One Qualification

"Never in this dispensation, and perhaps never before in any single period, has there been such a feeling of urgency among the members of this church as today. Her boundaries are being enlarged, her stakes are being strengthened. In the early years of the Church specific places to which the Saints were to be gathered together were given, and the Lord directed that these gathering places should not be changed, but then he gave one qualification: 'Until the day cometh when there is found no more room for them; and then I have other places which I will appoint unto them, and they shall be called stakes, for the curtains or the strength of Zion.' (D&C 101:21.) "At the Mexico City Area Conference last August [1972], Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Council of the Twelve, in a thought-provoking address, made some comments pertinent to this subject, and I quote a few sentences from his address: " 'Of this glorious day of restoration and gathering, another Nephite prophet said: "The Lord . . . has covenanted with all the house of Israel," that "the time comes that they shall be restored to the true church and fold of God"; and that "they shall be gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise." (2 Ne. 9:1–2.)" 'Now I call your attention to the facts, set forth in these scriptures, that the gathering of Israel consists of joining the true church; of coming to a knowledge of the true God and of his saving truths; and of worshiping him in the congregations of the Saints in all nations and among all peoples. Please note that these revealed words speak of the folds of the Lord; of Israel being gathered to the lands of their inheritance; of Israel being established in all their lands of promise; and of there being congregations of the covenant people of the Lord in every nation, speaking every tongue, and among every people when the Lord comes again.' "
Harold B. Lee, "Strengthen the Stakes of Zion," Ensign, July 1973, 4

Topics: Zion