God’s Marvelous Work Is the House of Israel’s Restoration
The Book of Mormon’s definition of God’s great and marvelous work that Isaiah predicts differs from the proof-texted version that claims it is the restoration of the gospel and priesthood by the prophet Joseph Smith. On examination, that is seen to be a “precept of men” (2 Nephi 28:14).
To understand the scriptural definition of God’s great and marvelous work, we must put away many precepts of men Latter-day Saints have inherited from the wise and the learned—those whom God condemns for “perverting the right way of the Lord” (2 Nephi 28:15; Isaiah 29:14).
Because the prophecies of Isaiah pertain to an end-time scenario, not to the time of Joseph Smith, God’s great and marvelous work takes place long after Latter-day Saints have been established as a covenant people and long after the house of Israel has been scattered throughout the world.
1 Nephi 22:8–9
And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed; wherefore, it is likened unto their being nourished by the Gentiles and being carried in their arms and upon their shoulders. And it shall also be of worth unto the Gentiles; and not only unto the Gentiles but unto all the house of Israel, unto the making known of the covenants of the Father of heaven unto Abraham, saying: In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
The Gentiles’ “nourishing” and “carrying” the house of Israel fulfills the tribe of Ephraim’s birthright role of serving as a savior to his brethren in the pattern of Joseph in Egypt. Ephraim’s merging into the Gentiles paves the way for the end-time Gentiles to restore the house of Israel.
“Making known” and “fulfilling” God’s covenants with Israel’s ancestors and the house of Israel forms an indispensable part of his great and marvelous work. It epitomizes Isaiah’s end-time scenario when God destroys the earth’s wicked and delivers Israel’s remnant from destruction.
1 Nephi 14:5–6
The angel spake unto me, Nephi, saying: Thou hast beheld that if the Gentiles repent it shall be well with them; and thou also knowest concerning the covenants of the Lord unto the house of Israel; and thou also hast heard that whoso repenteth not must perish. Therefore, wo be unto the Gentiles if it so be that they harden their hearts against the Lamb of God.
The divisive nature of God’s great and marvelous work polarizes not only the Gentiles to whom the gospel was restored but also the entire world. As the Gentiles and the nations of the world harden their hearts and ripen in iniquity, God intervenes and brings things to a final conclusion.
1 Nephi 14:7
The time cometh, saith the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and a marvelous work among the children of men; a work which shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other—either to the convincing of them unto peace and life eternal, or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and spiritually.
Having been taught by precepts of men and not having searched the scriptures for themselves, many of the Gentiles end up denying Christ (2 Nephi 28:26–32) and fighting against Zion. In that state, they are unprepared for God’s Day of Judgment that Isaiah predicts upon the world.
1 Nephi 22:18–19; Isaiah 29:8
Behold, my brethren, I say unto you, that these things must shortly come; yea, even blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke must come; and it must needs be upon the face of this earth; and it cometh unto men according to the flesh if it so be that they will harden their hearts against the Holy One of Israel. For behold, the righteous shall not perish; for the time surely must come that all they who fight against Zion shall be cut off.
Book of Mormon prophecies about God’s great and marvelous work thus focus on the Gentiles’ in the end choosing to go one of two ways. They end up either fighting against Zion and joining the whore of all the earth or repenting of transgression and ministering to the house of Israel.
2 Nephi 6:12–13; Isaiah 29:8; 49:23
Blessed are the Gentiles, they of whom the prophet has written; for behold, if it so be that they shall repent and fight not against Zion, and do not unite themselves to that great and abominable church, they shall be saved; for the Lord God will fulfil his covenants which he has made unto his children; and for this cause the prophet has written these things. Wherefore, they that fight against Zion and the covenant people of the Lord shall lick up the dust of their feet.
A second indispensable part of God’s great and marvelous work is his “setting his hand again the second time” to restore his people of the house of Israel. That expression, from Isaiah 11:11–12, deals with God’s end-time servant—his “hand”—gathering Israel from throughout the earth.
2 Nephi 21:11–12; Isaiah 11:11–12
It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
As an integral part of the great and marvelous work, God’s “setting his hand again the second time” to restore the remnant of his people occurs when they are led to believe in Christ their Savior. Nephi combines different prophecies of Isaiah to depict the house of Israel’s restoration.
2 Nephi 25:16–17; Isaiah 11:11–12; 29:14
When that day shall come that they shall believe in Christ, and worship the Father in his name, with pure hearts and clean hands, and look not forward any more for another Messiah, then, at that time, the day will come that it must needs be expedient that they should believe these things. 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.
While those Gentiles who repent minister to the house of Israel, the Gentiles in general reject the great and marvelous work and cause the gospel to turn back to the house of Israel. That accounts for the Gentiles in general rejecting further records that come forth that are a part of this work.
2 Nephi 29:1–3
There shall be many—at that day when I shall proceed to do a marvelous work among them, that I may 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 are of the house of Israel; . . . and my words shall hiss forth unto the ends of the earth, for a standard unto my people, which are of the house of Israel; And because my words shall hiss forth—many of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible.
The further records God’s end-time servant brings forth include the words of Christ that are on the large plates of Nephi—when Jesus “did expound all things, even from the beginning until the time that he should come in his glory” (3 Nephi 26:3). These words, many of the Gentiles reject.
3 Nephi 21:11
Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant.
Opposition against God’s end-time servant who brings forth Jesus’ words and other records leads to his disfigurement by his enemies as Jesus combines several prophecies of Isaiah to depict that event. Those Gentiles who disbelieve Jesus’ words, therefore, are those who fight against Zion.
3 Nephi 21:9–10; Isaiah 29:14; 52:14; 57:18–19
In that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them; and there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them. But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.
The spiritual kings and queens of the Gentiles who believe Jesus’ words that his servant brings forth gather the house of Israel in a new exodus out of Babylon to lands of inheritance. Serving as saviors of men under the terms of the Davidic Covenant, they fulfill Ephraim’s birthright role.
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3 Nephi 21:24, 28–29; Isaiah 11:11–12; 52:11–12
Then shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem. . . . Yea, and then shall the work commence, with the Father among all nations in preparing the way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their inheritance. And they shall go out from all nations; and they shall not go out in haste, nor go by flight, for I will go before them, saith the Father, and I will be their rearward.
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Recommended Reading
& Listening
Avraham Gileadi, Becoming Kings and Queens of the Gentiles. A scriptural handbook for LDS readers who are preparing to serve as foster fathers and nursing mothers to Israel’s natural lineages to restore them to lands of inheritance in fulfillment of God’s covenants. Hebron Books, 2019: 90 pages. Softcover $12.95; E-Book $8.95; MP3 $8.95.