The ultimate definition of happiness is to be like God; the more we approach the stature of God in attributes, knowledge, power, and dominion, the happier we are. Conversely, the definition of misery is to be like Satan. Misery is always associated with Babylon.

To become like God and experience his level of happiness rests on two criteria: (1) Justice–the system of celestial laws that make God who he is and provide him what he has; that is, God’s power and quality of life derive from his obedience to celestial laws. (2) Mercy-the Lord’s love, grace, forbearance, clemency, and pity on us lesser beings, as he patiently works with us to help us to become like him. To a great extent our happiness depends upon God’s merciful interaction with us and our extending mercy to others.

The Covenant of the Gods

In a premortal council of the Gods (which preceded the Council in Heaven that we attended), the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost entered into a covenant to work together for the happiness, salvation, and exaltation of the Father’s children. Joseph Smith taught that an “everlasting covenant was made between three personages before the organization of this earth, and relates to their dispensation of things to men on the earth; these personages, according to Abraham’s record, are called God the first, the Creator; God the second, the Redeemer; and God the third, the witness or Testator.” Our interaction with these three Gods began before the world was created, continues here, and will endure into eternity. Every aspect of our interaction with them has to do with our present redemption and our eternal happiness.

Too often we miss the fact that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost define their dealings with us in terms of relationship. Each one of us is dearer to them than we can comprehend. Motivated solely by their relationship with us, they initiated the plan of happiness.

In the premortal world, when the Father announced the plan of happiness, we shouted for joy, perhaps because the plan’s far-reaching benefits were so extraordinary. In that supreme act of love, Heavenly Father offered us the opportunity to become what he is. He held nothing back. His package included indivisible access to and inheritance of the totality of his kingdom, the fulness of his power, the keys to the library of everything he knows, and the ability to become like him in perfections, characteristic, and attributes.

His offer included the quintessential gift of a physical body, and a tabernacle of flesh and bones for our immortal spirits to eternally “act upon.” He also offered us the invaluable gift of divine education: the opportunity to experience good and evil and the unrestricted gift of agency to choose between them. Finally, he offered us the opportunity to enjoy his lifestyle–eternal marriage and family–with the promise of eternal posterity.

Happiness Encompasses All That Is Good

Clearly, the plan of happiness offered us all that was good, which is called righteousness. Righteousness, according to Chauncey Riddle, is “that necessary order of social relationships in which beings of knowledge and power must bind themselves in order to live together in accomplishment and happiness for eternity.”

Happiness is wholly dependent upon righteousness, and it is in righteousness that Zion people weld themselves together by solemn covenants so that they become “predictable, dependable, and united so that they can be trusted. They bind themselves to be honest, true, chaste, and benevolent so that they can do good for all other beings, which good they do by personal sacrifice to fulfill all righteousness.” Thus, being and doing good and being and doing righteousness are synonymous terms; goodness and righteousness are unifying, perfecting, selfless principles that produce happiness.

On the other hand, evil, the opposite of goodness and righteousness, is without discipline, a law unto itself, a corrupting and self-serving principle that produces misery. Evil defines Babylon.

Heavenly Father structured the plan of happiness so as to mercifully wrest us from Babylon, from our complacency, from our evil tendencies, and from the effects of the Fall. Heavenly Father built into the plan of happiness his promise that he would endow us with the Light of Christ, which is an agent employed by the Holy Ghost to “feel after” us and draw us out of Babylon and into Zion. By means of that light, the Holy Ghost would continually offer us opportunities to view ourselves in our “awful state,” for the purpose of shaking us loose from Babylon.

Moreover, the Father promised that he would offer each of us an unmistakable witness of the truth by the power of the Holy Ghost, so that we might reconsider our destructive path, repent of evil, and embrace “the godly order of good.” Clearly, the Father makes every effort to offer us happiness.

Balancing Justice and Mercy

To make the plan of happiness operational, the Father first instigated the covenant of justice, that system of laws that he obeyed in order to become who he is and enjoy what he has. That is, by obedience to celestial he was justified to enjoy the blessings associated with those laws. By living those laws, we, God’s children, can progress and become like him in every way. That is the process that leads to true happiness.

Knowing that his children would break the celestial laws while they struggled to assimilate them in their lives, and knowing that those broken laws would consign his children “forever to be cut off from his presence,” the Father decreed a second law, which would have the power to override the consequences of broken celestial laws and to thereby save his children. That new law is called the covenant of mercy. We know this law by another name: the new and everlasting covenant.

The covenant of mercy called for the Father to provide an atoning Savior to balance the demands of justice against the purposes of mercy: “And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself [Jesus Christ] atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.” Mercy would also allow the children of God to receive physical bodies like their Father’s, with the assurance that these eternal gifts would not be cancelled out by death. The Savior’s merciful universal resurrection would make that possible.

