Reviews

Editor’s note: This article comes from a new book, Mine Elect Hear My Voice: The Gathering of Israel by Marvin R. VanDam. Part 1 of this 2-part series dealt with the scriptural doctrines that pertain to Israel: What is and who are the house of Israel? Why are they the chosen and elect of the Lord – and what does that mean? When did this all begin? How has this played out during the history of mankind? What is Israel’s role in this final mortal dispensation? Read part 1 here. This conclusion deals with topics that pertain to the latter-day gathering.

The restoration of priesthoods and priesthood keys commenced shortly before and continued soon after the organization of the Church in 1830. With that, the marvelous and wonderful work of Israel’s latter-day gathering began formally – a gathering that was to fill the whole earth as like a stone rolling forth that had been cut out of the mountain without hands.

 
The prayer revealed to the prophet Joseph Smith for the dedication of the temple at Kirtland in 1836 included the following regarding the gathering of Israel:

And may all the scattered remnants of Israel, who have been driven to the ends of the earth, come to a knowledge of the truth, believe in the Messiah, and be redeemed from oppression, and rejoice before thee. (D&C 109:67)

Very shortly thereafter, within the walls of that first temple built to the Lord in this dispensation of the gathering, the priesthood keys of the gathering were restored to the leaders of the Church by Moses, the deliverer and gatherer of ancient Israel:

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. (D&C 110:11)

The priesthood key relating to the Abrahamic covenant, by which the gospel of Christ would bless all nations, was likewise restored on that same occasion:

After this, Elias appeared, and committed the dispensation of the gospel of Abraham, saying that in us and our seed all generations after us should be blessed. (D&C 110:12)

The restoration by heavenly messengers of these and other priesthood keys made it possible for the gospel and Church of Jesus Christ to be taken in its fulness to all the world:

The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth. (D&C 65:2)

The role of the house of Israel’s presiding tribe of Ephraim is central to the long-promised latter-day gathering of scattered Israel – to inviting all mankind to come unto Christ and be numbered among his sheepfold of Israel.

The prophet Joseph Smith had been foreordained and chosen to preside over this final dispensation and its important work. He was declared by the Lord to be of the tribe of Ephraim, which special Israelite heritage was neither by coincidence nor unimportant. The tribe of Ephraim holds the birthright in and presides over Israel. Ephraim has care for the house of Israel. Ephraim presides over the latter-day church. It is for Ephraim to raise the ensign to the nations and to accomplish the work of the latter day gathering – to be missionaries to the world and to have the principal responsibility for finding and converting all who will hear the message of the restoration.

Latter-day Saints should have a special understanding of and a deep appreciation for the words of the great hymn of the gathering: “Ye elders of Israel, come join now with me, and seek out the righteous, wherever they may be – in desert, on mountain, on land, or on sea – and bring them to Zion, the pure and the free. O Babylon, O Babylon, we bid thee farewell; we’re going to the mountains of Ephraim to dwell.”

But who among the nations will hear the message – will remember and recognize it, having been true disciples of Christ in pre-mortality? And who will yet, in this second estate, choose for discipleship and enter the sheepfold of Christ by baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost – and thus be adopted as members of the house of Israel?

The Lord has much to say about this in scripture. Latter-day revelation proclaims:

And ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect; for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts. (D&C 29:7)

Christ clearly taught the Jews of his day the principle that if we know God we will follow his prophets:

They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham … He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. (John 8:39, 47)

The heading to this 8th chapter of the gospel of John states: “True children of Abraham believe in Christ.”

Jesus, in the temple at Jerusalem, was asked by the Jews if he was the Christ and, if so, why he would not plainly tell them so. He answered them in terms of his sheep: “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine … I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:14, 25-27)

The Lord revealed to latter-day Israel:

And a commandment I give unto thee – that thou shalt write for him . . . to the salvation of mine own elect; For they will hear my voice, and shall see me, and shall not be asleep, and shall abide the day of my coming. (D&C 35:20-21)

And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me. (D&C 84:52)

The gentile nations amongst which much of the blood of Ephraim had been scattered – such nations as Great Britain, Scandinavia, and Western Europe – yielded a rich harvest of LDS converts in the early days of the Church. In the 30 years beginning in 1840, ninety-four thousand Saints were baptized in Great Britain alone.

