“The Lord Shall Bring Again Zion”

"The words of Jesus in 3 Nephi 16 are instructive in that a prophecy from Isaiah is given a unique interpretation. The inheritance of the land of America by the descendants of the tribe of Joseph and the establishment of a holy people there is seen to be a fulfillment of the prophecy that the Lord 'shall bring again Zion.' In the early revelations to the Prophet Joseph, a similar notion of Zion as a holy community or a society of believers is evident. Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were instructed in April 1829: 'Keep my commandments, and seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion' (D&C 6:6; 11:6; 12:6; compare 14:6)…

"Zion was not and is not today a man-made enterprise. It is more, far more than a city that focuses on social problems and solutions in fallen man's social programs. 'Other attempts to promote universal peace and happiness in the human family have proved abortive,' [Joseph Smith] stated; 'every effort has failed; every plan and design has fallen to the ground; it needs the wisdom of God, the intelligence of God, and the power of God to accomplish this. The world has had a fair trial for six thousand years; the Lord will try the seventh thousand Himself.' The Prophet also added: 'In regard to the building up of Zion, it has to be done by the counsel of Jehovah, by the revelations of heaven.' (Teachings, pp. 252, 254.) Elder John Taylor added that human enterprises 'have failed, and they will fail, because, however philanthropic, humanitarian, benevolent, or cosmopolitan our ideas, it is impossible to produce a true and correct union without the Spirit of the living God, and that Spirit can only be imparted through the ordinances of the Gospel' (in Journal of Discourses 18:137)." (Joseph Fielding McConkie, The Choice Seer, chapter 22)