The Purpose of America and the New Jerusalem
Book of Mormon Notes - Sunday, June 9, 2024, Ether 13
It’s difficult to imagine that the Book of Mormon could get any better after the great chapter Ether 12. But Moroni outdoes himself in Ether chapter 13. Ether 13 contains some of the greatest and most hopeful prophesies concerning the future of America, even amidst Ether’s prophesies regarding the destruction of the Jaredite nation.
After what seemed like a farewell, Moroni resumes his writing and concludes his record of the destruction of the Jaredites. Sadly, the Jaredites rejected Ether’s prophesies and invitations just as many Jaredites had rejected other prophets before him. Ether taught and prophesied specifically of America, and his prophesies help us to understand the true history and destiny of America:
For behold, they rejected all the words of Ether; for he truly told them of all things, from the beginning of man; and that after the waters had receded from off the face of this land it became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord; wherefore the Lord would have that all men should serve him who dwell upon the face thereof;
And that it was the place of the New Jerusalem, which should come down out of heaven, and the holy sanctuary of the Lord. (Ether 13:2-3)
Evidently, there have been a lot of changes to the surface and geography of the earth from the time of Adam until the time that Ether and Moroni wrote. I’m not too interested in debates about Pangea or other geological and geographical debates, but the Bible and the Doctrine and Covenants establish a couple of starting points for understanding why the American continent is so important to the Lord:
And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. (Genesis 10:25)
And the land of Jerusalem and the land of Zion shall be turned back into their own place, and the earth shall be like as it was in the days before it was divided. (D&C 133:24)
Ether told his people of all things, from the beginning of man. He taught that after the waters had receded from off the face of this land it became a choice land above all other lands. There are also many debates about the meaning of “this land.” Does “this land” refer to all of North and South America - the entire western hemisphere - or just North America? My personal opinion is that many of these debates are inane, but it is difficult for me to imagine that “this land” does not point specifically to the land that we now call the United States of America. It makes sense to me that the majority of the action of the Book of Mormon took place in North America. But I’m happy to think of “this land” as both North and South America as well.
Whatever the case, “this land” is a chosen land of the Lord. It has been set apart by the Lord for His special purposes. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland’s article “A Promised Land” (from which I will quote extensively) contains one of the best and most concise descriptions of the history and destiny of America. Elder Holland explains why America is a chosen land of the Lord, and like Ether and Moroni, he explains why the Lord wants all men who live in America to serve Jesus Christ. It is a great little article.
The Lord set apart and sanctified America as a special land, choice above all other lands. It is the chosen land of the Lord. Elder Holland explains:
Holy scripture records that “after the waters had receded from off the face of this land it became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord; wherefore the Lord would have that all men should serve him who dwell upon the face thereof.” (Ether 13:2.) Such a special place needed now to be kept apart from other regions, free from the indiscriminate traveler as well as the soldier of fortune. To guarantee such sanctity the very surface of the earth was rent. In response to God’s decree, the great continents separated and the ocean rushed in to surround them. The promised place was set apart. Without habitation it waited for the fulfillment of God’s special purposes.
Then Elder Holland explains how the Lord began to people the land, first with the Jaredites, then with the Lehites, and finally with us:
The Jaredites:
With care and selectivity, the Lord began almost at once to repeople the promised land. The Jaredites came first, with stories of the great flood fresh in their memories and the Lord’s solemn declaration ringing in their ears: “Whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should serve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off when the fulness of his wrath should come upon them.” (Ether 2:8.)
Despite such counsel, however, the Jaredite civilization steadily degenerated into a violent society which forced a man to keep “the hilt of his sword in his right hand” (Ether 14:2)—until finally he “ate and slept, and prepared for death on the morrow.” (Ether 15:26.)
