When Joseph Smith and the other missionaries arrived in Missouri, the first questions they asked of the Lord were “When will the wilderness blossom as the rose? And when will Zion be built up in her glory?” (JS History, vol. A-1, 127, JSP). To the elders who had just arrived in Jackson County, the stretch of land before them was a poor prospect for the divine city of God prophesied of in the scriptures. The Lord asked them to look with an eye of faith and see the possibilities. Later in the revelation, the Lord warned them that it would be “many years” before the city could be fully established. But the grand vision for the city was then only beginning to unfold.

The Lord also provided the first indications that before the city would be built the Saints would suffer tribulation (D&C 58:4–5). At this time, the Church was less than two years old, and nearly all of the missionaries in Missouri were converts of less than one year. The Lord was trying to prepare the Saints for the challenges to come. Most of them could not imagine the opposition they would eventually face in attempting to build Zion in its chosen location. Ugly scenes of persecution awaited the Saints in Missouri, but so did the return of the city of Enoch. The road to Zion lay filled with challenges and promise.

This preliminary group of missionaries had been sent to Missouri in part to prepare a group of witnesses who could share their testimony of the city’s purpose and the place where the city was to be built. Sidney Rigdon was specifically appointed to write a description of Jackson County to encourage Church members to emigrate and help to build Zion (D&C 58:50–51). The Lord quoted Isaiah in describing a “feast of fat things” for all who choose to attend (Isaiah 25:6). The “wine on the lees well refined” is a phrase used in the King James Version of the Bible. The lees are also known as the dregs, or the most concentrated portion of the wine. The lees contained the strongest and sweetest part of the wine and were similar to a jelly or a preserve; they were considered a great delicacy.

While those with advantages of wealth and education might be the first to receive the gospel, the Lord promises that His power will lift up “the poor, the lame, and the blind, and the deaf” until all can come into the marriage of the lamb. An integral part of the Church’s work in the latter days is to spread education and help people become self-reliant. To fulfill these aims, the Lord commanded the creation of a school in Zion (D&C 55:4; 97:3–5). The Lord also later commanded that those who wished to settle in Zion first enter into the law of consecration (D&C 72:15–17). The feast of fat things described by the Lord was both temporal and intellectual. The Lord intended to eradicate the twin plagues of ignorance and poverty within the city of Zion.

Edward Partridge is reproved in the revelation for his doubts about Zion’s location, and to his everlasting credit, he repented and worked to build Zion. Edward received other rebukes in the revelations (D&C 64:17), and each time he bore his chastisement with humility and worked to fulfill the Lord’s commands. It is important to remember that Edward and his family had already made considerable sacrifices for the gospel. They took in and supported many of the penniless saints emigrating from New York and Pennsylvania. While assisting these families, members of the Partridge family came down with the measles, which were transmitted from some of the refugees. It was during this trying time that Edward left to travel to Missouri, perhaps heightening his anxiety and leading to the conflict with Joseph over the land.

Lydia Partridge, Edward’s wife, later remembered, “My eldest daughter was taken down with lung fever, and while she was at the worst, my husband was called by revelation to go with a number of others to Missouri to locate a place for the gathering of the Saints, the unbelievers thought he must be crazy, or he would not go. And I thought myself that I had reason to think my trials had commenced, and so [they] had, but this trial like all others was followed with blessings for our daughter recovered” (Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Vol. 1, p. 330, fn. 458).

A few days after this revelation was given, Edward wrote in a letter to Lydia, “You know I stand in an important station, and as I am occasionally chastened I sometimes fear my station is above what I can perform to the acceptance of my Heavenly Father. I hope you and I may conduct ourselves as at last to land our souls in the heaven of eternal rest. Pray that I may not fall” (Scott H. Partridge, “Edward Partridge in Painesville, Ohio,” BYU Studies 41, no. 1, 64). Other members of the missionary expedition to Missouri, most notably Ezra Booth, were disappointed in the land’s appearance and the local settlers’ demeanor. But in contrast to Booth, who left the Church and became a bitter enemy of the Saints, Edward Partridge stood fast in his place, fulfilled his duties, and received his just reward (D&C 124:19, 21).

While Latter-day Saints see themselves as citizens of the kingdom of God, they also hold a responsibility to serve as upright citizens of the countries they reside in. The Lord directed the Saints in Jackson County to keep the laws of the Church and the laws of the land and to “be subject to the powers that be” (D&C 58:21). In a similar vein, Joseph Smith declared as one of the articles of faith that Church members “believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law” (Article of Faith 12).

