Basic Beliefs and Principles , The Book of Mormon
3 min read
Next, we will discuss the 10th Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
“We believe in the literal reunification of Israel and the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built on the American continent; that Christ will reign personally on the earth; and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.”
That's a lot of information in one paragraph, right? Don't worry! Here, we'll break down this Article of Faith and explain the Ten Tribes, the Promised Land, and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
In one of the prophecies in the book of Micah, the prophet speaks about a place called Zion and a place called Jerusalem.
“Many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Micah 4:2)
Many people believe that Zion and Jerusalem are the same place. Latter-day Saints believe they are two different places, as evidenced in our tenth Article of Faith, which we mentioned earlier:
“We believe in the literal gathering of the people of Israel and the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built on the American continent; that Christ will reign personally on the earth, and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.”
Let's analyze this!
Ten Tribes
The ancient prophet, Israel, also known as Jacob, had 12 sons.
Their descendants became the 12 tribes of Israel. An ancient conflict caused the Kingdom of Israel to split in two: Ten tribes became the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the tribes of Judah and Benjamin became the Southern Kingdom of Judah, which was established around Jerusalem.
During the following hundreds of years, the Northern and Southern Kingdoms were conquered and taken captive by their conquerors. This only happened once with the Northern Kingdom. However, it happened several times with the Southern Kingdom, namely at the hands of the Babylonians and the Romans.
Promised Land
We believe that the Jews, or the Kingdom of Judah, will reunite once again in their promised land, the area of Palestine (in fact, it has been happening for some time).
The northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrian Empire in 721 BC. These ten tribes were taken captive by the Assyrians and scattered throughout their empire. However, the Scriptures tell us that at some point a group from these ten tribes escaped and fled north.
We do not know where they are, but through modern revelation we believe that one day those ten tribes will be revealed. (Apocryphal, Ezra 13:41-42; see 39-50).
We believe that Zion, or the "New Jerusalem," is a place where Latter-day Saints will gather and build a city in preparation for Christ's millennial reign, which begins at His Second Coming.
Modern revelation has indicated that the location of this New Jerusalem will be in Missouri. (D&C 57:1-2)
Second Coming
When Christ reigns as King on Earth, we believe the Earth will be sanctified, restored to a state similar to the Garden of Eden. Christ will usher in a thousand years of peace on Earth, which we call the Millennium. We will have a full video about the Millennium coming out in the future.
Additional resources:
Gathering of the house of Israel
A Latter-day Saint scientist's brilliant response on science and religion