An Ensign to the Nations

An Ensign to the Nations. . "And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth….Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain" (Isaiah 11:12; 13:2). , Long before the Mormon pioneers came to the Salt Lake Valley, the Prophet Joseph Smith spoke of relocating the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the West. He stated that it would be in the Rocky Mountains. Shortly before his death in 1844, he ordered that a flag of distinctive design he made to represent all nations and thus literally fulfill Isaiah's prophecy. , The gathering of Israel was a doctrine of particular urgency to Joseph Smith, and after him to Brigham Young. These religious leaders felt the responsibility to cultivate a community of Latter-day Saints that would truly be Zion. "And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them" (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 7:18). A banner raised on a hill would be the emblem of that gathering.