3 Fascinating Details about the City of Zion

Excerpt from 3 Hidden Truths of Zion  

Book: Zion Rising

Zion influences and has influenced all religions since the dawn of time. It is the pinnacle. It is the north star. It is the apex of all of these religious thoughts and beliefs that we have. And all of those words point upward because Zion itself points us upward at points us skyward.

And that's because Zion was first created with Enoch. When he built a community where the people loved each other as themselves to a level that God raised them up to him. Now, most people don't know this. But in my research, I was able to find that Zion was literally lifted up into the heavens above and Joseph Smith has some beautiful quotes.

And I found a number of resources that point to this and tell this truth. Joseph Smith actually taught. "Now I will tell the story of the designs of building the tower of Babel. It was designed to go to the city of Enoch for the veil was not yet so great that it hid it from their site." And then Orson F. Whitney, who pointed to Joseph Smith's teachings.

He later taught . intention to reach heaven was not to reach heaven alone, but to reach Zion, which was then suspended in mid-air between heaven and earth or at such a height as to render the project feasible. This certainly is more reasonable." End quote. And so there's some wonderful other quotes in the book Brigham Young, John Taylor talk about how Zion literally was floating above the earth with the foundation of the earth attached to it.

And that inspired the tower of Babel to build that mighty tower that shows up in every history of the world that we still have recorded every one had some exposure to this idea and it created this massive impression on the human psyche of a planet. Yeah. I can only imagine. So first of all, I've always thought that our Heavenly Father uses natural laws.

And so the sense that Zion took a while to ascend makes perfect sense. When we think about human beings and what would be required for life on that piece of Zion ascending. And I can only imagine that impact on the people who are left on the earth as they see it there. And interesting that Nimrod had such a strong desire that he stated he wanted to go up and fight the people in Zion.

And that way he would overcome God. He wanted to conquer it. That's, what's so fascinating. I realized as well. There's a counterfeit way to do it and there's God's way to do it. And the counterfeit way is to conquer it, to build up to it, to pump yourself up. And there's all sorts of apocryphal and pseudo apocryphal works that talk about the tower of Babel.

One of them is the book of Jasher, and I get into this at length in the book as well, the people of Babel that were building the tower, Babel, they treated bricks for the tower as more valuable than the people around. Which is in total disharmony with the laws of love that God was trying to inspire in the city of Enoch.

So the contrast between, Hey, people were less than objects in Babel and in Zion, people are the most precious things around you. It creates this dissonance. The love allowed Zion to rise. And the objectification is what kept Babel down and actually destroyed their ability to speak, to connect with each other.

So this idea of people being influenced by wanting to get up, like you say, with Nemrod, it's actually all throughout history. If you look at Christianity and Judaism, the Abrahamic, traditions and religions, obviously they all talk about how Enoch Walked with God and he was not forgot. Took him. The Quran talks about how Enoch was a prophet, a great man raised to a "high position."

So they believe this idea that he was physically lifted up as well. The Egyptians also emulated these ideas with their sons of Ra. Ra was the God that would bring the sun. Into the sky every morning. And and he would ride on a celestial arc. So this idea of there being something physical people could rest on up above the earth, it sounds fantastical.

It sounds unbelievable. But at the same time, the God who divided, the red sea who moves mountains, who creates the earth with his speech, why wouldn't he do something as awesome as this? To point us Skyward to try and remind us that we have to rise back from the Fall. What do you think about that?

I think it's such an important symbol. When we talk about Heaven above or Zion above that people could literally see it and then pass that information on down through the generations because the message of Zion is an eternal message of tremendous importance to us. We're told that Zion has to come again.

So it's important for us to know and remember what Zion is about. What better way than to create such a powerful symbol and miracle that no one could ever forget it.

Right. And it created this indelible impression on the psyche of humanity, even with other non Abrahamic religions. Japan and China for 150 dynasties referred to their rulers as the sons of heaven. Their emperors were given a divine mandate from heaven above. And as long as they lived consistent with that mandate, they had the authority down here below. The European monarchies, we refer to them as your Highness [laughs] and that they have authority and they're above us. And then you also have Buddhism which teaches at a stepped continuum of heavens rising higher and higher to receive more and more glory and more crowns.

And also the Native Americans believe in this idea of mother earth returning or reaching to father sky and so this beautiful theme of reconciliation of coming back of being restored, returning from this Fall that led to the need to rise. It's the song and the harmony of the earth all around us, even the trees and the mountains, that point skyward.

