In Mormonism, Zion is seen as a mostly nebulous concept that can mean completely different things based on the discussion. However, originally in early Mormonism, Zion was a very specific place and had a very specific purpose. This definition was slowly changed over time, as the need arose, so that the term is almost meaningless today.
Among the Lamanites
In the scriptures the term Zion is almost always used to refer to the city of Jerusalem or more generally the area around Jerusalem itself. Interestingly Nephi, who personally lived at Jerusalem for a time, uses almost all the references we have to Zion in the Book of Mormon. Many of these references are used by Nephi in quoting Isaiah while the rest are used to discuss the city of God itself, which according to Nephi was Jerusalem. In the Book of Mormon, Zion was also never used to describe a general state of righteous as it is defined today.
Shortly after the church was organized in April 1830, Joseph received the revelation known today as D&C 28. This revelation, like many of the early revelations, has been subtly changed in ways that support the later narrative of the church and minimizes the difficulties of the early members. In the revelation though, Oliver Cowdrey is told to go and preach to the Lamanites, and establish a church among them. These Lamanite converts would then assist the gentiles to build the city of God as prophesied of in 3 Nephi 21. The original text of the revelation states:
Behold I say unto you that thou shalt go unto the Lamanites & Preach my Gospel unto them & cause my Church to be established among them & thou shalt have Revelations but write them not by the way of Commandment & Now Behold I say unto you that it is not Revealed & no man knoweth where the City shall be built But it shall be given hereafter Behold I say unto you that it shall be among the Lamanites
Revelation, September 1830 (D&C 28)
The city that this revelation was referring to was the city of New Jerusalem described in Ether 13. This was the prophesied end time city of God. According to the text of the revelation then, Oliver was to establish a church among the Lamanites. This church was presumably going to be helpful in converting the Lamanites so they could in turn build the city of God as is described in 3 Nephi 21.
On July 17th, 1830, Oliver and several others crossed over into Indian territory, just west of present-day Missouri, in order to convert the Lamanites. However, they saw very minimal success and were unable to even get a license to preach to the Indians. Just two months prior on May 28th, 1830, the Indian Removal Act was signed into law which gave the United States government authority over the Indians and regulated exchange between the Indians and the new settlers.
After failing to get a license, Oliver, and the others, were ordered to leave the Indian territory and consequently unable to establish the church or city as the revelation mentioned. This was due to no fault of their own, but purely federal bureaucracy. Oliver Cowdrey in an April 8th, 1831, letter mentioned the struggles they were having in getting a license to preach. He was certainly hopeful things would work out. However, it wasn’t meant to be.
Due to being unable to obtain the license, which was a legal requirement, D&C 28 was changed to what we have today which drastically alters the meaning of the revelation. It mentions:
Behold, I say unto you that you shall go unto the Lamanites and preach my gospel unto them; and inasmuch as they receive thy teachings thou shalt cause my church to be established among them; and thou shalt have revelations, but write them not by way of commandment. And now, behold, I say unto you that it is not revealed, and no man knoweth where the city Zion shall be built, but it shall be given hereafter. Behold, I say unto you that it shall be on the borders by the Lamanites.
D&C 28
The establishment of the church among the Lamanites was now conditional and the city of God was strangely moved outside of the borders of the Lamanites. This seems quite coincidental honestly since they no longer were able to preach in that area anyways. Did God not know this was going to happen? Shortly after being barred from preaching to the Lamanites, Joseph received what we know of today as D&C 57. This revelation, which was received on July 20th, 1831, about 3 months after they failed to get a license, established Independence, Missouri as the new location for the city of Zion. The revelation mentioned:
This Land which is the Land of Missouri, which is the Land which I have appointed & consecrated for the gathering of the Saints— Wherefore this is the Land of promise & the place for the City of Zion … Behold the place which is now called Independence is the center place … it is wisdom that the Land should be purchased by the saints and also every tract lying westward even unto the line running directly between Jew & Gentile, & also every tract bordering by the Praries
Revelation, 20 July 1831 (D&C 57)
According to the political boundaries at the time, the city of Independence was just inside the border of Missouri and was consequently on the border with the Lamanites, who were considered the Jews. This was very close to where Oliver and the rest of the group were already preaching however was of course not among the Lamanites as the revelation originally mentioned. After Joseph’s revelation establishing Independence as the city of God, then members started to rapidly move to the area and purchase land along the border between Missouri and Indian land, as the revelation requested.
