The Great Things

One of the themes of the book of Ether is “great things.” The vision of the brother of Jared consisted of great things that the Lord showed him. In fact, “there never were greater things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared.” But they were not just for him, for the Lord promised that we too can receive great things through revelation as well. The Lord invited us in the last days in these powerful words: “Come unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up because of unbelief. Come unto me, O ye house of Israel, and it shall be made manifest unto you how great things the Father hath laid up for you, from the foundation of the world; and it hath not come unto you, because of unbelief. Behold, when ye shall rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness, and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, then shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world from you—yea, when ye shall call upon the Father in my name, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, then shall ye know that the Father hath remembered the covenant which he made unto your fathers, O house of Israel.” The Lord promises to reveal to us great things just as He did to the brother of Jared if we will learn to have faith like him. When we will rend the veil of our unbelief, He can show us the greater things which are held back because of unbelief. But if we fight against the work of the Lord or deny His work, we will not receive anything greater than what has already been revealed: “And he that will contend against the word of the Lord, let him be accursed; and he that shall deny these things, let him be accursed; for unto them will I show no greater things, saith Jesus Christ; for I am he who speaketh.” We must strive to exercise faith “even as the brother of Jared did” and be sanctified in Him, then His promise to us is this: “I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are” (Ether 4:4, 7-8, 13-15).

                In addition to the great things revealed to the brother of Jared, the Lord also did great things for the Jaredites in bringing them to the promised land. From the preservation of their language at the tower of Babel, to their voyages across lands which man had never been to, and finally to their crossing of an ocean in barges, the Lord provided many miracles for this people to bring them to the promised land. They crossed the “great waters” with light because the Lord “caused stones to shine in darkness,” and when “great and terrible tempests” came upon them in that incredible journey the Lord’s hand preserved them and continually blew them towards their destination. When the people arrived, after 344 days on the water, they were overjoyed with what great thing the Lord had done for them: “They bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them.” Their first king made sure that the people did not forget what the Lord had done for them: Orihah “did remember how great things the Lord had done for his father, and also taught his people how great things the Lord had done for their fathers” (Ether 6:3, 6, 30). Orihah’s grandson Shule similarly remembered what that the Lord had done for his fathers: “And there were no more wars in the days of Shule; and he remembered the great things that the Lord had done for his fathers in bringing them across the great deep into the promised land; wherefore he did execute judgment in righteousness all his days” (Ether 7:27). Remembering what the Lord had done for them helped to preserve the pace and keep them in a path of righteousness. Unfortunately throughout much of their subsequent history they forgot this and rejected the words of the prophets, but the Lord continued to send them up through Ether to try to get them to understand the great things: “And it came to pass that Ether did prophesy great and marvelous things unto the people.” But the people “did not believe, because they saw them not” (Ether 12:5). The book of Ether invites us to not reject the words of prophets, but rather to believe the great things they teach and have faith like the brother of Jared. And as we remember the great things the Lord has done for our fathers, we can know that He will likewise do great things for us in our lives too.