The Gathering of Israel
That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee.
Deuteronomy 30:3
One of the greatest aspects of the second coming is the gathering of Israel. While the gathering of Israel is generally thought of us one great event, it can be broken down to separate parts, which include:
1.The saints gathering to church headquarters.
2.Israel gathering by the preaching of the gospel throughout the world.
3.The Jews returning to Jerusalem.
4.The return to Adam Ondi Ahman and the building of Zion.
5.The return of the lost tribes from the north.
6.The return of the city of Enoch in the Millennium.
The Saints Gathering to Church Headquarters
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
Isaiah 5:26
This aspect of the gathering of Israel has already taken place.
In the early days of the church, the saints (who were adopted into the tribes of Israel at baptism) were encouraged to gather to church headquarters from all over the world. In an address to the saints all over the world, the first presidency wrote:
“The work which has been accomplished in the last days is one of vast importance, and will call into action the energy, skill, talent, and ability of the saints, so that it may roll forth with that glory and majesty described by the prophet; and will consequently require the concentration of the saints, to accomplish works of such magnitude and grandeur.”
“The work of gathering spoken of in the scriptures will be necessary to bring about the glories of the last dispensation…”
In concluding the address, the presidency of the church encouraged the saints abroad, “let them come to this place.” (HC 4:185-6)
In order to facilitate this gathering of Saints, the church started a perpetual emigration fund, in which those who had means to do so would pay passage for other saints to come to church headquarters, and then when those immigrants were established, they would pay for others to come.
Joseph Smith taught the major reason for this gathering:
“What was the object of gathering … the people of God in any age of the world? … The main object was to build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto His people the ordinances of His house and the glories of His kingdom, and teach the people the way of salvation. … It is for the same purpose that God gathers together His people in the last days, to build unto the Lord a house to prepare them for the ordinances and endowments, washings and anointings”
(History of the Church, 5:423–24).
Since the Lord has always encouraged his people to gather where He has a temple, the first several generations of saints in this dispensation were encouraged to come to church headquarters. That aspect of the gathering of Israel (the saints gathering to church headquarters) has been fulfilled.
Bruce R. McConkie:
“This gathering of Israel and this budding of Zion in the last days occurs in stages. The early part of the work, which involved gathering to the United States and building stakes of Zion in North America, has already been accomplished. We are now engaged in gathering Israel within the various nations of the earth and of establishing stakes of Zion at the remote parts of the earth. This is the work that is now going forward in all of the nations of South America…”
Bruce R. McConkie, “Building Zion,” Tambuli, Sep 1977, 12
Israel Gathering by the Preaching of the Gospel Throughout the World
And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture.
1 Nephi 22:25
This aspect of the gathering of Israel is presently taking place.
Boyd K. Packer:
“In an area conference held in Mexico City in 1972, Bruce R. McConkie said: “[The] revealed words speak of … there being congregations of … covenant people of the Lord in every nation, speaking every tongue, and among every people when the Lord comes again. …
“’The place of gathering for the Mexican Saints is in Mexico; the place of gathering for the Guatemalan Saints is in Guatemala; the place of gathering for the Brazilian Saints is in Brazil; and so it goes throughout the length and breadth of the whole earth. … Every nation is the gathering place for its own people.’” (Mexico and Central America Area Conference, 26 Aug. 1972, p. 45.)
“The following April, President Harold B. Lee quoted those words in general conference, and, in effect, announced that the pioneering phase of gathering was now over. The gathering is now to be out of the world into the Church in every nation. (See Conference Report, Apr. 1973, p. 7.)”
Boyd K. Packer, “‘To Be Learned Is Good If …’,” Ensign, Nov 1992, 71
President Spencer W. Kimball said:
“The gathering of Israel is now in progress. Hundreds of thousands of people have been baptized into the Church. Millions more will join the Church. And this is the way that we will gather Israel. The English people will gather in England. The Japanese people will gather in the Orient. The Brazilian people will gather in Brazil. So that important element of the world history is already being accomplished.