The Lehites:
But even as the last light flickered on Jaredite civilization, a bold new sun rose to illuminate a thousand years of Nephite-Lamanite experience on the same soil. Despite periods of war and rebellion, these people nevertheless had great moments of power and purity, including the personal ministry of the resurrected Christ, who walked and talked and prayed with these New World inhabitants for three indescribable days. There in the meridian of time the land enjoyed three generations of peace and perfection, which it would not know again until the Master’s millennial reign.
But the lessons of history, if not learned well, are certain to be taught again, and a lone father with his son lived to see the self-destruction of these people of promise. The Nephite-Lamanite morality descended from “sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics” (Morm. 1:19) into rape, murder, and cannibalism (see Moro. 9:7–10), creating a vision so repulsive that it was “impossible for the tongue to describe, or for man to write,” a scene of greater wickedness than had ever been seen “even among all the house of Israel” (Morm. 4:11, 12). A thousand years after God had given such choice land to their fathers and a thousand years before he would attempt to do it again, Mormon wrote to his son Moroni:
“O the depravity of my people! They are without order and without mercy. …
“They delight in everything save that which is good; and the suffering of our women and our children … doth exceed everything. …
“Thou knowest that they are without principle, and past feeling. …
“Behold, my son, I cannot recommend them unto God lest he should smite me.” (Moro. 9:18–20.)
This favored branch allowed to run over the wall had reached that forewarned “fulness of iniquity” and was dwindling into disorder, darkness, and death.
Then in the allegorical prophecy made of these events, “the Lord of the vineyard” looked at the waste of his creation—and wept. “What could I have done more for my vineyard?” was his painful cry. No answer could be given. “Have I slackened mine hand, that I have not nourished it? Nay, I have nourished it, and I have digged about it, and I have pruned it, and I have dunged it; and I have stretched forth mine hand almost all the day long, and the end draweth nigh.” (Jacob 5:41, 47.) In spite of such grief and despair the Lord of the vineyard determined to “spare it a little longer” (Jacob 5:50)—long enough for one final attempt, long enough for one more dispensation, long enough for one final experiment focused on the promised land.
Us, the United States of America:
So, after a thousand years of preparation, the Spirit of God rested upon a young Italian sailing under the flag of Spain, and, as Nephi had seen in vision, “he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.” (1 Ne. 13:12.) This “Christian of almost maniacal devoutness” as Alistair Cooke calls him, this man with the zeal of Galileo, Don Quixote, and John the Baptist combined, was not to be denied. (Alistair Cooke, America, New York: Alfred Knopf, 1973, p. 30.) “Our Lord with provident hand unlocked my mind,” said Columbus, “sent me upon the seas, and gave me fire for the deed. Those who heard of my enterprise called it foolish, mocked me, and laughed. But who can doubt but that the Holy Ghost inspired me?” (Jacob Wasserman, Columbus, Don Quixote of the Seas, New Brunswick: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1959, p. 20.) Columbus stood on the captain’s deck, but the all-seeing eye of the Lord was on the compass, and the hopes of every dispensation filled the sails. The prophet Nephi had also seen in vision what followed: colonization, war, and the birth of a new nation.
“And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.
“And I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.
“And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle. And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations.” (1 Ne. 13:16–19.)
Once again, after meticulous preparation and precise timing, the Lord had begun to build on his promised land a congregation that had compacted to pursue “the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.” The cultural freedom of the Renaissance and religious freedom of the Reformation underscored the strong sense of personal freedom espoused in the Enlightenment to provide the ideal attitudes and environments for the beginning of this “first new nation.” George Washington, six years before he was inaugurated as the initial president of the Grand Experiment, wrote of America’s moment in history:
“The foundation of our empire was not laid in the gloomy age of ignorance and superstition, but in an epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined than at any former period. The researchers of the human mind after social happiness have been carried to a greater extent, the treasures of knowledge … are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the establishment of our forms of government.” (Henry Steele Commager, “America and the Enlightenment,” in The Development of a Revolutionary Mentality, Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1972, p. 14.)
