Adam Awake
Thoughts on Zion · Part 2

Pure in Heart

by Lucas Jackson · · 3 min read

Therefore, verily, thus saith the Lord, let Zion rejoice, for this is Zion—the pure in heart; therefore, let Zion rejoice, while all the wicked shall mourn.1

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.2

For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.3

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.4

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.5

And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.6

And behold, this people will I establish in this land, unto the fulfilling of the covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be a New Jerusalem. And the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of this people; yea, even I will be in the midst of you.7

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.8

Those who go to Zion will know Him. This is the requirement for entering and living in Zion. You need to know Him.9 The Second Comforter is a requirement.10 A temple recommend won’t be enough, and neither will a calling. It requires that you know Him, that He take up His abode with you, because He will dwell in Zion.11

For how knoweth a man the master whom he has not served, and who is a stranger unto him, and is far from the thoughts and intents of his heart?12

And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord showed himself unto him, and said: Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you.13

Knowing Christ = Redemption from the Fall.
Redemption from the Fall = Brought back into Christ’s presence.
Brought back into Christ’s presence = He shows Himself unto you.

For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.

Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and there will be no more doctrine given until after he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh. And when he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh, the things which he shall say unto you shall ye observe to do.14

Notes

  1. D&C 97:21. See also D&C 97:15–16: “my presence shall be there, for I will come into it, and all the pure in heart that shall come into it shall see God.” ↩
  2. Matthew 5:8. In Joseph Smith’s translation: “And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (JST Matthew 5:8; Matthew 3:11 RE; Kent P. Jackson, Joseph Smith’s Translation of the Bible), the same words the Savior spoke at Bountiful (3 Nephi 12:8). ↩
  3. Alma 34:32. ↩
  4. John 14:18. ↩
  5. John 14:23. ↩
  6. Ether 12:41. ↩
  7. 3 Nephi 20:22. ↩
  8. Jeremiah 31:34. ↩
  9. Moroni 7:48: “when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure.” D&C 88:68: “sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God, and the days will come that you shall see him.” ↩
  10. D&C 130:3: “John 14:23—The appearing of the Father and the Son, in that verse, is a personal appearance.” Joseph Smith taught in 1839 that the other Comforter “is no more or less than the Lord Jesus Christ himself” (Willard Richards’s report, Joseph Smith Papers); the whole passage is quoted in Temple Ritual. ↩
  11. In Enoch’s day “the Lord came and dwelt with his people, and they dwelt in righteousness… And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them” (Moses 7:16, 18). ↩
  12. Mosiah 5:13. ↩
  13. Ether 3:13. ↩
  14. 2 Nephi 32:5–6. ↩

Comments