Will the LDS Church Establish Zion?
This is part one in a two-part series.
Keith R Kelsch
8/23/202611 min read
Will the LDS Church Establish Zion?
Part 1
We are going to talk about 3 Nephi 16:10–13, and when it is read together with 3 Nephi 20–21, 1 Nephi 13–14, and 2 Nephi 30, there is a remarkably coherent prophetic sequence that answers the question: Will the institutional LDS Church establish Zion?
The scriptures referenced above clearly predict a failure among “the Gentiles” after they have received the fulness of the gospel. Identifying those Gentiles specifically as the institutional LDS Church goes beyond what the verse explicitly says. However, readers have reason to ask whether Latter-day Saints are included in Christ’s warning. I will leave that for you to decide.
What we can say is this: the warning given in these scriptures makes little sense if the warning applies only to people who never received the gospel. Christ specifically says they first possess it and then they “sin against,” “reject,” and lose its fulness.
If Zion and the reign of Christ merit the fulness of the gospel, then we must ask the question:
Will the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints establish Zion?
Let’s Start with Christ’s Actual Prophecy in 3 Nephi 16:10–12
Christ says:
“At that day when the Gentiles shall …sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel… behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them.”
Here’s the complete verse. Elements in bold give us the core sentence:
“And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you: At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth, and shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations; and if they shall do all those things, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them.”
Then in 3 Nephi 16:11, we read:
“And then will I remember my covenant which I have made unto my people, O house of Israel, and I will bring my gospel unto them.”
In 3 Nephi 16:12:
“And I will show unto thee, O house of Israel, that the Gentiles shall not have power over you; but I will remember my covenant unto you, O house of Israel, and ye shall come unto the knowledge of the fulness of my gospel.”
The sequence matters enormously:
· Gentiles receive the gospel
· Gentiles sin against it
· Gentiles reject its fulness
· The fulness is brought “from among” them
· God remembers Israel
· Israel receives the fulness
That is not merely a prediction that secular Gentile nations become wicked.
Christ describes a people who have had “my gospel,” even “the fulness of my gospel.”
Gentiles cannot reject the fulness if the fulness was never presented to them.
Christ does not say that he will destroy the Gentiles. His wording is more intriguing:
“I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them.”
That suggests a transfer of covenant responsibility.
Are members of the LDS faith prepared for this? Are they prepared for a transfer of covenant responsibility back to scattered Israel?
What is the Fullness of the Gospel?
The fullness of the gospel is Zion—a covenant people made one in Christ, where He reigns as Lawgiver; agency and common consent govern; stewardship replaces dominion; consecration replaces accumulation; there are no poor among them; and the people become sufficiently righteous for Christ to dwell in their midst.
In posts to follow, we will examine these principles and more in depth. For now, let us return to Christ’s warning to the Gentiles.
The Gentiles Are Given a Custodial Role—and Then Lose It
This becomes even clearer in 3 Nephi 20:27–28.
Christ says the gospel blessing will first be poured out upon the Gentiles. But then:
“when they shall have received the fulness of my gospel, then if they shall harden their hearts against me I will return their iniquities upon their own heads.”
Notice again: They received it first. This is crucial.
The prophecy isn’t: wicked Gentiles who never knew Christ reject Christianity.
The prophecy is: Gentiles receive the fulness, become hardened against Christ, covenant judgment follows.
That creates an uncomfortable question for the Restoration believer.
Who Are the Gentiles Who Received the “Fullness of My Gospel”?
At minimum, the Restoration movement cannot exempt itself from the question.
Indeed, if Latter-day Saints claim that the Book of Mormon and the restored gospel constitute the restoration of the fulness among the Gentiles, then 3 Nephi 16 necessarily becomes a warning addressed partly to the very people entrusted with that restoration.
It would be strange to claim the promise of receiving the fulness while assigning the warning about rejecting that fulness to somebody else.
In other words, there is no other group or institution that fits the warning better than the Latter-day Saints.
Do we read the scriptures as if they pertain to us or do we excuse ourselves and point the finger elsewhere?
The Connection to Zion
Christ doesn’t end the prophecy with the Gentiles losing covenant privilege.
Immediately afterward Christ quotes Isaiah:
“Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing, for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion.” — 3 Nephi 16:18
That placement is significant.
The sequence becomes:
· Gentile given custodial care of restoration
· Gentile rejection of the fulness of the gospel
· Gospel taken “from among” them
· Watchmen see eye to eye
· Israel remembered
· Israel comes to the fulness
· ZION
So, the transfer isn’t merely about which organization holds the truth. It culminates in Zion regardless of any organization or institution.
That fits the distinction between merely possessing Restoration doctrine and practicing the fullness. The scriptural criterion is ultimately covenantal and not institutional.
1 Nephi 13 May Identify the Faithful Gentile Residue
Now put 1 Nephi 13:37 beside it as this may be one of the strongest companion passages:
“…blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost…”
The phrase “at that day” matters.