Thomas Paine also sensed the propitiousness of the times. “The case and circumstance of America present themselves as in the beginning of a world,” he wrote. “We have no occasion to roam for information into obscure fields of antiquity, nor hazard ourselves upon conjecture. We are brought at once to the point of seeing government begin, as if we had lived in the beginning of time.” (Commager, p. 19.)
Neither Washington nor Paine knew, however, the full import of their work or their time. Indeed it was a beginning, but it was a beginning of the end. The work of pilgrims and Puritans, patriots and politicians had been to prepare the way for prophets of the living God. With what Washington called “the singular interpositions of Providence” a political path had been prepared that would allow the “restitution of all things.” (Acts 3:21.) Less than a score of years after the Constitutional Convention had concluded its work and freedoms of conscience, speech, press, and worship had been guaranteed in a historic Bill of Rights, the Prophet Joseph Smith was born in clear, graceful Vermont, home of Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys. As Elder Paul H. Dunn recently declared to a Church-wide audience:
“[Joseph] grew up toward adolescence just like the new land. He fitted it. He was young, clean, unspoiled—a lad without a past, kneeling in a grove. This pristine land—this innocent young man—and thus the Lord reached out and kept his promise. He established his conditions over centuries; you see, God has time. His plan made it possible for the holy priesthood and the Church to be restored upon the earth—the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ—but only in America. …
“The purpose of America was to provide a setting wherein that was possible. All else takes its power from that one great, central purpose.” (Ensign, Nov. 1975, p. 54.)
Thus in one final moment worthy men and righteous principles came together for the restoration of heavenly things. With his center stake in America, God began stretching the cords of his tabernacle to all the world, lengthening the habitation of Israel and establishing Zion wherever the pure in heart dwell. When that great global mission is complete and the angels declare “there shall be time no longer” (D&C 88:110), then the king and master of heaven and earth shall return to his temple and reign for a thousand years on a renewed and paradisiacal earth.
“He shall command the great deep, and it shall be driven back into the north countries, and the islands shall become one land;
“And the land of Jerusalem and the land of Zion shall be turned back into their own place, and the earth shall be like as it was in the days before it was divided.” (D&C 133:23–24.)
These two cities, Zion (the New Jerusalem) and the ancient city of Jerusalem, will be those capitals out of which both the word and law of the Lord shall go forth and to which all nations shall flow. (See Isa. 2:2–3.)
It is good that the historical celebration of the United States bicentennial allows us to focus on a land in which God has done so much of his work. It has not always looked the same geographically nor has it always been governed the same politically. But that all seems appropriate since the meaning of America, in its most theological sense, is something more than borders and boundaries, something above nativism and nationalism. It is an ideal, a thing of the spirit. Benjamin Franklin told his colleagues, “Our cause is the cause of all mankind,” and Patrick Henry spoke much more than he knew when he said America had “lighted a candle to all the world.” (Henry Steele Commager, “The Revolution as World Ideal,” Saturday Review, Dec. 13, 1975, pp. 13–18, 110.) The significance of that cause and that candle will not be misunderstood by Latter-day Saints wherever they may live. As with temple sites, missionary service, and area general conferences, gospel experience transcends the borders—and, if necessary, the flames—of nationalism.
A Frenchman, a contemporary of the colonial Founding Fathers, sketched the clearest meaning of America for those of other nations. Although the twenty-year-old Marquis de Lafayette had been ordered by Louis XVI of France to give up his expedition to aid the rebellious Americans, he defied the command and embarked for the New World. On board his ship The Victory Lafayette wrote back to his beautiful and concerned wife, Adrienne: “Out of love for me, become ‘a good American’. … The welfare of America is closely bound up with the welfare of all mankind.” (Maurice de la Fuye and Emile Baubeau, The Apostle of Liberty: A Life of LaFayette, New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1956, p. 30.) So it has been and so it yet will be. And so it is—but in ways which only those who embrace the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ can fully understand or appreciate.
