This week after an earthquake in Salt Lake, Moroni’s horn was shaken loose from the Salt Lake Temple. Because Moroni’s horn symbolizes the spreading of the message of the Restoration of Christianity the irony of Moroni mike dropping his trumpet right before the conference commemorating the Restoration of Christianity is not lost on us. I’m extremely interested to see what the leaders of the church choose to talk about this year.
Last October President Nelson told us that Conference this April was to be designated a Bicentennial year commemorating the foundations of the restored Gospel. He told us that General Conference would be different from any previous Conference. He asked us to study and to consider the ways that our lives might be different without the Restoration of the Gospel and how the events following the First Vision affected us and our loved ones. He said that as we studied these things, came up with our own questions, and followed the direction of the spirit that Conference this April would not only be memorable, it would be unforgettable.
With the current health crisis requiring social distancing in most of the world, it appears that we’ve been given a front row seat to see exactly how our lives might be different without the restoration of the Gospel. We have a powerful object lesson before us as important parts of our lives have been stripped away. Temples for the most part (aside from some living ordinances) have been shut down. Church meetings have been canceled. All church related social activities have been canceled. As people pass away from this disease, we have the opportunity to think of our own loved ones we’ve lost, and the comfort and peace we find in believing in eternal families and life after death.
As we discuss the Restoration of the Gospel and the circumstances leading up to it, it’s hard not to make parallels to our day. Joseph Smith lived in a time of great “contentions and divisions, [with] wickedness and abominations, and . . . darkness . . . [pervading] the minds of mankind.” Joseph was “exceedingly distressed.” He was surrounded by “confusion and strife.” It was, he said, “impossible for a person . . . so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong.” He said that “the cry and tumult were so great and incessant.” Both sides used “all the powers of both reason and sophistry” to prove that everyone else was wrong. Each side being “equally zealous in endeavoring to establish their own tenets and disprove all others.”
“In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?” Noise and fighting surrounds us, too. People argue about politics, gender, abortion, healthcare, and welfare. The noise of our digital world is staggering and seems to bear similarities to the noise that Joseph Smith encountered in real life.
Though the battlegrounds and buzzwords change, it appears that the war between good and evil, is still ongoing. Is there ultimate truth, or is morality subjective? Are some choices more right than others or is the correctness of a choice based on individual preference? Must we live with the consequences of our actions, or can those consequences be avoided or eliminated? Can we be happy forging our own path, or are there certain choices that are more likely to result in greater happiness and freedom in the long run? We live in a world where it is controversial to say that some choices lead to the most desirable outcomes, therefore those choices are morally right. The very concept of morality itself is dismissed as anti-science, uneducated, bigoted, superstitious, and unenlightened.
The reading in Jacob this week was all about the Parable of the Olive Tree, which is a symbolic story that teaches us about the scattering and gathering of Israel. In the scriptures surrounding the gathering, a specific phrase keeps popping up, talking about how "the last shall be first, and the first last.” At first the Gospel went out to the Jews. They were the chosen people of God. They weren’t allowed to preach Christ’s teachings at that point to the Gentiles. Now, in our day, we believe that the Gospel was restored to the Gentiles through Joseph Smith, and that in the last days we will preach it to the Jews. Thus, the last being first, and the first last.
In my understanding of the scattering and gathering of Israel, step one is to gather the gatherers. That’s the laborers in the vineyard who are going to harvest for the last time. That’s us as members of the church today. I think we typically think of these “gatherers” as people who are members of the tribes Ephraim and Manassah. We often have more temporal blessings and freedoms than people have in some other areas of the world, and because of that we have a greater responsibility. We are supposed to use the resources and privilege we have to “build the kingdom of God upon the earth.” What does this mean?
The concept of building the Kingdom of God is a threefold concept in my mind. First, we are to bring like minded people together to build a better society. We are to create the world as we wish it was. As we believe that all good things come from God, I think that this society would have all good things. We would have uplifting and beautiful books, art, music, and entertainment. We would use our ingenuity to cure disease, eliminate pollution, eradicate poverty all over the world, spread literacy, etc. It would be the world that we could have if people, regardless of ideological differences, could work together for the greater good. This is reinforced to me by the idea from the scriptures that after the Millennium, not all people will be members of Christ’s Church, at least not at first.