And so I get into that at length in the book and the symbolism of how things will change and what God is trying to teach us. But point number two, is this idea that these symbols of Zion. In nature and other locations, they've also been preserved in symbols that Enoch and the prophets left with us. And they're as simple as the symbol of heaven, which is represented by a circle.

And it's also represented by the number of three. Because God's course is one eternal round and there's the Godhead with the three and then the earth, which is a square, which is represented by the number four because of the four corners or four quarters or four regions of the earth, which is all throughout ancient scripture.

When you take the circle - heaven, number three - and you add it with the square earth, number four - you get seven, which is the number of Zion or perfection or completion. And that's also probably the most powerful number from Vegas, with the lucky number seven to ancient Hebrew and Abrahamic traditions.

And even the Romans they all talk about these ideas that the golden mean, or the golden idea of seven, this completeness or perfection. And what's beautiful about that is if you combine the circle in the square, as you can see on the slides That symbol was first represented when Enoch lifted his piece of earth up into the heaven and put a piece of square earth up into the round sky that is represented by the seal of Enoch that circle in the square is everywhere.

And even before we were going to do this launch that you and I were talking about examples of that. And I have some, and then I know you have a number that you've identified as well. I keep seeing them, even after I've written the book, there's more and more examples. It's like this compounding chorus of "look up", pay attention to what the purpose of this earth life is.

It's beautiful because. Seven is also that number or that idea of United heaven and earth is all around us in all creation from there's seven creative periods to make the earth there's seven days in the week. There's seven other planets beside the earth. There are seven continents on the earth, seven seas, seven colors in the rainbow, and most beautifully as highlighted by president Nelson, seven words, spoken to Joseph Smith

when Christ came to his first prayer, "This is my beloved son. Hear him." And seven statements of Christ at the cross? Yes, absolutely. It's all over the place. It's like the world is saying, "Hey remember. That heaven is above, and this is how you get back." And that symbolism with the rainbow...

The rainbow has so many symbols related to water and this idea that it's like a bridge calling us back to heaven, like on the cover of my book. When you look at a rainbow from above a rainbow is also a circle. Which is another symbol of how we're connected to heaven.

It's also like a portal calling us back up to heaven above. And this symbol of heaven and earth is all over the place with the seal of Enoch but it's also been compounded or expanded with other risings. There have been other Zions. Joseph Fielding Smith taught "The Lord who created the earth, certainly controls it.

Why try to deny this him, this power. Moreover, we are taught that portions, multiple portions of this earth had been taken from it such as the city of Enoch which included the land surface as well as the people." So this idea of multiple risings is all throughout the scriptures. It's in Jacob 4:9, where it talks about God's ability to control the earth.

There is Melchezedek with his Salem, the Jaredites interestingly, when the brother of Jared preserves their language Jared comes to him again and says, Hey, go ask the Lord If he'll carry us to a place that is choice above all the earth, because they were clearly affected by this idea of Zion above. Then there's also Moses and his "many" referred to an Alma 13 that entered into the rest of the Lord. And then in Jeremiah 35, there's this little hint of this group called the Rechabites which Hugh Nibbley talks about.

And there's a whole book about the Rechabites that were translated up to a terrestrial state. And then you also mentioned Linda the three Nephites and John the Revelator.

Yes. I suspect that they are sent on a mission if you will, to the earth at specific times and to specific people.

But I suspect that they are actually living in Zion amongst the other translated beings there, Joseph Smith taught that the people in Zion are translated being so that the people on the earth can bear their presence when they come to minister to us. Which to me is a very beautiful thing. When I think about the Aaronic priesthood preparing us for the Melchizedech priesthood, because the Aaronic priesthood holds the keys of the ministering of angels and the Malchizedech priesthood holds the key of knowing God.

So we talked about this a few weeks ago, seeing him face to face. So our preparation to come into God's presence is first, can we be in the presence of an angel? So for me, I'm thinking that's the translated beings that are on Zion's sent to minister to us.

Oh, I love that. And them coming down and calling us back up. That's what happened with Enoch. Where he didn't leave the righteous behind. He sent folks down to, to bring many others back up, even after the city was raised to heaven. My, my dad first told me a story. The city of Enoch when I was a kid. And he said, imagine ditching church that they it got lifted up into heaven. Which was his way of teasing me to remind me to go to church.