This actually seemed to be a secret ploy by Joseph to try and get into the Indian lands, and preach to them, even though they didn’t have authority to do so. The original D&C 57 revelation even instructed Sidney Gilbert, a recent convert, to setup a store specifically to trade with the Indians in order to preach the gospel to them. It should be remembered that the members at the time felt the Lamanites needed to be converted because they needed them to build Zion, according to the Book of Mormon. Therefore, they certainly had a strong interest in preaching to them and converting them to Mormonism. The revelation mentioned:
Let my Servant Sidney Gilbert plant himself in this place & establish a Store … & also let my Servant Sidney obtain Licence (Behold here is wisdom & whose readeth let him understand) that he may send— goods also unto the Lamanites even by whom he will as Clerks employed in his service & thus the Gospel may be preached unto them
Revelation, 20 July 1831 (D&C 57)
This ploy by Joseph didn’t go entirely unnoticed by the members. Ezra Booth, who was a Methodist minister, joined the church in 1831 however very quickly became disaffected. After leaving the church he wrote a series of letters to the Ohio Star newspaper which were critical of some aspects of Joseph’s actions. In his December 6th, 1831, letter Ezra mentioned:
Another method has been invented, in order to remove obstacles which hitherto had proved insurmountable. “The Lord’s store-house,” is to be furnished with goods suited to the Indian trade, and persons are to obtain license from the government to dispose of them to the Indians in their own territory; at the same time they are to disseminate the principles of Mormonism among them. From this smug[g]ling method of preaching to the Indians, they anticipate a favorable result.
Ezra Booth, Dec 6th, 1831, letter 9
The store was setup as requested, however Sidney Gilbert had problems getting a license in order to trade with the Indians. When this plan for the Lamanites didn’t work then this revelation was also changed into what we have today. The store for the Lamanites, in order to convert them, was completely changed to a store for the good of the members in general. The text of the revelation was changed to read:
Let my servant Sidney Gilbert plant himself in this place, and establish a store … And also let my servant Sidney Gilbert obtain a license—behold here is wisdom, and whoso readeth let him understand— that he may send goods also unto the people, even by whom he will as clerks employed in his service;
D&C 57
and thus provide for my saints, that my gospel may be preached unto those who sit in darkness and in the region and shadow of death.
This updated revelation completely removed the concept of the Lamanites and changed the entire purpose of Sidney Gilbert’s new store. It was now a store for the members in order to help those in darkness. This is a completely new concept when compared with the original. It is entirely unclear as to why when something fails then Joseph felt a revelation from God needed to be changed in order to cover the failure. Did God not know what would happen? Were the revelations not from God in the first place? Based on this then I really wonder how many of the revelations, we have today, have been changed from their original meaning.
Just to eliminate some confusion, we do know that Joseph either changed this revelation or at the very least authorized the change. For instance, D&C 57 was updated with the new language for the 1835 edition of the D&C. D&C 28 was updated with the new language for the 1833 and 1835 editions of the D&C. For whatever reason, Joseph personally felt justified in changing the revelations to suit the new political landscape.
Pure in heart
With the rapid influx of members and the revelation from Joseph establishing Independence, Missouri as the “city of Zion” there was a certain amount of arrogance from the members. This is completely understandable, considering the members thought it was the will of God and going to be their new permanent dwelling place. However, the Missourians themselves didn’t agree and didn’t like how the Mormons were now treating them.
Isaac McCoy, a protestant minister in Missouri, wrote a letter which was published in the December 21st, 1833, edition of the Missouri Intelligencer, a local newspaper. This letter was critical of the church and its motives and described things from the Missourian’s perspective. In the letter Isaac mentioned:
The Mormons, as I suppose from information, came here so ignorant of laws, regulating intercourse with the Indian tribes, that they expected to pass on into the Indian Territory, procure lands of the Indians, aid them in adopting habits of civilization, and attach them to their party. … The village of Independence was by them termed “Zion” in their public prints, and that was the Nucleus of the New Jerusalem. They have repeated, perhaps, hundreds of times, that this country was theirs, the Almighty had given it to them, and that they would assuredly have entire possession of it in a few years.
Isaac McCoy, November 28th, 1833, Published in Missouri Intelligencer (Must go through this link first)
Unfortunately for the members, just a few months before this letter was published, the tensions between the Missourians and the members reached a point where the members were forced out of Independence, the prophesied city of God. For a long time, the Missourians had resented the influx of Mormons and started blaming them for anything they could. Couple this with the idea that the Mormons felt entitled to the land and there is certainly going to be problems.
