The record testifies there will be a great awakening and remembering in the last days as God’s work unfolds. There will at last be a people who will be “redeemed,” who will “return.” The longing of faithful people for generations has been to find God. But their longing cannot produce a covenant. Even so great a man as John Wesley had no real authority to minister in the Gospel. Longing alone does not produce a covenant with God. God will restore Zion, will establish His people again, and will fulfill His promises to Abraham’s descendants. Nephi writes:
Therefore, the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy and holiness shall be upon their heads; and they shall obtain gladness and joy; sorrow and mourning shall flee away. I am he; yea, I am he that comforteth you. Behold, who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of man, who shall die, and of the son of man, who shall be made like unto grass? And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and hast feared continually every day, because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth, that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. But I am the Lord thy God, whose waves roared; the Lord of Hosts is my name. And I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion: Behold, thou art my people. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury—thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling wrung out—(2 Nephi 8: 11-17.)
This “return” to Zion will be pre-Millennial and involve restoration of the Gospel to allow that return. Israel will be re-gathered and ultimately redeemed, even if the Lord must resort to destroying the fury of those who oppress and oppose Zion and her people. In anticipation of this ultimate deliverance, Zion is invited to “awake, stand up.” Zion will no longer remain slumbering, as if dead; no longer remain lying prone and lacking consciousness. Israel is invited to “awake” and to “stand up” by accepting the restored Gospel and converting. The temporary oppressors will fade into oblivion. Deliverance will come. God has covenanted to do it, and will deliver on His promises in the final days. We are invited to see our temporary difficulties as the prelude to the ultimate deliverance which is to come.
These themes recur in Jacob’s message. They assure of the deliverance to come. They give us reason to expect temporary struggles that accompany the time between the restoration of the covenant and the time of final deliverance. Throughout that time, there will be increasing opposition to God’s people. That is as it should be. Despite opposition, God’s people will convert and begin to prepare for His return. This is perhaps the greatest epoch in history in which to demonstrate your faith and devotion to God. Faithfulness in the face of opposition is how the Lord proves true faith in Him.