But that the reason I bring that up is because the invitation stands to everyone. Jacob's ladder is another example of us being able to ascend up to heaven. God wants to help us climb Mount Zion, back up to him.

Yeah, I think that's so important and Melchizedek taught us people. We have some. References still left in the scriptures. I think that along with some of the things that were taken out about Melchizedek's specific priesthood rights some of the sense of how he was teaching his people to set their goal for Zion and that many of us people were caught up to Zion. We primarily know about that from Book of Mormon and other sources.

But that sense that He was such a great high priest and king. And again, that tradition. So we have Enoch teaching it, but then we see it being renewed through Melchezedek teaching it and still coming down through the ages. The question is Sam, not very many people are talking about Zion today. This is one reason I'm really glad you're writing this book to remind us about this tremendous promise that we have about remembering Zion.

So tell us more about.

You're right. I think we have forgotten a lot. And the symbols are there to remind us. And there's also this idea that the earthquakes and the storms and the pandemics, and for example, last year, there was a lightning storm in Northern Canada.

They had something like 700,000 lightning strikes in a period of a few hours the earth is saying, wake up. Remember what your purpose is, don't let your hearts fail you. And I think the Lord is gathering those that will hear this message. And I think as we continue to unite our hearts, like you and I have been able to over the Come Follow Me stuff we've been doing, I think there's this opportunity for us to be able to awake and arise like we're invited to in another settings. So remember Melchizidek was in a similar situation. The world was very wicked. His is city of Salem was very wicked and he helped them repent. When he raised his piece of earth through love and obedience, to the laws of the gospel, to Enoch's piece of earth.

Then you get the two squares surrounded by the circle, that, locking set of squares around the circle, being the seal of Melchizedek as another call that we can follow that pattern. We can join Zion above. And this symbol of heaven and earth uniting and God, reconciling dichotomies, reconciling men and women.

Reconciling light and dark reconciling heart, and mind. These symbols are all over the earth as well. And all throughout ancient, temples, churches, religious art, - and scriptures. there's an example of the solar temple of - Niessare in Egypt, where they actually have a square and a circle inside it. I found this one after writing the book, the temple of heaven in China This is the religion that predated current communist rule and Buddhism and other things . It had a square and then set of three circles in the center, And the emperor of China would walk through a progressive path where he would be washed and anointed, received new clothes, make sacrifices. And engage in what they call the "Border Sacrifice." So he could enter heaven. This clearly has been preserved in our memory and Satan's doing everything he can to erase it.

But you also have the, for example, the symbolism at the cathedral of Notre Dame there's squares and circles everywhere within that. And even the Masonic symbol of the compass being a circle and symbol of square being a square is preserved in. These ancient artifacts and traditions and beliefs as well.

Moldova where there's the cathedral where I first learned about the circle of a square I get into my book has examples and there's modern day examples where we're just emulating this, right? All throughout the temple. I was just at the Las Vegas temple yesterday, circles and squares, also highlighted for me that the circle is also a symbol of woman and the square is a symbol of man and that we're trying to reconcile or trying to unite, unify and restore that relationship and that harmony. And so the Las Vegas temple, the Palmyra temple, the Bountiful temple, the Kentucky temple, the Salt Lake City.

It's absolutely everywhere. So in my research, I thought that was it. I thought there was a seal of Enoch, there was a seal of Melchizedek but as I continued to study Linda, I also found that there's a third symbol of Zion, which is the Seal of Christ or the seal of Zion to be. And it's prophesied of in D&C 84.

And it's this idea that when Christ comes again with the city of Enoch multiple pieces of the earth will have become so loving. And so terrestrial worthy that they'll be lifted up to join Zion above. And that seal is three interlocking squares and the layers and the depth of the symbolism on that I get into in the book.

But it's just so beautiful. Not only does it look like a flower budding up to heaven, which is just glorious, which is what Zion's meant to be, but it also looks like the city of Jerusalem with the 12 gates and it also looks like a crown of thorns that Christ wore to redeem us and help us return to him.

So that's a lot. Do you have any questions about that symbol I love that, that you said that because it makes me think about when John describes that this celestial city comes down from heaven with the 12 gates. So your symbol for Christ is just beautiful overlapped with that.

Thank you. I think we can all start to see it.

