Chapter 11
God is Always Victorious
(Read the Tenth Article of Faith)
The plan for human welfare, conceived and put into execution by the Lord, includes a program of events by which indeed the progress of the plan may be observed. Many of these predicted events—such as the coming of man, the episode of the Garden of Eden, the sacrifice of Christ, the restoration of the Gospel in the last days—have already occurred; others, as mentioned in the Tenth Article of Faith, are yet to transpire.
These events, despite man’s frequent failure to accept the conditions of the plan, have been steadily realized throughout the long periods of man’s occupancy of the earth. That is but an evidence that man does not have the power to defeat the purposes of the Lord. Endowed with free agency, man may accept or reject truth, may abide in the faith or forsake it, but the God of Israel, He who slumbers not nor sleeps, moves irresistibly forward to the destined goal. Man can defeat only his own high possibilities.
In the faith of the Latter-day Saints there is the certainty that the foretold events of the last dispensation of the Gospel will surely come to pass. God speaks, eternity hears, and in the end all creation obeys! “My name is Jehovah, and I know the end from the beginning; therefore my hand shall be over thee.” The Latter-day Saints look eagerly forward to the fulfillment of the prophecies and promises pertaining to the last days in which we live.
The promise has been made to the faithful, the true children of Israel, often despised, who have been and are scattered among the nations of the earth, that in the last days they shall be gathered to form peoples of power and influence. The history of the Latter-day Saints shows the fulfillment of this promise, a fulfillment which will become more largely accomplished with the advancing years.
Such a promise was given to Abraham of old, respecting his descendants and the Holy Land. This promise seems now in process of fulfillment. Let it be said, however, that the present return of the Jews to their ancient homeland may only be a temporary, preparatory chapter in the story of Jewry. The promise was made to Abraham and his seed; but in modern revelation it is made clear that the seed of Abraham who have a claim upon the promised blessings are those who possess the “ministry and Priesthood” of Abraham. “As many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father.” The question arises whether the redemption of Palestine will be accomplished until the Jews and their brethren yield obedience to the Gospel and receive the Priesthood.
The promise has also been made that in the last days the lost tribes of Israel shall be found and return to their brethren, the Jews, to win the blessings of their great ancestor. This promise seems also to be in process of fulfillment. A world-wide study, still in full operation, has shown that the blood of Israel is widely scattered among the nations of earth, so widely indeed that perhaps no nation is devoid of it. The location of the main body of the lost tribes is not known. Some believe that it is hidden in the northern wastes of earth, others that it is mingled with the northern nations of Europe. It does not matter. In one way or another the lost tribes will return or are returning to claim their ancient privilege—the Gospel and the Priesthood.
The gathered people of the Lord will be organized, under the Gospel plan, over the face of the earth. There will be administrative centers, the chief of which will be the city of Zion. This foremost center, from which the word of the Lord will issue, will be built upon the western, American continent. Another such important center will be Jerusalem, on the eastern continent, from which will issue the law based upon the word of God. An understandable order and naturalness will mark the last as the first days.
When the last days approach the end, the true Ruler of Earth will appear to take possession of His own. Jesus the Christ will come to reign personally upon earth. To Him was committed the task of building the earth; to Him was assigned the labor and pain of human redemption; He has ever been the mediator between God and man, the advocate of humanity before the Father. Of right, He comes to preside over the earth and the human family when the program of the temporal earth shall approach the end. To this joyful association with our Leader, our Elder Brother, every Latter-day Saint looks earnestly forward.
Then at length the earth chapter of the eternal plan will come to an end. Every spirit who accepted the plan in the Great Council will have been born to earth into a mortal body and will have passed through the change called death. All will be in readiness for the next chapter of the plan—one of enduring joy, in which the spirits of the first estate, clothed with the resurrected purified bodies of the second estate, shall forever, in their third estate, with increasing power, in endless works of righteousness, approach the likeness of God, their Eternal Father. So great is the glory of that last estate, that no mortal man can behold it, “and afterwards remain in the flesh upon the earth.”
These members of the human race, who have thus been added upon, will possess the earth as their abiding place. To be fit for the presence of such celestialized beings, the earth itself must undergo a glorious transformation. It will be of the same order of glory as of those who shall live upon it.
This use of the earth is possible, because in the economy of the Lord, it is a living organism, one which has been ever obedient to the law placed upon it. This was revealed to Joseph Smith, the Prophet, in these words: “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.” We do well to love Mother Earth from whom the substances of our bodies came, who shall care for them to the day of resurrection, and who shall be our abiding place throughout unutterable ages of eternity.
The earth, prepared for the righteous, who have won celestial glory, will become like a paradise, the garden into which our first parents were placed—a sinless abode of God. It will perform functions of great consequence to its inhabitants, best set forth in the words of a revelation to Joseph Smith, the Prophet. “This earth, in its sanctified and immortal state, will be made like unto crystal and will be a Urim and Thummim to the inhabitants who dwell thereon, whereby all things pertaining to an inferior kingdom, or all kingdoms of a lower order, will be manifest to those who dwell upon it, and this earth will be Christ’s.”
With unshakable faith, knowing that God is always victorious and will secure the fulfillment of His plan, Latter-day Saints look forward, without doubt, to the coming events that will witness to the truth of the message of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and also to the presence of the last days of the story of earth.
QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS
1. Who are the children of Israel?
2. How old is the plan of salvation?
3. If God is always victorious, how do you explain the many apostasies from the truth during the course of human history?
4. What are the various meanings of the word ZION?
5. Who will inhabit the celestialized earth?
6. What is the destiny of the Church of God?