The covenant people of the Lord will be gathered to Zion, the New Jerusalem, which is to be the headquarters for the Millenial government, for the law shall go forth of Zion (Micah 4:2). The gathering will both strengthen Zion and be a refuge for the saints. Why will the saints need a place of refuge and safety? The following scriptures should give us both the answer, and plenty more to think about.
I have sworn in my wrath, and decreed wars upon the face of the earth, and the wicked shall slay the wicked, and fear shall come upon every man; And the saints also shall hardly escape; nevertheless, I, the Lord, am with them, and will come down in heaven from the presence of my Father and consume the wicked with unquenchable fire…Wherefore, seeing that I, the Lord, have decreed all these things upon the face of the earth, I will that my saints should be assembled upon the land of Zion (DC 63:33-36, italics added). It shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety. And there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven; and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another (DC 45:68-69, italics added). Micah spoke of this day saying, Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron…(Micah 4:11-13, italics added).
Bruce R. McConkie
"But let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter and recite the crowning reason for gathering to Zion or to her stakes. It is to receive the blessings found in the temples of the Lord. There and there only are the saints endowed with power from on high after the ancient pattern. There and there only can they enter into the same eternal covenants that Jehovah made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that through celestial marriage they might have a continuation of the seeds forever and ever." (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, p. 574)