1 Ne 14:7 a
great and marvelous work
The ¡°marvelous work and a wonder¡±
doctrine comes from Isaiah, Therefore, 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¡¦.And in
that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind
shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their
joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel
(Isa 29:14,18-19). What is marvelous and a wonder is the work the Lord
performs in the last days. Verse 18 above shows that the Book of Mormon plays a
role in the process but is not the ¡°marvelous work and a wonder.¡± The phrase
means that the Lord will build a kingdom in the latter days using the simple
and meek of the earth. He will gather the tribes of Israel by a great missionary
effort that will be successful because of the Book of Mormon and other
latter-day scriptures. LeGrand Richards explains how crucial the ministry of
Joseph Smith was to this process.
LeGrand Richards
¡°Joseph
Smith, or any other man, could not have obtained all this information by
reading the Bible or studying all the books that have ever been written. It
came from God. It is exactly what Isaiah promised the Lord would do when
conditions upon the earth should become as Joseph Smith found them when he went
into the woods to pray for light as to which of all the churches he should
join¡¦.
¡°It
truly is a marvelous work and a wonder. Can you conceive of anything that could
be more marvelous or more wonderful?
¡°In
the face of it all, the wisdom of wise men does perish. The world has no
satisfactory explanation. In the Church Historian¡¯s Office in Salt Lake City
are more than 20,000 volumes, large and small, each of which says something
about the Prophet Joseph Smith. There are also some 2,000 pamphlets on the subject.
Many of these publications represent attempts on the part of non-Mormon writers
to explain the conundrum of Joseph Smith and the work he established, but all
without avail. All these writings have been accumulated since the birth of
Joseph Smith in 1805. In contrast, in the more than two centuries that have
elapsed since the birth of George Washington, it is reported, there are only
some 3,000 volumes written about him on file in the Library of Congress¡¦.
¡°We
emphasized a statement published in the New York Herald, which we quoted in
this chapter; ¡®Joseph Smith is creating a spiritual system, combined with
morals and industry that may change the destiny of the race.¡¯ This statement
was made in 1842, and at this writing, more than a century and a half later, it
is evident, from the present accomplishments of the Church founded under his
leadership, that this prognostication is sure to achieve a complete
fulfillment.
¡°It
is equally sure that the prediction of Josiah Quincy, previously quoted, will
find its fulfillment:
¡°¡¯It
is by no mans improbable that some future textbook, for the use of generations
yet unborn, will contain a question something like this: What historical
American of the nineteenth century has exerted the most powerful influence upon
the destinies of his countrymen? And it is by no means impossible that the
answer to that interrogatory may be thus written: ¡®Joseph Smith, the Mormon
prophet.¡¯¡± (A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, pp. 411-2)