Yet the prophecies are clear that, in the end, the gentile nations will largely reject the gospel of Christ. Wrote Nephi: “Wo be unto the Gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts! For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me.

The Lord revealed in our day:

And the love of men shall wax cold, and iniquity shall abound. And when the times of the Gentiles is come in, a light shall break forth among them that sit in darkness, and it shall be the fulness of my gospel; But they receive it not; for they perceive not the light, and they turn their hearts from me because of the precepts of men. And in that generation shall the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (D&C 45:27-30)

As for the Lamanites, however – the remnants of the Book of Mormon’s people of Ephraim and Manasseh – the prophecies are wonderfully different. When the light of the restoration breaks forth among them, many will remember whom they are and will be grafted back into the true vine of Israel.

Lehi, for instance, wrote concerning Joseph in Egypt, who foresaw the latter days and the prophet, his descendent, who would take the restored gospel to Lehi’s descendents:

Wherefore, Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel … A seer shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of my loins … And unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers … and not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word. (2 Nephi 3:5-7, 11)

The fulfillment of these prophecies in our generation is marvelous. In 1960, the Church numbered 25 thousand members in all of Mexico, Central- and South America. By the end of 2004, Church membership in Latin America had reached 4.4 million in 829 stakes and 325 districts. As Latter-day Saints today, we are privileged to be witnesses to and participants in the fulfillment of the great prophecies concerning the gathering of scattered remnants of Israel!

With regards to the gentile nations again, the prophecies, ancient and modern, point clearly to the day when the gospel will be taken from the gentiles and preached to the Jews. The Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith: “That through your administration they may receive the word, and through their administration the word may go forth unto the ends of the earth, unto the Gentiles first, and then, behold, and lo, they shall turn unto the Jews.” (D&C 90:9)

Before the great day of the Lord’s coming, there will also be those of Judah who will recognize and accept Christ as their Savior. The Book of Mormon teaches:

Wherefore, the Jews shall be scattered among all nations … And after they have been scattered, and the Lord God hath scourged them by other nations for the space of many generations, yea, even down from generation to generation until they shall be persuaded to believe in Christ, the Son of God … And when that day shall come that they shall believe in Christ … the Lord will set his hand again the second time to restore his people from their lost and fallen state. (2 Nephi 25:15-18)

The gospel will further have been taken to all the ends of the earth – to all nations. Isaiah foresaw anciently: “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.” (Isaiah 11:12)

Christ Himself said to the Nephites:

And then will I gather them in from the four quarters of the earth; and then will I fulfill the covenant which the Father hath made unto all the people of the house of Israel. (3 Nephi 16:5)

And then shall the remnants [of Israel], which shall be scattered 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. (3 Nephi 20:13)

The New Jerusalem – a place of refuge and safety for many of latter-day Israel – will have been established in North America before Christ’s coming. Moses recorded Enoch’s vision of the latter-day New Jerusalem:

And righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem. (Moses 7:60-62)

Joseph Smith proclaimed: “We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; [and] that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent. (Pearl of Great Price, Articles of Faith 1:10)

Finally, after the voice of warning has been sounded to the nations and Israel’s believing remnants have been gathered in – in a day of great wickedness and warfare – Christ will return, will show himself to the Jews who did not believe, will commence his righteous millennial reign over all the earth, and will complete the gathering of all Israel.

The Latter-day Saints sing: “How blessed the day when the lamb and the lion Shall lie down together without any ire, And Ephraim be crowned with his blessing in Zion, As Jesus descends with his chariot of fire! We’ll sing and we’ll shout with the armies of heaven, Hosanna, hosanna to God and the Lamb! Let glory to them in the highest be given, Henceforth and forever, Amen and amen!” (Hymns, #2)

Isaiah saw that great day. “But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” (Isaiah 43:1)

Jeremiah wrote anciently concerning the blessed state of Israel at the time of the millennial gathering, and of the “new covenant” the Lord will make with the righteous saints who will then constitute the house of Israel:

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah … After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31: 31-34)