Joseph Smith — "The earth was once a garden, and it will be again. And the Saints will inherit i…"
The earth was once a garden, and it will be again. And the Saints will inherit it.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
The earth was once paradise, corrupted by humanity's fall, but will be restored to its original perfection. The faithful community will literally inherit this renewed world. It blends ecological longing with religious eschatology — Earth's history is cyclical, not linear toward doom. Patience and righteousness will be rewarded not with heavenly escape but with physical possession of a redeemed, garden-like Earth where the righteous finally make their permanent home.
Relevance to Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith placed the Garden of Eden in Jackson County, Missouri — where he believed Zion, the New Jerusalem, would be built. He spent his life gathering converts into physical communities, believing Saints would literally inherit restored land. Driven from Missouri and Illinois by mobs, his followers faced repeated displacement, making this promise of earthly inheritance deeply personal. His theology of consecration taught that the righteous would collectively steward and possess a transformed Earth.
The era
Joseph Smith lived during America's Second Great Awakening, a period of intense religious revival and widespread millennialist expectation — many believed Christ's return was imminent. Frontier expansion fueled ideas about promised land and inheritance. LDS converts were violently expelled from Missouri in 1838 and Illinois in 1844, suffering acute homelessness. Amid this turbulence, the promise that the Saints would ultimately inherit the transformed earth offered theological anchor and collective identity to a persecuted, landless people.
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