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In November 1835 Joseph Smith the Prophet described a vital principle of the gospel. “It is a principle I esteem to be of the greatest importance to those who are looking for salvation in this generation,” he explained, “or in these that may be called, ‘the latter times.’ All that the prophets that have written, from the days of righteous Abel, down to the last man that has left any testimony on record for our consideration, in speaking of the salvation of Israel in the last days, goes directly to show that it consists in the work of gathering.”[1]

Few matters have been given more attention in recent years within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than the gathering of Israel. It has become a topic that President Russell M. Nelson has addressed and emphasized repeatedly to the membership of the Church. In this presentation, we will search and study what the Book of Mormon teaches us about such matters as (1) God’s covenant with Israel; (2) why and how Israel is scattered; (3) why and how Israel is gathered; and (4) the Savior’s teachings in the Book of Mormon about the gathering. In addition, we will look carefully at what a modern prophet has taught about the work of gathering.

After Adam and Eve were required to leave the Garden of Eden, they were commanded to “offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord.” They did so in the spirit of obedience, not fully understanding why they were so commanded. “After many days,” an angel appeared and explained that these sacrifices were in similitude of the great and last sacrifice that would be offered by the Son of God in a future day. “Wherefore,” the angel directed our first parents, “thou shalt do all that thou doest in the name of the Son, and thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore” (see Moses 5:4–8; emphasis added). In that spirit, the message of this presentation is that we can only grasp the purpose and thrust of the gathering of Israel when we understand the central, saving role of Jesus Christ in that divinely ordained endeavor—an overriding message found throughout the Book of Mormon. We will discover that people are gathered, not just to lands and locations, not just to a place, but to a Person—namely, the Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s Covenant with Abraham

Covenants are two-way promises, sacred arrangements and assurances between Deity and his people. Covenants are initiated by God, and the terms and conditions of the covenant are specified by him. And while a covenant is a spiritual arrangement intended to establish expectations and foster resolve and dedication on the part of mortals, it is far more than an arrangement, much more than a transaction between two parties. A covenant, in the gospel sense, is a means by which our infinite and eternal Father in Heaven links himself with his finite, mortal children. Covenants bind the participants together. Covenants are thus more about relationship than the realization of some end, even a righteous end. The making and keeping of sacred covenants is all about linking an individual and a people to the Father and the Son through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Jehovah, who would come to earth as Jesus Christ the Redeemer, entered a covenant with Abraham. The fulness of the gospel covenant which the Lord made with the father of the faithful is so spelled out, so detailed in the book of Genesis (Genesis 13: 14–17; 15:1–10; 17:1–8), that we have come to know it as the Abrahamic covenant. The clearest statement of this covenant, however, is found in the Book of Abraham (2:8–11) in the Pearl of Great Price. By combining what is stated in Genesis with the Book of Abraham, we read that God promised Abraham the following: (1) through him would come a great nation; (2) God would make Abraham’s name great among all nations; (3) the blessings of the gospel and the priesthood would come through the descendants of Abraham; (4) those who received the gospel would be known as the seed of Abraham; (5) the Lord would bless those who blessed Abraham’s posterity and curse those who cursed the family of Abraham; (6) the descendants of Abraham would be entitled to a land inheritance; (7) through the literal seed of Abraham, all the families of the earth would be blessed; and (8) descendants of Abraham, whether lineal or adopted, would, through obedience and faithfulness, eventually receive exaltation, which entails the continuation of the family unit into eternity.[2]

Jehovah expected Abraham’s descendants to choose him as their God, to forsake or avoid the false beliefs and corrupt practices of the surrounding nations, and to keep the commandments of God. The covenant was continued through Isaac (Genesis 26:1–5), Jacob (Genesis 28:10–15), and all the faithful descendants of the great patriarchs.

Because Lehi was of the tribe of Manasseh (Alma 10:3), the son of Joseph, the promises that God had made to Father Abraham continued through Lehi’s descendants. Nephi reminded his wayward brothers that their father Lehi had declared that in the latter days the gospel of Jesus Christ would come to his descendants through the Gentiles. “Wherefore, our father hath not spoken of our seed alone, but also of all the house of Israel, pointing to the covenant which should be fulfilled in the latter days; which covenant the Lord made to our father Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed” (1 Nephi 15:18; emphasis added).

