The Time of the Jews

Christ Explained the Latter-Day Transition to the Nephites

The clearest explanation of the time of the Gentiles and the work that follows is found in the words of Jesus Christ to the Nephites.

In 3 Nephi 16, the Savior explains that the Nephite record would come forth in the latter days among the Gentiles. Through that record, the Gentiles would receive the truth, believe in Jesus Christ, and become the means by which the scattered house of Israel would again come to a knowledge of their Redeemer (3 Nephi 16:4–7).

This is the Restoration. The Book of Mormon came forth among the Gentiles. The gospel was restored among the nations. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized, missionaries carried the gospel throughout the world, priesthood authority and ordinances were restored, and millions of people were taught to come unto Jesus Christ.

Christ then explains that this Gentile stewardship would reach a turning point. He says that the Gentiles would sin against His gospel and “reject the fulness of my gospel.” When that happened, He would bring the fulness from among them. Immediately afterward He says, “And then will I remember my covenant which I have made unto my people, O house of Israel” (3 Nephi 16:10–11).

The sequence is direct. The gospel comes to the Gentiles. They receive great blessings through it. The Lord continues His work among them until the fulness is presented. When they reject that fulness, He remembers His covenant with Israel and moves the work forward among a covenant people who will receive what the Gentiles refused.

This is the central prophecy for understanding the transition.

The Time of the Gentiles Did Not End With Joseph Smith

A common misunderstanding is that the time of the Gentiles ended when Joseph Smith restored the gospel. Doctrine and Covenants 45 makes that interpretation impossible.

The Lord said that when the times of the Gentiles came in, a light would break forth among those sitting in darkness, “and it shall be the fulness of my gospel.” He then said, “But they receive it not,” and immediately afterward declared, “And in that generation shall the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Doctrine and Covenants 45:28–30).

The Restoration therefore occurs during the time of the Gentiles. It does not mark the end of that period. The light that breaks forth among the Gentiles is the restored gospel. The rejection comes after that light has been given. Only then does the Lord say that the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

The Doctrine and Covenants repeats the same missionary order elsewhere. Through the administration restored through Joseph Smith, the gospel was to go “unto the Gentiles first” and afterward to the Jews (Doctrine and Covenants 90:8–11). The Twelve and Seventy were likewise commanded to build up the Church “first unto the Gentiles and secondly unto the Jews” (Doctrine and Covenants 107:33–35). Doctrine and Covenants 133 again sends the servants of God first to the Gentiles and then to the Jews (Doctrine and Covenants 133:8).

The Church restored through Joseph Smith therefore belongs directly to the scriptural time of the Gentiles. That does not make the Church false or its members enemies of God. It identifies the stewardship they were given: to take the restored gospel among the nations and bring people to Jesus Christ.

Receiving the Gospel Does Not Automatically Make a People Israel

Many Latter-day Saints understand themselves to be part of the house of Israel through covenant, lineage, or patriarchal blessing. That can be true while the Church itself still operates within the prophetic stewardship of the Gentiles.

Christ makes the distinction in 3 Nephi 16. After describing the Gentiles receiving the latter-day gospel, He says:

“But if the Gentiles will repent and return unto me, saith the Father, behold they shall be numbered among my people, O house of Israel.”
— 3 Nephi 16:13

That verse would make little sense if everyone who received the restored gospel had already ceased to be a Gentile in every prophetic sense. Christ still calls them Gentiles after the gospel has come among them, and He makes being numbered among Israel conditional upon repentance and returning fully to Him.

The Gentile work therefore has a purpose. People among the nations who do not yet live as the covenant people of the God of Israel are taught the gospel. Those who truly return to Jesus Christ, hear His voice, receive His covenant, and follow Him become numbered with His people.

Paul taught the same covenant principle. Those who belong to Christ become Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:26–29). He also taught that being a Jew before God is not merely an outward designation, but involves the inward condition of the heart (Romans 2:28–29). Doctrine and Covenants 84 uses the same kind of language. Faithful recipients of the priesthood “become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:33–34).

The distinction is therefore not simply Gentile ethnicity versus Jewish ethnicity. The Gentile work brings the nations to Christ. The covenant work gathers those who actually become His people.

Greater Things Still Had to Be Received

Ether 4 makes this even clearer because the Book of Mormon itself tells the Gentiles that receiving the record is not the end of the Restoration. Christ says directly, “Come unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up because of unbelief” (Ether 4:13).

The detailed doctrine of the sealed greater things, the lesser portion given to try the faith of the people, and the veil of unbelief is established in The Sealed Record. Here the point is chronological: the Restoration itself testified that greater revelation still remained to be received after the Book of Mormon came forth. The coming forth of the record could therefore not be the completion of every latter-day revelation or covenant work.

