Doctrine and Covenants 45
Historical Context
Doctrine and Covenants 45 was received on March 7, 1831, during a time when the Saints were experiencing increasing opposition. Joseph Smith later recorded in his history, “At this age of the church many false reports, lies, and foolish stories were published in the newspapers, and circulated in every direction, to prevent people from investigating the work, or embracing the faith. A great earthquake in China, which destroyed from one to two hundred thousand inhabitants, was burlesqued in some papers, as ‘Mormonism in China.’”.
Doctrine and Covenants 45 was received on March 7, 1831, during a time when Joseph was deeply engaged in his project to produce a new translation of the Bible. Working alongside different scribes, Joseph began translating the Old Testament in June 1830. In the revelation in section 45, the Lord directs Joseph to shift his focus and begin the translation of the New Testament. This direction is fitting because parts of the revelation closely parallel the discourse the Savior gave to his disciples on the Mount of Olives shortly before his death, found in Matthew 24. The Lord himself makes this connection when He says He “will show it plainly as I showed it unto my disciples as I stood before them in the flesh, and spake unto them concerning the signs of my coming, in the day when I shall come in my glory in the clouds of heaven” (D&C 45:16).
Disciples of Christ in all ages have held a special fascination with the latter days and the coming of the Savior in glory. Doctrine and Covenants is unique among texts that contain the signs of the times because it tells of the wonders and destructions near the time of the Second Coming not only in the regions surrounding Jerusalem but also in the Western Hemisphere, where these modern disciples lived. The last part of the revelation, in particular, urges the Saints to gather and build the New Jerusalem as a place of safety for all people during the time leading up to Jesus Christ’s return. Considering the value of this information, it is no wonder that Joseph recorded, “But to the joy of the saints who had to struggle against everything that prejudice and wickedness could invent, I received the following.”
“Historical Introduction,” Revelation, circa 7 March 1831 [D&C 45]
Verse-by-Verse Commentary
D&C 45:1–5
1 Hearken, O ye people of my church, to whom the kingdom has been given; hearken ye and give ear to him who laid the foundation of the earth, who made the heavens and all the hosts thereof, and by whom all things were made which live, and move, and have a being.
2 And again I say, hearken unto my voice, lest death shall overtake you; in an hour when ye think not the summer shall be past, and the harvest ended, and your souls not saved.
3 Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—
4 Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;
5 Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.
Doctrine and Covenants 45 is among the most comprehensive revelations concerning the signs of the times and the end of the world. However, before the Savior begins to give this crucial information, He points His disciples toward an even more important event than the Second Coming. President Marion G. Romney taught, “The atonement of the Master is the central point of world history. Without it, the whole purpose for the creation of earth and our living upon it would fail.” The great and terrible events surrounding the Savior’s coming in glory have no meaning unless His first coming is fully understood and appreciated.
It is natural for us to want to fixate on the conditions of the last days and to consider the best way to navigate the challenges we will face. But the tumult and upheaval of the time preceding the Second Coming are best overcome by appreciation and acceptance of the atoning Christ. Knowing the Savior and His gospel can allow us to have peace in our hearts and a hope for a better world, even if the world around us seems to be falling into disarray.
D&C 45:6–10
6 Hearken, O ye people of my church, and ye elders listen together, and hear my voice while it is called today, and harden not your hearts;
7 For verily I say unto you that I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the light and the life of the world—a light that shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not.
8 I came unto mine own, and mine own received me not; but unto as many as received me gave I power to do many miracles, and to become the sons of God; and even unto them that believed on my name gave I power to obtain eternal life.
9 And even so I have sent mine everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light to the world, and to be a standard for my people, and for the Gentiles to seek to it, and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way before me.
10 Wherefore, come ye unto it, and with him that cometh I will reason as with men in days of old, and I will show unto you my strong reasoning.