This reached a peak on July 20th, 1833, when leaders of the church met with Jackson County officials and were told they must leave Independence and Jackson County immediately. When the leaders of the church didn’t immediately agree with their demands a mob formed which destroyed the printing press and threatened to kill the members as well. The church agreed to leave with some leaving almost immediately. The rest of the members promised to leave about 6 months later by January 1834. An account of this was published in the December 1833 edition of The Evening and The Morning Star as an appeal to Daniel Dunklin the governor of Missouri at the time.
Many of the members were understandably confused about the sudden loss of their “city of Zion”, according to revelation. About two weeks later, on August 2nd, 1833, Joseph dictated a revelation concerning Zion and what the members could do to escape the terrible fate, in their eyes. They were told that Zion is no longer a literal concept, and they should build the temple, that they already couldn’t build because of persecution. This revelation is known today as D&C 97 and reads:
And inasmuch as my people build an house unto me in the name of the Lord and do not suffer any unclean thing to come into it … and now behold if Zion do these things she shall prosper and spread herself and become very glorious very great and very tereble … therefore verily thus saith the Lord let Zion rejoice for this Zion the pure in heart
Revelation, August 2nd, 1833
In this revelation the members were essentially told that if they could finish the temple then God’s glory would rest upon it, and they would presumably be safe from their enemies. However curiously the entire concept of Zion was redefined to no longer be a place or a city, but to be a people. Specifically, anyone that was pure in heart was now defined as Zion. This was a complete departure from what Zion previously was defined as.
Due to extreme opposition from the Missourians, the building of the temple was never actually even started. This is even though the first mention of the temple was the modified D&C 57 revelation which was received, about 2 years earlier, on July 20th, 1831. The members had two years to build the temple by that point. However, with the constant opposition, they never did anything more than dedicate the spot. D&C 97 mentioned they should finish the temple, but that was incredibly unlikely at that point with the constant opposition and the agreed time to leave being 6 months later.
Consequently, the members never were able to see if finishing the temple would actually pacify the Missourians. As promised however, the members all eventually left Jackson County, Missouri by January 1834 and settled in various places including Kirtland, Ohio the new Zion of the church.
America
From history we know that things really only went downhill from there for the church. Certainly, Kirtland and Nauvoo were brief periods of peace. However, by early 1838 most of the members had left Kirtland and settled in the new Zion of Nauvoo. Neither Kirtland nor Nauvoo were thought of as Zion in the same way as Independence, Missouri was. However, from historical documents the term Zion was used to apply to almost anything remotely connected to the church. This includes Kirtland and Nauvoo which were both referred to as Zion at various points. The term itself had become so general that it had almost lost its meaning entirely.
At the end of the Nauvoo era, when things were starting to intensify for the church, like they did in Kirtland, Joseph was already preparing to leave again. On March 11th, 1844, Joseph and several leaders met to organize themselves into what would be called the Council of Fifty. The primary purpose of this group would be to serve as the governing body for what Joseph hoped would be a theocratic government when the church left the United States.
According to the meeting minutes, they were exploring the possibility of moving to Texas, Oregon, or California. All of which were outside of the United States at the time. Oregon was disputed between Britain, France, and Spain, while California and Texas were both part of Mexico. Unfortunately, a new suitable location was not able to be determined prior to Joseph’s death. However, about one month after officially deciding to leave the United States, Joseph announced a new completely different definition for Zion. This would allow them to go wherever they wanted and have the location still be referred to as Zion.
During the April 8th, 1844, conference in Nauvoo, which was recorded by a number of scribes, Joseph mentioned that, according to revelation, now all of America, both North and South was classified as Zion. The minutes for the meeting read:
I have another great and grand Revelation—— great discussion where Zion is— The whole America is Zion that is th[e] Zion where the mountain of th[e] Lords house shall be. about the central part of N. & South America.
Joseph Smith, April 8th, 1844, conference
It seems likely that Joseph wanted to keep the pure concept of Zion in the minds of the members, however he knew that they continually were moving further and further away from Independence, Missouri where Zion, the city of God, was supposed to be. As a consequence, Zion was now the entire American continent and even more generally anyone with a pure heart. I would suspect that if they had to move outside of America then Zion would be defined as all of the earth instead of just America.
Gathering to Zion
With the entire North and South American continents being Zion now, then it certainly changed the concept of gathering. Even after the death of Joseph, the understanding was that converts should gather with the body of the members. This was made official in the revelation known today as D&C 57 which specifically mentioned that Missouri and the city of Zion were both divinely set apart for the gathering of the members. The revelation reads:
Hearken O ye Elders of my Church saith the Lord your God who have assembled yourselves together according to my Commandment in this Land which is the Land of Missouri, which is the Land which I have appointed & consecrated for the gathering of the Saints—Wherefore this is the Land of promise & the place for the City of Zion
Revelation, 20 July 1831 (D&C 57)
The church at the time understood this literally and tried to physically gather as much as was reasonably possible. This was one of the issues that actually caused the early church so many problems. Large groups of members would move into an area and then completely change the political or economic landscape. Some residents were sympathetic to the young church however many were not and saw them as a threat.