Accessing the benefits of mercy through the Atonement was decreed to be a matter of individual choice. To facilitate that choice, the Father instigated a covenant that we could choose to embrace if we desired to access the Atonement, draw upon its mercy, receive shelter from the demands of justice, and be placed beyond the reach of our enemies. This covenant is called the new and everlasting covenant, and we enter it by our individual agency.

Placed Beyond Our Enemies

The Atonement makes goodness, righteousness, happiness, and salvation possible. According to Joseph Smith, salvation is the power to be placed beyond the reach of one’s enemies. The specific enemy he spoke of was death, but, as Brother Riddle says, “The great enemy of each human being is himself, for in our weakness and selfishness we are and do evil.” We, alone, can neither save ourselves nor fully overcome our weakness or selfishness.

Overcoming our natural selves and our enemies is made possible “only if we fully cooperate with Jesus Christ.” He has the ability to cleanse us completely of the stains of our evildoing and to transform us into righteous individuals who have no more desires to do evil. This process leads to progressively higher levels of happiness. By entering into the new and everlasting covenant for the purpose of accepting the Atonement of Jesus Christ, a repentant person can be “rescued from being and doing evil” through the “merits and mercy of the Son of God.”

How Mercy Appeases Justice

That mercy is a covenant is an essential truth. Every covenant or law of God is obeyed or disobeyed by individual choice. Specific blessings and consequences are associated with that choice, and either misery or happiness results. If we desire mercy, we must live the covenant associated with mercy. As we have learned, that covenant is the new and everlasting covenant, which we are required to receive in order to accept Jesus Christ and his Atonement. It is a truth that this Covenant springs from the Atonement and is the instrument by which we are justified to receive the Lord’s mercy and by which the plan of happiness is realized.

Clearly, the new and everlasting covenant activates the plan of redemption. By means of this Covenant, the Father’s children can receive celestial laws and experiment with them without being destroyed by them. By means of the Covenant, the children of God can lay hold on the blessings of the Atonement by choosing to repent, progress, obtain salvation, become like God, and inherit all that he has. This is the ultimate condition of Zion people.

The new and everlasting covenant also sets us on the defined path that leads to eternal life, gives us the authority of God, places in our hands the keys (not priesthood administrative keys) to God’s knowledge and power, and sets us up in our individual eternal kingdoms. Only the Atonement itself exceeds in glory the magnificence of the new and everlasting covenant. The two are inseparable, and both answer the end-purpose of the Father’s plan of mercy: our happiness.

Experiencing Contrasts Leads to Happiness

To lay hold on the plan of happiness, we must be presented with two contrasting revelations: (1) God and his goodness, and (2) our fallen situation. Because is crucial, the Lord uses contrast to motivate us to choose between these opposites.

As we have noted, there are good and bad consequences attached to God’s laws. Breaking his commandments always results in being “cut off both temporally and spiritually from the presence of the Lord.” This is misery, which Alma described as “the gall of bitterness,” and being “encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.” On the other hand, happiness always results from being brought, through our obedience, into “the marvelous light of God.”

For instance, after Alma had been “racked with eternal torment” for his sins and “harrowed to the greatest degree,” he appealed to the Savior and suddenly swung from misery to happiness. He moved from “inexpressible horror” to “exquisite and sweet” joy, from the “pains of a damned soul” to experiencing redemption and seeing “God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels,” with his soul longing to be there. He exulted, “Oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold.” Then describing the contrast, “My soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain.”

Clearly, seeing the contrast between good and evil motivates us toward happiness. After the Lord appeared to Moses, he left him to himself and he was tempted by Satan. That contrast allowed Moses to experience the distinct difference between having the Lord and not having the Lord with him: “Now, for this cause I know that man is nothing, which thing I never had supposed.” Moses also perceived the contrasting differences in glory between the Lord and Satan: “Moses looked upon Satan and said: . . . where is thy glory that I should worship thee?” Now that Moses had experienced these contrasting visions, he was empowered to choose between misery and happiness. He said, “Depart from me, Satan, for this one God only will I worship, which is the God of glory.”

Similarly, but in reverse order, King Benjamin’s people literally collapsed when they “viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth.” Then, after they cried out to the Lord for mercy, “the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience.” Happiness came only after they experienced the contrast.

Similarly, and in a unique way, the Lord will offer us happiness by helping us understand who he is and showing us who and where we are. Then we, like King Benjamin’s people, might be so astonished that we cry out for mercy and deliverance. Hopefully, when we are offered deliverance, we will choose to embrace it with all our hearts. The account of King Benjamin and his people teach us the truth that mercy, deliverance, and eternal happiness are available to us only through the Atonement. We note that King Benjamin’s people were willing “to enter into a covenant with [their] God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he [would] command [them], all the remainder of [their] days.”