Bringing people to Christ’s teachings is also building the kingdom of God on the earth, and this can mean improving their lives in many ways. Helping others to improve their lives in terms of things like goal setting, self reliance, mental or physical health, or finance are all ways that we are adding light and knowledge to the world and spiritually building the kingdom of God. As we help people catch the vision of what the world could be like without greed, corruption, and selfishness, we are building the Kingdom of God upon the earth.
Second, there is to be a spiritual gathering that occurs before the physical gathering of the people of God. This would be when all the good people of the world who really do desire a better world would no longer be spiritually lost, as they come to a knowledge of their roots. The roots represent the promises and power they are entitled to through covenants like baptism and temple blessings. This would be represented by the good branches of the trees in the parable returning to the good roots to bear good fruit. Because the good roots appear to represent temple and spiritual blessings, this would imply a lot of people joining the church. I think the fruit is supposed to represent “fruits” of your labors, or the good things we will produce (hopefully like literacy, knowledge, freedom, and raising people from poverty).
Third, the gathering of Israel represents a “literal gathering of Israel” in which “Zion, the New Jerusalem, will be built upon the American continent.” We literally intend to build a huge “city” at some point (maybe it’s a city, maybe it’s a city that encompasses several states, I’m not clear on that from my studies) that the righteous get to live in while the wicked fight amongst themselves until the end. We’re told that the people in Zion will be the only people on earth who are not at war.
If Christ’s Second Coming “comes as a thief in the night” and that half of the members of the church aren’t even expecting it (the parable of the ten virgins) it seems to imply that the warring people aren’t physically at war as we usually think about it, but it might refer to civil unrest, mass shootings, terrorism, and perhaps a battle of words and opinions like in Joseph Smith’s day. The people among the church who are faithful and not distracted by all of this chaos will have eyes to see and ears to hear, who are watching for the signs and wonders of Christ’s coming will be prepared. It’s my understanding that the accelerated spiritual gathering is supposed to take place before the physical gathering, but that the physical gathering will not be complete until sometime in the Millennium.
The scriptures also say that we’re supposed to purchase the lands to build the city of Zion. It makes me think that as the Salt Lake Temple was to the early saints, so this city of Zion will be to us. To me this implies that we have a responsibility to be wise of stewards over our temporal monetary blessings so we can literally build the kingdom of God on earth physically, but also to allow us the financial freedom to build the kingdom in other ways like helping friends, family or neighbors in times of struggle. Money is also a tool that allows us to pursue good things that culturally create the kingdom of God. In addition, being financially well off enough to support ourselves allows us or our children to serve missions. I believe that most of the building of the kingdom of God will not be a physical building, but a spiritual awakening to how we can serve others the way that Christ would and mold the world into a healthier, more sustainable place.
In these scriptures we studied, we’re repeatedly told that the end draweth nigh, and that this is the last time that laborers will be sent out to gather the harvest. So, what should we be doing to prepare? Become familiar with scriptures. Know what is supposed to happen before Christ’s Coming, and watch for it. Work on your spiritual preparation by learning to trust the Lord. Learn to be able to live joyfully in uncertainty; because nothing is really ever certain anyway. Be still. Be of good cheer. Do not fear. We are to study the words of Isaiah.
The time before the Second Coming of Christ is something that a lot of people dread. It’s a time of great human suffering. What we tend to forget, though, that it isn’t a time of suffering for the faithful. We’ve been told the battle plans and the outcome of the battle in advance. We know what to expect. According to scripture, this will be a time of excitement and knowledge, when all things will be restored. This “restitution of all things” means that “every truth, doctrine, power, priesthood, gift, grace, miracle, ordinance, and mighty work ever possessed or performed in any age of faith shall come again.” We are to look forward with hope and conviction for the peace and perfection of Enoch’s city and Christ’s rule and reign.
As a last side note, President Spencer W. Kimball said in 1979 that “Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world … will be drawn to the Church in large numbers. This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and different—in happy ways—from the women of the world.” Our calling is to live happy and faithful lives. We are the divinely-appointed guardians of hope. Being faithful means that we will be hopeful about the future despite uncertainty, not be resigned to what comes merely because we have no control over it.
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