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FAIR Resources for Come, Follow Me – Book of Mormon
1 Nephi 16–22
Week 5: January 29-February 4, 2024
“I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments”
“I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments”
FAIR Faithful Resources for Come, Follow Me 2024, January 29-February 4. 1 Nephi 16–22: “I Will Prepare the Way before You”. These trusted sources can help you find answers to difficult questions and help you in your learning and teaching.
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Main Points to Ponder
The lesson invites us to learn from Nephi how we might better face our challenges with faith in Jesus Christ. Consider looking for specific ways Nephi responds to challenges and how the Lord helped him as you read the following passages:
You may want to record in your scriptures or journal any thoughts you have about how you can apply these things to your own challenges. The following resources may also prove useful:
Faithful Answers to Difficult Questions
- Question: Was the Liahona simply a magnetic compass that was out of place in 600 B.C.?
- Robert L. Bunker, “The Design of the Liahona and the Purpose of the Second Spindle”
- Fair Issues 64: What was the Liahona?
- Faith and Reason 29: The Liahona
- Compass in the Book of Mormon
- The place called Nahom
- Possible locations for Nahom
- Question: Did Joseph Smith have access to materials related to Nahom at Allegheny College?
- Question: Did Joseph Smith get the word Nahom from the Biblical names Naham (1 Chron. 4:19), Nehum (Ne. 7:7) and Nahum (Na. 1:1)?
- Arabia and The Book of Mormon
- The Spice Route Through the Arabian Desert and Lehi’s Travels
- Question: Is there a real-world match in the Old World for the land “Bountiful” described in the Book of Mormon?
- Question: Could Lehi’s group have made a transoceanic crossing as described in the Book of Mormon?
- Fair Issues 70: What was Nephi’s ship like?
- FairMormon Questions: Why does Nephi quote from Isaiah in the Book of Mormon?
- Question: Were the Isaiah passages in the Book of Mormon simply plagiarized from the King James Bible?
- Nephi and Isaiah: Some Suggestions for Study
Chapter Summaries
1 Nephi 16
1 Nephi 17
1 Nephi 18
1 Nephi 19
1 Nephi 20
1 Nephi 21
1 Nephi 22
1 Nephi 16
1-9: Lehi’s extended family grows as the sons marry Ishmael’s daughters. For a time, all are striving to follow God’s commands. They prepare to continue their journey.
10-17: Their journey through the wilderness is described, as they follow the path pointed out by the Liahona.
18-32: Nephi’s bow breaks, and the other bows have diminished abilities. There is much dissension, complaining and anxiety due to the ensuing hunger that results. Nephi reminds his family to remain faithful. That, along with chastening from the Lord allow Nephi to find food.
33-39: Their journey continues through the wilderness. Ishmael dies. His daughters grieve and desire to return to Jerusalem, along with Laman and Lemuel. Only the voice of the Lord calms their angry and violent intentions.
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1 Nephi 17
1-6: Though they experience many hardships on their journey, they are blessed and strengthened by the Lord. The families are glad when they reach the land Bountiful.
7-22: Through revelation, Nephi is given the information and skill needed to build a ship. Laman and Lemuel again murmur and complain, remembering their good life in Jerusalem. They refuse to help in the ship building process.
23-47: Nephi recounts many Old Testament examples of times when God was willing and able to help, strengthen and rescue his covenant people.
48-55: Nephi’s words are to no avail. The brothers still want to be rid of him. Nephi is filled with the Spirit of the Lord to such an extent that it causes the brothers to shake. Laman and Lemuel’s hearts are softened – at least for the moment.
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1 Nephi 18
1-4: With the Lord’s continuing help, the ship is finished. It serves as a testimony that the Lord is with them.
5-8: The families load the ship with their provisions and begin their journey to the promised land.
9-22: The families of Laman and Lemuel and a few others begin to forget how the Hand of the Lord has guided them. They tie up Nephi, tired of his admonitions. A terrible storm follows and they come close to being lost at sea. They finally untie Nephi, he prays for guidance, the storms are calmed and their journey continues.
23-25: They reach the promised land, which is a land of great abundance. They begin their new lives there.
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1 Nephi 19
1-6: Nephi describes the two sets of plate that he is compiling
7-21: Nephi then shares his testimony of Jesus Christ, including His rejection by the Jews, their scattering and eventual acceptance of Him as the Messiah by both the Jews and the Gentiles.
22-24: Nephi encourages his brothers to deepen their relationship with God by studying the words of the prophets as found on the brass plates.
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1 Nephi 20
1-8: Nephi quotes Isaiah 48, which describes how the covenant children of Israel have neglected/rejected God and His Covenant. They are slow to obey, repent and remember.
