The Articles of Faith / A Series of Lectures on the Principal Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

by James E. Talmage

[LECTURE XIX.]

ZION.

Article 10.—We believe ... That Zion will be built upon this [the American] continent, etc.

1. Two Gathering Places.—Some of the passages quoted in connection with the dispersion and the subsequent re-union of Israel, make reference to Jerusalem which is to be re-established, and Zion which is to be built. True, the latter name is in many cases used as a synonym of the first, owing to the fact that a certain hill within the Jerusalem of old was known specifically as Zion, or Mount Zion; and the name of a part is often used figuratively to designate the whole; but in other passages, the separate and distinctive meaning of the terms is clear. The prophet Micah, who ministered during the seventh century before the birth of Christ, "full of power by the spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might,"[1015] predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and its associated Zion, the former to "become heaps," and the latter to be "plowed as a field;"[1016] and then announced a new condition which is to exist in the last days, when another "mountain of the house of the Lord" is to be established, and this is to be called Zion.[1017] The two places are mentioned separately in the prophecy:—"For the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."[1018]

2. Joel adds this testimony regarding the two places from which the Lord shall rule over His people:—"The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem."[1019] Zephaniah breaks forth into song, with the triumph of Israel as his theme, and addresses the daughters of both cities:—"Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem."[1020] Then, the prophet predicts separately of each place:—"In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack."[1021] Furthermore, Zechariah records the revealed will in this way:—"And the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem."[1022]

3. When the people of the house of Jacob are prepared to receive the Redeemer as their rightful king, when the scattered sheep of Israel, have been sufficiently humbled through suffering and sorrow to know and to follow their Shepherd, then, indeed, will He come to reign among them. Then a literal kingdom will be established, wide as the world, with the King of Kings on the throne; and the two capitals of this mighty empire will be, Jerusalem on the eastern hemisphere, and Zion on the western. Isaiah speaks of the glory of Christ's kingdom in the latter days, and ascribes separately to Zion and to Jerusalem the blessings of triumph:[1023]—"O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, behold your God."[1024]

4. The Name "Zion" is used in several distinct senses. By derivation, the word Zion, or, as written by the Greeks, Sion, probably meant bright, or sunny; but this commonplace signification is lost in the deeper and more affecting meaning which the word as a name and title came to acquire. As stated, a particular hill within the site of the city of Jerusalem was called Zion. When David gained his victory over the Jebusites, he captured and occupied the "stronghold of Zion," and named it the city of David.[1025] "Zion" then was the name of a place; and it has been applied as follows:

1. To the hill itself, or Mount Zion, and, by extension of meaning, to Jerusalem.

2. To the location of the "mountain of the house of the Lord," which Micah predicts shall be established in the last days, distinct from Jerusalem. To these we may add another application of the name as made known through modern revelation, viz.:

3. To the city of Holiness, founded by Enoch, the seventh patriarch in descent from Adam, and called by him Zion.[1026]

4. Yet another use of the term is to be noted—viz.: a metaphorical one—by which the Church of God is called Zion, comprising, according to the Lord's own definition, the pure in heart.[1027]

5. Jerusalem.—As a fitting introduction to our study regarding the new Zion, yet to be built, as we shall presently see, on the western hemisphere, let us briefly consider the history and destiny of Jerusalem,[1028] the Zion of the eastern continent. The word Jerusalem is generally believed to mean by derivation the foundation or city of peace. We meet it for the first time as Salem, the abode of Melchizedek, high-priest and king, to whom Abram paid tithes, in the nineteenth century before Christ.[1029] We find a direct statement concerning the identity of Salem and Jerusalem by Josephus.[1030] As noted, the city was wrested from the Jebusites by David;[1031] this was about 1048 B.C. During the reigns of David and Solomon, the city as the capital of the kingdom of undivided Israel acquired great fame for its riches, beauty, and strength, its chief attraction being the marvelous temple of Solomon which adorned Mount Moriah.[1032] After the division of the kingdom, Jerusalem remained the capital of the smaller kingdom of Judah.