What of those who claim that the New Jerusalem spoken of in the Book of Revelation (see Revelation 3:12; 21:2) refers to the Old Jerusalem restored? The Prophet Joseph Smith commented on this misunderstanding as follows:
Now many will feel disposed to say, that this New Jerusalem spoken of, is the Jerusalem that was built by the Jews on the eastern continent. But you will see, from Revelation 21:2, there was a New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, adorned as a bride for her husband; that after this, the Revelator was caught away in the Spirit, to a great and high mountain, and saw the great and holy city descending out of heaven from God. Now there are two cities spoken of here. As everything cannot be had in so narrow a compass as a letter, I shall say with brevity, that there is a New Jerusalem to be established on this continent, and also Jerusalem shall be rebuilt on the eastern continent (See Book of Mormon, Ether 13:1–12). (HC 2:262)
President Joseph Fielding Smith expands on this concept of the two ultimate gathering places as follows:
Among Latter-day Saints it is well understood, for the Lord has revealed it, that the American Continent is Zion. Many of the predictions made of Zion could not be fulfilled if the small parcel of ground in Jerusalem by that name were meant. Zion and Jerusalem are two separate places. The Lord makes of one the capital of his kingdom for Judah and his fellows. The other is made the capital for his kingdom in Zion which is the land of Joseph and his fellows. These are the holy cities: Jerusalem of old, when it is purified; and Zion, the New Jerusalem, on this continent. Here Ephraim presides in his birthright, holding the power of Priesthood for his fellows.
Judah also is to be gathered, but to Jerusalem and Palestine. The tribes of Israel will come to Zion where they will be crowned and eventually many of them will find their way back to the land of their inheritance, for so it has been promised. (See Ether 13:10–11.) When Judah is gathered, and we may be happy in the knowledge that he is being gathered, he too must receive his blessings from his brother Ephraim. And the time will come—it is near at hand—when all Israel shall be cleansed. The covenants made with Abraham. Isaac, and Jacob in days of old, and renewed with Joseph Smith in the present day, shall all be fulfilled” (The Way to Perfection [Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1949], 125–126)
Who will build up the New Jerusalem? Elder Bruce R. McConkie answers this important question:
Both Jew and Gentile shall build the New Jerusalem. The remnant of Jacob in the Americas (meaning the Lamanites), and the gathered remnants of the whole house of Israel—indeed, all people from all nations who are righteous and pure and believing, all who keep the commandments—all shall join in building the Holy City. And the Jews (other than the Lamanite Jews) who believe and repent and purify themselves shall build up anew the Jerusalem of old. All this is set forth by Moroni, as he wrote of Ether … (The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary, 4 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1979–1981], 4:358)
The changes that accompany the final scenes of the earth’s history—as viewed, no doubt, by Ether in his transcendent vision of things to come—will be monumental in scope. Again, from the pen of Elder Bruce R. McConkie, commenting on the passage in Revelation 21:1–2 concerning the New Jerusalem:
The earth becomes a celestial sphere, with its capital city coming down from celestial spheres, to stand as a type of life and conditions everywhere on the new heaven, for such this earth will then be… . This earth is now in its fallen or telestial state, in which condition wickedness prevails on its surface. When our Lord comes to usher in the millennial era, there will be a new heaven and a new earth. See Revelation 21:1–6a. The earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory; it will return to that edenic state which prevailed before the fall. The wicked, meaning those who live a telestial law, shall either be destroyed before the Second Coming or be burned at that time. None will remain who do not live at least a terrestrial law.
Then at the end of the millennium, plus the appointed little season, this planet will change again. Once more there shall be a new heaven and a new earth, but this time our globe will become a celestial sphere, and none shall remain on its surface unless they are living a celestial law. In that day, “the poor and the meek of the earth shall inherit it” (D. & C. 88:17), meaning that the godfearing and the righteous, those who have lived a celestial law, the law of the gospel, shall be the sole inhabitants of this planet.
To prepare the earth itself for that glorious day, the Lord says of our planet, of the very elements which compose it: “Therefore, it must needs be sanctified from all unrighteousness, that it may be prepared for the celestial glory; For after it hath filled the measure of its creation, it shall be crowned with glory, even with the presence of God the Father; That bodies who are of the celestial kingdom may possess it forever and ever; for, for this intent was it made and created, and for this intent are they sanctified… . And again, verily I say unto you, the earth abideth the law of a celestial kingdom, for it filleth the measure of its creation, and transgresseth not the law—Wherefore, it shall be sanctified; yea, notwithstanding it shall die, it shall be quickened again, and shall abide the power by which it is quickened, and the righteous shall inherit it.” (D. & C. 88:18–26.) (Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965–1973], 3:587)
The king and his household reject the message outright and continue with their political machinations and ceaseless warfare against relentless challengers. But it is all for naught, as Moroni soon: “And thus we see that the Lord did visit them in the fulness of his wrath, and their wickedness and abominations had prepared a way for their everlasting destruction” (Ether 14:25).
From his clandestine observation post, Ether witnesses the incessant bloodshed and destruction in the land, “every man with his band fighting for that which he desired” (verse 25). Coriantumr is able to defeat the armies of one of his fiercest contenders, Shared, whom he slays, but not before sustaining serious wounds himself that force him to stay back from the battle lines for two years while the killing and mayhem continue unrestrained.