9-14: Still, though their choices will lead them through affliction, God will not forget his chosen people. His power, mercy and love will always be accessible to them.
15-19: Since the beginning, God has spoken through prophets. We are blessed as we heed their words.
20-22: The Lord promises great blessings to His covenant people.
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1 Nephi 21
1: Isaiah 49 is addressed to scattered Israel. Nephi likely would have felt that this message applied very directly to his family in their promised land.
2-6: Isaiah is given the mission to continue to preach and teach to scattered Israel.
7-26: He reassures them that the Lord will not forget them. The waiting blessing the God has instore for both the House of Israel and the Gentiles are bountiful and beautiful.
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1 Nephi 22
1-6: Nephi explains the writing of Isaiah to his brothers. These teachings contain both temporal and spiritual meanings, one of which is that the House of Israel will be scattered throughout the whole world.
7-12: The Gentiles will be instrumental in helping to restore Israel. It will come at a time when the Lord will make His presence known to all, and the House of Israel will come to recognize the Messiah.
13-28: Nephi speaks of future days, when Satan and all things evil will fail, and the Savior with those who follow Him will triumph. Satan has no power in the face of righteousness.
29-32: And so, Nephi admonishes his brothers to obey the commandments and endure to the end.
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Digging Deeper
Lesson Devotional
Christ Prepares a Way
By Craig Lindquist, Contributor
The Book of Mormon is the greatest masterclass for navigating this mortal life. In its pages we are taught principles directly from Jesus Christ, such as “I will also be your light in the wilderness, and I will prepare the way before you” (1 Nephi 17:13). Then we are taught by the stories of real people how those principles are accomplished.
We see in the lives of Lehi and his family the Lord’s hand guiding and preparing all things for their temporal and spiritual survival. We read of struggles they experienced in a land they were mostly familiar with, to prepare them for a new land they would not be familiar with. Perhaps most importantly, God gave them the Liahona with directions and teachings that were frequently updated, and He charged them to exercise faith to access the Liahona’s miracles. To us He has given the Book of Mormon with eternal directions, in addition to living prophets who update us frequently—with the same charge.
Wilford Woodruff taught us the same principle that the Lord taught to Nephi when he said we should be “thrilled with heavenly joy for what God has done for us in our generation, furnishing us, as he has done, with every facility to prepare us, our posterity, and our ancestors, for that eternal world which lies beyond the present life. The Latter-Day Saints are, in truth, a highly favored people, and praise to God should ascend from every heart and habitation in our land for the great mercy and goodness which he has shown unto us.”1
When Jesus Christ promised Nephi that He would be his light in the wilderness, He was speaking to us as well. He is not only the light that helps us see what we would not otherwise see, but He has prepared all things in advance to help us as we cross our own real and personal wildernesses.
So let us look anew at the Book of Mormon and see those men and women as friends who want to tell us of their lives. Then let us exercise faith and make the choice to believe that if God was willing and able to help them, He will do so for us. Finally, may we actively look each day to see God’s hands in our lives, and then humbly thank Him for all He has done to prepare all needful things.
We see in the lives of Lehi and his family the Lord’s hand guiding and preparing all things for their temporal and spiritual survival. We read of struggles they experienced in a land they were mostly familiar with, to prepare them for a new land they would not be familiar with. Perhaps most importantly, God gave them the Liahona with directions and teachings that were frequently updated, and He charged them to exercise faith to access the Liahona’s miracles. To us He has given the Book of Mormon with eternal directions, in addition to living prophets who update us frequently—with the same charge.
Wilford Woodruff taught us the same principle that the Lord taught to Nephi when he said we should be “thrilled with heavenly joy for what God has done for us in our generation, furnishing us, as he has done, with every facility to prepare us, our posterity, and our ancestors, for that eternal world which lies beyond the present life. The Latter-Day Saints are, in truth, a highly favored people, and praise to God should ascend from every heart and habitation in our land for the great mercy and goodness which he has shown unto us.”1
When Jesus Christ promised Nephi that He would be his light in the wilderness, He was speaking to us as well. He is not only the light that helps us see what we would not otherwise see, but He has prepared all things in advance to help us as we cross our own real and personal wildernesses.
So let us look anew at the Book of Mormon and see those men and women as friends who want to tell us of their lives. Then let us exercise faith and make the choice to believe that if God was willing and able to help them, He will do so for us. Finally, may we actively look each day to see God’s hands in our lives, and then humbly thank Him for all He has done to prepare all needful things.
Craig Lindquist
Craig Lindquist is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is a father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, happily married to Dianna for the past 46 years. By trade he is a cabinetmaker, actor, and writer. He lives in Henderson, Nevada, except when he travels to film or to work on the construction of temples.
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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