CHAPTER 42 – THE
GATHERING OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL
The House of Israel Are
God’s Covenant People
What responsibilities do God’s covenant people have to the
nations of the world?
Genesis 49: 28—All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto
them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
Deuteronomy 28: 9 – 10—The LORD shall establish thee an holy
people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the
commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shalt see that
thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.
Abraham 2: 9 – 11—And I will make of thee a great nation, and
I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and
thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they
shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations; And I will bless them through thy name; for
as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted
thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father; And I will bless them that bless thee; and in
thee (that is, in thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee a promise that this
right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the
literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be
blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of
salvation, even of life eternal.
The House of Israel Was
Scattered
Deuteronomy 28: 64—And the LORD shall scatter thee among all
people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt
serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and
stone.
What benefits have come to God’s children because His
covenant people have been scattered throughout the earth?
The House of Israel Must
Be Gathered
Why does the Lord want His peope to be gathered?
How will the house of Israel be gathered?
Jeremiah 23: 3—And I will gather the remnant of my flock out
of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their
folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
3 Nephi 20: 26—The Father having raised me up unto you first,
and sent me to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities;
and this because ye are the children of the covenant –
Doctrine & Covenants 110: 11—After this vision closed, the
heavens were again opened unto us; and Moses appeared before us, and committed
unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth,
and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north.
Deuteronomy 30: 1 – 5—And it shall come to pass, when all
these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set
before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither
the LORD thy God hath driven thee, And shalt
return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I
command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with al
thy soul; That then the LORD thy God
will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and
gather thee from all nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out unto the
outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and
from thence will he fetch thee: And the
LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and
thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy
fathers.
Abraham 2: 9 – 11—And I will make of thee a great nation, and
I will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among a nations, and
thou thy seed after thee, that in their hands they shall bear this ministry and
Priesthood unto all nations; And I will
bless them through thy name; for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called
after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless
thee, as their father; And I will bless
them that bless that, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee (that is, in
thy Priesthood) and in thy seed (that is, thy Priesthood), for I give unto thee
a promise that this right shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee
(that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families
of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the
blessings of salvation, even of life eternal.
Galatians 3: 26 – 29—For ye are all the children of God by
faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of
you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s
seed, and heirs according to the promise.
President Joseph Fielding Smith: “There are many nations represented in the …
Church … They have come because the Spirit of the Lord rested upon them; …
receiving the spirit of gathering,
they left everything for the sake of the gospel” (Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954-56].
3” 256; italics in original).
2 Nephi 9: 2—That he has spoken unto the Jews, by the mouth of
his holy prophets, even from the beginning down, from generation to generation,
until the time comes that they shall be restored to the true church and fold of
God; when they shall be gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and
shall be established in all their lands of promise.
Doctrine & Covenants 133: 26 – 34—And they who are in the
north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord; and their prophets
shall hear his voice, and shall his voice, and shall hear his voice, and shall
no longer stay themselves; and they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall
flow down at their presence. And an highway
shall be cast up in the midst of the great deep. Their enemies shall become a prey unto
them, And in the barren deserts there
shall come forth pools of living water; and the parched ground shall no longer
be a thirsty land. And they shall bring
forth their rich treasures unto the children of Ephraim, my servants. And the boundaries of the everlasting hills
shall tremble at their presence. And
there shall they fall down and be crowned with gory, even in Zion, by the hands
of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephraim. And they shall be filled with songs of
everlasting joy. Behold, this is the
blessing of the everlasting God upon the tribes of Israel, and the richer
blessing upon the head of Ephraim and his fellows.
3 Nephi 20: 13—And then sha the remnants, which sha be scatted
abroad upon the face of the earth, be gathered in from the east and from the
west, and from the south and from the north; and they shall be brought to the
knowledge of the Lord their God, who hath redeemed them.
Doctrine & Covenants 97: 21—Therefore, verily, thus saith
the Lord, let Zion rejoice, for this is Zion—THE PURE IN HEART; therefore, let
Zion rejoice, while all the wicked shall mourn.
Conference Report, Oct. 2006, 85; or Ensign, Nov. 2006, 81.
Joseph Smith: Matthew
1: 37
Jeremiah 16: 14 – 15—Therefore, behold, the days come, saith
the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the
land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their and
that I gave unto their fathers.
In what ways have you been gathered spiritually as one of
the Lord’s covenant people?
In what ways have you participated in the gathering of
others?
Additional Scriptures
God’s covenant with
Abraham
Genesis 17: 1 – 8—And when Abram was ninety years old and
nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God;
walk before me, and be thou perfect. And
I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee
exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee,
and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be
Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and
I wil make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me
and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting
covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed
after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for
an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
Those who follow Jesus
Christ and His word are the children of the covenant
Romans 9: 4 – 8—Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the
adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the
service of God, and the promises; Whose
are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over
all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Not as
though the word of God hath taken none effect.