Nephi’s vision concerns the latter-day Gentiles, and among those Gentiles there are apparently people doing something very specific:
· seeking to bring forth Zion
· Not merely believing Zion
· Not merely teaching Zion
· Not merely waiting for Zion
· Bringing it forth
Then verse 38 says the record proceeds:
“from the Gentiles unto the remnant” of Israel.
That closely resembles Christ’s later formulation:
“I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them.”
We have two prophetic movements:
Nephi: Gospel/records go from the Gentiles to the remnant of Israel. Nephi sees the Restoration coming first among the Gentiles. The Gentiles then become an instrument for carrying the restored record and gospel to the descendants/remnant of Israel. Then 1 Nephi 15:13–14 is especially explicit about the sequence. After the Gentiles receive the fulness of the gospel: “from the Gentiles shall the fulness of the gospel come unto the remnant of our seed.”
Christ: Gospel is taken from among the Gentiles and covenant turns toward the house of Israel. Situated in Nephi’s account are people among those Gentiles actively seeking to bring forth Zion.
These two prophetic movements in the last days deserve serious attention.
The Idea That It Begins with “a Few” Has Scriptural Support
I would not say 3 Nephi 16 itself says that only a tiny residue of LDS members begin Zion. It doesn’t say that.
But another part of Nephi’s vision provides striking support for the few.
1 Nephi 14:12
Nephi sees:
“the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few… nevertheless… the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions… were small.”
That’s powerful when placed beside 1 Nephi 13:37.
The prophetic picture isn’t necessarily:
The institution eventually becomes Zion.
It reads instead:
A comparatively small covenant people remain faithful to the Lamb and participate in God’s latter-day work.
And the determining characteristic isn’t institutional ancestry.
It is allegiance to Christ.
Christ Allows Faithful Gentiles to Cross Over into Israel
This is one of the most important pieces.
Immediately after saying he will take the gospel from among the Gentiles, Christ says:
“But if the Gentiles will repent and return unto me… they shall be numbered among my people, O house of Israel.” — 3 Nephi 16:13
That completely changes the logic.
· It isn’t: Gentiles bad / Israel good.
· It is: Unrepentant Gentiles lose covenant standing / repentant Gentiles become covenant Israel.
Nephi says essentially the same thing:
“as many of the Gentiles as will repent are the covenant people of the Lord.” — 2 Nephi 30:2
And 1 Nephi 14 says faithful Gentiles:
“shall be numbered among the house of Israel.”
So, the gathering is ultimately not racial. It is covenantal.
That supports our thought about descendants from any of Israel’s tribes, but I would broaden it even further: Israel is being gathered genealogically and through covenantal action.
The faithful Gentile effectively ceases to be a Gentile and becomes numbered with Israel.
3 Nephi 30 Makes This Almost Impossible to Miss
At the very end of Christ’s ministry recorded in 3 Nephi we read of a direct message to the latter-day Gentiles.
They are commanded to repent of:
· lyings
· deceivings
· secret abominations
· idolatries
· murders
· priestcrafts
· envyings
· strifes
And then Christ says:
“come unto me… and be filled with the Holy Ghost, that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel.”
Again the movement is:
Gentile → repentance → Christ → Holy Ghost → Israel
· Institutional identity isn’t presented as the final covenant criterion.
· Coming unto Christ is.
Then Comes the New Jerusalem
Now follow Christ into 3 Nephi 20–21.
Christ says:
“I will establish my people, O house of Israel.”
And:
“this people will I establish in this land… and it shall be a New Jerusalem.”
Then comes perhaps the most important distinction for this thesis.
Scripture identifies the New Jerusalem with Israel’s covenant inheritance. In fact Ether specifically says it is built upon this land “unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph.”
Yet 3 Nephi 21 also says faithful Gentiles will assist God’s people in building New Jerusalem.
The Church’s own scripture index summarizes 3 Nephi 21:23 as:
“Gentiles shall assist remnant of Israel in building New Jerusalem.”
That gives us an important refinement.
The righteous Gentile remnant does not simply disappear. It participates.
Therefore, the pattern could be:
· The gospel is restored among Gentiles.
· Some Gentiles reject its fulness (plain and precious things of Zion).
· Some Gentiles repent and remain faithful to the fullness.
· Those faithful Gentiles become numbered with covenant Israel.
· The gospel moves from the Gentiles toward the remnants of Israel.
· Israel awakens to its covenant identity.
· Faithful Gentiles assist Israel.
· New Jerusalem/Zion emerges.
· The gathering accelerates.
That is an extraordinarily coherent reading of these chapters.
And 2 Nephi 30 Describes Precisely the Same Transitional Group
Nephi says:
“there shall be many which shall believe the words which are written; and they shall carry them forth unto the remnant of our seed.”
