The Savior cites the prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 52:8–10) concerning the glory of the kingdom of God in the last days when all the nations of the earth “shall see the salvation of our God.” This is a vision of hope in which we can all participate. According to the dynamics of the grand covenant enterprise, the Lord scatters and gathers His people for the ultimate blessing of mankind. The scattering process may serve to protect (as with Lehi’s emigrating colony), correct (because of iniquity or wickedness), or connect (as with the modern-day dispersal of missionaries throughout the world to spread the gospel message among the honest-at-heart). The gathering process is much the same: to protect the Saints by bringing them to holy places of refuge within the stakes of Zion where houses of the Lord abound (both sacred temples as well as chapels and righteous homes), to correct the Saints in an ongoing way through inspired instruction by the prophets of God, and to connect the Saints one with another and with the Holy Spirit through the unifying and purifying process of daily gospel living.
The Savior imparts to His rapt listeners on the temple grounds in Bountiful a view of distant triumph as the culminating manifestation of the gathering process becomes a reality, when the Saints of God will break into anthems of joy and see “eye to eye” with their Creator and Redeemer in the last days.