For a detailed study of Old Jerusalem in the Holy Land—when, how, why, and by whom it is established—see Galbraith et al., Jerusalem, the Eternal City, 349–64, 491–93, 524–36.
In verse 29, Jesus Christ quotes his Father saying that “in [his] own due time,” he would again give the covenant people of Israel, specifically the Jews, “the land of their fathers for their inheritance, which is the land of Jerusalem, which is the promised land unto them forever.”
More remarkably, verse 30 proclaims that “the time cometh, when the fulness of my gospel shall be preached unto them.” Brother Ogden has written in the margin of his Book of Mormon at verse 30: “not yet—1988,” “not yet—1994,” “not yet—2001,” “not yet—2005,” and “not yet—2010.”
Most remarkable of all, verse 31 says, “and they shall believe in me, that I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” and at that point, the exclamation: “Then will the Father gather them together again, and give unto them Jerusalem for the land of their inheritance” (emphasis added). Those are the events that will occasion the lifting up of the voice, and singing and rejoicing, for “the Father hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed [Old] Jerusalem.”
Verse 46 hints at the only way the Near East peace process will ever be concluded equitably. Jerusalem and surrounding lands will be given to those who are “his people” (emphasis added). This is what the Lord said to Father Abraham approximately four thousand years ago: “I, Abraham, and Lot, my brother’s son, prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord appeared unto me, and said unto me: Arise, and take Lot with thee; for I have purposed to take thee away out of Haran, and to make of thee a minister to bear my name in a strange land which I will give unto thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession, when they hearken to my voice” (Abraham 2:6). The key words are: “I will give [the land] unto thy seed … whenthey hearken to my voice.”