“It is to be done by missionary work. It is your responsibility to attend to this missionary work.” (In Conference Report, Sao Paulo Brazil Area Conference, Feb.–Mar. 1975, p. 73.)
Elder Russell M. Nelson said of this process:
“The coming forth of the Book of Mormon is a sign to the entire world that the Lord has commenced to gather Israel and fulfill covenants He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.18 We not only teach this doctrine, but we participate in it. We do so as we help to gather the elect of the Lord on both sides of the veil.
“The Book of Mormon is central to this work. It declares the doctrine of the gathering.19 It causes people to learn about Jesus Christ, to believe His gospel, and to join His Church. In fact, if there were no Book of Mormon, the promised gathering of Israel would not occur.”
Russell M. Nelson, “The Gathering of Scattered Israel,” Liahona, Nov 2006, 79–82
Said Bruce R. McConkie:
“This gathering of Israel and this budding of Zion in the last days occurs in stages. The early part of the work, which involved gathering to the United States and building stakes of Zion in North America, has already been accomplished. We are now engaged in gathering Israel within the various nations of the earth and of establishing stakes of Zion at the remote parts of the earth. This is the work that is now going forward in all of the nations of South America…”
Bruce R. McConkie, “Building Zion,” Tambuli, Sep 1977, 12
The Jews Returning to Jerusalem
This aspect of the gathering of Israel is presently being fulfilled.
After World War 1, Great Britain was assigned to provide a way for Jews from all over the world to be allowed to return to Jerusalem. The United States and other countries helped in this endeavor. (See Old Testament Student Manual, Volume 2: section 17-9)
Speaking of this event, President Joseph Fielding Smith said:
“From the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus until the year 1917, Jerusalem was trodden down of the Gentiles. After General Allenby, at the head of the British forces, captured Palestine, that country became free from the tyranny and oppression of the Turkish empire, and after peace was declared, England sent to Palestine Dr. Herbert Samuel, a Jew, to be governor of the land, and that is the first time in all those years that a Jew has ruled in Palestine. . . .
“The gathering is in process.”
“We see today a miracle being performed before our eyes. Following the war, which we are pleased to call the first world war, the British Premier issued a proclamation to the Jews telling them they could gather and they could have in Palestine a Jewish Home, or state. They began to gather in great numbers. At the beginning of [the 20th] century things in Palestine were in a deplorable condition. They were using wooden plows, water wheel irrigation; they had infested wells and streams. They carried water in skins as of old. Sanitation was deplorable.
“The British government changed all of this, when they obtained the mandate. You see, the mandate of Palestine was given to Great Britain. That nation and other nations spent millions of pounds in rehabilitating that land. The Sea of Galilee is now a great reservoir, and the flood waters from the various streams are being diverted into it.
“Canals have been built for irrigation, and the Jordan has been changed from its natural channel into channels or into canals on each side of the original stream. These irrigate some seven million acres, which could not be under cultivation otherwise. Hydro-electric stations have been built on these streams.” (Doctrines of Salvation, 3:259–60.)
Thus the Jews are returning to Jerusalem, and there is likely to be a great deal more to this part of the gathering of Israel in time to come.
The Return to Adam-Ondi-Ahman and the Building of Zion
This aspect of the gathering of Israel will be discussed in detail in part 8 of this series.
The Return of the Lost Tribes from the North
D&C 133:26-34
26 And they who are in the north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord; and their prophets shall hear his voice, and shall no longer stay themselves; and they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence.
27 And an highway shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep.
28 Their enemies shall become a prey unto them,
29 And in the barren deserts there shall come forth pools of living water; and the parched ground shall no longer be a thirsty land.
30 And they shall bring forth their rich treasures unto the children of Ephraim, my servants.
31 And the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence.
32 And there shall they fall down and be crowned with glory, even in Zion, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephraim.
33 And they shall be filled with songs of everlasting joy.
34 Behold, this is the blessing of the everlasting God upon the tribes of Israel, and the richer blessing upon the head of Ephraim and his fellows.