Covenant-making leads to deliverance, which leads to happiness. After we have made a covenant and experienced deliverance and happiness, we will never want to return to our miserable past. Our desire now centers on the Lord sending the Holy Ghost to transform us into new creatures with new hearts. Because that process is beyond our ability, we look to Christ. To achieve a change of heart, we must first accept Jesus Christ and his Atonement, enter into a covenant of salvation with him, and cooperate with him to the fullest extent. Moreover, we must fully submit to his incomparable power and trust him as he remakes us into new creatures by planting the seeds of salvation and happiness into our souls. “Thus human beings may become good and may become gods.”

Summary

To summarize, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost entered into a premortal covenant to save and exalt the Father’s children. A primary purpose of that covenant was that the children achieve ultimate happiness. Therefore, the Gods initiated the plan of happiness, which called for the Father to reveal the system of celestial laws that made him who he is and gave him what he has. The Gods knew that in the process of our learning those laws, we, God’s children, would inevitably break the laws and become liable to pay severe penalties. Therefore, to mitigate the adverse effects of broken laws, the Gods initiated the Plan of Redemption, or the Plan of Mercy.

That plan called for the Father to provide a Savior to rescue us from death and to atone for the consequences of broken celestial laws. The blessings of mercy through this plan could be accessed only by law and by choice; therefore, the Father established the new and everlasting covenant. Now his children could agree to obey this new law that would provide mercy, and God in turn would agree to set aside “the demands of justice.” Thus, justice could be satisfied, mercy could rescue and claim her own, and the children of God could progress in the Covenant until they achieved salvation, exaltation, and ultimate happiness, as the Gods had planned in the beginning.

Thus, Zion people experience unequalled happiness because they choose to embrace the Atonement by entering into and fully living the new and everlasting covenant.

Author’s Note

This article was adapted from my new book, The Three Pillars of Zion. Click here to receive a free sample.

2 Nephi 2:25.

See Alma 42:15.

Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 349.

Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 190.

Alma 42:1-26.

Job 38:7.

2 Nephi 2:13-14.

D&C 132:24, 55.

Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 225.

Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 225.

D&C 88:21-35.

D&C 112:13.

Ether 4:15.

Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 225.

Alma 42:13-15.

Alma 42:14.

See Alma 42:13-15.

Alma 42:15.

See Alma 11:44.

Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 305.

Acts 4:12.

Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 225-26.

Alma 19:33.

Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 225.

Alma 42:7.

Alma 36:18.

Mosiah 27:29.

Alma 36:12.

Alma 36:14, 21.

Alma 36:16, 19-22.

Alma 36:20.

Moses 1:10, 13.

Moses 1:20.

Mosiah 4:12-13.

Mosiah 5:5.

2 Nephi 25:28.

2 Corinthians 5:17.

Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 226.

Alma 42:15.

The New and Everlasting Covenant

In the beginning, the Father set forth two primary covenants to advance and save his children. These covenants are 1) the Covenant of Justice, through which he reveals the laws governing the celestial kingdom and those who inherit eternal life, and 2) the Covenant of Mercy, by which he rescues and exalts his children according to those same celestial laws.

Regarding the Covenant of Mercy, Jesus Christ is the agent of mercy and salvation. The vehicle of mercy and salvation is the Atonement, which establishes the foundation of the Covenant of Mercy. Upon that foundation, the New and Everlasting Covenant rises and forms the framework of our new life in Christ. Helaman explains, “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”

Our new life is like a temple. As that holy structure rises, covenants are added. If we were to attempt to outline the New and Everlasting Covenant it might look like this:

New and Everlasting Covenant

1. Covenant of Baptism
2. Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood

a. Ordination (men)

b. Temple covenants (men and women)

c. Eternal marriage covenant (men and women)

 Of profound importance is the fact that we make the New and Everlasting Covenant at the time of baptism with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. All three members of the Godhead effectively affix their names to the agreement with a covenant to save and exalt us. This is the purpose of the New and Everlasting Covenant. Each member of the Godhead now takes a part in our advancement and transformation, although “we receive all of the blessings of this covenant through the Son, who is Everlasting.” Bookending the New and Everlasting Covenant is the other covenant in which the Father, Son and Holy Ghost affix their names: the covenant of eternal marriage. Now the New and Everlasting Covenant is complete. Clearly, we become Zion people by means of the Covenant a combination of our best efforts and the best efforts of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

The first pillar of Zion is the New and Everlasting Covenant. The New and Everlasting Covenant is the sum of all gospel covenants, ordinances and commandments–”the fulness of the gospel.” The purposes of the Covenant are: 1) to obtain knowledge and power for personal salvation, and 2) to obtain knowledge and power to help save other people by teaching them of the Atonement and administering to them the Covenant.

Infinite and eternal in scope, the Covenant has the power to save men and women and transform them into the image of God. We are saved to the degree that we receive and conform to this Covenant. If we become complacent about the Covenant, we risk forfeiture of our privileges. Zion people build their lives upon the bedrock of the Atonement by entering into the New and Everlasting Covenant.

