Revelation, , Seneca Co., NY, 2 Jan. 1831. Featured version, titled “41st Commandment Jan 2nd AD 1831,” copied [ca. Mar. 1831] in Revelation Book 1, pp. 49–52; handwriting of ; CHL. Includes redactions. For more complete source information, see the source note for Revelation Book 1.
Historical Introduction
This revelation, dictated at a church in , New York, came three days after a 30 December 1830 revelation commanded the church to “assemble together at the .” The 2 January 1831 revelation elaborated on the earlier commandment by reiterating the call to gather and promising the members they would be thereafter endowed with “power from on high.”
In his later history, wrote that as JS addressed the conference on 2 January and discussed the to move to as a group, those present “desired to know somewhat more concerning this matter.” In response, “the Seer enquired of the Lord in the presence of the whole congregation, and thus came the word of the Lord.” Recalling the conference later, noted that “we were instructed as a people, to begin the gathering of Israel, and a revelation was given to the Prophet on this subject.”
Some church members were reticent to leave their homes and relocate to , and a few, according to , even wondered if “Joseph had invented it [the revelation] himself to deceive the people that in the end he might get gain.” Several weeks later, a resident of Waterloo, New York, wrote that “this command was at first resisted by such as had property, (the brethren from the neighboring counties being all assembled by special summons,) but after a night of fasting, prayer and trial, they all consented to obey the holy messenger.” JS’s saw the revelation in a positive light. She wrote to her brother Solomon Mack to explain that after they gathered together, God would “come and reign on ea[r]th with them a thousand years.” She also indicated, “We expect to go away to the Ohio early in the spring.”
Received at Seneca County State of New york A Comandment to the in at a they being Commanded to flee to &c
Saying thus saith the Lord God even Jesus Christ the great I am Alph[a] & Omega the begining & the end the same which looked upon the wide expance of eternity & all the Scerifick [seraphic] hosts of Heaven before the world was made the same which k[n]oweth all things for all things are present before mine eyes I am the same which spoke & the world was made & all things came by me I am the same which hath taken the Zion of Enoch into mine own bosom & verily I say even as many as have believed on my name for I am Christ & in mine own name by the [p. 49]
An account of Enoch’s community, called Zion, was recorded around December 1830 as part of JS’s ongoing revision of the Bible: “Enock and all his people walked with God and he dwellt in the midst of Zion and it came to pass that Zion was not[,] for God received it up into his own bosom and from thence went forth the saying Zion is fled.” (Old Testament Revision 1, p. 19 [Moses 7:69].)