Lesson 31: Doctrine and Covenants 19

Doctrine and Covenants 19:1–24, Part 1

Jesus Christ Submitted to Heavenly Father’s Will

Jesus Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane

In a plea for comfort and guidance, Martin Harris asked the Prophet Joseph Smith for a revelation from the Lord. In Doctrine and Covenants 19, the Savior recounted how He chose to submit to Heavenly Father’s will and gained the power to overcome all things. Martin was promised peace if he would repent and submit to what the Lord had asked him to do. This lesson can help increase students’ desire to follow Jesus Christ’s example of submitting to Heavenly Father’s will.

Possible Learning Activities

The Savior’s example

Write the incomplete phrase not will, but be done on the board and ask students to fill in what the Savior said to His Father (see Luke 22:42). Invite a student to share the circumstances in which Jesus said this.

• What do you think it means to give our will to God?

• What are some difficult sacrifices teenagers might be asked to make in order to submit to Heavenly Father’s will?

Consider listing students’ answers to the previous question on the board. (Note: Keeping a copy of this list may be helpful when teaching the lesson for “Doctrine and Covenants 19:25–41.” In that lesson, students will be invited to follow the Savior’s example of submitting to Heavenly Father’s will.)

To increase personal relevance, invite students to reflect on a time when they felt reluctant to follow through with a commitment to the Lord or to do what they knew was right. Encourage them to keep these situations in mind as they study the Savior’s example of submitting His will to God’s.

The Savior’s submission to His Father

Desiring to support the Prophet Joseph Smith and the publication of the Book of Mormon, Martin Harris promised to help pay for the printing. When he later realized that this may require him to sell his farm, he asked Joseph for a revelation of guidance from the Lord. In the revelation, which is now known as Doctrine and Covenants 19, the Savior taught significant truths about His atoning sacrifice. These truths helped Martin understand the importance of submitting to Heavenly Father’s will even when it is difficult.

Students could read the following verses alone or with a partner.

Read Doctrine and Covenants 19:1–5, 15–19, 23–24. Consider marking meaningful words and phrases that teach you about Jesus Christ and His character.

• What truths did you find in these verses?

  Invite students to share the truths they found. One way to do this is to provide each student with a small piece of paper. Students could then write the truth they found on their piece of paper and display it on the board. To promote a class discussion, choose several notes on the board and invite the students who wrote them to share why this truth about Jesus Christ is important to understand. (Note: Doctrine and Covenants 19:16–19 is the focus of the next lesson. You may want to reserve in-depth discussions about repentance and the Savior’s Atonement for that lesson.)

  If students do not mention it, point out the following truth: Jesus Christ humbly submitted His will to Heavenly Father (verses 2, 19, 24). You might encourage students to mark the words in these verses that reflect this truth.

• What does it mean that Jesus Christ submitted His will to the Father?

• How do you think what Jesus Christ taught about Himself could have helped Martin in his situation? How could it help us when we are asked to make difficult sacrifices?

Focus on Jesus Christ: The following activity helps students to focus on their study on Jesus Christ. For more practice on how to do this, see the training “Help learners intentionally strive to be more like Jesus Christ” in Teacher Development Skills: Focus on Jesus Christ. This training will help you practice sharing with students how they are becoming more like Jesus Christ and encouraging them in their continued efforts.

To help students feel the depth and constancy of the Savior’s desire to submit to His Father, consider dividing the class into three groups. Assign one of the following topics to each group, and have them read the listed verses. After reading the verses, groups could discuss what they learned about the Savior’s relationship to His Father.

• Premortal life: Moses 4:1–2; 3 Nephi 1:13–14

• Mortal ministry: John 6:38; 8:28–29; Mosiah 15:7–8

• Postmortal life: 3 Nephi 11:10–11

Consider inviting students to form new groups with classmates who studied the verses for the other two topics. In their new groups, students could take turns sharing what they discussed in their previous groups.

Choosing to submit

You could display the following statement and invite students to discuss the two questions below it with a partner.

Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926–2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

Elder Neal A Maxwell

The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give” … are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give! (Neal A. Maxwell, “Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 24)

• How do you think submitting one’s will as Elder Maxwell taught is different than simple obedience?

• When have you seen someone follow the Savior’s example of submitting their will to God’s even when it was difficult?

To conclude the lesson, you could display the following statement on the board. Invite students to come to the board and underline specific phrases they have seen fulfilled in their lives when they submitted to God’s will. You might also want to testify of how you have been blessed through following the Savior’s example of submitting to Heavenly Father’s will.

President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) testified:

President Ezra Taft Benson

Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, … lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson [2014], 42–43)

Additional Resources

What are some ways I can do Heavenly Father’s will?

Elder C. Scott Grow of the Seventy taught:

Elder C. Scott Grow

You and I do the will of the Father by honoring our covenants, keeping the commandments, and serving God and our fellowmen. (C. Scott Grow, “And This Is Life Eternal,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 122)

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles observed:

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

We are all willful people too much of the time. Therefore, the message the Savior has for every one of us is that our offering, in similitude of His offering, is a broken heart and a contrite spirit (see 3 Nephi 9:20; Doctrine & Covenants 59:8). We must break out of our petty selves and weep for our sins and for the sins of the world. We must plead with others to yield to the Father, to yield to the Son, to yield to the Holy Spirit. There is no other way. Without likening ourselves to Him too much, because it would be sacrilegious to do, please know that the cup that cannot pass is a cup that comes in our life as well as in His. It comes in a much lesser way and to a much lesser degree, but it comes often enough to teach us that we have to obey no matter what. (Jeffrey R. Holland, “Teaching, Preaching, Healing,” Ensign, Jan. 2003, 41–42)

Doctrine and Covenants 19:4–7. What do “endless” and “eternal” mean regarding punishment for unrepented sins?

In this context, these words do not refer to how long the punishment for unrepented sins will last. They mean that the Savior, who is endless and eternal, will oversee the fair and necessary consequences for individuals who have not repented (see Doctrine and Covenants 19:10–12).

Elder James E. Talmage (1862–1933) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles testified:

Elder James E. Talmage

“Eternal punishment,” [the Lord] says, is God’s punishment, for he is eternal; and that condition or state or possibility will ever exist for the sinner who deserves and really needs such condemnation; but this does not mean that the individual sufferer or sinner is to be eternally and everlastingly made to endure and suffer. No man will be kept in hell longer than is necessary to bring him to a fitness for something better. When he reaches that stage the prison doors will open and there will be rejoicing among the hosts who welcome him into a better state. The Lord has not abated [diminished] in the least what he has said in earlier dispensations concerning the operation of his law and his gospel, but he has made clear unto us his goodness and mercy through it all, for it is his glory and his work to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man. (James E. Talmage, in Conference Report, Apr. 1930, 97; emphasis added)

Supplemental Learning Activities

Doctrine and Covenants 19:2. “The will of him whose I am”

After students identify the bolded truth in the lesson, consider inviting them to ponder the Savior’s declarations in Doctrine and Covenants 19:2. You might discuss questions like the following:

• How does this verse help you understand why the Savior was willing to submit to the Father’s will?

• What could you do to learn Heavenly Father’s will concerning you?

• What could you do to submit to Him and accomplish His will for you?

Doctrine and Covenants 19:22. Milk and meat

You may want to help students better understand the phrase “they cannot bear meat now” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:22). Consider inviting students to name a gospel truth that other people may have questions about (such as baptisms for the dead). Ask students why someone first learning about the gospel is usually taught other truths before learning about baptisms for the dead. Point out that this truth could be considered “meat” in the gospel. Encourage students to list other gospel truths that lead to a more complete understanding of the “meat” (see 1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12–14).

• How could introductory truths be likened to “milk”?

• How do such truths prepare someone to understand more complex “meat”?

• In what ways could this analogy help when we or those we love have questions about the gospel? (see 2 Nephi 28:30).