Justification

Within the New and Everlasting Covenant, the covenants of justice and mercy work hand-in-hand to make of us Zion people and propel us toward eternal life-to make us just. We often think of justice in terms of inflicting penalties for sin, but justice also rewards us for obedience to God’s eternal laws. Mercy assures that those rewards are given according on our best-not perfect–effort. This is a manifestation of grace-we do all that we can and Jesus Christ makes up the difference. Thus, by obedience and grace, a child might be justified to receive the same reward for obedience as an apostle, as evidenced in the account of 3^rd Nephi when both the children and the apostles were equally blessed with access to the Savior, his teachings, healings and heavenly ministrations.

Justification, therefore, is to be judged worthy of the blessings that are specified by the laws of God on the basis of our best efforts. In the end, we understand, all blessings come to us by the merits of Jesus Christ. We cannot obtain any blessing from God, become just, attain to Zion, nor obtain inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom without being justified by obeying God’s laws and by applying to grace that is available through the mercy of Jesus Christ.

The Holy Ghost is the Savior’s justifying agent. Elder McConkie wrote: “What then is the law of justification? It is simply this: ‘All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations’ (D&C 132:7), in which men must abide to be saved and exalted, must be entered into and performed in righteousness so that the Holy Spirit can justify the candidate for salvation in what has been done. (1 Ne. 16:2; Jac. 2:13-14; Alma 41:15; D. & C. 98; 132:1, 62.) An act that is justified by the Spirit is one that is sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise, or in other words, ratified and approved by the Holy Ghost.”

Some of the most definitive statements on justification are found in the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon at the Temple. BYU professor Chauncey Riddle says, “The Book of Mormon is the scripture that lays out with great clarity justification both as a process and a product [See Alma 5].” Only by entering into the New and Everlasting Covenant can we exercise faith in Jesus Christ unto repentance, be cleansed from his sins through baptism, then live obediently by sacrifice so that the Holy Ghost can justify us to receive the prescribed blessings that are affixed to the laws of God. By this process, and by this only, can we truly become just.

Purification

Purification and sanctification are words that are often interchanged. That they are closely associated is evident. In this article, we will define purification as extracting any impurities that would stand between us and perfection; we will define sanctification as changing the purpose of something. We enter the New and Everlasting Covenant to draw upon the Atonement and become pure and therefore Zionlike.

Zion people are purified people; they are the “pure in heart.” Quoting Brother Riddle: “[The Atonement of Jesus Christ has the power to] “reach into our bosom and give each of us a new heart.” Purification flows from the Covenant of Mercy; by covenant we agree to allow the Lord to extract from our lives all impurities and pollutions that would stand between us and the Celestial Kingdom. This is necessary because ultimately, our desire to become Zionlike will require divine intervention: “To pour light and truth into the human vessel is not enough. As a child of Christ attempts to love the light and truth…each becomes aware of an alarming fact: having light and truth is no guarantee of being able to do what is right.” Only the Atonement can purify a heart, and we must agree to the process of purification. Thus, we enter into the New and Everlasting Covenant or the Covenant of Mercy.

Purification is dependent upon two factors: 1) our complete effort to change and make amends, and 2) the grace of Jesus Christ to do what lies beyond our ability. The Savior is the Purifier, but the agent for the purification process is the Holy Ghost: “The Holy Ghost is also a Purifier in that, because of Christ and the Atonement, this Spirit member of the Godhead has power given him to cleanse, sanctify, and purify the human soul. (3 Ne. 27:19-21.)” The process of purification is often called the baptism of fire. We are fully immersed in the heat of the Lord’s furnace to burn out of us all impurities. The Holy Ghost will persist in the process until he can commend us to God as being pure, that is, “true and faithful in all things” in the similitude of “Him whose very name is ‘Faithful and True.’”

We must do our part to purify ourselves, but in the end we will need the Holy Ghost and the Savior to make us completely pure. Brother Riddle said, “If we have repented of every sin we can repent of, have made fourfold restitution as far as we are able [D&C 98:44; Luke 19:8], and have been reconciled to our brother [Matthew 5:23-24], we may present ourselves at the altar with a broken heart and a contrite spirit [2 Nephi 2:7.] and plead in mighty prayer for this change of heart [Mormon 7:48; Mosiah 4:2.]. Then and only then will our Savior reach in and give us a new heart. The new heart will be a pure heart, one that has no selfish desires, one that is willing to do the right thing. It will choose to do the will of God at all times and places, no matter what the opposition or the sacrifice involved.

“This new heart is made in the image of Jesus Christ, that same heart that enabled our Savior to say, ‘Father, not my will, but thine be done,’ that same heart that enabled him to live a sinless life, that same heart for which he was chosen to be the Firstborn and to be the Only Begotten. To be purified is to become literally a new creature in Christ, to die as to the old person that we were, literally to become of the heart and mind of [Christ]. The scriptures promise great rewards for those who qualify and take this step. The scriptural name for this new heart is ‘charity.’ Charity is to have a heart that loves with the pure love of Christ.”