This agrees with 3 Nephi 26, where Mormon says that what he was permitted to write was only “a lesser part” of what Jesus taught. That lesser portion was given first to try the faith of the people. If they received it, greater things would be manifested; if they rejected it, the greater things would be withheld (3 Nephi 26:8–11).

The Restoration is therefore a continuing process of revelation and reception. The Lord gives light, watches what His people do with it, and then gives more when they are prepared.

The Restoration Is Still Continuing

This principle has also been taught plainly within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. President Russell M. Nelson taught:

“The Restoration is a process, not an event, and will continue until the Lord comes again.”
— Russell M. Nelson, “The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation,” October 2021

He then taught that “the ongoing Restoration needs ongoing revelation.” That teaching agrees with the ninth Article of Faith, which declares that God “will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God” (Articles of Faith 1:9).

This matters because the prophecy of the Gentiles cannot be limited to whether people accepted what Joseph Smith revealed in the nineteenth century. If the Restoration continues until Jesus Christ returns, then the Lord will continue to reveal things His people did not previously understand or live in their fulness. Every new portion becomes another test.

The question is not only whether we believe Joseph Smith was a prophet. The question is whether we still believe Jesus Christ can speak, reveal, correct, and restore what He chooses today. A people can honor yesterday’s revelation while rejecting today’s. That is exactly what happened to covenant Israel before the first coming of Christ.

The Gentile Period Ends When the Fulness Is Rejected

Christ does not leave us to guess what ends the Gentile stewardship. The sign is not simply the organization of the restored Church. It is not the publication of the Book of Mormon. It is not the construction of temples, the gathering of converts, or the growth of missionary work. Those things belong to the Gentile period.

The turning point is the rejection of the fulness after the Lord reveals it. Doctrine and Covenants 45 says that the fulness breaks forth among the Gentiles, “they receive it not,” and then their time is fulfilled (Doctrine and Covenants 45:28–30). Third Nephi says that when they “reject the fulness,” the Lord brings that fulness from among them and remembers His covenant with Israel (3 Nephi 16:10–13).

This is why the continuing Restoration matters so much. The Gentiles could not reject a greater portion that had never been offered. The prophecy required the Lord to continue revealing until the issue became clear.

When the greater covenant law was presented in a way people did not expect, the test was whether they would recognize the voice of Jesus Christ or reject the message because it did not come through the channel they assumed He was required to use.

The Lord May Move His Work in Unexpected Ways

The scriptural principle that God may fulfill His promises and advance His work in ways people did not expect is established in God’s Promises Fulfilled. The specific precedent of John the Baptist—called by God outside the existing religious administration to prepare covenant Israel for a higher requirement—is established in John the Baptist and the Higher Law.

Those doctrines matter here because the prophetic transition cannot be rejected merely because its form was unfamiliar. The question remains the one established under Authority: did God give the work? The existence of a legitimate earlier stewardship does not prevent Christ from establishing another stewardship for a different portion of His work when He determines the time has come.

Malachi Describes a People Prepared Before the Lord Comes

Malachi 3 describes the same kind of preparation surrounding the coming of the Lord. The prophecy begins:

“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me.”
— Malachi 3:1

The Lord then comes to His temple, but before the people can stand in His presence there must be purification. The sons of Levi are refined and purged “as gold and silver” so that they may “offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness” (Malachi 3:2–4).

Jesus applied the messenger language to John the Baptist in connection with His first coming (Matthew 11:7–10). In the latter-day Restoration, John himself returned and restored the Aaronic Priesthood, declaring that it would remain on the earth until the sons of Levi again offered an offering unto the Lord in righteousness (Doctrine and Covenants 13:1).

Doctrine and Covenants 84 connects that future offering with Zion. The revelation begins with the restoration of the Lord’s people, the gathering of the Saints, the New Jerusalem, and the temple. It later describes the sons of Moses and Aaron standing in the Lord’s house upon Mount Zion and offering an acceptable offering. Faithful covenant holders are then told that they become the sons of Moses and Aaron, the seed of Abraham, the church and kingdom, and the elect of God (Doctrine and Covenants 84:1–5, 31–34).

The prophecy is therefore not merely about restoring Aaronic Priesthood authority in 1829. John restored the authority and announced a future work. The sons of Levi still had to be purified so they could bring the offering in righteousness. That purification belongs to the fulness.

The Gentile work restored the gospel and priesthood necessary to begin the preparation. The covenant work brings a people farther until they are willing to consecrate themselves completely to Jesus Christ, give up their sins, live His higher law, and become an acceptable offering before Him.