Church members are asked not only to honor and obey the law but also to be full participants in the governance of the societies they live in. Elder Ronald A. Rasband counseled, “The opportunity to be involved in the ­political process is a privilege given to every citizen. Our laws and legislation play an important teaching role in shaping our social and moral culture. We need every individual in society to take an active role in engaging in civic dialogue that helps frame laws and legislation that are fair for everyone” (“Religious Freedom and Fairness for All,” BYU Devotional, September 15, 2015).

Prior to his conversion to the Church, Edward Partridge was a successful hatter in Painesville, Ohio. Relocating himself and his family to Missouri was a great sacrifice. Shortly after this commandment was given, he wrote to his wife, Lydia, informing her that he needed to stay in Missouri “for the present, contrary to [his] expectations” and that he wanted her to stay in Painesville until the spring so she would be more comfortable there. Then he wrote of his feelings about leaving his home of more than a decade: “When I left Painesville, I told people I was coming back and bade none a farewell but for a short time, consequently I feel a great desire to return once more and bid your connection and my friends and acquaintances an eternal farewell, unless they should be willing to forsake all for the sake of Christ, and be gathered with the saints of the most high God” (Partridge, 64).

Several months later, Lydia Partridge undertook the journey to Missouri. Because Edward had been assigned to look after the needs of the Church in Missouri, Lydia had to manage the journey on her own. In addition to moving all of the family’s clothing and possessions, she had to look after their five daughters, ranging in age from eleven years to seventeen months old. Emily Partridge later reflected on her parents’ sacrifices, saying, “It seemed, to him, a very great undertaking for mother to break up her home and prepare for such a journey, with a family of little children, without her husband to advise and make arrangements for her. She was then quite young, and inexperienced in such things. But if my father could have looked forward into the future and beheld what his family would have to go through I think he would have felt still more anxious” (Partridge, 65).

During their journey to Missouri, Lydia and her daughters were assisted by Church members such as Isaac Morley and his family, who were also traveling to the new Zion. Emily later reflected, “Whatever suffering and privation my mother had to endure she never murmured or complained, but rejoiced that she was counted worthy to endure tribulation for the Gospel’s sake. She felt that she had enlisted in a good cause and she looked forward to the happy time that had been promised to the saints. Her religion compensated her for all the hardships she had to endure” (Emily Dow Partridge Young, Autobiography, http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/EmPart.html, accessed February 3, 2021).

The doctrine of agency is further explored in this revelation, adding to the doctrine that had been revealed to Joseph Smith during his translation of the book of Genesis (Moses 4:1–4) and in a revelation received almost a year earlier (D&C 29). The Lord had revealed to the Prophet that Lucifer’s objective in premortality was to “destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him” (Moses 4:3). Doctrine and Covenants 29 added that Satan and his followers turned away from God “because of their agency” (D&C 29:36). The devil and his angels play a role in helping men and women learn the power of their agency. The Lord revealed that “it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet” (D&C 29:39). For people to exercise the power to choose, they must have a good choice and a bad choice.

Now, as the first missionaries stood in the land of Zion, the Lord again wanted to emphasize their power to do good. While the Lord provides commandments and counsel, His ultimate aim is to empower men and women to see the ways they can bring about God’s purposes and then move proactively to do good. The Lord gives direction, but He wants us to eventually learn to see what needs to be accomplished and do good works of our own free will. Learning to use our personal agency to bless and help those around us is the Lord’s ultimate aim of giving us agency.

Along with agency must come accountability. The Lord gives commandments to men and women and therefore must hold them accountable. In recent years, Church leaders have discouraged the use of the term free agency because it suggests that a person’s freedom to choose comes without consequences for their actions. The term free agency does not appear in the scriptures. The Lord instead uses the term moral agency(D&C 101:78). In the time this revelation was received, an agent was defined as one to “entrusted with the business of another” (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, “agent”). The connotation is similar to saying that someone can act as an attorney or representative of someone or something else. To say a person had moral agency was to say that a person was entrusted to act on behalf of morality.

Today when we speak of someone as a free agent we mean that the person is committed to no group or organization to act on his or her behalf. However, understanding our premortal existence, we also understand that we committed to live the plan when we came to earth. Therefore, we are not free agents during our life here on earth but moral agents committed to live the laws of God. The Lord gives us opportunities to recommit to the cause through baptism and other covenants. But just as a player signed to a sports team is not allowed to act as an agent for another team, we are committed to use our power to act to forward the purposes of God, working as moral agents.

