Doctrine and Covenants 94-97

<p>In Doctrine and Covenants section 97, it reads, &ldquo;And inasmuch as my people build a house unto me in the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to come into it, that it be not defiled, my glory shall rest upon it&rdquo; (D&amp;C 97:15, 17).</p> <p>Until 1891 the President of the Church signed each temple recommend to protect the sanctity of the temple. That responsibility was then delegated to bishops and stake presidents.</p> <p>It is our great desire that members of the Church will live to be worthy of a temple recommend. Please don&rsquo;t see the temple as some distant and perhaps unachievable goal. Working with their bishop, most members can achieve all righteous requirements in a relatively short period of time if they have a determination to qualify and fully repent of transgressions. This includes being willing to forgive ourselves and not focus on our imperfections or sins as disqualifying us from ever entering a sacred temple.</p> <p>The Savior&rsquo;s Atonement was accomplished for all of God&rsquo;s children. His redeeming sacrifice satisfies the demands of justice for all those who truly repent.</p>

<p>The Lord has said that the time will come when there will be &ldquo;an entire separation of the righteous and the wicked&rdquo; (D&amp;C 63:54). Nephi, in the Book of Mormon, said, &ldquo;For the time speedily cometh that the Lord God shall cause a great division among the people, and the wicked will he destroy&rdquo; (2 Nephi 30:10).</p> <p>As we consider these promises, we should not forget the warning given by the Lord to the Latter-day Saints. &ldquo;Nevertheless, Zion shall escape if she observe to do all things whatsoever I have commanded her.</p> <p>&ldquo;But if she observe not to do whatsoever I have commanded her, I will visit her according to all her works, with sore affliction, with pestilence, with plague, with sword, with vengeance, with devouring fire&rdquo; (D&amp;C 97:25&ndash;26).</p> <p>We must recognize from this warning that it is not enough to be a Latter-day Saint in name only. It is not enough to simply declare that we are a chosen people of the Lord. We must keep the trust he has given us. We must qualify for his blessing by the way we remain different from the world in our obedience to his laws. Otherwise, we have no promise, and our fate will be the fate of the world.</p>

<p>If Babylon is the city of the world, Zion is the city of God. The Lord has said of Zion: &ldquo;Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom&rdquo; (D&amp;C 105:5) and, &ldquo;For this is Zion&mdash;the pure in heart&rdquo; (D&amp;C 97:21).</p> <p>Wherever we are, whatever city we may live in, we can build our own Zion by the principles of the celestial kingdom and ever seek to become the pure in heart. Zion is the beautiful, and the Lord holds it in His own hands. Our homes can be places which are a refuge and protection, as Zion is.</p> <p>We do not need to become as puppets in the hands of the culture of the place and time. We can be courageous and can walk in the Lord&rsquo;s paths and follow His footsteps. And if we do, we will be called Zion, and we will be the people of the Lord.</p>

<p>&ldquo;So, while we hold ourselves to the Lord&rsquo;s high standards, let&rsquo;s also be patient with one another. We are each a work in progress, and we all rely on the Savior for any progress we make. That&rsquo;s true for us as individuals, and it&rsquo;s true for the kingdom of God on earth. The Lord invites us not just to join His kingdom but also to be anxiously engaged in building it. God envisions a people who are &lsquo;of one heart and one mind.&rsquo; And to be of one heart, we must seek pure hearts, and that requires a mighty change of heart. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean changing my heart to align with yours. Nor does it mean changing your heart to align with mine. It means that we all change our hearts to align with the Savior. If we are not there yet, remember: with the Lord&rsquo;s help, nothing is impossible.&rdquo;</p>

<p>As we walk the road of life, we are tested to see if we will &ldquo;observe to do all things whatsoever [the Lord has] commanded&rdquo; (D&amp;C 97:25).</p> <p>Many of us are on amazing journeys of discovery&mdash;leading to personal fulfillment and spiritual enlightenment. Some of us, however, are on a trek that leads to sorrow, sin, anguish, and despair.</p> <p>In this context, please ask yourself: What is your final destination? Where are your footsteps taking you? And is your journey leading you to that &ldquo;multiplicity of blessings&rdquo; the Savior has promised (D&amp;C 97:28)?</p> <p>A trek back to our Heavenly Father is the most important trek of our lives, and it continues each day, each week, each month, and each year as we increase our faith in Him and in His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.</p>