For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of
Abraham, are they all children: but, In
Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is,
They which are the children of the flesh, these are the children of the flesh, these
are not the children of God: but the
children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Galatians 3: 29—And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s
seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Those who repent, follow
the prophets, and have faith in Jesus Christ become the Lord’s covenant people
2 Nephi 30: 2—For behold, I say unto you that as many of the
Gentiles as will repent are the covenant people of the Lord; and as many of the
Jews as will not repent shall be cast off; for the Lord covenanteth with none
save it be with them that repent and believe in his Son, who is the Holy One of
Israel.
Mosiah 5: 10 – 11—And now it shall come to pass, that
whosoever shall not take upon him the name of Christ must be called by some
other name; therefore, he findeth himself on the left hand of God. And I would that ye should remember also,
that this is the name that I said I should give unto you that never should be
blotted out, except it be through transgression; therefore, take heed that ye
do not transgress, that the name be not blotted out of your hearts.
Northern Kingdom taken
captive
2 Kings 17
Southern Kingdom taken
captive
2 Chronicles 36: 11 – 20—Zedekiah was one and twenty years old
when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight
of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet
speaking from the mouth of the LORD. And
he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by
God: but he stiffened his neck, and
hardened his heart from turning his heart from turning unto the LORD God of
Israel. Moreover all the chief of the
priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of
the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in
Jerusalem. And the LORD God of their
fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because
he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and
despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose
against his people, till there was no remedy.
Therefore he brought upon them the king of Chaldees, who slew their
young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion
upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God,
great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures
of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake
down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and
destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.
And the that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon;
where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of
Persia:
Twelve tribes scattered
abroad
James 1: 1—James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus
Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
Nephite migration was
part of the scattering
1 Nephi 10: 12 – 13—Yea, even my father spake much concerning
the Gentiles, and also concerning the house of Israel, that they should be
compared like unto an olive tree, whose branches should be broken off and
should be scattered upon all the face of the earth. Wherefore, he said it must needs be that we
should be led with one accord into the land of promise, unto the fulfilling of
the word of the Lord, that we should be scattered upon all the face of the earth.
One from a city, two
from a family
Jeremiah 3: 14 – 18—Turn, O backsliding children, saith the
LORD; for I am married unto you: and I
will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to
Zion. And I will give you pastors according
to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass, when ye be
multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall
say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall
they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the
throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name
of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall
they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. in those days the house of Judah shall walk
with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the
north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
Israel will be gathered
from all countries
Ezekiel 20: 33 – 36—As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with
a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule
over you: And I will bring you out from
the people, and will gather you out from the people, and wil gather you out of
the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a
stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I
plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded
with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with
you, saith the Lord GOD.
Jews will be gathered to
Jerusalem
3 Nephi 20: 29 – 46—And I will remember the covenant which I have
made with my people; and I have covenanted with them that I would gather them
together in mine own due time, that I would give unto them again the land of
their fathers for their inheritance, which is the land of Jerusalem, which is
the promised land unto them forever, saith the Father. And it shall come to pass that the time
cometh, when the fulness of my gospel shall be preached unto them; And they shall be preached unto them; And they shall believe in me, that I am Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, and shall pray unto the Father in my name. then shall their watchmen lift up their
voice, and with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to
eye. Then will the Father gather them
together again and give unto them Jerusalem for the land of their
inheritance. Then shall they break forth
into joy—Sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Father hath
comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Father hath made bare his holy arm in the
eyes of all the nations; and all the nations; and all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of the Father; and the Father and I are one. And then shall be brought to pass that which
is written: Awake, awake again and put
on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy
city, for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and
the unclean. Shake thyself from the
dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem; loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O
captive daughter of Zion. For thus saith
the Lord: Ye have sold yourselves for
naught, and ye shall be redeemed without money.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, that my people shall know my name; yea,
in that day they shall know that I am he that doth speak. And then shall they say: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet
of him that bringeth good tidings unto them, that publisheth peace; that
bringeth good tidings unto them of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith
unto Zion: Thy God reigneth! And then shall a cry go forth: Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence,
touch not that which is unclean; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean
that bear the vessels of the Lord. For ye
shall not go out with haste nor go by flight; for the Lord wil go before you
and the God of Israel shall be your rearward.
Behold, my servant shall deal prudently; he shall be exalted and
extolled and be very high. As many were
astonished at thee—his visage was so marred, more than any man, and his form
more than the sons of men -- So shall he
sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him, for that which
had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall
they consider. Verily, verily, I say
unto you, all these things shall surely come, even as the Father hath commanded
me. Then shall this covenant which the
Father hath covenanted with his people be fulfilled; and then shall Jerusalem
be inhabited again with my people, and it shall be the land of their inheritance.
