MARVELOUS (adjective)

• Extraordinary
• Awesome
• Causing great wonder
• Extremely good or pleasing

In 1 Nephi 22:8-9, Nephi tells his brothers,

“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.”

What is this work that Nephi refers to as marvelous (extraordinary, awesome, etc.) that will be of great worth (extremely good or pleasing) to everyone (Gentiles, Seed of Joseph, all of the House of Israel)?

Consider Moroni’s plight in 420 A.D. As if in a spy movie, Moroni is carrying vital information that needs to get into the proper hands. The enemy is hunting him down. All of his allies are dead. If the enemy obtains the records he carries, they’ll destroy the information and all will be lost. What to do?

Our awesome God takes over at that point — as He can do for any of us when we don’t know where to turn or what to do. He instructs Moroni to seal the records in a box and bury them at a specific location (Hill Cumorah). God preserves the box for 1,400 years (about a day and a half in God’s time). In 1827, it is delivered to Joseph Smith (a Gentile) who God uses for the next part of the work — translating and publishing the records as the Book of Mormon.

Hopefully, we can appreciate how marvelous of a work this was to put the records of the Seed of Joseph into our hands. They could have easily been destroyed or lost at any time, but they were preserved until an era of time when the information could be easily reproduced and distributed. As of today, the information is so widespread that it can never be lost. How awesome is our God?

Earlier articles have described the value of the Book of Mormon, but to summarize very briefly, it contains:

• The fullness of the Gospel (when used as one with the Bible)
• A history of the Seed of Joseph
• Prophecies regarding the gathering of the House of Israel
• A description of what the role of the Gentiles will be relative to Israel

This information is clearly of great worth to the Gentiles, the Seed of Joseph, and the entire House of Israel. It’s a marvelous book that was the result of a marvelous work to bring it to us. We serve a marvelous God.

Writer’s Note

This is the last chapter of 1 Nephi. In case you missed any of the 22 blog articles in this series, they are listed below for your reference. As of now, it is my intention to write articles on at least the first few chapters of 2 Nephi, and we’ll see where it goes from there. As always, we welcome reader feedback.