Sanctification

Like purification, sanctification also flows from the Covenant of Mercy, which is the New and Everlasting Covenant. As much as we enter the Covenant to receive the blessings of the Atonement and become purified, we enter the Covenant to be sanctified.

Sanctification is the result of being purified. When the contaminants, pollutions and alloys have been burned from our souls, we emerge from the furnace sanctified; that is, we now have a new purpose. Let us examine, for example, the sacrament prayer in which the priests bless and sanctify profane bread and change its purpose by the priesthood to call us to remembrance of the body of Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life. Now blessed and sanctified, the bread’s purpose has changed from sustaining physical life to sustaining spiritual life. Likewise, a pile of stones can, by the priesthood, be changed in purpose to become an altar: “And thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, and sanctify the altar: and it shall be an altar most holy.” Or a natural man can be purified of sin then sanctified by the Holy Ghost, so that his purpose now becomes one of service to God: “And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office.”

The Savior sanctifies us through the Atonement, but the Holy Ghost is the agent of sanctification, just as he is the agent of purification. The Holy Ghost rids us of impurities so that he might change our purpose. This is purification and sanctification. We have a responsibility in the process. We must cooperate with the Savior and Holy Ghost as they purify and sanctify us. The Lord commanded: “Sanctify yourselves; yea purify your hearts, and cleanse your hands and your feet before me, that I may make you clean.” None of this is possible outside the Covenant.

Our responsibility

Our part in the sanctifying process requires that we separate ourselves from Babylon and all that is profane, unholy and ungodly. To accomplish this, wrote Mormon Times editor, Joseph A. Cannon, “We fast and pray, we ‘wax stronger’ in our humility and become ‘firmer in the faith of Christ…even to the purifying and the sanctification of [our] hearts, which sanctification cometh because of [our] yielding [our] hearts unto God’ (Helaman 3:35). If we ‘come unto Christ’ and ‘deny [our]selves of all ungodliness’ and yield our hearts to God, then we are ‘sanctified in Christ by the grace of God through the shedding of the blood of Christ.’ It is through this [process] that we can ‘become holy [sanctified] without spot.’ (Moroni 10:32-33).” Thus we are commanded to “sanctify yourselves that your minds become single to God.”

Our effort to purify and sanctify ourselves begins with faith in Jesus Christ; we must believe that he has the power to cleanse and transform us, and we must trust in his methods and timing. Faith in Jesus Christ-true faith-always leads to repentance; we must eliminate the impurities from our souls and change our purpose. Repentance leads to covenant-making; we desire to legitimize our resolve by entering into an agreement with the Lord to purify, sanctify and make us in every way fit for the Celestial Kingdom. That agreement is called the New and Everlasting Covenant, and we enter that Covenant by the covenant of baptism. Now are pronounced clean, but we are not yet pure and sanctified. For that reason, we receive a special gift: the gift of the consummate purifying and sanctifying agent, the Holy Ghost.

Reception of the gift of the Holy Ghost is the baptism of fire spoken of in the scriptures. When a person enters into the New and Everlasting Covenant, he does so for the purposes of receiving relief from his sins and starting down the path to becoming like God. That process of transformation requires burning out of him the impurities that made him a sinful “natural man,” then molding him into a new creature, a saint, to assume the image of God.

The crucible-the baptism of fire

A common metaphor for this sanctification process is the making of steel. When raw ore is placed in a crucible and heated in a furnace, the substance becomes molten and the properties separate. At that point, a skilled metallurgist can divide out the impurities from the pure, refined ore. An alloying process ensues whereby the metallurgist carefully combines select elements in perfect proportion with the pure iron. The result is steel. But the process is not yet complete. For steel to become strong and not brittle, it must be subjected to reheating in the furnace, which is followed by pounding to align the molecules into their strongest position. The process of being thrust into the furnace and beaten is repeated multiple times until the steel is free from impurities and aligned so that it cannot be broken. At some point, the metallurgist pours the steel into a mold to change its purpose, and as a final step he polishes it. The finished product is incredibly strong and beautiful, and it will remain so indefinitely.

Just so, we are immersed in a baptism of fire that includes heating, pounding, molding and polishing so that we might be purified, sanctified and conformed to the image of God. The Lord has every right to do this. We agreed to it when we entered into the New and Everlasting Covenant. John Taylor wrote, “I heard the Prophet Joseph say, in speaking to the Twelve on one occasion: ‘You will have all kinds of trials to pass through. And it is quite as necessary for you to be tried as it was for Abraham and other men of God, and (said he) God will feel after you, and He will take hold of you and wrench your very heart strings, and if you cannot stand it you will not be fit for an inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom of God.’”

