Doctrine and Covenants 98–101

For the Saints in the 1830s, Independence, Missouri, was literally the promised land. It was “the center place” of Zion (Doctrine and Covenants 57:3)—the city of God on earth—and the gathering of Saints there was an exciting prelude to the Second Coming. But their neighbors in the area saw things differently. They objected to the claim that God had given the land to the Saints, and they were uncomfortable with the political, economic, and social consequences of so many unfamiliar people moving in so quickly. Discomfort soon turned into persecution and violence. In 1833, the Church’s printing office was destroyed, and the Saints were forced from their homes.

Joseph Smith was more than 800 miles away in Kirtland, and this news took weeks to reach him. But the Lord knew what was happening, and He revealed to His Prophet principles of peace and encouragement that would comfort the Saints—principles that can also help us when we face persecution, when our righteous desires go unfulfilled, or when we need a reminder that our daily afflictions will eventually, somehow, “work together for [our] good” (Doctrine and Covenants 98:3).

See Saints, 1:171–93; “Waiting for the Word of the Lord,” in Revelations in Context, 196–201.