Role of cities of Enoch and Melchizedek

[laronius]

Does anybody know the roles that are to be played by the inhabitants of the cities of Enoch and Salem when they are brought back to earth? It could be argued that Enoch and his people were taken up because the flood was coming but Melchizedek and his people lived after the flood. So why is God reserving them for the last days? What role will they serve when they return?

[zil]

Maybe to help the rest of us learn how it's done?

[CV75]

14 minutes ago, laronius said:

Does anybody know the roles that are to be played by the inhabitants of the cities of Enoch and Salem when they are brought back to earth? It could be argued that Enoch and his people were taken up because the flood was coming but Melchizedek and his people lived after the flood. So why is God reserving them for the last days? What role will they serve when they return?

From D&C 84, it is part of gathering all things in one, the effect of which is described in verse 101.

  99 The Lord hath brought again Zion;
The Lord hath redeemed his people, Israel,
According to the election of grace,
Which was brought to pass by the faith
And covenant of their fathers.

  100 The Lord hath redeemed his people;
And Satan is bound and time is no longer.
The Lord hath gathered all things in one.
The Lord hath brought down Zion from above.
The Lord hath brought up Zion from beneath.

  101 The earth hath travailed and brought forth her strength;
And truth is established in her bowels;
And the heavens have smiled upon her;
And she is clothed with the glory of her God;
For he stands in the midst of his people.

  102 Glory, and honor, and power, and might,
Be ascribed to our God; for he is full of mercy,
Justice, grace and truth, and peace,
Forever and ever, Amen.

[laronius]

21 minutes ago, zil said:

Maybe to help the rest of us learn how it's done?

I like that idea. If their cities descend while the New Jerusalem is being constructed but prior to the coming of the Lord, they may show us how to turn this new city into Zion and help us prepare for the official Second Coming. I don't know if that matches the official timeline of events (if there is one) but it sounds plausible.

[laronius]

@CV75, care to elaborate on the meaning of gathering all things in one?

[Vort]

My own belief is that the "angels" of the Old Testament period who did any physical activity, such as physically lift someone or carry an artifact, were of the City of Enoch.

Joseph Smith taught that there were three classes of "angels": Premortal spirits, post-mortal (not resurrected) spirits of the dead, and resurrected beings. Latter-day Saints generally think of "angels" as the third type. But an angel is just a messenger from God; a living human being can be an angel, literally (see D&C 13).

Before Christ's resurrection, there were no resurrected beings to do the physical things that might be required of angels. Who did that sort of work? My opinion is that such work was done by translated beings, which would be exactly right for the City of Enoch.

All other cases that I know of involving the translation of mortals fall into one of two categories: (1) Those who needed to traverse the centuries in order to restore keys, such as Moses to Jesus Christ (btw, I assume Alma was one of these); and (2) those who asked to stay on the Earth to further the work and purposes of God, namely, the apostle John the Beloved and the three Nephite disciples. The denizens of Enoch do not appear to fit either of these categories. I believe there is a third category, as I described in previous paragraphs, and that the Enochians fit in there.

[CV75]

13 minutes ago, laronius said:

@CV75, care to elaborate on the meaning of gathering all things in one?

I think it means sealing up all who are willing and eligible into the family of Adam. Once you seal the individuals into families, their inheritances go with them, the aim being to become join-heirs with Christ in the Church of the Firstborn. Ephesians 1 gives a great description. It refers to "all those whom my Father hath given me out of the world" in D&C 27:13-14, and the oneness Jesus speaks to in His Intercessory Prayer (John 17).

[laronius]

I found this to be interesting and relevant. Taken from History of the Church vol 4:

Joseph Smith speaking: Now this Enoch God reserved unto Himself, that he should not die at that time, and appointed unto him a ministry unto terrestrial bodies, of whom there has been but little revealed... Now the doctrine of translation is a power which belongs to this Priesthood. There are many things which belong to the powers of the Priesthood and the keys thereof, that have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world; they are hid from the wise and prudent to be revealed in the last times. Many have supposed that the doctrine of translation was a doctrine whereby men were taken immediately into the presence of God, and into an eternal fullness, but this is a mistaken idea. Their place of habitation is that of the terrestrial order, and a place prepared for such characters He held in reserve to be ministering angels unto many planets, and who as yet have not entered into so great a fullness as those who are resurrected from the dead.

So it would make sense that they would return to the earth when it has become (or soon will be) a terrestrial kingdom.