He Will Lead Thee by the Hand, by Sandra Rast

February 24–March 1

2 Nephi 26–30

“A Marvelous Work and a Wonder”

Remember that the home should be the center of gospel learning. Your personal and family study of 2 Nephi 26–30 should be the basis of your preparation to teach. Plan ways to build upon, reinforce, and encourage the personal and family study of the people in your class.

Record Your Impressions

Invite Sharing

At the beginning of the lesson, give class members a chance to share something from 2 Nephi 26–30 that they found meaningful as they studied at home. For example, you could ask them to briefly share a verse that helped them understand our day and the challenges we face.

Teach the Doctrine

2 Nephi 26:24–28, 33

Everything the Lord does is motivated by His love for us.

• If you feel inspired to discuss Nephi’s teachings about the Lord’s love, you could try this: After reading 2 Nephi 26:24 together, invite class members to make lists of things that Jesus Christ has done for them that were motivated by love. How does He “draw all men unto him”? What do we feel inspired to do in response to His expressions of love?

• The Lord’s invitations in 2 Nephi 26:24–28, 33 are powerful evidence of His love. One way you might help class members discover these invitations is to ask them to condense the Lord’s message in these verses into a one-sentence summary. Perhaps a few class members would be willing to share their summaries. How might these verses influence the way we invite others to come unto Christ? Encourage the class to record some of their thoughts and feelings. To help invite the Spirit, consider playing a recording of a hymn about the Savior’s love, such as “Come unto Jesus” (Hymns, no. 117), while class members are pondering.

2 Nephi 27; 29; 30:3–8

The Book of Mormon is essential to God’s latter-day work.

• People in your class may need a little help understanding the prophecy in 2 Nephi 27 about a sealed book and a learned man. The historical account in “Additional Resources” might help. Would it work for your class if a few class members briefly dramatized the events described in this account and in 2 Nephi 27:15–22? Why might Nephi have been shown these events so many years in advance? What does Nephi’s prophecy teach us about the importance of the Book of Mormon? Encourage class members to share with each other how they gained their own testimonies of the Book of Mormon.

• Has anyone in your class had an experience with inviting someone to read the Book of Mormon that they could share? What are some reasons someone might not accept an invitation to read the Book of Mormon? The Lord’s response to one such reason is found in 2 Nephi 29:6–11. You could invite class members to read these verses and then role-play how they might lovingly respond to someone who says that the Book of Mormon is not necessary. What other ideas do class members have about how they can help others “know that [the Book of Mormon] is a blessing unto them from the hand of God”? (2 Nephi 30:6).

2 Nephi 28

Satan seeks to deceive.

• This week’s outline in Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families suggests searching for Satan’s lies described in 2 Nephi 28. Perhaps class members could share what they found, or they could scan 2 Nephi 28 in class and list Satan’s lies that they identify. It might also be helpful to let them work in small groups to find scriptures that refute these deceptions (if they need help, you could share the suggestions in “Additional Resources”). Then the groups could share with each other what they found and discuss how they can detect the adversary’s “false and vain and foolish doctrines” (2 Nephi 28:9).

Encourage Learning at Home

Class members might be inspired to read 2 Nephi 31–33 if they know that these chapters contain Nephi’s last recorded words, including one of the simplest yet most comprehensive descriptions of the doctrine of Christ.

Additional Resources

“Then shall the learned say: I cannot read it” (2 Nephi 27:18).

In February 1828, Martin Harris, a friend of Joseph Smith, took a “journey east to New York City with a transcription of some of the characters on the [golden] plates to show them to scholars. Perhaps he wanted additional reassurance that the plates were authentic, or he may have thought a testimonial would help them borrow money to publish the translation. In any event, he insisted that the Lord had prompted him to make the trip.

“At the time, neither Joseph nor Martin knew much about the language on the plates. They knew only as much as the angel Moroni had told Joseph: that it was an ancient American record. Thus, rather than seeking a scholar with a knowledge of Egyptian (Joseph later learned that the language on the plates was called ‘reformed Egyptian’), Martin visited several scholars with an interest in antiquities, especially American antiquities.

“… [Among the scholars Martin visited was] Charles Anthon, a young professor of grammar and linguistics at Columbia College. Anthon had been collecting American Indian stories and speeches for publication and was eager to inspect the document Martin brought him.

“Martin claimed that Anthon declared the characters authentic until he learned how Joseph Smith had acquired them. He suggested Martin bring him the plates. Martin refused, and Anthon replied, paraphrasing a verse in Isaiah, ‘I cannot read a sealed book.’ Though Anthon later denied the details of Martin’s account of their meeting, we do know this: Martin came away from his visits with the eastern scholars more convinced than ever that Joseph Smith was called of God and that the plates and characters were ancient. He and Joseph viewed the visit to Anthon as a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy (also mentioned in the Book of Mormon itself) of ‘a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed’ [Isaiah 29:11; see also 2 Nephi 27:15–18]” (“The Contributions of Martin Harris,” Revelations in Context [2016], 3–4, history.ChurchofJesusChrist.org).

Scriptures that refute Satan’s deceptions.

False doctrine	True doctrine
False doctrine “This day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work” (2 Nephi 28:6).	True doctrine Moroni 7:35–37
False doctrine “God … will justify in committing a little sin” (2 Nephi 28:8).	True doctrine Doctrine and Covenants 1:31
False doctrine “All is well in Zion” (2 Nephi 28:21).	True doctrine Doctrine and Covenants 68:31; 82:14
False doctrine “I am no devil, for there is none” (2 Nephi 28:22).	True doctrine 2 Nephi 2:17; Doctrine and Covenants 76:25–27
False doctrine “We need no more of the word of God, for we have enough” (2 Nephi 28:29).	True doctrine 2 Nephi 28:30; Articles of Faith 1:9

Improving Our Teaching

Don’t be afraid of silence. “Good questions take time to answer. They require pondering, searching, and inspiration. The time you spend waiting for answers to a question can be a sacred time of pondering. Avoid the temptation to end this time too soon by answering your own question or moving on to something else” (Teaching in the Savior’s Way, 31).