I think it's something that is calling to all of us if we're willing to receive it. And that's another big thing that I took away from my research is that worthiness is not perfection. Worthiness is a function of receptiveness.

What are we willing to receive that's coming down from heaven so that we can also rise up I think the takeaway from all of this is that Christ is the why in our faith, He is why we do things. And Zion is the how Zion is how he's going to help return us from the fall.

And Joseph Smith taught, "That building Zion will bring about the destruction of the powers of darkness, the renovation of the earth, the glory of God, and the salvation of the human family." Christ uses Zion to "unite, the heavenly priesthood with the earthly and bring about his great purposes and establish eternal peace"

What's interesting there is Joseph Smith clearly saw Zion in vision. And once he did it, just literally consumed him. And that's what he wanted most of all, to teach the saints, to learn how to be a Zion people and to receive Zion. And I wonder what could we do today, Sam, to have that same sort of vision that Joseph Smith did of the urgency of building Zion.

What a great question. Thank you. It's all about love and truth. There's so much power in us learning how to love each other not just by saying, oh, do whatever you want just be happy. It's more about understanding the true harmony. True happiness. True joy comes when we follow the laws of the gospel and we obey and we follow Christ.

I found the biggest impediment to becoming a Zion people, the biggest detractor from us having pure hearts, which is the key to building Zion is when we have pain or fear that we have yet to reconcile in the atonement of Christ. We have pain or fear that we haven't taken to him and surrendered to him, and we all do it.

We all have these internal narratives. We repeat to ourselves over and over again about why we're not good enough, why we should be afraid of why things aren't gonna work out for us. But Christ is trying to teach us how to build heaven on earth. - And this is the third point, which is that Zion is built as quickly as we're willing to receive it.

It's up to us. We get to choose how quickly we receive zion here below. And so as we purify our hearts, as we let go of our pain and our fear as we've come to him and see healing from him and then turn and point others to him answer that song of redeeming love all of a sudden I believe it's not just this fictional or fun, or, oh, this elusive or imaginary idea.

I think we literally start to change everything around us. Joseph Smith actually taught that Building Zion is a pattern. We are all invited to follow by uniting our hearts until we are "wrapped in the power and glory of our maker and caught up to dwell with him."

He wants to teach us how to love each other in truth, to see each other, to really be who we're meant to be.

I love too, cause you pointed out that the biggest stumbling block is pain and fear, and the Lord taught us in the scriptures that perfect love casteth out all fear. And so he's given us that key principle from Zion of loving and pure charity, for the ability to be able to receive that healing in order to move forward, the healing to get over the stumbling block is the love.

And as you said, his love is the source and then sharing his love, the gift of charity Christ like love with others.

Amen to that. D&C 45 tells us Christ has and continues to carry the righteous up to Zion, his quote, "secret place of the most high" end quote, some of this beautiful, glorious heaven behind the veil that we just can't see yet because of this Joseph Smith said, "We ought to have the building up of Zion as our greatest object." And Brigham Young said, "We have no business here other than to build up an established design of God." No business. There's nothing else we should be focusing on other than just building Zion, And then As we follow Christ through Christ we can radiate and rise from the fall and obedience to divine law gives us illumination and elevation, lift and light until we rise as Zion. It's almost like we can look at the commandments and the ordinances and the things God's trying to invite us to do as lesson in an celestial physics, where he's trying to help us learn how to elevate our own light and love.

and harmony to his level.

I love that phrase "celestial physics."

Oh, thank you. [Laughing] I do too. It's fun. Right! He's just trying to teach us how to fly. And at times we may feel like we crawl and then eventually learn how to stumble and walk and then eventually he'll teach us how to run.

And then we'll jump into the air and soar back up to him. So this whole book the subtitle is your personal restoration in Christ. As we follow these principles and I get into this as well as some tools, there are things we can do to open our hearts to ensure that our experiences are not eclipsing our view of the Savior or preventing us from seeing that he is with us, that he's calling to us.

And that he wants to help us return back to heaven above. And so I hope anyone who is willing to read it. I hope they enjoy it. I hope it brings them closer to Christ who's the Lord and King of Zion. And I hope they can hear that Christ is calling and that they can join the song that we can all sing as Zion is rising.

Sam. I'm just so excited about this book, and I hope that your readers will be able to feel your excitement through it. But most of all, the important principles you're teaching.

Thank you so much for writing it.

Thank you, Linda.