Two Lands of Promise
The Old World Promised Land is in the Land of Jerusalem
The Bible teaches that the promised land for the Jews is the land of Jerusalem. When Jesus appeared to the Nephites on the American continent, He explained that: “The land of their fathers” is the “land of Jerusalem which is the Promised land” (3 Nephi 20:29). Jesus then told the Nephites that the land upon which He was speaking would be the covenanted gathering place for “the remnant of Jacob” and “as many in the House of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem” (3 Nephi 21:23).
The New World Promised Land is at the Borders of the Lamanites in Missouri
Lehi, who took his family from Jerusalem across the ocean to America, prophesied about the promised land: “Wherefore, I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me: That there shall
none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord. Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom He shall bring; and if it so be that they shall serve Him according to the commandments which He hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity, if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound, cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous, it shall be blessed forever” (2 Nephi 1:6-7; emphasis added).
Nephi recounts the vision he was shown that foretold the events that would take place on the land of
promise: “And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles, and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters. And it came to pass that I beheld many multitudes of the Gentiles upon the land of promise, and I beheld the wrath of God, that it was upon the seed of my brethren, and they were scattered before the Gentiles and were smitten” (1 Nephi 13:13-14). This description of the “other Gentiles” matches both the Pilgrims’ and the Puritans’ history of crossing the Atlantic ocean or “the many waters” where the “seed of [Nephi’s] brethren” [the Lamanites, of the House of Joseph] were “scattered” and “smitten” by the early American settlers. Nephi further comments on the meaning of the scattering: “And it meaneth that the time cometh that after all the House of Israel have been scattered and confounded, that the Lord God will raise up a ‘mighty’ nation among the Gentiles, yea, even upon the face of this land, and by them shall our seed be scattered” (1 Nephi 22:7-8; emphasis added).
Nephi explained that “a mighty nation” would be “raised up” by the Lord. Notice this is not a group of nations, but a single nation that would become mighty. In Doctrine and Covenants 101:80, the Lord explains “I established the Constitution of this land by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.” In 1829, when Joseph translated the Book of Mormon, the term “mighty nation” would not have described the United States. European nations had colonized the rest of the world and had formidable armies and navies, along with powerful religious leaders. The Constitution was only forty years old and was deeply threatened by the division between the North and the South. It wouldn’t be until the end of the Civil War in 1865 that it became clear the United States would endure as a nation. Since then, the United States of America has fulfilled Nephi’s prophecy and has become the “mighty nation.” This nation has fulfilled the other elements of his prophecy. As previously stated, when living in Nauvoo, IL, Joseph Smith wrote that the remnant of the descendants of Lehi were “the Indians who now inhabit this country.”
The Lord also identified these Indians as Lamanites in Doctrine and Covenants 28, 30 and 32. It was these Lamanites who were “scattered” by the mighty nation of the United States. An example was the sad “Trail of Tears,” a series of forced removals of several American Indian Nations from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to an area west of the Mississippi River that had been designated as the new Native Territory by the federal government. Those forced relocations were carried out following the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830, the very year the Book of Mormon was published that contained this prophecy.
In a revelation given through Joseph Smith Jr., the Prophet, to Oliver Cowdery (Second Elder of the Church), at Fayette, New York, September 1830, who was ordained Assistant President of the Church in
1834) the Lord directs him to the Lamanites saying: “And now, behold, I say unto you that you shall go
unto the Lamanites and preach My gospel unto them; and inasmuch as they receive thy teachings thou
shalt cause My church to be established among them; and thou shalt have revelations, but write them not by way of commandment. And now, behold, I say unto you that it is not revealed, and no man knoweth where the city Zion shall be built, but it shall be given hereafter. Behold, I say unto you that it shall be on the borders by the Lamanites” (Doctrine and Covenants Section 28:8-9; emphasis added). In a subsequent revelation given through Joseph Smith Jr., the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio, September 22 and 23, 1832, the Lord states where the location will be: “…Yea, the word of the Lord concerning His church, established in the last days for the restoration of His people, as He has spoken by the mouth of His prophets, and for the gathering of His saints to stand upon Mount Zion, which shall be the city of New Jerusalem. Which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, Jun., and others with whom the Lord was well pleased” (Doctrine and Covenants Section 84:2-3; emphasis added).
North America is a choice land, a land that ushered in the restoration of the Gospel with the translation
of the Book of Mormon by the gift and power of God, and a land that has a future destiny in being the
location of the city of the New Jerusalem in which those of the House of Israel shall dwell. Annotated Book of Mormon by David Hocking and Rod Meldrum pages xii-xiii
