Le Shanah Haba-ah b, Hadash Yerushalayim

Over forty years ago I first learned of the New Jerusalem in seminary. For some reason my interest was instant, and I wanted to know everything I could find out about that promised city. My heart just swelled with longing to be there — to be part of that future righteous gathering of saints. I thought my heart would burst when I read Moses 7:62-64 " . . . and righteousness and 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. And the Lord said unto Enoch; Then shalt thou and all thy city meet them there, and we will receive them into our bosom, and they shall see us; and we will fall upon their necks, and they shall fall upon our necks, and we will kiss each other; And there shall be mine abode, and it shall be Zion, which shall come forth out of all the creations which I have made; and for the space of a thousand years the earth shall rest."

At that time in my young life I longed for such peace, because my home-life was filled with contention and strife. I longed to love and be loved. How I longed to be there when the holy city of Enoch comes down from heaven and is joined with the New Jerusalem and for a thousand years the Lord will reign and peace will be on the earth! To be in a place where children will grow up without sin unto salvation and there will be no poor among us. Every few years this desire just starts to well up in my heart, and it's here again this year! About thirty years ago I heard the phrase "Next Year In Jerusalem" and immediately I adopted it. When we moved from Denver twenty-two years ago I longed to go east to Missouri, but I had to turn my face to the west. After we'd moved, for several years until it became faded and curled, I had a note on my bathroom mirror that said, "Next Year In Jerusalem!"

After reading scriptures in the temple last Friday, that phrase started playing in my head again, and I got the most unreasonable, but strong desire to know what it is in Hebrew. I researched and found the Hebrew phrase: Le shanah haba-a b,Yerushalayim or Next Year in Jerusalem. At the Jews yearly passover feast, they fill their glasses with wine, with one for the prophet Elijah with his empty chair, and for the last two millennia, at the end of the feast they raise their glasses and repeat together "Next year in Jerusalem!" All during their long dispersion in the world they spoke these words with the passionate longing to go back home to their holy city. Now that Jews are once again in Jerusalem, they speak these words with longing for the prophet Elijah and their Messiah to come! It's with that same longing that I added "hadash" or "new" to the phrase and lately it's been like a mantra to me — Le shanah haba-a b, hadash Yerushalayim, as I give thanks that the prophet Elijah has already come and as I long for the Savior Jesus Christ to come again!

And so I pray — "Next Year In New Jerusalem!"

Utopia/Zion

Almost thirty years ago when we lived in Denver, Brother Daniel Ludlow taught a class that I took. I can't remember much about it except that he said something that has stuck with me through the years. He said that if you want to know what will soon come to pass in the Lord's Kingdom, then listen carefully to what the adversary is about. For instance, before Joseph Smith had the first vision, there was a religious revival going on which was confusing and divisive. Before the blacks received the priesthood the world was stirred up over the civil rights movement. He said in essence that satan gets there first to distort people's thinking and to try and thwart the Lord's plan---to present a counterfeit if you will.

Today we are hearing a great divide in our nation and the world. It really is the war in heaven still raging. I just heard a commentator on the radio accuse a liberal caller of wanting a Utopia that will never work because she didn't believe in freedom. To want the government to redistribute everyones money by taking from the rich and giving to the poor will destroy incentive and take away everyone's prosperity (I agree). Satan uses many truths to present one distortion, such as gross inequality in the world is wrong (with which I also agree) but then he presents a false plan to equalize the problem. However, the reason the "Utopia" of the adversary will never work is one word---force---satan's counterfeit for Zion. Sir Winston Churchill said, "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."

The Lord's plan WILL work because when people choose to work together for the good of everyone in their community there really will be "no poor among us" and we will be happy like the Nephites after the coming of Christ! I have heard it stated that it takes a MORAL people to have a representative government like we in the United States are blessed to have (which almost everyone agrees is certainly hanging by a thread) but a Zion government will take nothing less than a people with pure hearts and perfectly righteous minds, united as one!

I haven't thought of Brother Ludlow's comment for years, but this morning it came into my mind as I realized how much of this stuff we've been hearing. We've just been blessed to hear again the Lord's plan of happiness for His children during Conference! Our Bishop said this last Sunday, that he prayed for Zion in our ward and that we should strive for it in our families and that we CAN create in within ourselves, right here, right now! How exciting! I really do believe that the time is coming (oh please let it be soon) that we will ALL live in peace and prosperity together in Zion!