“Zion Cannot Be Built Up Unless It Is by the Principles of the Law of the Celestial Kingdom”
Doctrine and Covenants 105:1–6
1 Verily I say unto you who have assembled yourselves together that you may learn my will concerning the redemption of mine afflicted people—
2 Behold, I say unto you, were it not for the transgressions of my people, speaking concerning the church and not individuals, they might have been redeemed even now.
3 But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I required at their hands, but are full of all manner of evil, and do not impart of their substance, as becometh saints, to the poor and afflicted among them;
4 And are not united according to the union required by the law of the celestial kingdom;
5 And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself.
6 And my people must needs be chastened until they learn obedience, if it must needs be, by the things which they suffer.
President Joseph Fielding Smith said:
“[A] matter . . . of great interest to us in relation to our times, is the promised building of the City of Zion, or New Jerusalem on this continent. . . . Zion on this continent will be built. . . . The word of the Lord shall not fail. Had the members of the Church been willing to give heed to the commandments and walk in the light of truth as it has been revealed, the Lord said that Zion could, even now, have been redeemed. Thus has the Lord spoken: [See D&C 101:75; 105:2–5.]
“. . . Because the people were not ready, or able, to abide in the laws which had been given them, the blessings were withdrawn, and the Lord said that they must wait for a little season for the redemption of Zion. [See D&C 105:9, 13.] In the meantime the people were to be chastened until they learn obedience, through the things which they suffer. [See D&C 105:6.] After much tribulation would come the blessing [see D&C 103:12] and Zion would be redeemed, her Temple would be built, and ‘they [that] have been scattered shall be gathered.’ [D&C 101:13.] Zion was not to be moved out of her place.” [See D&C 101:17.]
(The Signs of the Times [1952], 194–95, 195–96.)
Randal S. Chase spent his childhood years in Nephi, Utah, where his father was a dry land wheat farmer and a businessman. In 1959 their family moved to Salt Lake City and settled in the Holladay area. He served a full-time mission in the Central British (England Central) Mission from 1968 to 1970. He returned home and married Deborah Johnsen in 1971. They are the parents of six children—two daughters and four sons—and an ever-expanding number of grandchildren.
He was called to serve as a bishop at the age of 27 in the Sandy Crescent South Stake area of the Salt Lake Valley. He served six years in that capacity, and has since served as a high councilor, a stake executive secretary and clerk, and in many other stake and ward callings. Regardless of whatever other callings he has received over the years, one was nearly constant: He has taught Gospel Doctrine classes in every ward he has ever lived in as an adult—a total of 35 years.
Dr. Chase was a well-known media personality on Salt Lake City radio stations in the 1970s. He left on-air broadcasting in 1978 to develop and market a computer-based management, sales, and music programming system to radio and television stations in the United States, Canada, South America, and Australia. After the business was sold in 1984, he supported his family as a media and business consultant in the Salt Lake City area.
Having a great desire to teach young people of college age, he determined in the late 1980s to pursue his doctorate, and received his Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Utah in 1997. He has taught communication courses at that institution as well as at Salt Lake Community College and Dixie State University for 21 years. He served as Communication Department chair and is currently a full-time professor at Dixie State University in St. George, Utah.
Concurrently with his academic career, Brother Chase has served as a volunteer LDS Institute and Adult Education instructor in the CES system since 1994, both in Salt Lake City and St. George, where he currently teaches a weekly Adult Education class for three stakes in the Washington area. He has also conducted multiple Church History tours and seminars. During these years of gospel teaching, he has developed an extensive library of lesson plans and handouts which are the predecessors to these study guides.
Dr. Chase previously published a thirteen-volume series of study guides on the Book of Mormon, Church History, the Old Testament, and the New Testament. The series, titled Making Precious Things Plain, along with four smaller study guides on Isaiah, Jeremiah, the story of the Nativity, and the final week of our Lord’s atoning sacrifice, are designed to assist teachers and students of the gospel, as well as those who simply want to study on their own. Several of these books are also available in the Spanish language.
