Chapter 13
Ether speaks of a New
Jerusalem to be built in America by the seed of Joseph—He prophesies, is cast
out, writes the Jaredite history, and foretells the destruction of the
Jaredites—War rages over all the land.
Moroni now returns to Ether’s record “to finish [this]
record concerning the destruction of the people of whom I have been writing”
(Ether 13:1).
The Jaredites rejected Ether. He told them all things from
the beginning. After the flood had receded, this land became a choice land,
chosen of the Lord. All who lived upon the land were commanded to serve Him. “And
he had sworn in his wrath unto the brother of Jared, that whoso should possess
this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should serve him,
the true and only God, or they should be swept off when the fulness of his
wrath should come upon them” (Ether 2:8).
“Book of
Mormon prophets describe for latter-day readers the responsibilities that rest
upon those who inherit the land of promise. But these conditions did not begin
with Lehi’s family or even with the Jaredites; this land has been one of
promise from its beginning (Ether 13:2). Those conditions specify
that the people and nations who inhabit the land are to be free from bondage,
captivity, and ‘all other nations under heaven’ if they will serve God (Ether 2:12). The reverse is also
implicit in Moroni’s statement: those who do not serve God have no promised
protection and may expect to be subjected to bondage, captivity, and affliction
by other nations who will come to the land and exercise God’s judgment upon
them. Some people, then, are brought to the land for their righteousness, and
others are brought to scourge the inhabitants. Moroni also states that
unrighteous nations or people may be swept off the face of the land, but ‘it is
not until the fulness of iniquity among the children of the land, that they are
swept off’ (Ether 2:10), suggesting that those peoples who do not reach a ‘fulness
of iniquity’ may yet remain in the land…
“In both
the Book of Mormon and modern-day scripture, the language of the scriptural
promises concerning the land is open-ended. It refers to ‘whoso should
possess the land’ (Ether 2:8), ‘whatsoever nation’ (Ether 2:9, 12), ‘he that doth possess it’
(Ether 2:10), ‘all men . . . who dwell upon the face thereof’ (Ether 13:2), ‘whosoever should believe
in this gospel in this land’ (D&C 10:50), ‘all of whatsoever nation,
kindred, tongue, or people they may be’ (D&C 10:51). The covenant
conditions under which blessings may be inherited are explained, while the
identification of who may inherit them is left unspecified in terms of both
identification and time. Whoever they are, whenever they come, whatever their
origins, the Book of Mormon makes clear that ‘this land is consecrated unto him
whom he shall bring’ (2 Nephi 1:7) (emphasis in original).”[1]
This land will be the place of New Jerusalem – “[t]he place
where the Saints will gather and Christ will personally reign with them during
the Millennium. Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American
continent, and the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory (10th
Article of Faith).[2]
It also refers to a holy city that will come down out of heaven at the
beginning of the Millennium” (Guide to the Scriptures, New Jerusalem). “And
behold, this people will I establish in this land, unto the fulfilling of the
covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be a New Jerusalem.
And the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of this people; yea, even I will
be in the midst of you” (3 Nephi 20:22).
“And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and
also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city,
which shall be called the New Jerusalem.
“And then shall they assist my people that they may be
gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New
Jerusalem” (3 Nephi 21:23-24).
The New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven and become “the
holy sanctuary of the Lord” (Ether 13:3). “Him that overcometh will I make a
pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write
upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new
Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon
him my new name” (Revelation 3:12).
“And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation
21:2).
“The Lord has also decreed that this land should be “the
place of the New Jerusalem, which should come down out of heaven, … the holy
sanctuary of the Lord.” (Ether 13:3.) Here is our nation’s destiny! To serve
God’s eternal purposes and to prepare this land and people for America’s
eventual destiny, the Lord established the Constitution of this land by the
hands of wise men whom he raised up to this very purpose. (See D&C 101:80.)”[3]
Ether also spoke of the house of Israel and Jerusalem, from
where Lehi would come. After Jerusalem was destroyed it would again be built as
a holy city unto the Lord. This would not be the new Jerusalem as it had been
there in time of old. It would be built unto the house of Israel.
The New Jerusalem built upon this land “unto the remnant of
the seed of Joseph, for which things there has been a type” (Ether 13:6).
“In a
speech of encouragement to his troops, the Nephite chief captain Moroni spoke
of his people as “a remnant of [the seed of] Joseph” who had been sold into
Egypt by his brothers (Alma 46:23–24, 27). This phrase and variations of it
appear elsewhere in the Book of Mormon as well (e.g., 3 Nephi 5:23; 10:17;
15:12; Ether 13:6–8, 10).”[4]
[1] Nephi’s
Neighbors: Book of Mormon Peoples and Pre-Columbian Populations, Matthew
Roper, Maxwell Institute website
[2] “We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in
the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built
upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth;
and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.”
[3] The
Constitution – A Glorious Standard, President Ezra Taft Benson, April 1976
General Conference.
[4] The
Remnant of Joseph, John A. Tvedtnes, Maxwell Institute website.
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