Martin Harris, one of the three witnesses, was among those the Lord commanded to travel as missionaries to identify the location of Zion (D&C 52:24). Though he is remembered primarily for his role in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, Martin also deserves to be remembered for the sacrifices he made to build the city of Zion. In a sermon given just a few days after Martin Harris’s death, Apostle Orson Pratt noted,

Martin Harris was the first man that the Lord called by name to consecrate his money and lay the same at the feet of the Bishop in Jackson County, Mo., according to the order of consecration. He willingly did it; he knew the work to be true; he knew that the word of the Lord through the Prophet Joseph was just as sacred as any word that ever came from the mouth of any Prophet from the foundation of the world. He consecrated his money and his substance, according to the word of the Lord. What for? As the revelation states, as an example to the rest of the Church (D&C 58:35). (Journal of Discourses, 18:160–161)

William W. Phelps was among the men set apart to serve as agents for the Church in Missouri. The Lord reproves him in these verses for the sin of “seeking to excel” (D&C 58:41). While seeking excellence is not a sin, it is implied here that William was seeking to be placed on a higher plane than his fellow servants called to the work in Missouri, with the Lord pointing out that he was not “sufficiently meek” (D&C 58:41).

For sins like the one William was struggling with, or any other kind of spiritual malady, the remedy is repentance. The Lord calls on William to repent and points out two of the most important actions accompanying repentance: to confess and to forsake the sin. Sincere confession to oneself, to God, and, if necessary, to Priesthood leaders is a sign of contrition that demonstrates the beginning of a change within a person’s heart. Forsaking the sin is more than just refraining from committing it again. The word forsake indicates a mighty change of heart, of losing the disposition to commit the sin. The people of King Benjamin spoke of a “mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2). One of the most simple ways to measure repentance is just to ask, Am I the sort of person who would commit that sin again? An honest answer to that question determines if a real change of heart has taken place.

Sidney Rigdon was commanded in this revelation to write a description of the land of Zion to help people understand conditions there. Sidney’s description is found in part in Joseph Smith’s official history, where Joseph Smith noted,

As we had received a commandment for Elder [Sidney] Rigdon to write a description of the land of Zion, we sought for all the information necessary to accomplish so desirable an object. Unlike the timbered states in the east, except upon the rivers and water courses, which were verdantly dotted with trees from one to three miles wide,—as far as the eye can glance the beautiful rolling prairies lay spread be around like a sea of meadows. . . . The soil is rich and fertile, from three to ten feet deep, and generally composed of a rich black mould, intermingled with clay and sand. It produces in abundance, wheat, corn, and many other common agricultural commodities, together with sweet potatoes and cotton.

Describing the climate of Missouri, Sidney Rigdon wrote,

The season is mild and delightful nearly three quarters of the year, and as the land of Zion situated at about ​equal​ distances from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. . . . The winters are milder than in the Atlantic states of the same parallel of latitude; and the weather is more agreeable, so that were the virtues of the inhabitants only equal to the blessings of the Lord which he permits to crown the industry and efforts of those inhabitants, there would be a measure of the good things of life, for the benefit of the saints, full, press down and running over, even an hundred fold.

Sidney’s description of Zion also sought to give those who wanted to emigrate to Missouri an honest assessment of the land’s challenges: “The disadvantages here, like all new countries, are self-evident: lack of mills and schools, together with the natural privations and inconveniences, which the hand of industry, and the refinement of society with the polish of science, overcome. But all these impediments, banish when it is recollected what the prophets have said concerning Zion in the last days” (JS History, vol. A-1, 137–139, JSP).

Sidney Rigdon was commanded in this revelation to write a description of the land of Zion to help people understand conditions there. Sidney’s description is found in part in Joseph Smith’s official history, where Joseph Smith noted,

As we had received a commandment for Elder [Sidney] Rigdon to write a description of the land of Zion, we sought for all the information necessary to accomplish so desirable an object. Unlike the timbered states in the east, except upon the rivers and water courses, which were verdantly dotted with trees from one to three miles wide,—as far as the eye can glance the beautiful rolling prairies lay spread be around like a sea of meadows. . . . The soil is rich and fertile, from three to ten feet deep, and generally composed of a rich black mould, intermingled with clay and sand. It produces in abundance, wheat, corn, and many other common agricultural commodities, together with sweet potatoes and cotton.