Following the deaths of Jesus Christ and the meridian apostles in Israel and the subsequent loss of the keys of the priesthood, the gospel covenant was no longer in effect in the Old World. Isaiah had described such a time: “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant” (Isaiah 24:5). Thus, Joseph Smith, the “choice seer” (2 Nephi 3:6–7) who was charged to oversee the Restoration, was assigned to restore plain and precious truths and many covenants of the Lord that had been lost from the Bible through the centuries of its transmission (see 1 Nephi 13:26; see also verses 28, 35–36).

In a letter to newspaper editor Noah C. Saxton, the Prophet Joseph declared, “The time has at last arrived when the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has set His hand again the second time to recover the remnants of his people.” The Prophet then called upon the inhabitants of the earth to “repent of all your sins, and be baptized in water for the remission of them, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and receive the ordinance of the laying on of the hands. . . . These are the requirements of the new covenant, or first principles of the Gospel of Christ.”[3]

The Scattering of Israel

Moses warned ancient Israel that if they should reject their God they would be scattered among the nations, dispersed among the Gentiles. “If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God,” he said, “to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day . . . [you will be] removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. . . . And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known” (Deuteronomy 28:15, 25, 64). The Lord spoke in a similar vein through Jeremiah some eight centuries later (see Jeremiah 16:11–13).

Because of their wandering ways, the people of God became scattered—alienated from Jehovah, from the people of the covenant and the ways of righteousness, lost as to their identity as covenant representatives, and displaced from the lands set aside for their inheritance. Israel was scattered because of apostasy, because they strayed from the ordinances and broke the everlasting covenant (compare Doctrine and Covenants 1:15). In offering his own commentary on what we know as Isaiah 49, Nephi pointed out that the work of gathering pertains to “things both temporal and spiritual; for it appears that the house of Israel, sooner or later, will be scattered upon all the face of the earth, and also among all nations.” And then, in speaking specifically of the ten northern or “lost” tribes of Israel, he said, “Behold, there are many who are already lost from . . . those who are at Jerusalem. Yea, the more part of all the tribes have been led away; and they are scattered to and fro upon the isles of the sea; and whither they are none of us knoweth, save that we know that they have been led away” (1 Nephi 22:3–4; emphasis added).

In writing of the Jews, who represent all the house of Israel (see 1 Nephi 15:17, 20; 3 Nephi 29:8; Mormon 5:14), Jacob taught that “after [the Lord] should manifest himself they should scourge him and crucify him. . . . And after they have hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks against the Holy One of Israel, . . . they [will be] driven to and fro.” In short, they “shall be scattered, and smitten, and hated” (2 Nephi 6:9–11; compare 10:5–6).

Nephi, son of Helaman, delivered a scathing rebuke: “O repent ye, repent ye! Why will you die? Turn ye, turn ye unto the Lord your God. Why has he forsaken you? It is because you have hardened your hearts; yea, ye will not hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd.” Now notice the following simple expression: “And behold, instead of gathering you, except ye will repent, behold, he shall scatter you forth” (Helaman 7:17–19; emphasis added).

Although Israel is almost always scattered because of her apostasy or wandering ways, there are times when the Lord scatters or leads away certain branches of his chosen people to various parts of the earth to accomplish his purposes—to spread the blood and influence of Abraham throughout the globe. Sometimes God will lead away groups of people from among the wicked in a sinful world (see 1 Nephi 21:1). This was certainly the case with the Lehite colony, a branch of Joseph who were led away from their Palestinian homeland to another hemisphere because of wickedness in Jerusalem. It was also true of those who followed Mulek, the son of Zedekiah, to the promised land at about the same time (Mosiah 25:2; Helaman 6:8, 21).

Nephi taught, “Behold, the Lord hath created the earth that it should be inhabited; and he hath created his children that they should possess it. And he raiseth up a righteous nation, and destroyeth the nations of the wicked. And he leadeth away the righteous into precious lands, and the wicked he destroyeth, and curseth the land unto them for their sakes” (1 Nephi 17:36–38; emphasis added). Or even more plainly, Jacob explained,

And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great knowledge . . . , let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off; nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land. . . .

For behold, the Lord God has led away [groups of people] from time to time from the house of Israel, according to his will and pleasure. And now behold, the Lord remembereth all them who have been broken off, wherefore he remembereth us also. (2 Nephi 10:20, 22; compare 2 Nephi 1:5)

The Gathering of Israel

Just as the scattering comes because of transgression, the gathering of Israel is accomplished through turning to the Lord, repenting of sin, and accepting his gospel.[4] Individuals were gathered in ancient days when they aligned themselves with the people of God, with those who practiced the religion of Jehovah and received the ordinances of salvation. They were gathered when they gained a sense of tribal identity, when they came to know who they are and whose they are. They were gathered when they congregated in those places set apart as sacred sites for people of promise.

“Ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel,” Isaiah declared (Isaiah 27:12; see also 43:1–6). The call to the dispersed of Israel has been and ever will be the same (Jeremiah 3:14; compare Ezekiel 11:17, 19–20; 28:25–26; 36:24–28). That is, gathering is accomplished through individual conversion—through faith, repentance, baptism, confirmation, and then through continued faithfulness.

The Book of Mormon is even more specific in clarifying this principle of gathering: the people of Israel will be gathered again to the degree that they return to Christ, his doctrine, and his Church (1 Nephi 15:14; 2 Nephi 9:2) and become formally associated with the Saints of God. As we mentioned earlier, people are gathered, not just to lands and locations, not just to a place, but to a Person. Nephi wrote that “after the house of Israel should be scattered they should be gathered together again; or, in fine, after the Gentiles had received the fulness of the Gospel the natural branches of the olive-tree, or the remnants of the house of Israel, should be grafted in, or come to the knowledge of the true Messiah” (1 Nephi 10:14; emphasis added).

Nephi later explained to his rebellious brothers some of their father’s words concerning Israel’s destiny:

And now, the thing which our father meaneth concerning the grafting in of the natural branches through the fulness of the Gentiles, is, that in the latter days, when our seed shall have dwindled in unbelief, yea, for the space of many years, and many generations after the Messiah shall be manifested in body unto the children of men, then shall the fulness of the gospel of the Messiah come unto the Gentiles, and from the Gentiles unto the remnant of our seed—

And at that day shall the remnant of our seed know that they are of the house of Israel, and that they are the covenant people of the Lord; and then shall they know and come to the knowledge of their forefathers, and also to the knowledge of the gospel of their Redeemer, which was ministered unto their fathers by him; wherefore, they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer and the very points of his doctrine, that they may know how to come unto him and be saved. (1 Nephi 15:13–14, emphasis added; compare 2 Nephi 30:5)

Nephi taught that after his posterity had been scattered, the Lord would “proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles.” And then in speaking of what we know as the restoration of the fulness of the gospel, Nephi added, “The Lord God will proceed to make bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations, in bringing about his covenants and his gospel unto those who are of the house of Israel. Wherefore, he will bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be gathered together to the lands of their inheritance; and they shall be brought out of obscurity and out of darkness [see Doctrine and Covenants 1:30; 109:73]; and they shall know that the Lord is their Savior and their Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel” (1 Nephi 22:8, 11–12; emphasis added).

Jacob, son of Lehi, reminded his people that the Lord God “has spoken unto the Jews, by the mouth of his holy prophets, even from the beginning down, from generation to generation, until the time comes that they [the Jews, or the house of Israel] shall be restored to the true church and fold of God; when they shall be gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise” (2 Nephi 9:2; emphasis added). After Jacob had taught that the people of Jerusalem who reject the Savior will be “scattered among all nations,” the Savior himself added, “The day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh, upon the earth, unto the lands of their inheritance” (2 Nephi 10:6–7; emphasis added). Notice the specificity of this last quotation: the Jews are to be restored to the “true church and fold of God.” Once again, the gathering in these last days is not just about returning to lands of inheritance; it consists of believing that Jesus is the Christ, coming into the fold (joining the true Church), and gathering with the Saints into their congregations, their branches and wards, districts and stakes where they reside.

Among some of his last words to those who would one day read his writings, Mormon, the great prophet-editor of the Nephite record, spoke words of power and plainness to future generations: “I speak unto you, ye remnant of the house of Israel; and these are the words which I speak: Know ye that ye are of the house of Israel. Know ye that ye must come unto repentance, or ye cannot be saved. . . . Know ye that ye must come to the knowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again, whereby he hath gained the victory over the grave” (Mormon 7:1–3, 5–6; emphasis added).

These teachings in the Book of Mormon help clarify a matter that is frequently misunderstood by members of the restored Church. The physical gathering of Jews from all over the world to the Holy Land—Zionism—is not the prophesied gathering of Judah. “Judah will gather to old Jerusalem in due course; of this there is no doubt,” Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote. “But this gathering will consist of accepting Christ, joining the Church, and receiving anew the Abrahamic covenant as it is administered in holy places. The present assembling of people of Jewish ancestry into the Palestinian nation of Israel is not the scriptural gathering of Israel or of Judah. It may be prelude thereto, and some of the people so assembled may in due course be gathered into the true church and kingdom of God on earth, and they may then assist in building the temple that is destined to grace Jerusalem’s soil. But a political gathering is not a spiritual gathering, and the Lord’s kingdom is not of this world.”[5] When the scriptures thus speak of a day when the Jews “begin to believe in Christ” (2 Nephi 30:7), they are teaching that some Jews will begin to be converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before the Second Coming in glory. A remnant of such converts to the Church will thereby be in place for the grand events associated with the Savior’s return (see Doctrine and Covenants 45:43).

The prophet Mormon referred to a future day when the message of the Book of Mormon would go to “the unbelieving of the Jews: and for this intent shall they go—that they may be persuaded that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God; that the Father may bring about, through his most Beloved [Son], his great and eternal purpose, in restoring the Jews, or all the house of Israel, to the land of their inheritance, which the Lord their God hath given them, unto the fulfilling of his covenant” (Mormon 5:14; emphasis added).

The resurrected Savior spoke to the assembled Nephites of the establishment of the New Jerusalem: “And then shall they [the Gentiles] assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem.” The Lord then spoke words that seem to apply to life in the Millennium: “And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also will be in the midst. And then shall the work of the Father commence at that day, even when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people. Verily I say unto you, at that day shall the work of the Father commence among all the dispersed of my people, yea, even the tribes which have been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem” (3 Nephi 21:24–26; emphasis added). The great work of gathering in that millennial day will commence in the sense that it will be of such magnitude that it will cause all former gatherings to pale in significance.

As Nephi, the son of Lehi, was about to close his first book, he wrote of the great millennial day and the gathering to take place during those thousand years of peace: “And the time cometh speedily that the righteous must be led up as calves of the stall, and the Holy One of Israel must reign in dominion, and might, and power, and great glory. And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture. And because of the righteousness of his people, Satan has no power; wherefore, he cannot be loosed for the space of many years” (1 Nephi 22:24–26; emphasis added).

Moroni inserted himself into the record of the Jaredites and spoke of the latter day building up of Jerusalem and the establishment of the New Jerusalem. “And then cometh the New Jerusalem; and blessed are they who dwell therein, for it is they whose garments are white through the blood of the Lamb; and they are they who are numbered among the remnant of the seed of Joseph, who were of the house of Israel.” Then in referring to the Jews of a future time, as well as the ten lost tribes: “And then also cometh the Jerusalem of old; and the inhabitants thereof, blessed are they, for they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb; and they are they who were scattered and gathered in from the four quarters of the earth, and from the north countries, and are partakers of the fulfilling of the covenant which God made with their father, Abraham” (Ether 13:10–11; emphasis added). People are “washed in the blood of the Lamb” through acceptance of the first principles and ordinances of the gospel (see 3 Nephi 27:19–21).

The rather complex but amazing allegory of Zenos, either read or quoted by Jacob, is a long and winding narrative that dramatizes how endlessly patient God is with his chosen people. It seems to take us through Israel’s history, such as from the destruction of Jerusalem to the time of the Restoration to the great Millennium. It is Jacob’s way of reconciling the fact that the Jews will, on the one hand, stumble and thereby “reject the stone upon which they might build and have safe foundation”—Jesus Christ—and yet that Christ will somehow “become the great, and the last, and the only sure foundation, upon which the Jews can build” (Jacob 4:15–16). Jacob then unfolds this “mystery” to the readers of the Book of Mormon by presenting the allegory.

And what is the mystery? It is how wandering groups of Israelites, who move through periods of faithfulness and wickedness, can ever become “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:9). It is the love of God, the fact that despite our tendency to stray and at times be disloyal to the royal within us, he is ever willing to forgive and gather his sheep into the sheepfold.

