These statements, when rightly considered, dispel all notion of the immediate establishment of Zion. The Lord distinctly warns His servants against any such supposition. He predicts "tribulation" before the glory shall come. It is only after "much tribulation" that the blessings are {XXXVI} promised. He reminds them that He has "told them before" of this, and asks them "to lay it to heart," and gives them to understand that it will be "_many years_" before some of the Elders of His Church will receive their inheritance in the goodly land. The Lord still further foreshadowed the trouble which afterwards overtook His people by urging them to make arrangements for the purchase of the whole region that had been designated as the center place of Zion. "For, behold, verily I say unto you, the Lord willeth that the disciples, and the children of men should open their hearts, even to purchase this whole region of country, as soon as time will permit. Behold, here is wisdom. Let them do this lest they receive none inheritance, save it be by the shedding of blood." [15] In this same month of August the Lord again said: "Behold, the land of Zion, I, the Lord, hold it in mine own hands; nevertheless, I, the Lord, render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's: wherefore, I, the Lord, will that you should purchase the lands that you may have advantage of the world, that you may have claim on the world, that they may not be stirred up unto anger; for Satan putteth it into their hearts to anger against you, and to the shedding of blood; wherefore the land of Zion shall not be obtained but by purchase or by blood, otherwise there is none inheritance for you. And if by purchase behold you are blessed; and if by blood, _as you are forbidden to shed blood, lo, your enemies are upon you, and ye shall be scourged from city to city, and from synagogue to synagogue, and but few shall stand to receive an inheritance_." [16] About a month after this word, the Lord said: "Behold the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days; and the rebellious shall be cut off out of the land of Zion, and shall be sent away, and shall not inherit the land; for, verily, I say that the rebellious are not of the blood of Ephraim, wherefore they shall be plucked out." [17] All this makes it very clear that while great things were promised concerning the establishment of Zion and the glory that is to be hers, yet all was predicated upon the faithfulness of the Saints in keeping the commandments of the Lord--in purchasing the lands that constituted the center place of Zion, and living upon them in all righteousness. This they failed to do. In a revelation given in November, 1831, a few months after the land had been dedicated unto the Lord for the gathering of His people, He thus complained of those who had assembled in western Missouri: