A significant part of what Isaiah saw will begin to be fulfilled (“shall come to pass”) in a time period focusing upon another location in the earth, namely the latter-day Zion of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Elder LeGrand Richards (1886–1983) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke of the fulfillment of this prophecy:
“Isaiah saw the mountain of the Lord’s house established in the top of the mountains in the latter days. …
“How literally that has been fulfilled, in my way of thinking, in this very house of the God of Jacob right here on this block! This temple, more than any other building of which we have any record, has brought people from every land to learn of his ways and walk in his paths” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1971, 143; or Ensign, June 1971, 98).
Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles expanded the meaning of the phrase “top of the mountains” in reference to temples: “All of the holy temples of our God in the latter days shall be built in the mountains of the Lord, for his mountains—whether the land itself is a hill, a valley, or a plain—are the places where he comes, personally and by the power of his Spirit, to commune with his people” (The Millennial Messiah [1982], 275).
America, as a prophesied location of “the mountain of the Lord’s house” (2 Nephi 12:2), has been a land of immigration from its earliest discovery and settlement. Isaiah prophesied that “all nations shall flow unto it” (2 Nephi 12:2). The great immigrations from Europe during the 19th century, and continuing from all parts of the world today, peopled and blessed the land, its institutions, and the Church. Many Latter-day Saints trace their ancestry to this movement of people from the old world to the new. In addition, people from around the world, both members and nonmembers of the Lord’s Church, continue to visit the area of the Salt Lake Temple and the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many members of the Church attend general conference sessions semiannually in Salt Lake City, Utah, while others in various nations around the world view and listen to conference by means of modern communication systems.