The Risen Lord Speaks of the Gathering

During his mortal ministry, the Lord Jesus declared, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. . . . I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd” (John 10:11, 14–16).

Following his resurrection and appearance to the American Hebrews, he taught those who had gathered near the temple in Bountiful. He explained to this American branch of Israel, descendants of Joseph of old, “This is the land of your inheritance; and the Father hath given it unto you. And not at any time hath the Father given me commandment that I should tell . . . unto them concerning the other tribes of the house of Israel, whom the Father hath led away out of the land. This much did the Father command me, that I should tell unto them” concerning his “other sheep.” He went on to explain that Lehi’s people had been “separated from among them [those in Israel] because of their iniquity; therefore, it is because of their iniquity that they know not of you,” nor of the lost tribes who also were separated from them, as well. He then declared, “Ye are they of whom I said: Other sheep I have which are not of this fold. . . . And they understood me not, for they supposed it had been the Gentiles; for they understood not that the Gentiles should be converted,” not by the Lord’s actual appearance but rather “the Gentiles should be converted through their preaching” (3 Nephi 15:13–17, 19–23).

The Savior instructed the Nephites to write the things he had just taught them concerning the fact that they and the lost tribes of Israel were the “other sheep” of which he had spoken in the Old World. Through his ministry, teaching, organization, and performance of covenants and ordinances, Jesus Christ gathered the Lehites and the ten tribes in their respective lands of inheritance. The Lord counseled the Nephites to make a record of what they had been taught about the other sheep because a day would come when the Gentiles would be “scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of their unbelief.”

The fulness of the gospel would be taken from among the Gentiles because they had rejected it. This day is what is known as “the fulness of the Gentiles” or the fulness of the times of the Gentiles. “And then will I remember my covenant which I have made unto my people, O house of Israel, and I will bring my gospel unto them” (3 Nephi 16:10–11). In summary, the Redeemer taught the Nephites that because of the sinfulness of the Gentiles in the last days, they would be scattered. He would then begin to gather his people, the house of Israel, and bring the fulness of the gospel to them.

Jesus counseled the Nephites to search the words of Isaiah regarding the destiny of Israel. He spoke of a time when the covenant that God had made with scattered Israel would begin to be fulfilled. “And then shall the remnants [of Israel], which shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, be gathered in from the east and from the west, and from the south and from the north; and they shall be brought to the knowledge of the Lord their God, who hath redeemed them” (3 Nephi 20:13; emphasis added).

Jesus later declared, “Ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. The Father having raised me up unto you first, and sent me to bless you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities; and this because ye are the children of the covenant” (3 Nephi 20:25–26).

In teaching those gathered near the temple at Bountiful, the risen Lord spoke of the gathering: “And I will remember the covenant which I made with my people [the Jews]; and I have covenanted with them that I would gather them together in mine own due time, that I would give unto them the land of their fathers for their inheritance, which is the land of Jerusalem, which is the promised land unto them forever, saith the Father.” Now note what follows: “And it shall come to pass that the time cometh, when the fulness of my gospel shall be preached unto them; and they shall believe in me, that I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and shall pray unto the Father in my name” (3 Nephi 20:29–31; emphasis added).

The Final Phase of Gathering

So is it the case that once a person has been taught the gospel, accepts the message of the Restoration, and been baptized and confirmed by those holding proper authority that the gathering has come to an end for that individual? Isn’t this the process by which a woman or a man qualifies for salvation or eternal life (see Doctrine and Covenants 6:13; 14:7)?

“While salvation is an individual matter,” President Nelson explained, “exaltation is a family matter. Only those who are married in the temple and whose marriage is sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise will continue as spouses after death and receive the highest degree of celestial glory, or exaltation. . . . To be saved—or to gain salvation—means to be saved from spiritual and physical death.” President Nelson taught further, “To be exalted—or to gain exaltation—refers to the highest state of happiness and glory in the celestial realm. These blessings can come to us after we leave this frail and mortal existence. The time to prepare for our eventual salvation and exaltation is now.”[6]

