The journey of Joseph Smith and his companions to the land of the Missouri was the culmination of many hopes and promises for the early members of the Church. The first mention of this city was given to Joseph as he translated the words of Jesus Christ to the Nephites. The Savior prophesied that “the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem. And then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem” (3 Nephi 21:23–34).

Later, as Joseph began his translation of the Old Testament, he learned of the city of Enoch named Zion that was built anciently. The Lord told Enoch, “Truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem” (Moses 7:62–64).

At the heart of the city of Zion will be a temple, and the city of Zion, along with a rebuilt and restored Jerusalem, is to be the center of the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ (Ether 13:10–11). From there the borders of Zion will spread to encompass the entire earth—Jackson County was just the starting place. Brigham Young recalled an instance when a woman asked if Jackson County was large enough to hold all who would gather to Zion. In response, he said, “Zion will extend, eventually, all over this earth. There will be no nook or corner upon the earth but what will be in Zion. It will all be Zion. . . . We are going to gather as many as we can, bless them, give them their endowments, etc., preach to them the truth, lay the principles of eternal life before them” (Complete Discourses of Brigham Young, 1896–1897).

Once the location of the city was identified, the revelation directed the Saints toward the practical aspects of obtaining the land to build the city. The “line running directly between Jew and Gentile” (D&C 57:4) is a reference to the boundary between the American Indians and the European settlers in Jackson County. With the Nephites and the Lamanites among the ancestors of the American Indians, they were designated as part of the house of Israel, referred to here simply as relatives to the Jewish people. Independence was located only twelve miles down the Missouri River from the state line that also served as the border to Indian Territory, which had been established by the United States Congress in the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Oliver Cowdery and the members of the Lamanite mission who had arrived in the region months earlier had made attempts to cross into Indian Territory, but they were rebuffed by federal Indian agents for not holding licenses to teach among the native people.

The European settlers already in Missouri were also a cause of concern to the Saints who were gathering there. When Newel Knight and the members of the Colesville Branch arrived in the area, he was taken aback by the roughness of the local settlers. He later acknowledged, “We could not but feel deeply the contrast as we now stood upon the western limits of the USA and were obliged to mingle and associate with those who had known nothing but a frontier life, until they were but a little above the native in the point of education and refinement.” Newel felt the settlers were “full of bigotry, superstition, and prejudice, the natural result of ignorance” (Rise of the Latter-day Saints, 37). Despite the roughness of the land and the people, the Saints were commanded to enter the scene as peacemakers. A later commandment given to Joseph Smith instructed the Saints to “carefully gather together, as much in one region as can be consistently with the feelings of the people” (D&C 105:24).

Consistent throughout the revelation is the commandment for the missionaries to “plant” themselves in the new land. The Colesville Branch, after a journey of over 1,100 miles, had at last found a home. Edward Partridge, the bishop of the Church, and Sidney Gilbert, the agent of the Church, were directed to be begin preparations for the new home of the Colesville Branch, who settled near the Big Blue River, near Independence. The first Sunday after their arrival the elders held a worship service. Historian B. H. Roberts later reflected that “such a congregation was present as was only possible in an American frontier district.” The group included American Indians, enslaved African Americans, “and all classes and conditions of people from the surrounding counties—Universalists, Atheists, Deists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, both priests and people—a motley crowd truly!” After the service, two people who had already been meeting with the missionaries came forth and were baptized (Roberts, The Missouri Persecutions, 1965, 43).

This moment captured all of the promise and peril in building the city of Zion. A diverse group of people met together, listening to the hopes of a shining new city of God to be built in their midst. At the same time, ominous signs emerged on the horizon. B. H. Roberts noted that, other than a small handful of converts, “the Church was made up wholly of Northern people, and therefore constituted a different class of settlers from the old inhabitants of Independence, who came chiefly from the south” (Missouri Persecutions, 43). The millennial hopes of the Saints would soon collide with the culture of the frontier. But for now, Joseph and the other members of the Church rejoiced that at last the location of the New Jerusalem was known.