Sign 38

Zion: A Refuge

In a previous volume we discussed the events of the sixth seal and the establishment of the great capital city of Zion (the New Jerusalem) after the appearance of the Lord at Adam-ondi-Ahman. These events will precede the day of destruction and will show that the Lord will preserve his people. The wheat will be gathered first and then the tares will be gathered for the burning.

By the time the events of the seventh seal begin to unfold, Zion will have become a great and powerful stronghold for the saints of God and the followers of Christ. In fact, Zion has marvelous promises of protection, and will be the only place on earth that is not engaged in war. Only in Zion will anyone find true safety.

Zion will enjoy the presence of the Lord even before the opening of the seventh seal. His presence will already be with his saints when the great command is given to the waiting angels "to reap down the earth." (D&C 38:12) As he has promised, he will not leave us comfortless, or powerless. We will have power like no other people since the beginning of time and will enjoy the presence of the millennial Messiah.

We see that Satan's Kingdom is working in desperation, while they still can, to destroy the stakes of Zion. Even though "not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken" (Isa. 33:20), there are many individuals who have been deceived and "many [are] lost... wandering in strange roads." (1 Ne. 8:32) Even after the stakes of Zion are gathered during the sixth seal, and after the New Jerusalem is built, Zion will not yet be a fully millennial city. It will not yet be completely free from death and sickness, and it will not yet fulfill the prophecy that "out of Zion shall go forth the law" (see Isa. 2:3 and Mic. 4:2). However, it will be protected from those armies and nations under the influence of Satan.

Once Zion becomes "the city of the living God" (D&C 76:66), the evil one will have lost his chance to conquer one of the two millennial capital cities. It is for that reason that after the opening of the seventh seal all the ferocity, all the destruction, all the deceptive power of Satan, the great dragon, will be directed at Jerusalem, the other great capital.

We have seen that the Restoration of the Jews will begin before the opening of the seventh seal. The "day of the Lord," as we have mentioned, is the same time period as the seventh seal. It is the day that the Lord will return and reign with his saints for a thousand years. The scriptures say that "before the day of the Lord shall come… the remnant [of the Jews] shall be gathered unto [Jerusalem]." (D&C 45:42-43) The physical gathering can only be complete when the Jews are gathered spiritually by coming unto Christ and receiving the ordinances of his church. After the remnant of the Jews is gathered unto Jerusalem, they will be at the center of the largest most devastating war in the history of the world. All other nations will be gathered against them to utterly destroy them and to take Jerusalem as their prize.

Will the saints stand by to let Jerusalem be taken? Will the Lord abandon his chosen people at the very hour they need him most? Surely not. Great prophecies have been written of the millennial Jerusalem, and when Satan, his followers, and the nations of the earth have done their worst, salvation will come! She will be cleansed, purified, and sanctified by the presence of her Lord.

According to the prophet Isaiah, the Holy Cities will resemble each other. Their temples (tabernacles) will be equally glorious and both will provide a place for the Lord of Hosts to reign over all the earth.