The Lord speaks of His everlasting covenant as a messenger He sends forth to prepare people for His return and the standard to which the righteous shall rally in the latter days. Much of verse 9, in fact, is a paraphrase of His own words in Isaiah 49:22 where He speaks of the day when “I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people.” That day is now, the Lord is saying, and the standard to which the Gentiles should gather is the Lord’s everlasting covenant (which He defined earlier in D&C 39:11 as “the fulness of my gospel”). As men and women from the nations of the world “come … unto it” (vs. 9) they too will receive power from the Lord to “become the sons of God” and “to obtain eternal life” (vs. 8) as happened to the faithful who received Christ during His first coming. The role the church of Christ plays in the salvation of God’s children in the latter days is to invite mankind to come unto Christ through his everlasting covenant. Church members and leaders are to be those holding up Christ’s everlasting covenant as a light to the world and rallying point for God’s people, beckoning all truth seekers the world over to come unto it and thereby receive Christ (see D&C 39:2–6, 11 for added clarity on this point). Hence, as the custodians of the everlasting covenant, they are to hear Christ’s voice, and to harden not their hearts (vs. 6).
D&C 45:11–15
11 Wherefore, hearken ye together and let me show unto you even my wisdom—the wisdom of him whom ye say is the God of Enoch, and his brethren,
12 Who were separated from the earth, and were received unto myself—a city reserved until a day of righteousness shall come—a day which was sought for by all holy men, and they found it not because of wickedness and abominations;
13 And confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth;
14 But obtained a promise that they should find it and see it in their flesh.
15 Wherefore, hearken and I will reason with you, and I will speak unto you and prophesy, as unto men in days of old.
The revelations that flesh out the story of Enoch and the City of Zion (Moses 6–7) were revealed in December 1830, just three months prior to this revelation. The connection between the Zion built by the ancient Saints and the modern Zion being built up by the Latter-day Saints is a strong theme in the Doctrine and Covenants. Joseph Smith personally identified with Enoch and his work, even using the alias “Enoch” for himself in later revelations when it was necessary to keep the identities of the individuals named private. And only a few months after section 45 was received, Joseph Smith would be commanded to travel to Missouri to identify the location for the modern city of Zion (D&C 52:1–2).
In a later revelation, the Lord gave the lyrics of a song that was to be sung by the righteous. The lyrics say that Zion would come to earth again in two ways: “The Lord hath brought down Zion from above [the city of Enoch] and the Lord hath brough up Zion from beneath [the New Jerusalem built by the Saints]” (D&C 84:100). The two cities, reaching each other as one descends and the other rises, are brought together at the beginning of Christ’s reign on the earth.
The invocation of Enoch in these verses is significant as it invites the reader to mentally upload the Enochian Covenant as important context to what the Lord is about to explain in this section. Three months earlier Joseph had learned (and recorded in Moses 7) of a covenant God made to Enoch wherein He personally promised him that He would (1) call upon the descendants of Noah (which is all mankind), (2) in the latter-days, (3) by way of flooding the earth with righteousness and truth (which are essentially the truths and ordinances of the gospel) in order to gather out an elect people to a Zion built upon the earth to prepare for Christ’s return. And when Christ returns, He promised, He will bring with Him those in the heavenly Zion above (Enoch’s people) to unite with the earthly Zion below when this earth will finally rest from wickedness and enjoy a one-thousand-year period where righteous people only will live upon its surface (see Moses 7:49–67).
The Lord invokes all of this in verse 12 when he speaks of the promised “day of righteousness” for which Enoch’s city was reserved to return. This promised day of rest and peace was “a day which was sought for by all holy men” down through the ages of time, but “they found it not because of wickedness and abominations” which prevailed on earth during their days. Nevertheless, the Lord explains here in verse 14, “they obtained a promise that they should find it and see it in their flesh.” Such was the case with father Abraham (see JST Gen. 15:9–12), for instance, and with righteous members of the house of Israel (see Ezek. 37), as well as with many of Jesus’s disciples during His mortal ministry, about whom He goes on to speak in the next verses.
D&C 45:16–17
16 And I will show it plainly as I showed it unto my disciples as I stood before them in the flesh, and spake unto them, saying: As ye have asked of me concerning the signs of my coming, in the day when I shall come in my glory in the clouds of heaven, to fulfil the promises that I have made unto your fathers,
17 For as ye have looked upon the long absence of your spirits from your bodies to be a bondage, I will show unto you how the day of redemption shall come, and also the restoration of the scattered Israel.
In these important verses Jesus declares to his disciples that the purpose of his second coming is “to fulfil the promises that I have made unto your fathers” (such as Enoch mentioned above) concerning “the day of redemption”—a reference to the millennial era when scattered Israel will be fully restored and righteousness alone will reign upon the earth.
