The Redemption of Zion Must Needs Come By Power

In the revelation that instructed Joseph to form Zion’s Camp, the Lord said this: “Behold, I say unto you, the redemption of Zion must needs come by power; Therefore, I will raise up unto my people a man, who shall lead them like as Moses led the children of Israel. For ye are the children of Israel, and of the seed of Abraham, and ye must needs be led out of bondage by power, and with a stretched-out arm” (Doctrine and Covenants 103:15-17). This might me misinterpreted to mean that the Saints were going to return to Missouri and retake their lands by force with weapons, i.e. a kind of physical, human power. But that was in fact not the intent of Zion’s Camp. The Saints book says this: “Although they were armed and willing to fight, as the ancient Israelites had been when they battled for the land of Canaan, Joseph wanted to resolve the conflict peacefully. Government officials in Missouri had told church leaders there that Governor Dunklin was willing to send the state militia to accompany the Saints back to their lost lands. He could not, however, promise to keep mobs from driving them out again. Joseph planned to request the governor’s aid once the Camp of Israel arrived in Missouri, then work with the militia to return the Saints to Jackson County. The camp would remain in Zion for a year to keep the Saints safe from their enemies.” So, the plan was to travel to Missouri, to accompany Governor Dunklin and the state militia leading the Saints peacefully back to their lands, and then to stay there to protect them. In other words, Joseph’s intent was not to attack their enemies. Unfortunately, as they drew near to Zion, they received word that Governor Dunklin in fact was not going to help them.

               They kept traveling, though, and I believe they saw one kind of “power” referred to in the revelation when they neared their destination. The Saints book records that when they were a day away, a local woman warned them in these words, “There is a company of men here who are calculating to kill you this morning as you pass through.” They moved cautiously on, and “as they pitched their tents, they heard the rumbling of horse hooves as five men rode into camp. The strangers brandished weapons and boasted that more than three hundred men were on their way to wipe the Saints out.” Joseph told his group, “Stand still and see the salvation of God,” refusing to attack first. That’s when the power of God in His way was manifest: “Overhead the clouds looked heavy and gray. Twenty minutes later, hard rains tore through camp, driving the men from their tents as they scrambled to find better shelter. The banks of the Fishing River disappeared as the water rose and surged downstream. Wind whipped through the camp, blowing down trees and upending tents. Bright lightning streaked the sky.” Joseph declared, “God is in this storm!” They were never attacked by their enemies, being miraculously protected by the hand of God without having to fight.  

               Soon after this Joseph received a revelation disbanding Zion’s Camp and which I think highlights another kind of “power” by which the redemption of Zion was to come. The Lord said this: “It is expedient in me that mine elders should wait for a little season for the redemption of Zion—That they themselves may be prepared, and that my people may be taught more perfectly, and have experience, and know more perfectly concerning their duty, and the things which I require at their hands. And this cannot be brought to pass until mine elders are endowed with power from on high. For behold, I have prepared a great endowment and blessing to be poured out upon them, inasmuch as they are faithful and continue in humility before me. Therefore it is expedient in me that mine elders should wait for a little season, for the redemption of Zion” (Doctrine and Covenants 105:9-13). They needed spiritual power from the Lord, endowed through His Holy House. They were to return to Kirtland and finish the temple as preparation for Zion. And surely this still applies to us today: if we want to build up Zion, we need the power of the temple to sanctify and prepare us. And so, even now, we still wait for the physical redemption of Zion when the Saints will gather to Jackson County. And how do we prepare for that? We worship the Lord in His holy house, seeking to “be prepared” and “be taught more perfectly” and striving to obtain His power. I do not believe we will regain the lands in Jackson Country with manmade weapons; rather, it will be through God’s power as we are sanctified and prepared through the ordinances of the house of God.