It can be confusing to study about the lost tribes, because some are scattered throughout the world while others are grouped together in the north, and only rarely do the scriptures make specific mention to which group they are referring. While those scattered throughout the world are being gathered by missionary work, there is at least one large group of them somewhere in the north. This group can be called the lost tribes from the north. Elder James E. Talmage clarified this confusion when he said in conference:
“There is a tendency among men to explain away what they don’t wish to understand in literal simplicity, and we, as Latter-day Saints are not entirely free from the taint of that tendency. . . . Some people say that prediction is to be explained in this way: A gathering is in progress, and has been in progress from the early days of this Church; and thus the ‘Lost Tribes’ are now being gathered; but that we are not to look for the return of any body of people now unknown as to their whereabouts. True, the gathering is in progress, this is a gathering dispensation; but the prophecy stands that the tribes shall be brought forth from their hiding place . . . [and their] scriptures shall become one with the scriptures of the Jews, the holy Bible, and with the scriptures of the Nephites, the Book of Mormon, and with the scriptures of the Latter-day Saints as embodied in the volumes of modern revelation.” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1916, p. 130.)
Elder Bruce R. McConkie said: “When Shalmanezer overran the Kingdom of Israel (about 721 B.C.), he carried the Ten Tribes comprising that kingdom captive into Assyria. From thence they were led into the lands of the north and have been called the Lost Tribes because they are lost to the knowledge of other people. (1 Ne. 22:4.) ‘We have no knowledge of the location or condition of that part of the Ten Tribes who went into the north country.’ (Compendium. p. 88.)
These northern lost tribes have continued through the centuries, and will one day make a mass exodus to Zion in America. This gathering will take place under the direction of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as he holds the keys of the gathering of Israel. Continuing the same quote, Bruce R. McConkie said:
“The Lost Tribes are not lost unto the Lord. In their northward journeyings they were led by prophets and inspired leaders. They had their Moses and their Lehi, were guided by the spirit of revelation, kept the law of Moses, and carried with them the statutes and judgments which the Lord had given them in ages past. They were still a distinct people many hundreds of years later, for the resurrected Lord visited and ministered among them following his ministry on this continent among the Nephites. (3 Ne. 16:1–4; 17:4.) Obviously he taught them in the same way and gave them the same truths which he gave his followers in Jerusalem and on the American continent; and obviously they recorded his teachings, thus creating volumes of scripture comparable to the Bible and Book of Mormon. (2 Ne. 29:12–14.)
“In due course the Lost Tribes of Israel will return and come to the children of Ephraim to receive their blessings. This great gathering will take place under the direction of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for he holds the keys. . . . Keys are the right of presidency, the power to direct; and by this power the Lost Tribes will return, with ‘their prophets’ and their scriptures to ‘be crowned with glory, even in Zion, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephraim.’ (D. & C. 133:26–35.)”
When Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery saw the Savior in the Kirtland temple shortly after its dedication, Moses also appeared (who had held the keys of the gathering of Israel anciently) and gave Joseph the keys of both the gathering of Israel and of calling the tribes from the north to come.
D&C 110:11 After this vision closed, the heavens were again opened unto us; and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north.
John Whitmer, in the early days of the church, recorded an incident that took place at a conference of the church: “The Spirit of the Lord fell upon Joseph in an unusual manner, and he prophesied that John the Revelator was then among the Ten Tribes of Israel who had been led away by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, to prepare them for their return from their long dispersion, to again possess the land of their fathers.” (Joseph Smith, HC 1:176)
When the lost tribes return, they will bring the scriptures they have kept, and those scriptures will be made one with the scriptures that we presently have.
2 Nephi 29:13-14
13 And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews.
14 And it shall come to pass that my people, which are of the house of Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions; and my word also shall be gathered in one. And I will show unto them that fight against my word and against my people, who are of the house of Israel, that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham that I would remember his seed forever.