It is in light of these grand principles that we can appreciate more fully the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith, delivered on June 11, 1843: “What was the object of gathering the Jews, or the people of God, in any age of the world? . . . The main object was to build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto His people the ordinances of His house and the glories of His kingdom, and teach the people the way of salvation; for there are certain ordinances and principles that, when they are taught and practiced, must be done in a place or house built for that purpose. . . . It is for the same purpose that God gathers together His people in the last days, to build unto the Lord a house to prepare them for the ordinances and endowments, washings and anointings, etc.”[7] Thus the final phase of the gathering of the members of the house of Israel is the gathering to holy temples or, as Isaiah expressed it, to “the mountain of the Lord’s house” (Isaiah 2:2; 2 Nephi 12:2). President Boyd K. Packer put it simply when he stated, “The ultimate end of all we do in the Church is to see that parents and children are happy at home and sealed together in the temple.”[8]

A Modern Prophet Speaks of the Gathering

In recent years, no senior Church leader has said more about God’s covenant with Abraham and his posterity, as well as the gathering of the house of Israel, than President Nelson. In November 1988, Elder Nelson delivered an address to Brigham Young University students entitled “Thanks for the Covenant,” in which he explained such matters as who we are, how we are descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God’s covenant with Abraham, and how we are entitled to those same blessings as we receive and are faithful to our temple covenants.

In April 1995 Elder Nelson delivered a message in general conference entitled “Children of the Covenant.” He taught, “The Master appeared in these latter days to renew the Abrahamic covenant. . . . We are . . . children of the covenant. We have received, as did they of old, the holy priesthood and the everlasting gospel. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are our ancestors. We are of Israel. We have the right to receive the gospel, blessings of the priesthood, and eternal life. Nations of the earth will be blessed by our efforts and by the labors of our posterity. The literal seed of Abraham and those who are gathered into his family by adoption receive these promised blessings—predicated upon acceptance of the Lord and obedience to his commandments. . . . Rewards for obedience to the commandments are almost beyond mortal comprehension.”[9]

More recently (June 2018), in a very significant message to the youth of the Church entitled “Hope of Israel,” President Nelson extended an invitation and delivered a charge: “Now, we would like to talk with you about the greatest challenge, the greatest cause, and the greatest work on earth. And we want to invite you to be part of it! My dear young brothers and sisters, these surely are the latter days, and the Lord is hastening His work to gather Israel. That gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance, nothing else compares in majesty. And if you choose to, if you want to, you can be a big part of it.”

President Nelson went on to teach a simple truth that has enormous implications: “Anytime you do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel. It is as simple as that.”[10]

In February 2022 President Nelson spoke to some 750,000 Latter-day Saints in California about these same principles. “Many of your friends are seeking to understand why they are here on earth,” he said. “They want to know if life has any meaning. They want to make a difference in the world but they don’t know who they can trust. Do you realize that you have the answers your friends are seeking? . . . This gathering [of Israel] is all about giving every human soul the chance to hear and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is all about saving souls.”[11]

Finally, in an address to the members of the Church in India, he said, “This is the Church of Jesus Christ, restored in these latter days so that the families of scattered Israel can be gathered into the fold of the Lord. They don’t have to be gathered physically into any one place. The gathering place for the people of India is India. The gathering place for the people of Sri Lanka is Sri Lanka. The gathering place for the people of Nepal is Nepal. The gathering place for the people of China is China. Our job is to be gathered into the fold of Christ—wherever that is—and to live by His precepts from now on.”[12]

Conclusion

Concerning the gathering of Israel, Elder McConkie wrote, “The biblical prophets, in profuse abundance, tell of the scattering and gathering of the house of Israel. They set forth the sins and evils that caused the scattering and prescribe the righteousness and good works that underlie the gathering.” Now note what follows: “But they do not use the words gospel and church and Messiah and Zion and covenant as clearly and plainly and with the same full meaning that those words have in the Nephite account. As with almost all the doctrines of the gospel, the Book of Mormon adds a perspective and gives a view of eternal truth that can be received in no other way.”[13]

President Nelson explained, “This doctrine of the gathering is one of the important teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . . . We not only teach this doctrine, but we also participate in it. We do so as we help to gather the elect of the Lord on both sides of the veil. The Book of Mormon is central to this work. It declares the doctrine of the gathering. It causes people to learn about Jesus Christ, to believe His gospel, and to join His Church. In fact, if there were no Book of Mormon, the promised gathering of Israel would not occur.”[14]

A modern revelation declares, “Keep all the commandments and covenants by which ye are bound; and I will cause the heavens to shake for your good, and Satan shall tremble and Zion shall rejoice upon the hills and flourish; and Israel shall be saved in mine own due time; and by the keys which I have given shall they be led, and no more be confounded at all” (Doctrine and Covenants 35:24–25, emphasis added; compare 38:33; 101:12; Romans 11:26).