The purified and sanctified to make an offering

When we entered into the New and Everlasting Covenant, we agreed to submit to the Lord’s crucible and allow him to make of us what we could not make of ourselves, and to make an offering in righteousness. We read: “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” We qualify as the sons of Levi. When we enter into the Melchizedek Priesthood, we become the sons of Aaron, who was the son of Levi, and the sons of Moses. The offering required of us is a broken heart and contrite spirit–”And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost,” and “a book containing the records of our dead.” The processes of purification and sanctification precede our ability to make this offering in righteousness, which each of us must make if we hope to become Zion and gain the promises of eternity.

Job understood the process and submitted to the Lord’s crucible: “…when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Sometimes this process is called trying or chastisement, and we must endure it or forfeit our eternal inheritance: “My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom.” Of interest, chastise means more than to punish; it also means “to make chaste.” Job patiently endured the Lord’s chastisement without murmuring, which is the act of simultaneously believing in God while complaining about how he is managing the affairs of one’s life. On the other hand, Job waited confidently on the Lord’s deliverance from the crucible. He followed the same admonition that Joseph Smith gave to the saints: “Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.” Whereas murmuring postpones or cancels out blessings, cheerfully submitting in patience summons the Lord’s deliverance.

Only the grace of Jesus Christ enables us to endure the heat of the purifying and sanctifying procedure while trusting him in the process. The Lord will strengthen us and uphold us until we can make an offering unto him in righteousness, which offering brings us finally to where we desired to be when we entered into the New and Everlasting Covenant. Only the Lord’s grace can expunge us of all impurities; only his grace can transform us and give us a new purpose. The promises to the purified and sanctified are unequalled: “And unto him that repenteth and sanctifieth himself before the Lord shall be given eternal life.”

Reference

This article contains information from my upcoming book series, The Three Pillars of Zion. 

Chauncey C. Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 1989 Sperry Symposium on the Doctrine and Covenants, Chapter Sixteen, p.228, insert added

See D&C 42:67

See D&C 22; 132:6-7

D&C 39:11; 45:9; 66:2; 133:57

See “Grace,” LDS Bible Dictionary, p.697

See 2 Nephi 31:19; Moroni 6:4

Bruce R. McConkie, “Justification,” Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed., p.408

See Matthew 5-7; 3 Nephi 12-14

Chauncey C. Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 1989 Sperry Symposium on the Doctrine and Covenants, Chapter Sixteen, p.234

D&C 97:21

Bruce R. McConkie, “Purity,” Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed., p.612

See 2 Nephi 31:13-14; D&C 20:41; 33:11; 39:6

Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, p.316

Chauncey C. Riddle, “The New and Everlasting Covenant,” 1989 Sperry Symposium on the Doctrine and Covenants, Chapter Sixteen, p.236-37

See D&C 20:77

See John 6:35

Exodus 40:10

Exodus 28:41

Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah: From Bethlehem to Calvary, vol. 4:114

See Alma 13:11-12; 3 Nephi 27:19-21; D&C 84:33

D&C 88:74

Joseph A. Cannon, “Sanctify,” Mormon Times, June 12, 2008

D&C 88:68

See 2 Nephi 27:19-21

See 2 Nephi 31:13-14; D&C 20:41; 33:11; 39:6

Mosiah 3:19

See JST 2 Corinthians 5:17

Mosiah 3:19

See Alma 5:19

See Romans 8:29

John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, vol. 24:197    

3 Nephi 24:3; D&C 128:24

See D&C 84:31-34

3 Nephi 9:20

D&C 128:24

Job 23:10

D&C 136:31

“Chastening,” Encyclopedia of Mormonism, p.264

D&C 123:17

D&C 133:62

Becoming merciful.

“And blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” 1 The Law of the Harvest states, “…whatsoever ye sow, that shall ye also reap.” 2 Applied to mercy, the Law of the Harvest reads: “those who sow righteousness reap mercy.” 3 That is, when a Zion person strives to live faithfully in the Covenant, he qualifies for the Lord’s mercy.

Mercy is another of the gospel’s reciprocal principles; once mercy is given it returns “with increase.” 4 Mercy, like love, multiplies when it is “given first.” 5 Elder Henry D. Moyle said, “There is an eternal truth, the verity of which I am certain, that love begets love, and as we love one another, our ability to love increases.” 6 The same could be said of mercy.

Pres Hinckley said, “How godlike a quality is mercy. It cannot be legislated. It must come from the heart. It must be stirred up from within. It is part of the endowment each of us receives as a son or daughter of God and partaker of a divine birthright…. I am convinced that there comes a time, possibly many times, within our lives when we might cry out for mercy on the part of others. How can we expect it unless we have been merciful ourselves?…. One cannot be merciful to others without receiving a harvest of mercy in return….” 7

Mercy is defined as compassionate treatment, especially to those for whom we have a responsibility; it is showing clemency or leniency toward an offender; it is a disposition to be kind and forgiving, and a willingness to alleviate distress and give relief. 8

Heavenly Father sets the standard of mercy: “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father is also merciful.” 9 The Father’s plan of mercy called for an infinite atonement to “satisfy the demands of justice,” and encircle us “in arms of safety.” 10 The Savior’s mission was to enact the Father’s plan of mercy, which “overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they might have faith unto repentance.” 11

Because of the Lord’s atonement, the meek have claim upon mercy: “I, the Lord, show mercy unto all the meek.” 12 A Zion person is merciful even as the Lord is merciful. 13

Becoming pure in heart.

