The administration of God’s kingdom will take place from the Zion on the American Continent. It will be from this New Jerusalem that the law and the judgments of the Lord will be given, ’for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the lord from Jerusalem’ (Isa 2:3).
Orson Pratt
“We also read that out of Zion shall go forth the law. We also read that Zion is to become so glorious, in times to come, that the nations that are afar will say to one another, ’Surely Zion is the City of our God, for the Lord is there; his power is there, his glory is there,’ etc. Now if there be a time, in the history of the latter-day Zion, that the power of God will be made manifest in their midst, so as to stir up the nations afar off, causing them to exclaim that Zion is truly the City of God; her laws are divine; let us become subject to her laws; do you suppose that we, with our present organization, after perfecting it as much as we can expect to, could be ready and prepared to send forth laws to foreign nations for their government? No. There would then be persons ordained and set apart for various purposes, not to bestow any new Priesthood, for it is all included in the everlasting and eternal Priesthood, after the order of the Son of God; but to set apart persons already holding the Priesthood in the great organization; to receive divine laws; or, in other words, to regulate the nations, according to the laws of Zion; that they may understand her laws, and know what the divine government is, by which they are to be governed; in other words, ministers or plenipotentiaries are to be sent forth to transact business among all nations and peoples who willingly shall become subject to the laws of Zion. As to the rebellious nations, there will be none left alive. As it is written, ’that nation or kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish.‘ ’Those nations shall be utterly wasted away;’ consequently, the nations left, who are not totally destroyed will be anxious to be governed by the laws of Zion. Hence there will be an organization before the winding-up scene that will control the nations politically, giving them the privilege of remaining in their own land if they choose to do so, but subject to the laws of Zion.” (Journal of Discourses, vol 19, May 20, 1877, p.14)
“The Lord Shall Comfort Zion”
Since the organization of the church, the saints have been the object of persecution and public ridicule. While these difficulties may have lessened of late, the lot of the latter-day saint continues to be more persecution than adoration. Yet, all of these inequities, individually and collectively, will be wiped away. Those saints who were commanded to build Zion in the 1830’s (see DC 57 & 63) must have been horrified when they were mobbed and driven from their Jackson County homes. The promise is, and has always been, that the Lord does not expect his saints to suffer forever. “This verse (2 Ne. 8:3) was a great comfort to the Saints when they were driven out of Missouri and later out of Illinois. The Lord assured the Saints that eventually he would pour out comfort and blessings upon his people in America.” (W. Cleon Skousen, Isaiah Speaks to Modern Times, 633-634 as taken from Commentaries on Isaiah in the Book of Mormon, ed. by K. Douglas Bassett, [American Fork, UT: Covenant Publishing Co., 2003], 37)
"We live in a time when the devil is on the loose and is working among the Saints to thwart and tear down the work of God. But he will not succeed. Individuals may fall and there may be those who betray sacred covenants, but the kingdom of God will roll forward until it reaches its decreed destiny to fill the entire earth.
“I carry in my calendar book a passage of scripture that I sometimes use to remind myself and others about the eventual outcome of efforts to destroy the Church: ’No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall revile against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.’ (”3 Ne. 22:173 Nephi 22:17.)" (Come unto Christ [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1983], 22.)
2 Nephi 8:3 he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord
We can expect that the redemption of Zion to include a complete change in the landscape—the land will be made like the Garden of Eden. But the Lord has made it clear that the blessings he plans to pour out upon the saints will occur wherever they go. While in Kirtland, the Lord said, Therefore, will I not make solitary places to bud and to blossom, and to bring forth in abundance? Saith the Lord. Is there not room enough on the mountains of Adam-ondi-Ahman? (DC 117:7-8). Elder LeGrand Richards has explained that the desert of the Great Basin in which the early pioneers settled blossomed as a rose in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy (see A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, pp. 233-4). Isaiah said, The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose (Isa 35:1). The Lord will comfort the saints and make the wilderness beautiful wherever the pure in heart go.
"’For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.’
“This vast congregation are living witnesses of the literal fulfillment of these words of the prophet. Was not this land a veritable wilderness in the year 1847? Has it not been transformed into a garden like Eden? This land has become choice above all other lands. We want no better. And I am inclined to think that the Lord can lead us to no better land than we have at the present time, unless a special blessing is conferred upon the land beyond what we have received. And in this conference we have seen the joy of the people; we have witnessed their gladness. We have heard the voice of thanksgiving from this stand, from the lips of the Elders of Israel. Here in this choir we have heard the voice of melody. Isaiah must have had his eye upon these occasions; and in the great visions that were given to him he must have witnessed the gatherings of the people of the Lord. Oh, how our hearts have been made to rejoice upon this occasion!” (Conference Report, April 1905, Second Day—Morning Session. 97.)