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“A Marvelous Work and a Wonder”
“A Marvelous Work and a Wonder”
FAIR Faithful Resources for Come, Follow Me 2024 March 11-17. 2 Nephi 26-30: “A Marvelous Work and a Wonder”. These trusted sources can help you find answers to difficult questions and help you in your learning and teaching.
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The lesson encourages us to carefully study 2 Nephi 25 and ponder the following questions:
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1-10: Nephi foresees what is in store for the Nephites. He sees that many will fall away, the great destruction when the Savior comes to them, generations of peace for the believers and then the eventual destruction of the Nephites.
11-23: Nephi then sees the latter days, including the development of many churches and secret combinations among the Gentiles.
24-33: Nephi describes the loving kindness of God, who invites us all to come unto him and partake freely of his goodness and salvation.
1-5: Nephi continues to describe the end days. There will be both physical upheaval and spiritual starvation.
6-22: Nephi prophesies of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.
23-35: Nephi quotes from Isaiah 29, describing how those who accept and heed the messages in the aforementioned book (The Book of Mormon) will be greatly blessed – in fact, they can expect a marvelous work and a wonder.
1-14: In the last days there will be many false prophets and many false churches. They will teach doctrines and pervert the truth, they will seek their own glory and power and they will deny the true God.
15-32: Nephi prophecies of the negative consequences in store for those who follow false teachings and are led astray by Satan. “Wo unto. . .” many for a variety of reasons. Those who embrace truth “line upon line” are blessed with a sturdy foundation during challenging times.
1-14: The Lord counsels us to accept His words that have been revealed to various groups of people. We should not think that the Bible will be the only record of His dealings with His children. The record of Lehi, the Book of Mormon, will be one such record.
1-2: The House of Israel should never be so confident in their status as the chosen people that they neglect to repent of their sins and keep the commandments.
3-6: The Book of Mormon will be a tool in bringing light and truth to the Lehi’s descendants.
7-18: The coming forth of the Book of Mormon will be the commencement of the restoration of the Jews and believing Gentiles in the latter day. Nephi again quotes Isaiah 11:5-9. In the last days truth will be evident and obvious and evil will be exposed.
As any full-time missionary can attest, talking to everyone is part of the calling as a servant of God. It doesn’t matter if a person is rich or poor, lives in a nice house in a large city or a small hut in the jungle, is literate or illiterate—Christ wants all to come to Him. Why?
As part of His earthly ministry, Christ did everything “for the benefit of the world” (2 Nephi 26:24), ultimately sacrificing His life because of His love for us.
Think of someone you love. It could be a family member, a neighbor, or your best friend. How do you show love to this person? We often show love to those we care for by buying them gifts, calling to check on them, supporting them in an activity, or serving them. These are all great ways to show our love—but Christ has asked us to do more. He has asked us to give what cannot erode over time or be forgotten: bring others to Him so they can enjoy eternal blessings that only He can offer through covenants.
Does Christ want only a select few to have these blessings? No. He invites, “Come unto me all ye ends of the earth” (2 Nephi 26:25). Those who know Christ have been commanded to bring this knowledge to others and “persuade all men to repentance” (2 Nephi 26:27). Christ wants all of us to belong to His Church and have a “sense of belonging.” No matter what happens in our lives, if we honor the covenants Jesus Christ offered us, we can have a “powerful sense of belonging among the covenant people.”
Wilford Woodruff felt this desire to bring others to God as soon as he first heard the gospel preached on December 29, 1833 in Richland, New York. When he heard Zerah Pulsipher preach, Wilford knew it was what he had been looking for. He wrote, “I could not feel it my duty to leave the house without bearing witness to the truth before the people.” He was soon baptized, and over the next three months, he labored with other members in the Richland area to teach the truth they had found. He knew that he didn’t need to be set apart as a missionary to share the gospel.
Christ invites all to come to Him. Like Wilford Woodruff, we don’t need callings as full-time missionaries to speak of Christ. As members of Jesus Christ’s Church, we need to do our part to help those around us hear the invitation to come to Him.
Endnotes
2 D. Todd Christofferson, “The Doctrine of Belonging,” Liahona, November 2022, ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
3 Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, December 29, 1833, p. 11, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/journal/1833-12-29.
Michelle Hall
Michelle graduated from Utah State University–Eastern in 1995 with an associate degree in Graphic Design. After serving in the Guatemala, Guatemala North Mission from 1996 to 1998, she continued her education at Utah Valley University, graduating in 1999 with an associate degree in Paralegal Studies and in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in Technology Management and an emphasis in Graphic Design. She worked as a paralegal for two years before having her children and becoming a full-time stay-at-home mom. Her two children are now in college. Not wanting to let her children suffer through college alone, Michelle went back to school and is now attending Utah Tech University, working on her master’s in Technical Writing and Digital Rhetoric. Michelle loves the gospel, family history, and the temple. She and her husband enjoy camping, hiking, and spending time together. She is excited to be a volunteer with the Wilford Woodruff Papers.
Lesson devotionals are provided by the Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation. Its mission is to digitally preserve and publish Wilford Woodruff’s eyewitness account of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ from 1833 to 1898. It seeks to make Wilford Woodruff’s records universally accessible to inspire all people, especially the rising generation, to study and to increase their faith in Jesus Christ. See wilfordwoodruffpapers.org.
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