In March 1841, many church members were in Illinois, helping to build the new city of Nauvoo. Others lived across the Mississippi River in Iowa, either in the existing settlements of Montrose and Nashville, or scattered across the countryside. The revelation contained in Doctrine and Covenants 125 directs them to “gather themselves together unto the places which I shall appoint unto them by my servant Joseph, and build up cities unto my name” (Doctrine and Covenants 125:2), including a new city to be named Zarahemla.
Brother Stephen W. Owen, former Young Men General President, taught:
Our Father in Heaven wants to gather us because there is great strength and safety in gathering. …
The adversary, on the other hand, seeks to isolate us and divide us, because just as gathering brings strength and safety, division brings weakness and danger.
“Strength and Safety through Gathering,” Brigham Young University Devotional Address, 23 October 2018
After the destruction which coincided with the Savior’s death, the survivors heard His lament: “How oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not.” (3 Nephi 10:5). During His subsequent ministry among them, He prophesied about the gathering which will precede His Second Coming:
If [the Gentiles] will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob …
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.
And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I also will be in the midst.
3 Nephi 21:22, 24-25
This prophecy echoes the Savior’s promise, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20), as well as His explanation in Doctrine and Covenants 125:2 that the reason for gathering into cities is to “be prepared for that which is in store for a time to come.”
Obviously, gathering is not always possible. We admire prophets like Moroni and Abinadi, who had to stand alone in their testimony of Christ. But if we can find other believers and unite with them, then we should. As President D. Todd Christofferson has taught, we cannot achieve our full spiritual potential in isolation. We need to belong to “a community of Saints that will sustain one another in the ‘strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life.'” Furthermore, God needs us to do things “that cannot be accomplished by individuals or smaller groups,” such as “dealing with poverty” (“Why the Church?” October 2015 general conference).
Today, I will be grateful for the community provided by my membership and participation in the Church. I will strive to be a full participant in that community, remembering that there is strength and safety in gathering.