The context of the Savior’s remarks in these verses and those that follow is during the last week of his life when he took his disciples to the Mount of Olives to speak with them privately. As the disciples gathered, they asked Jesus about His prophecy that the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed. “Tell us, when shall these things be?” they petitioned the Lord, “and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:1–3). The following discussion, commonly called the Olivet Discourse because of the location where it was given, is included in different forms in the gospels written by Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Matthew 24–25; Mark 13; Luke 21). D&C 45 includes an additional version of that discussion that offers added insights to the gospel accounts.
Later in this section, in verses 60–62, Joseph was instructed to begin translating the New Testament. Sometime later in this same year, 1831, Joseph Smith translated the text of Matthew 23:39–Matthew 24, producing the text now known as Joseph Smith—Matthew in the Pearl of Great Price. Both D&C 45 and the inspired translation of the Olivet Discourse found in Joseph Smith—Matthew greatly add to our understanding of the signs of the last days—each text contributing to our knowledge in distinct ways.
D&C 45:18–23
18 And now ye behold this temple which is in Jerusalem, which ye call the house of God, and your enemies say that this house shall never fall.
19 But, verily I say unto you, that desolation shall come upon this generation as a thief in the night, and this people shall be destroyed and scattered among all nations.
20 And this temple which ye now see shall be thrown down that there shall not be left one stone upon another.
21 And it shall come to pass, that this generation of Jews shall not pass away until every desolation which I have told you concerning them shall come to pass.
22 Ye say that ye know that the end of the world cometh; ye say also that ye know that the heavens and the earth shall pass away;
23 And in this ye say truly, for so it is; but these things which I have told you shall not pass away until all shall be fulfilled.
One of the primary contributions of Joseph Smith—Matthew is that it clarifies that in the Olivet Discourse the Savior was speaking about two different time periods, (1) the destruction and diaspora of the Jewish people around AD 70 and (2) the last days and the signs that will appear then. While the version found in Matthew 24 intertwines these two events, Joseph Smith—Matthew separates them and clarifies which events belong to each era. The destruction of Jerusalem is covered in Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:5–21, while the signs linked to the Second Coming are found in Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:22–55.
As an additional version of the Olivet Discourse, Doctrine and Covenants 45 likewise starts with a repetition of the Savior’s prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem (vs. 18–23) and then moves on to the signs of the last days (vs. 24–59). In the Joseph Smith—Matthew version of this prophecy, Jesus refers to the events described here in verses 18-23 as “the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet” (JS—M 1:12). In AD 70, a Roman army led by Titus swept into Palestine and laid siege to Jerusalem. During this conflict the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and left in ruin. As one Jewish historian noted, the destruction of Jerusalem in this time “marked a transition period between the independence of Israel as a people living in its own political and social framework, and the period of exile when the nation was dispersed as a minority, large or small, without any center of national leadership and without any active political initiative.”
D&C 45:24–38
24 And this I have told you concerning Jerusalem; and when that day shall come, shall a remnant be scattered among all nations;
25 But they shall be gathered again; but they shall remain until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
26 And in that day shall be heard of wars and rumors of wars, and the whole earth shall be in commotion, and men’s hearts shall fail them, and they shall say that Christ delayeth his coming until the end of the earth.
27 And the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound.
28 And when the times of the Gentiles is come in, a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fulness of my gospel;
29 But they receive it not; for they perceive not the light, and they turn their hearts from me because of the precepts of men.
30 And in that generation shall the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
31 And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land.
32 But my disciples shall stand in holy places, and shall not be moved; but among the wicked, men shall lift up their voices and curse God and die.
33 And there shall be earthquakes also in divers places, and many desolations; yet men will harden their hearts against me, and they will take up the sword, one against another, and they will kill one another.
34 And now, when I the Lord had spoken these words unto my disciples, they were troubled.
35 And I said unto them: Be not troubled, for, when all these things shall come to pass, ye may know that the promises which have been made unto you shall be fulfilled.
36 And when the light shall begin to break forth, it shall be with them like unto a parable which I will show you—
37 Ye look and behold the fig trees, and ye see them with your eyes, and ye say when they begin to shoot forth, and their leaves are yet tender, that summer is now nigh at hand;
38 Even so it shall be in that day when they shall see all these things, then shall they know that the hour is nigh.
Doctrine and Covenants 45:24 marks the transition between the Savior’s description of Jerusalem’s destruction in His time and the signs of the last days in our time. There is a long tradition of speculation about the Second Coming among Latter-day Saints and Christians of other denominations. While the scriptures contain vast amounts of information about the last days, people often become obsessed with the end times and rely on questionable sources for their information. In 1973 Harold B. Lee, then the President of the Church, gave the following counsel: “There are among us many loose writings predicting the calamities which are about to overtake us. Some of these have been publicized as though they were necessary to wake up the world to the horrors about to overtake us. Many of these are from sources upon which there cannot be unquestioned reliance. . . . We need no such publications to be forewarned, if we were only conversant with what the scriptures have already spoken to us in plainness.”
