New Jerusalem

The Book of Mormon indicated that, in preparation for Jesus Christ’s second coming, a city should be built on the American continent and called the New Jerusalem. The Book of Mormon further explained that the remnant of the seed of Joseph (understood to be the American Indians in JS’s day) would gather to this city, where Christ would return in connection with his second coming. Several of JS’s early revelations stated that the New Jerusalem, sometimes referred to as Zion or Mount Zion, would also serve as a gathering place for the Saints and that the location for it would be revealed to them. Other revelations prophesied that Enoch and his people would join the New Jerusalem at the time of Christ’s second coming. The New Jerusalem was described as “a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the most high God.” The term New Jerusalem was used synonymously with Zion by the early 1830s. While uncertainty initially existed regarding the location of the New Jerusalem, a July 1831 revelation designated Missouri as the place to build the city of Zion and identified Independence as the center place of Zion. See also “.”