After the call to gather to Zion the members generally moved to Independence, as requested. When that failed, they moved to Far West, then Nauvoo, then on to Salt Lake City where the church ultimately settled. It was understood that members would continue to gather with those in Utah as much as possible, as Utah was now seen as a central part of Zion, with the temple of God.
In a February 16th, 1868, talk Brigham Young mentioned that the call to gather to Zion was still very much in force. The members were to gather, as much as possible, and build up Zion. He mentioned:
We have been commanded to gather ourselves together, to come out from Babylon, and sanctify ourselves, and build up the Zion of our God
Brigham Young, February 16th, 1868
This command was understood to be literal for many years however in an April 1973 talk, the President of the church at the time, Harold B. Lee, changed this concept to encourage members to stay where they are and build up the church locally. Interestingly, he justified this by taking a scripture completely out of context. In the talk he mentioned:
In the early years of the Church specific places to which the Saints were to be gathered together were given, and the Lord directed that these gathering places should not be changed, but then he gave one qualification: “Until the day cometh when there is found no more room for them; and then I have other places which I will appoint unto them, and they shall be called stakes, for the curtains or the strength of Zion.”
Harold B. Lee, Strengthen the Stake of Zion, April 1973
In this case President Lee acknowledged that the members were told to gather to specific places, but then he said there was a special exception. This special exception, according to him, meant that the members could gather wherever they wanted to gather regardless of whether the city of Zion, in their eyes, had additional space or not. This is most certainly not supported by the text of the revelation itself. The scripture which President Lee referenced, at the end of his statement, is in D&C 101 which reads:
Behold there is none other p[l]ace apointed than that which I have apointed, neither shall there be any other place appointed than that which I have appointed for the work of the gething [gathering] of my Saints untill the day cometh when there is found no more room for thim. and then I have other places which I will appoint unto them and they shall be called stakes for the curtains or then stregth [strength] of Zion
Revelation, 16-17 December 1833 (D&C 101)
This is largely identical to the text we have today. However, the revelation itself clearly says that the members were to gather to specific places until there was no more room for them. This specific place, according to Joseph, was Independence, Missouri. However, in the event that there was “no more room”, whatever that means, then God would appoint new places of gathering. It is important to keep in mind that, according to the revelation, God is the one to appoint new places of gathering, not man.
However, today it seems that we have interpreted this text completely different than what the text actually says. We ignore obvious room for new converts to physically join with the members, and then tell them to arbitrarily go wherever they feel best. This is not what the revelation says at all. God was to pick the new places where converts would relocate to. These additional cities of God would then function as more strongholds of Zion. This was for many reasons including physical and spiritual defense. Today though we have flipped everything and think that we know best.
Conclusion
In Mormonism, Zion was originally seen as the literal city of God. The place where God would dwell and personally govern his people. This would be the utopia of Christianity, which everyone has longed for since Adam was separated from God. The place where heaven and earth would meld together permanently. However, sadly almost immediately Zion fell out of the member’s grasp.
In consequence of this then Joseph felt the need to change the revelations to reflect the new reality of Zion. After every failure to achieve, what the revelation mentioned should have been possible, the revelation was changed to hide the failure. For instance, Zion was to be “among the Lamanites” however when that failed, then the revelation was changed. Zion was now “on the borders” of the Lamanites instead. Sidney Gilbert was to setup a store for the Lamanites, so they could help build Zion, then when this failed, the revelation was changed to remove the Lamanites.
When the location of Zion was fixed to be Independence, Missouri, then when the members were driven out, Zion was paradoxically changed to be the pure in heart. When the members had to leave the United States, then Zion was changed to be all of North and South America. When the command was given to physically relocate to Zion, then when this was no longer convenient, the members were told to go wherever they wanted and establish a Zion there.
The revelations of God seem to have no importance anymore because they can either be trivially changed to suit our current needs or simply twisted to mean anything that we want them to mean. If a revelation was from God, then it should be treated with the utmost respect. However, this is not how Joseph saw things. He saw the revelations as malleable and something that can be altered as circumstances changed. It certainly makes one wonder whether God feels the same way. If Joseph and the church felt like this, then there is no wonder why they weren’t able to achieve Zion.
