Thousands of years ago, a prophet wrote about the people of Enoch who lived in a community called Zion "because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness." (Moses 7:18.)
Enoch's city was a "City of Holiness," a place "taken up into heaven." Enoch's Zion is a prototype of the New Jerusalem prominently alluded to in the Doctrine and Covenants and other scriptures, according to Daniel Kelly Ogden, a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University.
Brother Ogden examined the concepts of the New Jerusalem and Zion in a paper entitled "Joseph Smith on the Future of Missouri." His work was recently presented to a gathering in Independence, Mo.
"Though the world in general has no knowledge of, or belief in, more than one place called Jerusalem, the Latter-day Saints have been taught that there are two places indicated: the Old Jerusalem in the Holy Land and the New Jerusalem in America," Brother Ogden writes.
He adds that the Savior explained in ancient America how others, in the last days "shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called New Jerusalem. And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem. And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also will be in the midst." (3 Nephi 21:22-25.)
In the early days of the restored Church, the Lord began revealing details of the future of New Jerusalem through revelations preserved in the Doctrine and Covenants, writes Brother Ogden.
". . . the time shall come when it shall be revealed unto you from on high, when the city of the New Jerusalem shall be prepared, that ye may be gathered in one, that ye may be my people and I will be your God. . . .
"Thou shalt ask, and it shall be revealed unto you in mine own due time where the New Jerusalem shall be built. . . ." (Doctrine and Covenants 42:9, 62.)
The Doctrine and Covenants also offers divine insight on the purpose of the latter-day Zion:
"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;
"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.
"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.
"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.
"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.
"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." (Doctrine and Covenants 45:66-71.)
Later, the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith the location of the New Jerusalem, writes Brother Ogden.
"The land of Missouri. . . is the land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the saints. Wherefore, this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion." (Doctrine and Covenants 57:1-2.)
In his paper, Brother Ogden enlisted the writings of the Prophet Joseph concerning the characteristics of Zion. Righteousness and truth will sweep the earth as a flood and "Men and angels are to be co-workers in bringing to pass this great work, and Zion is to be prepared, even a new Jerusalem, for the elect that are to be gathered from the four quarters of the earth, and to be established an holy city, for the tabernacle of the Lord shall be with them." (History of the Church 2:254, 260.)
The New Jerusalem spoken of in the Doctrine and Covenants will be "a place of splendor and glory," writes Brother Ogden.
"The God of heaven Himself will return and reside on the renewed earth, in the paradisiacal Zion," he concludes. "He will later establish a new, Celestial Jerusalem that will live on in glory forever."