Gathering starts with
Restoration of the gospel
1 Nephi 15: 13 – 18—And now, the thing which our father
meaneth concerning the grafting in of the natural branches though the fulness
of the Gentiles, is, that in the latter days, when our seed shall have dwindled
in unbelief, yea, for the space of many years, and many generations after the
Messiah shall be manifested in body unto the children of men, then shall the
fulness of the gospel of the Messiah come unto the Gentiles, and from the
Gentiles unto the remnant of our seed—And at that day shall the remnant of our
seed know that they are of the house of Israel, and that they are the covenant
people of the Lord; and then shall they know and come to the knowledge of their
forefathers, and also to the knowledge of the gospel to the knowledge of the
gospel of their Redeemer, which was ministered unto their fathers by him;
wherefore, they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very
points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be
saved. And then at that day will they
not rejoice and give praise unto their everlasting God, their rock and their
salvation? Yea, at that day, will they
not receive the strength and nourishment from the true vine? Yea, will they not come unto the tur fold of
God? Behold, I say unto you, Yea; they
shall be remembered again among the house of Israel; they shall be grafted in,
being a natural branch of the olive tree, into the true olive tree. And this is what our father meaneth; and he
meaneth that it will not come to pass until after they are scattered by the
Gentiles; and he meaneth that it shall come by way of the Gentiles, that the
Lord may show his power unto the Gentiles, for the very cause that he shall be
rejected of the Jews, or of the house of Israel. Wherefore, our father hath not spoken of our
seed alone, but also of all the house of Israel, pointing to the covenant which
should be fulfilled in the latter days; which covenant the Lord made to our
father Abraham, saying: In thy seed
shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
3 Nephi 21: 26 – 29—And then shall the work of the Father
commence at that day, even when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant
of this people. Verily I say unto you,
at that day shall the work of the Father commence among all the dispersed of my
people, yea, even the tribes which have been lost, which the Father hath led
away out of Jerusalem. Yea, the work
shall commence among all the dispersed of my people, with the Father to prepare
the way whereby they may come unto me, that they may call on the Father in my
name. Yea, and then shall the work
commence, with the Father among al nations in preparing the way whereby his
people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance. And they shall go out from all nations; and
they shall not go out in haste, nor go by flight, for I will go before them,
saith the Father, and I will be their rearward.
The Lord’s covenant
people will be saved
Doctrine & Covenants
38: 31 – 33—And that ye might escape the power of the enemy, and be
gathered unto me a righteous people, without spot and blameless-- Wherefore, for this cause I gave unto you the
commandment that ye should go to the Ohio; and their I will give unto you my
law; and there you shall be endowed with power from on high; And from thence, whosoever I will shall go
forth among all nations, and it shall be told them what they shall do; for I have
a great work laid up in store, for Israel shall be saved, and I will lead them
whithersoever I will, and no power shall stay my hand.
The Lord will recover
His people
Isaiah 11: 11 – 13—And it shall come to pass in that day, that
the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his
people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros,
and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the
islands of the sea. And he shall set up
an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and
gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and
the adversaries of Judah shal be cut off:
Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
A voice will proclaim
the gathering
Revelation 18: 4 – 8—And I heard another voice from heaven,
saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and
that ye receive not of her plagues. For her
sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and
double unto her double according to her works:
in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hat glorified herself, and lived
deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen,
and a no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Therefore shall he plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and
famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Gentiles to Zion, Jews
to Jerusalem
Doctrine & Covenants 133: 6 – 15—Call your solemn
assemblies, and speak often one to another.
And let every man call upon the name of the Lord. Yea, verily I say unto you again, the time
has come when the voice of the Lord is unto you: Go ye out of Babylon; gather ye out from
among the nations, form the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Send forth the elders of my church unto the
nations which are afar off; unto the islands of the sea; send forth unto
foreign lands; call upon all nations, first upon the Gentiles, and then upon
the Jews. And behold, and lo, this shall
be their cry, and the voice of the Lord unto all people: Go ye forth unto the land of Zion, that the
borders of my people may be enlarged, and that her stakes may be strengthened,
and that Zion may go forth unto the regions round about. Yea, let the cry go forth among all
people: Awake and arise and go forth to
meet the Bridegroom cometh; go he out to meet him. Prepare yourselves for the great day of the
Lord.
Gentiles flee unto Zion.
And let the who be of Judah flee unto Jerusalem, unto the mountains of
the Lord’s house. Go ye out from among
the nations, even from Babylon, form the midst of wickedness, which is
spiritual Babylon. But verily, thus
saith the Lord, let not your flight be in haste, but let all things be prepared
before you; and he that goeth, let him not look back lest sudden destruction
shall come upon him.
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