President Lee then provided his own inspired list of readings to know the signs of the Second Coming:
Let me give you the sure word of prophecy on which you should rely for your guide instead of these strange sources which may have great political implications. Read the 24th chapter of Matthew—particularly that inspired version as contained in the Pearl of Great Price. (JS—M 1.) Then read the 45th section of the Doctrine and Covenants where the Lord, not man, has documented the signs of the times. Now turn to section 101 and section 133 of the Doctrine and Covenants and hear the step-by-step recounting of events leading up to the coming of the Savior. Finally, turn to the promises the Lord makes to those who keep the commandments when these judgments descend upon the wicked, as set forth in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 38.
Brethren, these are some of the writings with which you should concern yourselves, rather than commentaries that may come from those whose information may not be the most reliable and whose motives may be subject to question.
When the signs in verses 24-33 occur, grim though some of them may be, Christ’s disciples are not to be troubled, but rather are to take heart knowing that these signs indicate “that the promises which have been made unto you shall be fulfilled.” With the passing of each of these signs, disciples of Jesus Christ are to recognize that we are steadily approaching the millennial “day of righteousness” spoken of in verse 12 and the promised “day of redemption” spoken of in verse 17, as surely as summer follows the budding of spring leaves on fig trees in Jerusalem.
D&C 45:39–47
39 And it shall come to pass that he that feareth me shall be looking forth for the great day of the Lord to come, even for the signs of the coming of the Son of Man.
40 And they shall see signs and wonders, for they shall be shown forth in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath.
41 And they shall behold blood, and fire, and vapors of smoke.
42 And before the day of the Lord shall come, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon be turned into blood, and the stars fall from heaven.
43 And the remnant shall be gathered unto this place;
44 And then they shall look for me, and, behold, I will come; and they shall see me in the clouds of heaven, clothed with power and great glory; with all the holy angels; and he that watches not for me shall be cut off.
45 But before the arm of the Lord shall fall, an angel shall sound his trump, and the saints that have slept shall come forth to meet me in the cloud.
46 Wherefore, if ye have slept in peace blessed are you; for as you now behold me and know that I am, even so shall ye come unto me and your souls shall live, and your redemption shall be perfected; and the saints shall come forth from the four quarters of the earth.
47 Then shall the arm of the Lord fall upon the nations.
Many of the signs the Savior speaks of in this passage have undoubtedly already begun. However, members of the Church must be careful in the way we interpret the signs and their fulfillment. Signs can be fulfilled in surprising ways, and rather than following private interpretations, we need to look to the authorized servants whom God has called to offer their interpretations of the signs. In an 1843 discourse, Joseph Smith taught,
Christ says no man knoweth the day or the hour when the Son of man cometh. . . . Did Christ speak this as a general principle throughout all generations? Oh no, he spake in the present tense; no man that was then living upon the footstool of God knew the day or the hour. But he did not say that there was no man throughout all generations that should not know the day or the hour. No, for this would be in flat contradiction with other scripture, for the prophet says that God will do nothing but what he will reveal unto his Servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). Consequently, if it is not made known to the Prophets it will not come to pass.
D&C 45:48–53
48 And then shall the Lord set his foot upon this mount, and it shall cleave in twain, and the earth shall tremble, and reel to and fro, and the heavens also shall shake.
49 And the Lord shall utter his voice, and all the ends of the earth shall hear it; and the nations of the earth shall mourn, and they that have laughed shall see their folly.
50 And calamity shall cover the mocker, and the scorner shall be consumed; and they that have watched for iniquity shall be hewn down and cast into the fire.
51 And then shall the Jews look upon me and say: What are these wounds in thine hands and in thy feet?
52 Then shall they know that I am the Lord; for I will say unto them: These wounds are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. I am he who was lifted up. I am Jesus that was crucified. I am the Son of God.