“And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” 14 Notice the word all. Perhaps more than any other principle, this one describes a Zion person: ” Zion is the pure in heart.” 15

President Kimball taught, ” Zion can be built up only among those who are the pure in heart, not a people torn by covetousness or greed, but a pure and selfless people. Not a people who are pure in appearance, rather a people who are pure in heart. Zion is to be in the world and not of the world, not dulled by a sense of carnal security, nor paralyzed by materialism. No, Zion is not things of the lower, but of the higher order, things that exalt the mind and sanctify the heart.” 16

President Kimball suggested three fundamental things to become pure in heart and thus “bring again Zion ” 17: 1) eliminate selfishness, 2) cooperate completely and work in harmony one with one another, and 3) lay on the altar whatever is required by the Lord. 18

To be pure in heart suggests a change of heart or a rebirth, which begins with baptism and leads to eternal life: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God….” 19 Explaining the process of rebirth or changing one’s heart, the Encyclopedia of Mormonism says, “Scripture describes the rebirth to which Jesus refers as a ‘mighty change in your hearts’ or being ‘born of God’ (Alma 5:13, 14). It means that the person puts off the ‘natural man’ [telestial man] and puts on a new [ Zion ] nature that has ‘no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually’ (Mosiah 5:2; 3:19).

A person who is pure of heart is one who has died to evil and awakened to good. Thus “pure people,” being alive to good, dwell together in righteousness and are called Zion (Moses 7:18). Zion , then, is the way of life of a pure-hearted people who abide in the Covenant and live the gospel of Jesus Christ.” 20

Beyond this description, the pure in heart are those who forsake their sins, come unto Christ, call on his name, obey his voice and keep his commandments. 21 On August 2, 1833, the Lord gave an expanded revelation on the principle of being pure in heart: “And inasmuch as my people build a house unto me in the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to come into it, that it be not defiled, my glory shall rest upon it; Yea, and 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.” 22 This revelation places the temple at the center of importance concerning a pure hearted person’s qualifying to see God. ”

To see God, according to Elder Royden G. Derrick, [is more than visual sight; it] means to come to know God, discover him, and understand him ( Temples in the Last Days, 80).” 23 A Zion person is privileged to come to know God, discover him, understand him, and to literally see him, for Zion is God’s “abode forever.” 24

The temple ordinances help to purify one’s heart and point that person toward this supernal experience: “And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God. Therefore, in the ordinances thereof [the ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood], the power of godliness is manifest. And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; For without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live. Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God.” 25

And the temple is the likely place where that will happen. Hugh Nibley said, “…the temple is the earthly type of Zion ….” 26 Quite literally, the temple is heaven on earth. Because heaven is where God lives, the pure in heart – all the pure in heart 27 – may enter the temple, God’s house, and partake of its ordinances and commune with and see God.

Becoming a maker of peace.

“And blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” 28 Again, notice the word all. Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” 29 Clearly, peace ranges in levels, as do other gospel principles, from telestial, which is almost non-existent 30 and usually means absence of war, to celestial, which “passeth all understanding.” 31

The Lord’s peace is, according to Elder McConkie, a gift of the spirit, 32 and Satan cannot duplicate it. 33 Mortal fear flees in the face of the Lord’s peace: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” 34 When the Lord established Zion among the Nephites, they experienced unequalled peace.

The following description is remarkable:

• No contentions
• No disputations
• Every man dealing justly one with another
• All things in common
• No rich, poor, bond, or free Peace and prosperity in the land
• A love of God in the hearts of the people
• No envyings, strifes, tumults, whoredoms, lyings, murders, or lasciviousness
• No robbers, murderers, or any “-ites.” 35
• Every person – each and every peacemaker 36 – who strives to make celestial peace follows the example of the Prince of Peace, and that person’s reward is glorious: “…he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come.” 37

Melchizedek, who established Zion among his people, became a peacemaker and followed the example of the Savior to become a prince of peace: “…Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of peace.” 38 Likewise, Abraham desired to establish Zion and become a prince of peace. 39

The peace of Zion that a peacemaker establishes blesses his family: “And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” 40 For making such an effort, the Lord promises that peacemakers will become sons and daughters of God, meaning that such people will become “joint heirs with Christ, inheriting with him the fullness of the Father. (D&C 93:17-23)… [and become] gods in eternity. (D&C 76:58).” 41

Being willing to suffer persecution for the cause of Christ.