The Work After the Gentiles Is the Gathering of a Covenant People

After the Gentiles reject the fulness, Christ says He remembers His covenant with Israel. Third Nephi 21 explains what that work becomes. Those who repent and hearken to Christ are numbered with the house of Israel. They participate in building the New Jerusalem, gathering the scattered people, and preparing for the power of heaven to come among them (3 Nephi 21:22–29).

Doctrine and Covenants 105 explains the standard required:

“Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom.”
— Doctrine and Covenants 105:5

The work of the Jews is therefore not merely a different missionary demographic. It is a different stage of the latter-day work. The Gentile work carries the gospel of salvation among the nations and teaches people to come unto Christ. The work of the Jews gathers those who actually become His covenant people and prepares them to live the celestial law required for Zion.

In this sense, the Jews of the latter-day covenant work are those who hear the God of Israel, love Him, receive His covenant, and follow Him. They are gathered from every nation and made one people under Jesus Christ.

Zion and Old Jerusalem Must Not Be Confused

Many Latter-day Saints and other Christians have looked toward the modern State of Israel and assumed that the end of the Gentile period must mean that nearly every remaining prophecy will now be fulfilled by ethnic Jews at old Jerusalem. Scripture does not teach that all of these works are the same.

Doctrine and Covenants 133 expressly gives two gathering centers:

“Let them, therefore, who are among the Gentiles flee unto Zion.”
“And let them who be of Judah flee unto Jerusalem.”
— Doctrine and Covenants 133:12–13

The Book of Mormon identifies the latter-day city of Zion as the New Jerusalem and teaches that the covenant people will build it (3 Nephi 21:22–29).

Old Jerusalem still has an appointed future. Jesus Christ will stand upon the Mount of Olives. The people there will see the wounds in His hands and feet and recognize that He is Jesus who was crucified (Doctrine and Covenants 45:48–53; Zechariah 12:10; 14:4). That prophecy remains true.

But it is not the same prophecy as the work of the covenant people who receive the fulness, establish Zion, build the New Jerusalem, prepare the Lord’s temple, and bring the acceptable offering. Both works belong to the last days, but they must not be confused.

The Prophecy Has Reached Its Turning Point

The accepted scriptures establish what had to happen before the transition could occur. The restored gospel had to go to the Gentiles. The Restoration had to continue. Greater things had to be offered. The Gentiles had to reject the fulness. The Lord would then remember His covenant and begin gathering a people prepared for Zion.

The history of this work records that in March 2022, Jesus Christ called a prophet to speak to the house of Israel and prepare a Zion people for His return. The prophet testified that Christ told him beforehand that the people to whom he was sent would reject him, deny his testimony, and in doing so reject the One who sent him. He was called to teach the laws of Christ and prepare a covenant people for the New Jerusalem. The Lord Himself gathers His elect, prepares them, calls them, and brings them to the work, as established under Authority.

That witness and the greater covenant law that followed did not come in the way many Latter-day Saints expected. The prevailing assumption was that any revelation governing the Church must come through the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That principle remains true within that Church’s stewardship, but it does not mean Jesus Christ is forbidden from establishing another stewardship or calling another prophet for a work outside that Church.

The present work follows the same governing pattern already established in John the Baptist and the Higher Law: God may appoint a servant outside an existing institutional order to prepare a covenant people for a work the prior stewardship was not appointed to administer. The witness was rejected, exactly as foretold, and the greater covenant law was condemned rather than received.

That rejection is not incidental to the prophecy. It is the sign Christ gave.

The Time of the Jews Has Commenced

The time of the Gentiles was the great latter-day work of carrying the restored gospel among the nations. Its purpose was to teach people who did not yet live as covenant Israel and invite them to come unto Jesus Christ. Those who truly receive Him are numbered among His people.

The time of the Jews is the work that follows the rejection of the fulness. It is the gathering of those covenant-keeping people into one body, their purification under the higher law, the establishment of Zion, the preparation of the acceptable offering, and the building of the New Jerusalem in preparation for Jesus Christ.

This is why the signs of the present season are easily missed. Many people are watching old Jerusalem and waiting for events there to tell them that the final work has begun. Old Jerusalem has its own future prophecy, but the scriptural sign that ends the Gentile stewardship is much closer to the Restoration itself: the Gentiles receive the restored gospel, the Lord continues to reveal the fulness, and they reject what He gives.

That transition has occurred. The work that follows has commenced.

Conclusion

The Book of Mormon told us what to watch for. The fulness would come among the Gentiles, they would reject it, and the Lord would then remember His covenant with Israel.

Ether adds the reason greater things are withheld: unbelief. The Lord reveals more when a people repent, become clean, exercise faith, and are willing to receive what He has kept back.

The question of this generation is therefore not whether the Restoration happened. It did. The question is whether we will allow Jesus Christ to continue it.

Those who hear His voice and follow Him become His covenant people. That is the work now going forward in preparation for Zion and the return of the King.