Not Yet Come for Many Years

In a revelation given in Zion shortly after Joseph learned where the New Jerusalem was to be built, the Lord said this: “And now, verily, I say concerning the residue of the elders of my church, the time has not yet come, for many years, for them to receive their inheritance in this land, except they desire it through the prayer of faith, only as it shall be appointed unto them of the Lord.” This was in 1831, and I have wondered if perhaps this was an early indication that Zion, in that location, would not be fully built up in that generation. We don’t know exactly what the Lord meant by “many years” but it seems possible that the Lord may have been suggesting a different timeline for Zion than what the early Saints assumed as they started working to establish it in Jackson County, Missouri. Earlier in the revelation He also gave this statement indicating that the Saints’ understanding was limited: “Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:3,44). Certainly that scripture applies to us as well, for we do not know “concerning those things which shall come hereafter” but we do know that there will be tribulation for the Saints in the future just as there was plenty in the generation in which this revelation was given. We do not know when the Lord will choose to build up Zion in Jackson County, Missouri, but it will indeed have been after “many years” when that day finally comes.

               Perhaps there is application of this into our own lives as well. We may have righteous desires for which the Lord has promised He will grant to us at some point, but His timing may not be clear and often it is further away than we hope for. We too may have “many years” before we will symbolically build up our own New Jerusalem when those righteous desires will be fulfilled. But even in that uncertainty, the Lord has given us the key as well in this revelation to keep moving forward. We may be tempted to say as some did in that day, “This is not the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled” (v33). But the Lord’s response is to not doubt but keep moving forward in righteousness. He instructed then and tells us still today, “Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward” (v27-28). Even if the great blessings we seek are not happening when we want, we can keep moving forward seeking to bring to pass righteousness, being engaged in good causes, doing as much as we can to move forward the work of the Lord. We have His assurance that His promises will be fulfilled, but we must persevere through difficulty and setbacks: “For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand” (v4). Whether “nigh at hand” is tomorrow or yet “many years” ahead, we can be sure that His promises will indeed be fulfilled.