Chapter 13—God's Great & Marvelous Work

Once the Gentiles’ iniquity is full, His act commences as God continues His work. “Behold!” He calls, for God is about to perform a great work that “surprises or sets in astonishment” and fills mankind with wonder. “I will proceed to do a marvelous work . . . and a wonder” (Isaiah 29:13–14).

“At that day when I shall proceed to do a marvelous work,” God will “remember my covenants which I have made unto the children of men, that I may set my hand again the second time to recover my people,” which includes the house of Israel and many remnants lost to the truth. Records will go “unto the ends of the earth for a standard unto my people,” many of whom refuse more scripture because they have been taught precepts of men that “we have got a Bible and there cannot be anymore Bible . . . we need no more” (2 Nephi 29:3, 6).

Thou fool . . . have ye obtained a Bible save it were by the Jews? Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth?

Wherefore murmur ye because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another . . .  And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever . . . and because that I have spoken one word ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever.  

Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written. For I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north, and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them; for out of the books which shall be written I will judge the world, every man according to their works, according to that which is written. (2 Nephi 29:6–11)

Today’s scriptures “contain not even a hundredth part of” God’s “great and marvelous” works (3 Nephi 5:8). Through their coming forth “shall the deaf hear the words of the book and the eyes of the blind see out of gross darkness.” Those who prior had “put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isaiah 29:18, 5:20) will begin to see, hear, and understand—but “darkness will first have been destroyed” (1 Enoch 58:6). “Those who wander[ed] in spirit shall know perception, and the murmurers shall learn doctrine” (Isaiah 29:24). God’s servants praise God for His mercy, for He “wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish” (1 Nephi 1:14).

“O how marvelous are the works of the Lord, and how long doth He suffer with His people,” hoping they will return to Him. “And how blind and impenetrable are the understandings of the children of men; for they will not seek wisdom, neither do they desire that she should rule over them!” (Mosiah 8:20). His great works cease when people are “slothful and forg[e]t to exercise their faith and diligence.” Sinners will marvel that they provoked God by “giving way to the enticing[s]” of Satan. Many will marvel when the Lord comes forth out of His hiding place to vex the nations that refuse His protection and gospel. Hypocrites and unbelievers will be cut off, left without excuse. Covenant makers are not exempt: “Great and marvelous is the destruction of my people” (Mormon 8:7).

“Those who hindered My work” will be cursed “unto the third and fourth generation so long as they repent not and hate me” (D&C 124:50). Plagues “shall not be taken from the earth until I have completed my work, which shall be cut short in righteousness—until all shall know me who remain,” singing praises to Him (D&C 84:97).

“Nothing but ruin came” from mankind’s ‘genius’ so God’s wondrous work will demonstrate that their confidence in man is utter foolishness. “No one, not even the wisest of men, would know a way out of the difficulty” that arises so humbled nations and people will finally “turn to the Lord, the only source of true wisdom.”

And the Lord will set his hand again the second time to restore his people from their lost and fallen state. Wherefore, he will proceed to do a marvelous work and a wonder among the children of men.  

Wherefore, he shall bring forth his words unto them, which words shall judge them at the last day, for they shall be given them for the purpose of convincing them of the true Messiah, who was rejected by them; and unto the convincing of them that they need not look forward any more for a Messiah to come, for there should not any come, save it should be a false Messiah which should deceive the people; for there is save one Messiah spoken of by the prophets, and that Messiah is he who should be rejected of the Jews. (2 Nephi 25:17–18)

Whereas “all its deeds [were] perverse,” all deeds of wickedness will vanish (1 Enoch 93:9, 91:14). The spiritual error that blinded people and crippled nations will come to an end. God’s pure gospel, and His true and holy messengers will finally be esteemed. When “the righteous man stands in great boldness before the face of” his persecutors, “they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his salvation,” for “this was he whom we had sometimes in derision” and reproach. “We fools accounted his life madness and his end to be without honor. How is he numbered among the children of God and his lot is among the saints! Therefore we have erred from the way of truth and the light of righteousness . . . We wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction,” they mourn. And “as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it. What hath pride profited us? Or what good hath riches . . . brought us?” (Wisdom of Solomon 5:1–8). “Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serveth Him not” (Malachi 3:16–18).