Describing the climate of Missouri, Sidney Rigdon wrote,

The season is mild and delightful nearly three quarters of the year, and as the land of Zion situated at about ​equal​ distances from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. . . . The winters are milder than in the Atlantic states of the same parallel of latitude; and the weather is more agreeable, so that were the virtues of the inhabitants only equal to the blessings of the Lord which he permits to crown the industry and efforts of those inhabitants, there would be a measure of the good things of life, for the benefit of the saints, full, press down and running over, even an hundred fold.

Sidney’s description of Zion also sought to give those who wanted to emigrate to Missouri an honest assessment of the land’s challenges: “The disadvantages here, like all new countries, are self-evident: lack of mills and schools, together with the natural privations and inconveniences, which the hand of industry, and the refinement of society with the polish of science, overcome. But all these impediments, banish when it is recollected what the prophets have said concerning Zion in the last days” (JS History, vol. A-1, 137–139, JSP).

The day after this revelation was given, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon led several ceremonies dedicating the land of Zion. Joseph Smith recorded,

On the 2nd day of August, I assisted the Colesville branch of the church to lay the first log for a house as a foundation of Zion, in Kaw township, twelve miles west of Independence. The log was carried and placed by twelve men in honor of the twelve tribes of Israel. At the same time, through prayer, the land of Zion was consecrated and dedicated for the gathering of the Saints by Elder [Sidney] Rigdon; and it was a season of joy to those present, and afforded a glimpse of the future, which time will yet unfold to the satisfaction of the faithful. (JS History, vol. A-1, 137, JSP)

John Whitmer included more details about the dedication in his history, where he wrote,

Brother Sidney Rigdon stood up and asked saying:

“Do you receive this land for the land of your inheritance with thankful hearts from the Lord?”

Answer from all: “we do.”

“Do you pledge yourselves to keep the laws of God on this land, which you have never have kept in your own land?”

“We do.”

“Do you pledge yourselves to see that others of your brethren, who shall come hither do keep the laws of God?”

“We do.”

After prayer he arose and said, “I now pronounce this land consecrated and dedicated to the Lord for a possession and inheritance for the Saints, (in the name of Jesus Christ having authority from him.) And for all the faithful Servants of the Lord to the remotest ages of time. Amen.”

John Whitmer also recorded that the following day, eight elders, “Joseph Smith Jr., Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon, Peter Whitmer Jr., Frederick G. Williams, Wm. W. Phelps, Martin Harris, and Joseph Coe,” met together at the future site of the temple in Zion. Sidney Rigdon offered a prayer dedicating “the ground where the city is to Stand: and Joseph Smith Jr. laid a stone at the North east corner of the contemplated Temple in the name of the Lord Jesus of Nazareth. After all present had rendered thanks to the great ruler of the universe. Sidney Rigdon pronounced this Spot of ground wholly dedicated unto the Lord forever: Amen” (John Whitmer, History, 30–31, JSP).

Ziba Peterson was among the original missionaries sent to Missouri to preach to the Lamanites under the leadership of Oliver Cowdery (D&C 32:3). While we do not know the exact nature of Peterson’s transgression, Ezra Booth later wrote that Peterson was guilty of conduct “on a parallel” with a man who “enters into a matrimonial contract with a young lady, and obtains the consent of her parents; but as soon as his back is turned upon her, he violates his engagements, and prostitutes his honor by becoming the gallant of another, and resolves in his heart, and expresses resolutions to marry her.” Peterson confessed his transgression at the conference held on August 4, and a week later married Rebecca Hopper of Lafayette County, Missouri (Revelation, 1 August 1831 [D&C 58], fn. 51, JSP).

Many of the missionaries sent to Missouri were still on their way when this revelation was received. Some, including Samuel Smith, Hyrum Smith, and David Whitmer, did not arrive until later in August (see D&C 62), while others did not arrive until October or November of that year (Revelation, 1 August 1831 [D&C 58], fn. 52, JSP). Edward Partridge was directed to hold a conference with these elders upon their arrival. There was no reproval for these elders because their arrival was delayed. In a later revelation the Lord told several of the elders “ye are blessed, for the testimony which ye have borne” (D&C 62:3).

Along the way to accomplish our given tasks, we must remember the Lord’s overarching command to share the gospel, to assist in lifting others up, and to build God’s kingdom through good works. Zion is often created by the good carried out along the way as we strive to reach the holy city.