53 And then shall they weep because of their iniquities; then shall they lament because they persecuted their king.
One addition Doctrine and Covenants 45 makes to the Olivet Discourse is a focus on the prophecies of Zechariah, a prophet from around 520 BC. Zechariah spoke at length about the return of a remnant of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and of their fate in the last days. He prophesied that all nations would gather to battle against Jerusalem and that half the city would be taken into captivity. In this dark moment, he said, “then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations” (Zechariah 14:4). In section 45 the Savior makes reference to Zechariah’s prophecy about when the Lord “shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south” (Zechariah 14:4). He also connects this moment to an earlier prophecy by Zechariah in which this remnant of the Jews will meet the Lord and ask, “What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends” (Zechariah 13:6).
D&C 45:54–59
54 And then shall the heathen nations be redeemed, and they that knew no law shall have part in the first resurrection; and it shall be tolerable for them.
55 And Satan shall be bound, that he shall have no place in the hearts of the children of men.
56 And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins.
57 For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day.
58 And the earth shall be given unto them for an inheritance; and they shall multiply and wax strong, and their children shall grow up without sin unto salvation.
59 For the Lord shall be in their midst, and his glory shall be upon them, and he will be their king and their lawgiver.
After the Savior returns to the earth in glory, the members of the Church will carry out two great labors: temple work and missionary work. In the temples of God, Latter-day Saints will do work of inviting those who are deceased to receive Christ through His everlasting covenant. President M. Russell Ballard taught, “We’re building these temples not only for us in this moment of our history, but we’re building temples which will be used during the Millennium when this great work will be carried on in the house of the Lord . . . under the direction and supervision of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.”
Second, missionary work will be carried out throughout the world to invite those who have not yet received Christ through His everlasting covenant to do so. The term “heathen nations” (vs. 54) generally refers to those who are neither Christian nor Jewish. While the word heathen often carries negative connotations, there is no suggestion that those referred to here are barbarous or uncivilized, just unfamiliar with the teachings of the Bible. These sons and daughters of God are not cast off in His sight. Nephi taught that the Lord “remembereth the heathen, and all are alike unto God” (2 Nephi 26:33). After the Savior’s return to earth, righteous individuals of all faiths will remain on the earth.
In 1842 Joseph Smith taught,
To say that the heathen would be damned because they did not believe the gospel would be preposterous; and to say that the Jews would all be damned that do not believe in Jesus, would be equally absurd; for, “how can they believe on him of whom they have not heard; and how can they hear without a preacher; and how can he preach except he be sent;” consequently neither Jew, nor heathen, can be culpable for rejecting the conflicting opinions of sectarianism, nor for rejecting any testimony but that which is sent of God, for as the preacher cannot preach except he be sent, so the hearer cannot believe without he hear a sent preacher; and cannot be condemned for what he has not heard; and being without law will have to be judged without law.”
To the faithful Jews, Gentiles, and heathen in this day of promise “the earth shall be given … for an inheritance,” they will continue in glorious family life as “their children … grow up without sin unto salvation,” and they will rest secure as “the Lord shall be in their midst, and his glory shall be upon then, and he will be their king and lawgiver” (vs. 58–59).
President Brigham Young summarized the conditions of this time of peace when he declared that “the Millennium consists in this—every heart in the Church and Kingdom of God being united in one; the Kingdom increasing to the overcoming of everything opposed to the economy of heaven, and Satan being bound, and having a seal set upon him. All things else will be as they are now, we shall eat, drink, and wear clothing.”
D&C 45:60–62
60 And now, behold, I say unto you, it shall not be given unto you to know any further concerning this chapter, until the New Testament be translated, and in it all these things shall be made known;
61 Wherefore I give unto you that ye may now translate it, that ye may be prepared for the things to come.
62 For verily I say unto you, that great things await you;
The day after Doctrine and Covenants 45 was revealed, March 8, 1831, Joseph Smith and his scribes began translating the New Testament. In the months following, the Prophet’s study of the New Testament was particularly fruitful and led to some of the most important revelations given to Joseph Smith. These sections included Doctrine and Covenants 74, which clarified questions about infant baptism; section 76, which outlined the different degrees of glory in the next world; and section 77, which answers crucial questions about the book of Revelation. In addition, Doctrine and Covenants 86, 88, and 93 are all linked closely to the Prophet’s translation of the New Testament.
