The salient reason given for the lengthy period of peace and happiness among the Nephites after Jesus’ ministry was the absence of contention. The phrase “no contention” is repeated in verses 2, 13, 15, and 18. And the reason there was no contention among this blessed people is gratefully preserved in two verses: “There were no contentions and disputations among them … [because] every man did deal justly one with another,” and “there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.”
Other reasons for the peaceful, friction-free life include the following: “They had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift.”
“All things common” did not mean that everyone pooled all their resources and shared everything in common, all having equal amounts. It means that every person and family had an equality according to their needs and wants—if their wants were just (Acts 2:45; 4:32, 35; D&C 51:3; 82:17). They were living the law of consecration. “Every man [was] seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God” (D&C 82:19).
Verse 11 seems to suggest, without stating it, that these righteous, consecrated Saints were enjoying the blessings of celestial marriage, which is part of the new and everlasting covenant, or the fulness of the gospel (D&C 66:2; 131:1–4; 132:19–20). They also had been promised all the blessings of the covenant along with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The prophet Nephi whose story we read in Helaman 10 had been given the sealing power (see “Sealing on Earth and in Heaven,” in commentary at Helaman 10:1–11). We infer from this that the twelve apostles selected by the resurrected Lord also had the keys of the holy sealing power, allowing for performance of all the exalting ordinances of the temple.
With “no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders … there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God… . And how blessed were they!” Mormon is the writer here, and he would certainly notice the happiness and the blessedness of these people compared to what he saw in the society of his own time.
The prophets of all dispensations have tried to establish Zion. Some were unsuccessful; for example, Noah (Moses 8:19–24) and Moses (D&C 84:23–24). Others were successful; for example, Enoch and Melchizedek (JST, Genesis 14:25–40; Moses 7:16–19) and the Nephites after Christ (4 Nephi 1:1–3). These successful experiences with the consecrated life are types of the Millennium, when the New Jerusalem, or Zion, will be permanently established in a paradisiacal world (Moses 7:60–65).
The Lord’s ultimate objective in every dispensation has been to establish Zion—to prepare a people ready to receive his presence and literally walk with him. The charge given to Joseph Smith and his successors in this dispensation is to “seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion” (D&C 6:6; 11:6; 12:6; 14:6). President Spencer W. Kimball said: “Creating Zion ‘commences in the heart of each person.’ (Journal of Discourses, 9:283) … Zion can be built up only among those who are the pure in heart—not a people torn by covetousness or greed, but a pure and selfless people, not a people who are pure in appearance, rather a people who are pure in heart. Zion is to be in the world and not of the world, not dulled by a sense of carnal security, nor paralyzed by materialism.”1
President Ezra Taft Benson taught: “We must prepare to redeem Zion. It was essentially the sin of pride that kept us from establishing Zion in the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was the same sin of pride that brought consecration to an end among the Nephites. (See 4 Ne. 1:24–25.)
“Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion.”2
Enoch’s dispensation laid out a pattern for every other one to follow, especially our own, when it comes to establishing Zion. Note, for example, the commands given to both Enoch and Joseph Smith:
1. Preach the gospel of Jesus Christ (Moses 6:37; 7:19; D&C 19:21, 31; 38:41).
2. Gather the Saints to places of safety (Moses 7:17–19; D&C 33:6; 45:69, 71; 115:6).
3. Attain unity and righteousness (Moses 7:18; D&C 21:4–7; 38:27).
4. Become “pure in heart” (D&C 97:21; Moses 7:18).
5. Care for the poor and needy (Moses 7:18; D&C 38:35; 42:30–38).
6. Build a city of holiness (Moses 7:19; D&C 45:66–70).
As the Lord declared for every time period: “When men should keep all my commandments, Zion should again come on the earth” (JST, Genesis 9:21).