the
transgression of my people, it is expedient in me that mine elders
should wait for a little season for the redemption of Zion."[1063] And
again,--"Zion shall be redeemed in mine own due time."[1064] But the
Lord's time in giving blessings unto His people is dependent upon
them. As long ago as 1834 came the word of the Lord unto the
Church:--"Behold, I say unto you, were it not for the transgressions
of my people ... they might have been redeemed even now."[1065]
[1063] Doc. and Cov. cv, 9; also cxxxvi, 31.
[1064] Doc. and Cov. cxxxvi, 18.
[1065] Doc. and Cov. cv, 1-2.