“Yea, the work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people, with the Father to prepare the way whereby they may come unto me, that they may call on the Father in my name. Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father among all nations in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance.”
When it begins in earnest and for the last time, it will be universal. There won’t be an effort among one part of the vineyard which isn’t mirrored by similar efforts in other parts of the vineyard. All the natural branches will be returned and reunited with the natural roots, as all are gathered again into one.
The Father will determine the timing. The Son will implement the plan. The process will require everyone, in every scattered part of the vineyard, to “come unto Christ.” Unless they “come unto Christ,” they will not be gathered and cannot be saved.
When they are brought again into their original state and begin to bear fruit, “they may call on the Father in [Christ’s] name” with His approval and blessing. Without that, the “gathering home” cannot become a reality.
The Father’s work will be “among all nations” because it will involve the judgment and destruction of all nations. (
D&C 87: 6.)
This will “prepare the way.” Why does the work need to happen “among all nations” for the way to be prepared?
What does it mean to now call all those who are to be included in this final gathering “his people” meaning the Father’s people? Why would they end their long sojourn by becoming the “Father’s people?” Christ has spoken of them being “His people” (meaning Christ’s) but now the culmination will result in them becoming the “Father’s people” as well. (D&C 76: 92-95.)
Notice that part of the final covenant being fulfilled involves re-gathering into the lands promised as their inheritance. This does not mean a single step. It means that the great work of the Father in destroying the nations, eliminating the wicked, and returning knowledge and a connection to Him through His Son, will prepare the way for the final step of gathering the chosen people into the lands of their inheritance.
There will be gatherings, and a great gathering, and at last a distribution of the survivors into their respective promised lands. Between the time of the great upheavals, and the time of the final distribution, there will be a season in which there will a great gathering in the “Mountains” (
2 Ne. 12: 2) where it will be a fearsome, even terrible thing for the wicked to contemplate. (
D&C 45: 68-70.) This will be in “the tops of the mountains.” (
Micah 4: 1;
2 Ne. 12: 2;
Isa. 2: 2.) This will be where the New Jerusalem will exist. This will be before the final distribution into the various places of inheritance of the Lord’s people.
Before the return to the lands of inheritance, however, there will be terrible days, the likes of which have only been seen in the final pages of the Nephite record. (
Mormon 6: 6-22.)
The choice is between the Lord, His offered redemption and protection, and destruction. The gentiles are now offered a choice while reenacting the same poor judgment that led to their own loss of opportunity. That needn’t be true of individuals. It seems apparent that the prophetic message of the Book of Mormon foretells gentile arrogance and pride, collectively claiming they are on the road to Zion, while they are instead doomed to repeating the errors of prior civilizations of this continent. We will get to that in the coming days, but for now we remain interested in the definition and destiny of the “remnant” of the prior occupants.
(What an interesting text this Book of Mormon proves to be. It makes one wonder why it would ever suffer from neglect.)
It seems that what you’re discovering from the scriptures is that the New Jerusalem will be “a City set upon a hill which cannot be hid… a location in the tops of the everlasting mountains, where all will gather from every nation.”
If this is so, I wonder why the Lord would have commanded the early Saints to build the New Jerusalem in Jackson County, Missouri? (doesn’t seem to fit the geographical description) and why every modern prophet (as far as I am aware) has taught that it will still be built in Jackson County?
Seeking further education.
I did some further thinking/researching…
Is it possible that there are two gathering location for Zion / New Jerusalem? And that the gathering in “the tops of the mountains” is what is going on now, and that eventually there will also be a gathering in Jackson County?
Consider this from Pres. Anthony W. Ivins…
Now, do not understand me to say, my brethren and sisters, or to infer that Jackson county, Missouri, will not eventually be the gathering place of the saints, that it will not be the place for the erection of the city which shall be known as the New Jerusalem; but it is very definitely certain that it was not the will of the Lord that it should be made the first great gathering place of the members of his Church in this dispensation. Otherwise he would not have brought the people to these valleys of the mountains; otherwise the words of the prophets of old would not have been fulfilled. Isaiah, long ago, before the birth of the Redeemer of the world, declared, looking into the future, that it should come to pass in the, last days that the mountain of the Lord’s house should be established,-not upon the plains of Missouri, nor the rolling hills of Illinois,-but it should be established in the top of the mountains, and should be exalted above the hills and all nations should flow unto it. Many people should go and say: Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. For what purpose? That we may there be taught his ways and learn to walk in his paths. ( http://search.ldslibrary.com/article/view/227513 )
Joseph made the following statement on 19 July 1840, taken from the diary of Martha and Howard Coray:
Parable of Olive Trees – America is Zion
Afterwards read the parable of the 12 olive trees 2 [DC 101]and said speaking of the Land of Zion that It consists of all N. & S America but that any place where the Saints gather is Zion3 which every righteous man will build up for a place of safety for his children; that The olive trees are 12 stakes which are yet to be built not the Temple in Jackson [County, Missouri] as some suppose for while the 12 olive stakes are being built we will be at peace but the Nations of the Earth will be at war.
The whole of this quote is found by going to http://www.boap.org/ and scroll down on left hand menu to Parallel Joseph; type in the date.
Inasmuch as Zion constitutes both North and South America how do we know which mountains and which valleys he is talking about? There are more of the ‘remnant’ in South and Central America than we have and they surely have a lot of mountains.
BB
Hey Stone…are you still out there? I miss your insights.