There are three conditions of the earth spoken of in the inspired writings,—the present, in which everything pertaining to it must go through a change which we call death; the millennial condition, in which it will be sanctified for the residence of purer intelligence, some mortal and some immortal; and finally the celestial condition spoken of in the twenty-first and twenty-second chapters of Revelation, which will be one of immortality and eternal life.
In order that the predictions of the ancient prophets might be fulfilled, it was necessary that a book should be brought forth to the world which should be a record of truth. This book must also come forth from the earth … According to the twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah, there was to be a people who like Ariel, or Jerusalem, were to be brought down and they should speak out of the ground, their speech was to be low out of the dust. The predictions in verses 1-6 of this chapter have been fulfilled in every particular, in the history of the Nephites and in the coming forth of their record, the Book of Mormon.