His work offers the blessings, His strange work the cursing. Those who receive blessings are distinguished from the cursed by if they ‘hear and know.’ What God “said unto you must needs be, that all men may be left without excuse, that wise men and rulers may hear and know that which they never considered” (D&C 101:93–94).

Nephi desired “that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him, as well in times of old” (1 Nephi 10:17). King Benjamin appointed righteous priests that the people “may hear and know the commandments of God, and to stir the up in remembrance of the oath which they had made” (Mosiah 6:3). Samuel the Lamanite’s intent in coming “up upon the walls of this city” to preach was “that ye might hear and know of the judgments of God which do await you, and also that ye might know the conditions of repentance” (Helaman 14:11). 

We are to “hear and know the voice by which ye shall be called, and also the name by which He shall call you” (Mosiah 5:12). Care of sacred records was entrusted for a time to Aminadi, a descendant of both Joseph of Egypt and Nephi. He had access to the gospel’s fulness but accumulated “much riches” and “went on rebelling against God in the wickedness of my heart . . . for I was called many times and I would not hear,” so he lost knowledge (Alma 10:4–6). 

God graciously gives all of us the means to obtain whatever degree of glory we are “willing to receive” (D&C 88:32). We are invited to become 

a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)

And “the Holy Spirit of God did come down from heaven, and did enter into their hearts, and they were filled as if with fire, and they could speak forth marvelous words” (Helaman 5:45). God creating a holy and sanctified people, whom He can dwell among, is “the last of my work.”

When they see the “work of My hands . . . they will sanctify My name and will stand in awe at the God of Israel” (Isaiah 29:23, NASB). 

The Cornerstone of Zion

God’s work offers greater things to those who emerge victorious from all that is strange to build a spiritual, then literal, house of God. His work includes “the building of mine house.” God commanded, “Labor diligently until it shall be finished, from the cornerstone thereof unto the top thereof, until there shall not anything remain that is not finished.” Instead they build chapels, temples, buildings, businesses, and churches with their own hands but neglect to build God’s house “without hands” through spiritual transformation (D&C 104:43, 115:12, 109:72).

“There are many who have been ordained among you, whom I have called, but few of them are chosen . . . They who are not chosen have sinned a very grievous sin . . . they are walking in darkness at noon-day” (D&C 95:3–6). Those who call themselves saints are chastised for not building a place where He can dwell, and are asked, is anything “left of the foundation laid by the Prophet Joseph Smith?” Many are called, but few are chosen because few choose in.

[God] has preserved the portion of the righteous [who] have hated and despised this age of unrighteousness, indeed all its deeds and its ways. (1 Enoch 48:7)

His choice land will become a holy, sanctified, consecrated land of promise only when covenants are fulfilled. It is “a choice land above all other lands.” He eagerly awaits a return to righteousness “that the work of the gathering together of my saints may continue, that I may build them up unto my name upon holy places; for the time of harvest is come, and my word must needs be fulfilled . . . That my covenant people may be gathered in one in that day when I shall come to my temple. And this I do for the salvation of my people . . . inasmuch as they are willing to be guided in a right and proper way for their salvation” (D&C 42:36, 101:63–64).

I lay in Zion a stone, a keystone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. (Isaiah 28:16, Gileadi)

Zion is the only and sure “refuge from the storm” because it is built on Christ and His laws of Zion. “He who believes will not waver,” but they have neglected to build His temple and make their bodies—a divine gift made in His image—a holy temple where He can dwell. Unlike the foundation-less great and spacious building made of “bricks of sin” (1 Enoch 99:13), God’s temples and city of righteousness are built “without hands” (Daniel 2:45), having a resilient foundation and cornerstone built to endure for eternity.

