As the course of history has unfolded, the Christian lament has been whether or not God had forsaken them. Christianity went from obscurity and weakness to the conquest of the Roman Empire. However, from its zenith of converting the Empire, the course has been, more often than not, downhill. From the dark days of Medieval Europe and the great plagues which killed millions, to Martin Luther’s rebellion, to the Protestant Reformation and the flight of religious refugees to a new American continent, Christians have wondered for centuries if “Zion” had not fled beyond man’s grasp to recapture. The strife and contests between Christian religionists have kept any possibility of Zion away. Christians have uncommon worship, while celebrating a common God.
Of course, Zion was and is beyond man’s grasp to seize. But it is within God’s power to confer. Just as the Son of Man queried, so too His followers have asked: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Nephi’s vision, however, foretold of a new day in which Zion was to be returned, and a people again chosen. Nephi knew the Lord would neither permanently forsake nor ever forget His covenants. Therefore, to fulfill the covenants, the Lord could not forget His obligation to return the descendants into fellowship with Him. Not a fellowship based upon hope alone, but also based on covenant, faith, knowledge, gifts of the Spirit, authority and keys returned to the earth. In short, Nephi knew it was the Lord’s will to “show that he hath not” forgotten Zion.