Articles of Faith 1:10 -- On A Personal Reign

 "We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory."

Articles of Faith 1:10

The tenth article of faith has a lot of interesting things to say.  I like the clarification that the gathering of Israel is literal, that we need to build Zion, and that the earth will be renewed.  All fascinating ideas and seeds for further discussion.  The idea that struck me as I read this today and that I want to talk about is the idea of Christ reigning personally on the earth.

Often in our culture we think of heaven as far away... not just figurativally, but literally.  We think of heavan as some other place that we're goong to go... so the idea of Christ coming here to reign instead of us going there seems a little foreign.  Also really cool though.  I like that the earth will become a paradise rather than us just continuing to harm her/our environment until there is nothing left.

The greatest thing though is that chance to live with God--our savior--forever.  Can you imagine having the opportuity to learn the intricacies of the gospel from Christ himself?  To have a government not just loosely based on moral ideals, but led by God himself (here it might be good to temember that he is eternally loving and incorruptible)?  I love the idea of the whole thing.

Today, let's live so that someday we can see it all happen, and be here, with God. :)