The cornerstone is ‘the stone that stands firm.’ It is a keystone, “a tested stone” (Isaiah 28:16, NIV) that withstands every test and tries those who come in contact, being either a “stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” to unbelievers (Isaiah 8:14) or “the living stone” to the faithful.

As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4–5, Berean)

God called believers to “make a solemn proclamation of my gospel, and of this stake which I have planted to be a cornerstone of Zion” that has been refined (D&C 124:2). Joseph explains how we are polished:

I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain, and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force against religious bigotry, priest-craft, lawyer-craft, doctor-craft, lying editors, suborned judges and jurors, and the authority of perjured executives, backed by mobs, blasphemers, licentious and corrupt men and women—all hell knocking off a corner here and a corner there. 

Thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty, who will give me dominion over all and every one of them, when their refuge of lies shall fail, and their hiding place shall be destroyed, while these smooth-polished stones with which I come in contact become marred.

“Christ was the head of the Church, the chief corner stone, the spiritual rock upon which the church was built, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He built up the Kingdom, chose Apostles, and ordained them to the Melchizedek Priesthood, giving them power to administer in the ordinances of the Gospel.” Without valid, authorized ordinances, Zion cannot come. Ordinances in the House of God is His work. “The main object [of gathering] was to build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto His people the ordinances of His house and the glories of His kingdom, and teach the people the way of salvation: for there are certain ordinances that, when they are taught and practiced, must be done in a place or house built for that purpose.”

Ye are to be taught from on high. Sanctify yourselves and ye shall be endowed with power. (D&C 43:16)

Elders were granted a generous period to prepare themselves so that the Lord’s people could “be taught more perfectly, and have experience, and know more perfectly concerning their duty and the things which I require at their hands” because much is at stake. “I have prepared a great endowment and blessing to be poured out upon them, inasmuch as they are faithful and continue in humility before me . . . Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive her unto myself” (D&C 105:9–12, 5).

Zion is the great moment of transition, the bridge between the world as it is and the world as God designed it and meant it to be.

The righteous are “weeping for Zion” (D&C 21:8) and the fulfillment of His everlasting covenant. Since righteousness only comes from heaven, we must connect with heaven to sacrifice in righteousness. Good fruits (truth) from the seed of faith come up from earth as righteousness pours down from above to bring Zion, the city of righteousness, built on the sure testimony and foundation of Jesus Christ.

And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten . . . and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem. (Moses 7:62)

Truth is central to God’s work, so it’s no wonder that Satan tries hard to destroy it. “Truth shall spring out of the earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven” (Psalm 85:11) “to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten.” It is a gift from the Father. “That which is righteous cometh down from above, from the Father of lights” (D&C 67:9). 

Believing we are righteous is not enough. We must “obtain witness” of it, “God testifying of [our] gifts.” The windows of heaven open when truth springs up from a nourished seed of faith. As we drawer closer to God, He comes to us, connecting heaven and earth. It is His work and His glory, the purpose of creation.

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it. (Isaiah 45:8)

“The plant of righteousness will go forth forever,” even “the plant of truth” (1 Enoch 93:5, 2), having roots and foundation. In contrast, the great and spacious building has none so God “uproots [its] foundations of violence and the structure of deceit in it” (1 Enoch 91:11).

His strange work allows then reveals all the sins and works of darkness to destroy sin and sinner. God’s work pours out extraordinary blessings and gives knowledge of ‘all things’ to the faithful, who receive peaceful rest and refuge in Zion through His everlasting covenant. How great is the true and living God!

“Zion shall be redeemed with judgment and her converts with righteousness” (Isaiah 1:27). For in this “the Lord is exalted; for he dwelleth on high. He hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness” (Isaiah 33:5).“Zion shall be redeemed in mine own due time. Go thy way and do as I have told you, and fear not thine enemies; for they shall not have power to stop my work” (D&C 136:17–18). 

God’s great and marvelous work cannot—and will not—be stopped. 

No one can “hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven . . . [and] my Spirit” upon all who seek Him (D&C 121:33, 95:4).

Footnotes and sources can be found HERE.