In October, 1916, speaking of these records to come forth, James E. Talmage said in general conference:
“The tribes shall come; they are not lost unto the Lord; they shall be brought forth as hath been predicted; and I say unto you there are those now living—aye, some here present—who shall live to read the records of the Lost Tribes of Israel, which shall be made one with the record of the Jews, or the Holy Bible, and the record of the Nephites, or the Book of Mormon, even as the Lord hath predicted; and those records, which the tribes lost to man but yet to be found again shall bring, shall tell of the visit of the resurrected Christ to them, after he had manifested himself to the Nephites upon this continent.’ (Articles of Faith, p. 513.)”
Orson Pratt said: “God is determined to raise up Prophets among that people, but he will not bestow upon them all the fulness of the blessings of the Priesthood. The fulness will be reserved to be given to them after they come to Zion.” (In Journal of Discourses, 18:25.)
Wilford Woodruff:
“Again, here are the ten tribes of Israel, we know nothing about them only what the Lord has said by His Prophets. There are Prophets among them, and by and by they will come along, and they will smite the rocks, and the mountains of ice will flow down at their presence, and a highway will be cast up before them, and they will come to Zion, receive their endowments, and be crowned under the hands of the children of Ephraim…”
Journal of Discourses, 4:231–32; 18:127)
So what will the lost tribes from the north do once they arrive?
Elder Orson Pratt explained:
“How long will they who come from the north countries tarry in the heights of Zion? Sometime. They have got to raise wheat, cultivate the grape, wine and oil, raise flocks and herds, and their souls will have to become as a watered garden. They will dwell in Zion a good while, and during that time, there will be twelve thousand chosen out of each of these ten tribes, besides twelve thousand that will be chosen from Judah, Joseph, and the remaining tribes, one hundred and forty-four thousand in all [see Revelation 7:4–8; D&C 77:11]. Chosen for what? To be sealed in their foreheads. For what purpose? So that the power of death and pestilence and plague that will go forth in those days sweeping over the nations of the earth will have no power over them. These parties who are sealed in their foreheads will go forth among all people, nations and tongues, and gather up and hunt out the house of Israel, wherever they are scattered, and bring as many as they possibly can into the Church of the first-born, preparatory to the great day of the coming of the Lord. One hundred and forty-four thousand missionaries! Quite a host. All this has got to take place.”
(In Journal of Discourses, 18:25.)
(quoted from the Old Testament Institute manual)
But the lost tribes of the north will not remain in America. Their final inheritance is with the Jews in Jerusalem.
Ether 13:10-11
10 And then cometh the New Jerusalem; and blessed are they who dwell therein, for it is they whose garments are white through the blood of the Lamb; and they are they who are numbered among the remnant of the seed of Joseph, who were of the house of Israel.
11 And then also cometh the Jerusalem of old; and the inhabitants thereof, blessed are they, for they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb; and they are they who were scattered and gathered in from the four quarters of the earth, and from the north countries, and are partakers of the fulfilling of the covenant which God made with their father, Abraham.
Elder Orson Pratt stated further: “By and by, when all things are prepared—when the Jews have received their scourging, and Jesus has descended upon the Mount of Olives, the ten tribes will leave Zion, and will go to Palestine, to inherit the land that was given to their ancient fathers, and it will be divided amongst the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. They will go there to dwell in peace in their own land from that time, until the earth shall pass away. But Zion, after their departure, will still remain upon the western hemisphere, and she will be crowned with glory as well as old Jerusalem, and, as the Psalmist David says, she will become the joy of the whole earth. ‘Beautiful for situation is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.’” (In Journal of Discourses, 18:68.)
The Return of the City of Enoch in the Millennium
Though the people of Enoch lived prior to the time of Israel and Moses, they are a valuable part of the Lord’s people. The return of the city of Enoch will be discussed in detail in part 8 of this series.
.
.
.
The Second Coming Series
Part 1:Studying the Signs of the Second Coming of Christ
Part 2:The Restoration and Spreading of the Gospel
Part 4:The Gathering of Israel
Part 5:Destruction of the Wicked
Part 9:Conditions During the Millennium
Part 10:The Work and Purpose of the Millennium
Filed under: Second Coming , 10 tribes, church, gathering, israel, jesus christ, jews, last days, lds, lost tribes, mormon, moses, prophet, Second Coming, signs, temple, ten tribes, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, zion