This is almost a bridge population.
· Some possess the record.
· They believe the record.
· And they carry it to the remnant.
That group fits remarkably well between the two eras:
Gentile Stewardship of the Restoration → Israel’s Covenant Awakening
· They aren’t necessarily the final destination of the Restoration.
· They are instruments through whom the Restoration reaches Israel.
That is a major distinction.
There May Therefore Be Two Phases of the Latter-day Restoration
We normally think of the Restoration as one event:
Gospel restored → Church organized → Missionary work → Second Coming
But the Book of Mormon’s prophetic structure is considerably more dynamic.
It appears to describe several phases:
Phase I — Restoration to the Gentiles
· The Book of Mormon comes forth.
· The fulness of the gospel is restored in written form.
· Gentiles become its custodians.
Phase II — Testing of the Gentiles
· Having received the fulness, they are tested by it.
· Do they actually live it?
· Or do they harden their hearts?
· Christ explicitly allows for failure.
Phase III — Division Among the Gentiles
· Some reject the fulness.
· Others awaken to their awful situation and repent.
· Those who repent become numbered with Israel.
· Faithful people are comparatively few.
Phase IV — Restoration to Israel
The gospel moves:
· “from among them”
· and toward Israel
· The remnant begins awakening.
Phase V — Zion
· Faithful covenant people seek to bring forth Zion.
· Israel is established.
· New Jerusalem arises.
Phase VI — Gathering
· The remnants scattered throughout the earth are gathered.
· That makes Zion not merely the conclusion of the Restoration but the mechanism through which the Restoration reaches its covenantal purpose.
There Is an Even More Provocative Implication
Suppose the “fulness of the gospel” is understood not merely as possession of correct ordinances and doctrine but as the actual covenant order that brings Christ to walk among a people?
Then 4 Nephi becomes important.
What happens when Christ’s gospel is actually embodied?
Such a people that master this have:
· no contention
· no social divisions
· all things common
· stewardship and consecration
· righteousness
· unity
· covenant community
The Book of Mormon’s demonstration of the fulness is not merely theological correctness.
It produces a people.
And that brings us straight back to Zion.
Thus “rejecting the fulness” could conceivably include accepting the precepts of Zion while refusing the social, economic, covenantal, and communal demands necessary to become Zion.
A Caution
I would resist concluding that:
“3 Nephi 16 prophesies that the LDS Church will apostatize and a handful of LDS members will leave it and establish Zion.”
The text does not say that. Plus it overstates the evidence and gives critics an easy target to reject reading the scriptures as if they pertain to us.
The much stronger argument is:
· The Book of Mormon explicitly predicts that latter-day Gentiles who receive the fulness of Christ’s gospel can subsequently sin against and reject that fulness.
· God will then bring the fulness from among them to covenant Israel.
· Repentant Gentiles will be numbered with Israel rather than condemned with unbelieving Gentiles.
· Some among the Gentiles will actively “seek to bring forth Zion.”
· The faithful saints of the Lamb are described as comparatively few; and that this covenant transition culminates in the establishment of the New Jerusalem and the gathering of Israel.
Every major element of that statement is grounded directly in the scriptural record.
Then the devastating question can simply be asked:
Question
If Latter-day Saints identify themselves as the Gentile people through whom the fulness of the gospel was restored, by what scriptural logic could they assume they are the recipients of Christ’s promise but exempt themselves from Christ’s warning?
I think that is the foundation of this presentation.
And there is one phrase which makes that conclusion sound:
“FROM AMONG THEM.”
Christ does not merely prophesy the restoration to the Gentiles.
He prophesies a later movement of the fulness from among the Gentiles.
Those two movements—to the Gentiles and later from among the Gentiles to Israel—may constitute one of the most overlooked prophetic structures in the Book of Mormon.
And directly within that prophetic wording sits Nephi’s extraordinary promise in 1st Nephi 13:37:
“Blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day.”
The Question We Must Now Ask
If Christ warned that the Gentiles would receive the fulness of His gospel and later reject it, how would we know?
And if Christ said He would bring the fulness of His gospel “from among” the Gentiles, should we be asking whether that prophecy concerns some other people—or should we have the courage to ask whether it concerns us?
But perhaps the most important question is not:
Will the LDS Church establish Zion?
Perhaps the question before every one of us is far more personal:
If the fulness is brought “from among” us, will we recognize it?
We have two choices before us:
1. Defend what we inherited through the traditions of our fathers.
2. Follow Christ into what He is bringing forth.
Which will you choose?
Before you make that choice, it might help to understand what Zion is. What are the plain and precious truths of Zion?
Once you recognize what Zion is and see how beautiful it is—how it solves so many problems in governance, economics, land use, and personal liberty—all that remains is one question:
Why were the plain and precious truths of Zion removed?
What if the light that begins to break forth among those that sit in darkeness is us?