Moroni, son of Mormon, gave voice to a prayer and a plea that had been expressed by the prophet leaders since the days of father Lehi. In speaking of the Lamanites, he wrote, “These things which we have desired concerning our brethren, yea, even their restoration to the knowledge of Christ, are according to the prayers of all the saints who have dwelt in the land. And may the Lord Jesus Christ grant that their prayers may be answered according to their faith; and may God the Father remember the covenant which he hath made with the house of Israel; and may he bless them forever, through faith on the name of Jesus Christ” (Mormon 9:36–37; emphasis added).

The Book of Mormon bears a powerful testimony of the supernal gift of God’s never-ending love for and infinite patience with the house of Israel. As we noted earlier, Jacob, the son of Lehi, quoted from the complex but profound allegory of Zenos. He then rejoiced in the mercy of God: “For he remembereth the house of Israel, both roots [ancestry] and branches [posterity]; and he stretches forth his hands unto them all the day long; and they are a stiffnecked and gainsaying people; but as many as will not harden their hearts shall be saved in the kingdom of God.” Jacob then pleaded with his people, and with all people for that matter, to repent “and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you” (Jacob 6:4–5).

The allegory of Zenos says it all—God simply will not let Israel go! To be involved in the gathering of Israel in these latter days is a sacred and sobering responsibility, but it is also a supernal and soul-satisfying opportunity and privilege. As we do our part in this the greatest work in all the world, we are being loyal to the royal within us and thereby helping to fulfill God’s promises to Father Abraham.

Notes

[1] Letter to the Elders of the Church, November 16, 1835; emphasis added.

[2] See Russell M. Nelson, “Covenants,” Ensign, November 2011; see also Teachings of Russell M. Nelson (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2018), 7.

[3] Letter to Noah C. Saxton, January 4, 1833. In the Wentworth Letter, Joseph explained that Moroni had been “sent to bring the joyful tidings that the covenant which God made with ancient Israel was at hand to be fulfilled, that the preparatory work for the second coming of the Messiah was speedily to commence; that the time was at hand for the Gospel in all its fullness, to be preached in power, unto all nations that a people might be prepared for the Millennial reign. I was informed that I was chosen to be an instrument in the hands of God to bring about some of His purposes in this glorious dispensation.” Times and Seasons, March 1, 1842, 707.

[4] Some have distinguished between those passages in the Book of Mormon that refer to Israel being restored from those that speak of Israel being gathered. They suggest that the people of Israel are restored to Christ, to the gospel, to the covenants, while they are physically gathered to the lands of their inheritance. While I understand the reasoning, in this paper I have chosen instead to refer to the whole process as the gathering of Israel and to speak of two stages of gathering: (1) to the Lord and his gospel; and (2) to the lands of their inheritance or the congregations of the Saints.

[5] Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), 519–20.

[6] Teachings of Russell M. Nelson, 100–101.

[7] Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2007), 416–17, 419.

[8] Clyde J. Williams, ed., Mine Errand from the Lord: Selections from the Sermons and Writings of Boyd K. Packer, (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 2008), 490.

[9] “Children of the Covenant,” Ensign, May 1995; emphasis added.

[10] Russell M. Nelson, “Hope of Israel” (worldwide youth devotional, June 3, 2018, Conference Center in Salt Lake City); emphasis added.

[11] “President Nelson Extends Three Invitations to Latter-day Saints in California,” February 27, 2022, newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org; in Liahona, August 2022.

[12] Bengaluru, India, Member Meeting, April 19, 2018; see Teachings of Russell M. Nelson, 130; emphasis in original.

[13] McConkie, New Witness for the Articles of Faith, 554–55; emphasis in original.

[14] Hope in Our Hearts (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2009), 69–70; emphasis added; see also Nelson, Accomplishing the Impossible (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2015), 59–60.