The City of God

When I went over to a neighbor’s house to drop something off a few nights ago, my three-year-old boy tagged along. It was dark and cold, but as we walked on the sidewalk he said to me in awe, “Dad, look at the beautiful stars!” I was moved by his expression of wonder at the creations of God that I all too often didn’t even notice or consider. Even though we could only see a handful of stars because of the lights on our street, he was still impressed by the heavenly lights that were there. As I thought about this experience I was reminded of these words of Neal A. Maxwell, “On a clear night, you and I can see some portions of the Milky Way, but what if a view of sparkling stars occurred only once every thousand years? Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote of how then ‘men [would] believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown!’” Elder Maxwell continued, “No wonder the scriptures tell how wide and varied God’s witnessing to us is: ‘Behold, . . . all things are created and made to bear record of [God], . . . things which are in the heavens above, and things which are on the earth . . . : all things bear record of [God]’ (Moses 6:63; emphasis added).” These words of the Lord to Adam testify that the stars and so much more on our earth and in the heavens are there to witness to us of the reality of God who created them all. We should all be in awe of the “city of God” we can see every night and the Lord who created it.

                As we view the glorious stars we should also be reminded of Enoch and his literal city which was taken up into heaven. In this week’s Come, Follow Me reading we learn that “Zion, in process of time, was taken up into heaven. And the Lord said unto Enoch: Behold mine abode forever” (Moses 7:21). I love that statement by the Lord: He welcomed Enoch and told him essentially to stay forever in His heavenly home. That is where we all belong, and as we consider the experience of Enoch’s people and look towards the heavens where his city went, we should like Alma also “long to be there” (Alma 36:22). In our mortal experiences here we must never forget that we are each “a stranger here” and that we have “wandered from a more exalted sphere.” Like Eliza R. Snow our prayer should be this: 

When I leave this frail existence,

When I lay this mortal by,

Father, Mother, may I meet you

In your royal courts on high?

 Then, at length, when I’ve completed

All you sent me forth to do,

With your mutual approbation

Let me come and dwell with you.

                As Enoch was in heaven after being taken up he saw a great vision and learned in particular of the coming of the Savior. The Lord said this to him: “I am Messiah, the King of Zion, the Rock of Heaven, which is broad as eternity; whoso cometh in at the gate and climbeth up by me shall never fall.” That is the only way for us to indeed return to our heavenly home: through the Messiah who was “lifted up on the cross” to give us all rest. Enoch was also told this by the Lord concerning our day: “And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem.” Our work today is to build Zion and a holy city unto the Lord just like Enoch did, even the New Jerusalem. And then some day we can look forward to this glorious reunion described by the Lord to Enoch: “Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there, and we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see us; and we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our necks, and we will kiss each other; And there shall be mine abode, and it shall be Zion,  (Moses 7:53,55,62-64). So as we stand in awe at the stars up above let us remember the Son of God who took up into heaven the city of Enoch and who will send it back down again when we have built up Zion here in preparation for His most glorious return.