<p>Plans for the city of Zion sent in June, August, and November 1833 all included a complex of twenty-four temples at the heart of the city.<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="see-footnote">[1]</a> However, the Saints had to begin building the complex with one structure, and plans were sent to the Saints in Missouri for this first temple in June and August 1833. This temple’s plans resembled the Kirtland Temple in many ways. The interior of the temple would have featured a large congregational meeting space with twelve pulpits representing different offices within the greater and the lesser priesthood at each end of the room.<a href="#_ftn2" id="_ftnref2" title="" class="see-footnote">[2]</a> </p> <p>The plans were sent to the Missouri Saints in early June 1833, but they took no action before the mob attacks began on the Saints the following month. If the Saints in Missouri had complied with these revelations, the city may have been built (D&C 95:18, 25–26). However, the Saints failed to comply, and the Lord, accepting the offerings and sacrifices of the Saints as sufficient to demonstrate repentance for their failure to build the first temple in Missouri, later removed the commandment to build the city (D&C 124:49–51). </p> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> See Plat of the City of Zion, circa Early June–25 June 1833, JSP; Revised Plat of the City of Zion, circa Early August 1833, JSP; and Proposal for Zion’s City Center from Edward Partridge, circa Late September 1833, JSP. </p> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref2" id="_ftn2" title="" class="footnote-label">[2]</a> Plan of the House of the Lord, between 1 and 25 June 1833, JSP. </p> </div>

<p>Even though the land for the city of Zion and its accompanying temples was identified by revelation, the land itself was not the most important component of the city. Ultimately, a city consists of people. Take away the material things, and if the people are united, the city remains. When the city of Enoch was taken up into heaven (Moses 7:69), we assume a large hole was not left in the ground. Likewise, when Melchizedek and the city of Salem were taken up by God (Joseph Smith—Translation Genesis 14:34), the land where the later city of Jerusalem was built remained. Zion is a people. </p> <p>However, the land that the Lord designated as Zion is important. The Lord later decrees that “Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered” (D&C 101:17). The Saints will yet return to Missouri and build the city of Zion in its foreordained place. In verse 21 the Lord reminds the Saints that even though they possessed the land of Zion at the time of the revelation, they had not built the city. All the Saints are to build the city in their hearts before the physical city can come into being. In this sense the city of Zion will be built throughout the world, in all the communities in which the pure in heart dwell, particularly among the Latter-day Saints.</p>

<p>When initial persecutions erupted in Jackson County, no one could have conceived how long and difficult the road would be to redeem Zion. Almost two centuries later, we are still looking toward building the New Jerusalem. A few months before the persecutions against the Saints in Missouri began, Joseph Smith wrote to them, desperately seeking for them to repent before the window of opportunity to build the city of Zion closed. In January 1833, seven months before the mob attacks began in force, Joseph wrote:</p> <blockquote> <p>The Lord will have a place from whence his word will go forth in these last days in purity, for if Zion, will not purify herself so as to be approved of in all things[,] in his sight he will seek—another people[,] for his work will go on until Israel is gathered, and they who will not hear his voice must expect to feel his wrath. Let me say to you, seek to purify yourselves, and also all the inhabitants of Zion, lest the Lord’s anger be kindled to fierceness. </p> <p>Repent, repent, is the voice of God, to Zion, and yet strange as it may appear, yet it is true[,] mankind will persist in self-justification until all their iniquity is exposed and their character past being redeemed, and that which is treasured up in their hearts be exposed to the gaze of mankind, I say to you—(& what I say to you, I say to all) hear the warning voice of God lest Zion fall, and the Lord swear in his wrath . . . The brethren in Kirtland pray for you unceasingly, for knowing the terrors of the Lord, they greatly fear for you . . . All we can say by way of conclusion is, if the fountain of our tears are <em>[sic]</em> not dried up[,] we will still weep for Zion, this from your brother who trembles greatly for Zion—and for the wrath of heaven which awaits her if she repent not.<a href="#_ftn1" id="_ftnref1" title="" class="see-footnote">[1]</a></p> </blockquote> <div class="footnotes"> <p class="footnote"><a href="#_ftnref1" id="_ftn1" title="" class="footnote-label">[1]</a> Letter to William W. Phelps, 11 January 1833, JSP. </p> </div>