“And blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name’s sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake; For ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.” 42

Persecution comes in a variety of ways, but it appears to be the common lot of every saint who espouses the principles of Zion . Paul said, “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 43 One form of persecution is mockery and scorn, as exhibited by the people in Lehi’s great and spacious building: “…their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come and were partaking of the fruit.” 44

That persecution grew out of the mockers’ pride and vain imaginations, meaning their useless pursuits. 45 These people were clearly vicious in their motives to dissuade the people of God. Nephi described the philosophies of the persecutors as having the capacity to torture, slay, bind down, yoke and bring into captivity the saints of God. 46 We understand the meaning to be both temporal and spiritual abuse and confinement. These persecutors were idolaters, materialistic and sexually perverse: “And I also saw gold, and silver, and silks, and scarlets, and fine-twined linen, and all manner of precious clothing; and I saw many harlots.” 47

The proud of Babylon have always persecuted Zion’s people, who are defined as the poor, i.e. poor in pride, poor in spirit, poor as to things of this world: “The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor….” 48 Moreover they who are rich often judge the poor harshly and withhold their assistance, which is a form of persecution 49; or they see themselves in an elevated class and consider themselves better 50; or they persecute, mock and ignore the poor in favor of increasing their holdings, which they idolize as if they were sanctuaries: “…because of pride they are puffed up. They rob the poor because of their fine sanctuaries; they rob the poor because of their fine clothing; and they persecute the meek and the poor in heart, because in their pride they are puffed up.” 51

This sin, according to Jacob, is very “abominable unto God.” 52

Zion people are never accepted by Babylon , and they never will be. Babylon has been and ever will be the enemy and persecutor of Zion : “…know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” 53 But for enduring the persecutions of Babylon , the humble followers of Christ will earn the greatest reward that God has to offer. Because they have believed in him and tried at all costs through their works and examples to build up his kingdom on the earth for the establishment of his Zion , they will inherit nothing less than the celestial Kingdom of Heaven , the eternal Zion of God.

These qualities are the conditions and characteristics of blessedness that are embraced and enjoyed by a Zion person. Some of them speak to the first commandment of loving God, while others involve the second commandment of loving our neighbor. They are “Jesus’ character in words,” 54 and President Lee’s “constitution for a perfect life.” 55 They are Zion .

Notes

1 3 Nephi 12:7

2 D&C 6:33

3 Hosea 10:12

4 Boyd K. Packer, “The Candle of the Lord,” Ensign, January 1983

5 See 1 John 4:19

6 Henry D. Moyle, Conference Report, April 1951, p.125-126

7 Gordon B. Hinckley, “Blessed are the Merciful,” Ensign, May 1990

8 See American Heritage Dictionary, “Mercy”

9 Luke 6:36

10Alma 34:15-16

11Alma 34:15-16

12 D&C 97:2

13 See 3 Nephi 27:27

14 3 Nephi 12:8

15 D&C 97:21

16 Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball , edited by Edward L. Kimball, p.363

17 Isaiah 52:8; Mosiah 12:22; 15:29; 3 Nephi 16:18: D&C 113:8

18 Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball , edited by Edward L. Kimball, p.363

19 John 3:5

20Encyclopedia of Mormonism , ” Zion ,” p.1625

21 See D&C 93:1

22 D&C 97:15-16

23 D. Kelly Ogden and Andrew C. Skinner, Verse by Verse: The Four Gospels , p.180, insertion added

24 Moses 7:21

25 D&C 84:19-23, insertion and emphasis added

26 High Nibley, Approaching Zion, p.27

27 3 Nephi 12:8

28 3 Nephi 12:9

29 John 14:27

30 See D&C 1:35

31 Philippians 4:7

32 See Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, “Peace,” p.561-563. He lists the following scriptures: Psalms 37:37; 119:165; Isaiah 26:3; 48:18, 22; 57:21; Romans 8:6; 10:15; 14:17-19; 1 Corinthians 14:33; Ephesians 6:15

33 See George D. Watt, ed.,, Journal of Discourses 15, p. 379; Sheri L. Dew, “Living on the Lord’s Side of the Line,” Brigham Young University devotional, March 21, 2000

34 John 14:27

35 4 Nephi 1:15-17

36 3 Nephi 12:10

37 D&C 59:23

38Alma 13:18

39 See Abraham 1:2

40 Isaiah 59:23

41 Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, “Son of God,” p.745

42 3 Nephi 12:10-12

43 2 Timothy 3:12

44 1 Nephi 8:26

45 1 Nephi 11:36

46 1 Nephi 13:5

47 1 Nephi 13:7

48 Psalms 10:2

49 See Mosiah 4:17

50 See Jacob 2:13, 20

51 2 Nephi 28:13

52 Jacob 2:5

53 James 4:4

54 D. Kelly Ogden and Andrew C. Skinner, Verse by Verse: The Four Gospels , p.173

55 Harold B. Lee, Decisions for Successful Living , p.56-57