Thus we find ourselves in the midst of at least the third great experiment of civilization upon the great American continent. Like the Jaredites and the Lehites before us, we are being tested to see if we will serve the God of this land, even Jesus Christ. Although much in my experience and study leads me to consider that we are not doing much better than the Jaredites or the Lehites, Moroni and Ether provide hopeful prophesies concerning Christ and the future of this land.
For example, Ether prophesied that this land, America, is “the place of the New Jerusalem.” Moroni records that “Ether saw the days of Christ, and he spake concerning a New Jerusalem upon this land.” (Ether 13:3-4) What is the New Jerusalem, and why do prophesies of the New Jerusalem bring such great hope?
One of the reasons why I love to learn about the New Jerusalem is because the New Jerusalem provides so much hope for the future:
Yes, there will be wrenching polarization on this planet, but also the remarkable reunion with our colleagues in Christ from the City of Enoch. Yes, nation after nation will become a house divided, but more and more unifying Houses of the Lord will grace this planet. Yes, Armageddon lies ahead. But so does Adam-ondi-Ahman! (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, O Divine Redeemer!, Ensign, November 1981, p.10)
What is the New Jerusalem?
New Jerusalem
See also Zion
The place where the Saints will gather and Christ will personally reign with them during the Millennium. Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent, and the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory (A of F 1:10). It also refers to a holy city that will come down out of heaven at the beginning of the Millennium.
The law shall go forth out of Zion, Micah 4:2.
The name of the city of my God is New Jerusalem, Rev. 3:12.
John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, Rev. 21:1–5.
This people will I establish in this land, and it shall be a New Jerusalem, 3 Ne. 20:22.
A New Jerusalem will be built in America, Ether 13:3–6, 10.
The city of the New Jerusalem shall be prepared, D&C 42:9, 35, 62–69.
Saints are to gather and build the New Jerusalem, D&C 45:63–75.
The New Jerusalem is to be built in Missouri, D&C 84:1–5 (D&C 57:1–3).
The Lamb shall stand upon Mount Zion and upon the holy city, the New Jerusalem, D&C 133:56.
My tabernacle shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem, Moses 7:62.
Does this mean that the city of Zion, the New Jerusalem, will be built in the town of Independence, in Jackson County, Missouri? This video from Doctrine and Covenants Central provides helpful answers to this question. There is also a helpful Church History Topics essay on Zion and the New Jerusalem that contains the following insights:
The Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith’s early revelations spoke of a future city of Zion that would serve as a gathering place for the scattered descendants of Israel in the last days. Joseph Smith’s inspired revision of Genesis gave an account of a “City of Holiness” called Zion built by the ancient prophet Enoch. Those who gathered to Enoch’s Zion eliminated poverty and were unified, righteous, and pure in heart. Eventually, Enoch and the inhabitants of Zion were taken up to heaven.3 Beginning in 1831, Latter-day Saints sought to establish a city of Zion where they could prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. One revelation called this city the “New Jerusalem.”4 Another referred to Zion more broadly as a people who are “pure in heart.”5
What did Ether teach the Jaredites about the New Jerusalem? Moroni records that America was the place of the New Jerusalem, which should come down out of heaven, and the holy sanctuary of the Lord:
Behold, Ether saw the days of Christ, and he spake concerning a New Jerusalem upon this land.
And he spake also concerning the house of Israel, and the Jerusalem from whence Lehi should come—after it should be destroyed it should be built up again, a holy city unto the Lord; wherefore, it could not be a new Jerusalem for it had been in a time of old; but it should be built up again, and become a holy city of the Lord; and it should be built unto the house of Israel
And that a New Jerusalem should be built up upon this land, unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph, for which things there has been a type. (Ether 13:4-6)
Let’s continue our study of Zion, the New Jerusalem, in the following post…