Upon completing his work on the New Testament, Joseph returned to the Old Testament. He noted in the Old Testament manuscripts that the project was completed on July 2, 1833. The impact of Joseph Smith’s Bible translation project as a springboard to further revelations can hardly be overstated. Joseph received a large majority of the Doctrine and Covenants, roughly every revelation from section 29 to section 96, during the time he was translating the Bible. The study of the scriptures brought revelation for Joseph Smith, as it does for men and women in any time.
In one sense, it could be said, Joseph Smith never fully completed his translation of the Bible. He kept working on it right up until the end of his life. For him, translation meant a deep engagement with the sacred texts, a practice that continued to the end of his life. After Joseph’s death, Brigham Young remarked that “he should not be stumbled if the prophet should translate the bible forty thousand times over and yet it should be different in some places every time, because when God speak[s], he always speaks according to the capacity of the people.”
D&C 45:63–65
63 Ye hear of wars in foreign lands; but, behold, I say unto you, they are nigh, even at your doors, and not many years hence ye shall hear of wars in your own lands.
64 Wherefore I, the Lord, have said, gather ye out from the eastern lands, assemble ye yourselves together ye elders of my church; go ye forth into the western countries, call upon the inhabitants to repent, and inasmuch as they do repent, build up churches unto me.
65 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.
Another contribution of Doctrine and Covenants 45 is to provide information about the conditions of the last days in the Western Hemisphere. Most prophecies of the last days focus on the regions surrounding Jerusalem. In these verses the Lord warns the Saints to gather from the eastern lands and warns of wars happening in the regions close to their own location. Two years after this revelation was given, Joseph Smith declared, “I am prepared to say by the authority of Jesus Christ, that not many years shall pass, away before the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not a parallel in the history of our nation.”
This prophecy found partial fulfillment in the American Civil War (1861–1865), which remains the deadliest war in American history. By one estimate, the war took the lives of 10 percent of Northern men between the ages of 20 and 45, and 30 percent of all Southern white men between the ages of 18 and 40. But the American Civil War was not the only calamity spoken of in Joseph Smith’s prophecies. The Prophet also declared that “pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake will sweep the wicked of this generation from off the face of the land, to open and prepare the way for the return of the lost tribes of Israel.” Further, Joseph Smith received another revelation explaining that “the days will come when war will be poured out upon all nations” (D&C 87:2) but counseling the Saints to “stand ye in holy places and be not moved until the day of the Lord come” (D&C 87:8).
D&C 45:66–75
66 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;
67 And the glory of the Lord shall be there, and the terror of the Lord also shall be there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it, and it shall be called Zion.
68 And it shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety.
69 And there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven; and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another.
70 And it shall be said among the wicked: Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand.
71 And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion, singing with songs of everlasting joy.
72 And now I say unto you, keep these things from going abroad unto the world until it is expedient in me, that ye may accomplish this work in the eyes of the people, and in the eyes of your enemies, that they may not know your works until ye have accomplished the thing which I have commanded you;
73 That when they shall know it, that they may consider these things.
74 For when the Lord shall appear he shall be terrible unto them, that fear may seize upon them, and they shall stand afar off and tremble.
75 And all nations shall be afraid because of the terror of the Lord, and the power of his might. Even so. Amen.
In the midst of a world descending into deepening chaos, the New Jerusalem will be built as a place of refuge and safety for the Saints and for those who choose to gather with them. Inhabitants of every nation will flee unto Zion seeking escape from the worsening conditions of the world. These verses serve as a reminder that Latter-day Saints must do more than simply wait for the Savior to descend and cure the ills of the world. We build Zion as we create places of safety for all people around us. Refuge will be found not only in the New Jerusalem but in the stakes of Zion built around the world (D&C 115:5–6).
In an 1839 discourse, Joseph Smith taught, “Some may have cried peace, but the Saints and the world will have little peace from henceforth. Let this not hinder us from going to the Stake[s]; for God has told us to flee not or we shall be scattered, one here another there.” He continued,
We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object. When wars come, we shall have to flee to Zion, the cry is to make haste. The last revelation says ye shall not have time to have gone over the earth until these things come. It will come as did the cholera, war and fires, burning, earthquakes, one pestilence after another, until the Ancient of Days come, then judgment will be given to the Saints. . . . There your children shall <be> blessed and you in the midst of friends where you may be blessed. The Gospel net gathers in [people] of every kind.”
Footnotes
