A Marvellous Work
In the manual: Come, Follow Me lesson 39, “A Marvellous Work and a Wonder,” on Gospel Library
Start
In the spring of 1820, a fourteen-year-old boy went into the woods to pray. The answer he received included words from Isaiah 29.
Read Together
Isaiah saw a time when people would break “the everlasting covenant” (Isaiah 24:5). In Doctrine and Covenants 1:15, the Lord uses almost the same words to describe the world before the Restoration.
5The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
13Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: 14Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
What It Teaches
When Jesus Christ spoke to Joseph Smith in the grove, he described the religion of that day with words from verse 13. People drew near to God with their lips, but their hearts were far from him (Joseph Smith’s account).
Verse 14 is the Lord’s answer. He would do “a marvellous work and a wonder.” In 1829 the Lord told Joseph Smith’s father that this marvelous work was about to come forth (Doctrine and Covenants 4:1). The Restoration brought back the priesthood, the Book of Mormon, temples, and living prophets.
In 2020, for the 200th anniversary of the First Vision, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wrote a proclamation to the world. “We gladly declare that the promised Restoration goes forward through continuing revelation.”
The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: A Bicentennial Proclamation to the World,” April 2020
Talk About It
Isaiah called the Restoration “a marvellous work and a wonder.” Which part of it are you most thankful for, and why?
Take to Church
Isaiah saw “a marvellous work and a wonder” more than 2,500 years before it began with a boy’s prayer in 1820.