In Seminary this morning, we joyfully “discovered” the location of Zion. (And by “we joyfully,” I mean I exuberantly shared my excitement to my beloved sleep-deprived, some semi-comatose but nonetheless present, teenaged students.)
We’ve talked for a month about Zion as a gathering place and why such a gathering place was a needed and a little about how it would function. But today, we finally reached Doctrine and Covenants 57 where the Lord revealed Zion’s location—Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.
“which is the land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the saints.”
We’ve been learning about the Law of Consecration where everyone pools their resources together and then receives those resources according to their wants and needs. I’ve primarily viewed consecration as an acknowledgment that the Lord gives all in abundance and I’m asked to be a trusted, unselfish steward of that abundance without harboring greedy, covetous desires.
I hadn’t really considered the Lord’s part in the consecration of physical “things.”
That verse says the Lord said He consecrated the land. The Lord consecrated the land?
And, as I, the Lord, in the beginning cursed the land, even so in the last days have I blessed it, in its time, for the use of my saints, that they may partake of the fatness thereof.
According to my favorite scripture study dictionary, Webster’s Dictionary 1828-Online Edition, consecration suggests the Lord is absolutely involved in the consecration of every “thing.”
CONSECRATION, noun
1. The act or ceremony of separating from a common to a sacred use, or of devoting and dedicating a person or thing to the service and worship of God, by certain rites or solemnities. consecration does not make a person or thing really holy, but declares it to be sacred, that is, devoted to God or to divine service; as the consecration of the priests among the Israelites; the consecration of the vessels used in the temple; the consecration of a bishop.
2. Canonization; the act of translating into heaven, and enrolling or numbering among the saints or gods; the ceremony of the apotheosis of an emperor.
3. The benediction of the elements in the eucharist; the act of setting apart and blessing the elements in the communion.
These definitions take my breath away.
Consecrated by Hezekiah
The definitions reminded me of 25-year-old Hezekiah who became king and determined to reinstitute Israel’s God worship. He repaired the temple. He organized the priests and Levites, reminding them of their ordained service to the Lord.
The Levites rose to the call and sanctified themselves and the temple. They told King Hezekiah the temple was ready.
The king and rulers and congregation went to the temple and in great ceremony reestablished their covenants with the Lord.
And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.
Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the Lord. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings.
And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.
I love that the God who makes all things holy cares about our eternal salvation enough to make a consecrated effort. He’s defined orbits and growth cycles and volcanic eruptions. And he’s designed a plan for our eternal happiness, too. We can rejoice “that God had prepared the people” to live with Him again as consecrated.
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