This week’s “Come, Follow Me” study guide covers Ether 12-15, which includes Ether’s prophecies and the Jaredites’ total destruction.
Following are a few quotes from past and present Church leaders about these chapters in the Book of Mormon.
Ether 12
“Our repentance and obedience, our service and sacrifices do matter. We want to be among those described by Ether as ‘always abounding in good works’ (Ether 12:4). But it is not so much because of some tally kept in celestial account books. These things matter because they engage us in God’s work and are the means by which we collaborate with Him in our own transformation from natural man to saint. What our Heavenly Father offers us is Himself and His Son, a close and enduring relationship with Them through the grace and mediation of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.”
— Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 2022 general conference, “Our Relationship with God”
“At times, you may long for peace as you face uncertainty and what seem to you to be looming challenges. The sons of Mosiah learned the lesson that the Lord taught to Moroni. It is a guide for us all: ‘If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all [who] humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them’ (Ether 12:27).
“Moroni said that when he ‘heard these words,’ he ‘was comforted’ (Ether 12:29). They can be a comfort to all of us. Those who do not see their weaknesses do not progress. Your awareness of your weakness is a blessing as it helps you remain humble and keeps you turning to the Savior. The Spirit not only comforts you, but He is also the agent by which the Atonement works a change in your very nature. Then weak things become strong.”
— President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, April 2017 general conference, “‘My Peace I Leave with You’”
“One song that was new to the 1985 hymnal is ‘Be Thou Humble.’ This tranquil hymn was written by Grietje Terburg Rowley, who passed away last year. She joined the Church in 1950 in Hawaii, where she was teaching school. Sister Rowley served on the General Music Committee and helped to adapt the hymns into multiple languages. She based her text for ‘Be Thou Humble’ on two verses of scripture: Doctrine and Covenants 112:10 and Ether 12:27. The verse in Ether reads: ‘And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; … for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.’
“Like all of the Church’s hymns, ‘Be Thou Humble’ teaches pure and simple truths. It teaches us that if we humble ourselves, our prayers are answered; we enjoy peace of mind; we serve more effectively in our callings; and, if we continue to be faithful, we will ultimately return to the presence of our Heavenly Father.”
— Elder Steven E. Snow, then a General Authority Seventy, April 2016 general conference, “Be Thou Humble”
“‘Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith’ (Ether 12:6). Thus, every time you try your faith — that is, act in worthiness on an impression — you will receive the confirming evidence of the Spirit. As you walk to the boundary of your understanding into the twilight of uncertainty, exercising faith, you will be led to find solutions you would not obtain otherwise. With even your strongest faith, God will not always reward you immediately according to your desires. Rather, God will respond with what in His eternal plan is best for you, when it will yield the greatest advantage. Be thankful that sometimes God lets you struggle for a long time before that answer comes. That causes your faith to increase and your character to grow.”
— The late Elder Richard G. Scott, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2010 general conference, “The Transforming Power of Faith and Character”
Ether 13
“The Lord will return to the land that He made holy by His mission there in mortality. In triumph, He will come again to Jerusalem. …
“The earth will be returned to its paradisiacal state and be made new. There will be a new heaven and a new earth (see Ether 13:9).”
— President Russell M. Nelson in the April 2020 Liahona article, “The Future of the Church: Preparing the World for the Savior’s Second Coming”
“Our Father, through His foreknowledge of this world’s story, teaches us also of the eventual outcome of His work in the latter days. All the sacred events of earthly record point to a culminating purpose yet ahead of us — the second coming of Jesus Christ and His authority and governance upon this earth. …
“In a ‘choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord’ (Ether 13:2) will be ‘the place of the New Jerusalem … come down out of heaven, and the holy sanctuary of the Lord’ (Ether 13:3). (That site for the New Jerusalem, with its holy temple, has already been designated in Doctrine and Covenants 84:2-4.) Moroni wrote:
“’And then cometh the New Jerusalem; and blessed are they who dwell therein, for it is they whose garments are white through the blood of the Lamb; and they are they who are numbered among the remnant of the seed of Joseph, who were of the house of Israel.
“’And then also cometh the Jerusalem of old; and the inhabitants thereof, blessed are they, for they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb; and they are they who were scattered and gathered in from the four quarters of the earth, and from the north countries, and are partakers of the fulfilling of the covenant which God made with their father, Abraham.
“’And when these things come, bringeth to pass the scripture which saith, there are they who were first, who shall be last; and there are they who were last, who shall be first’ (Ether 13:10-12).
“It will be a time for all of the people of the world who are willing to find joy through the Father’s eternal plan to accept His Son as their Redeemer.”
— Elder Gary J. Coleman, then a General Authority Seventy, in the February 1996 Ensign article, “‘O How Great the Plan of Our God!’”
“The Book of Mormon reveals that the inheritance of Joseph, son of Israel, was not forgotten when, as promised in the Abrahamic covenant, land was distributed to the tribes of Israel. Joseph’s inheritance was to be a land choice above all others (see Ether 13:2, 8). It was choice not because of beauty or wealth of natural resources, but choice because it was chosen. It was to be the repository of sacred writing on plates of gold from which the Book of Mormon would one day come, choice because it would eventually host world headquarters of the restored Church of Jesus Christ in the latter days.”
— President Russell M. Nelson, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in the July 1993 Ensign article, “A Treasured Testament”
“Ether was born of a kingly line, but at one point his family was in captivity. … So far as we can tell, Ether, like Joseph in Egypt, was not consumed by resentment or bitterness as a result of his captivity. It is so easy for us to overlook how Ether might have been disabled by this early experience, but he refused to let himself become emotionally crippled. Yet here was someone born of a royal line who spent much of his time living and writing in a cave. … (Ether 13:13-14).
“Later, courageous Ether prophesied face to face to King Coriantumr when Ether was directed by the Lord to do so … (Ether 13:20-22). …
“One can only speculate as to how Ether must have felt on many occasions when he had been preaching truth to the people and had been rejected, and then had to make his way back to hide, once more, in the cave before going forth again on the morrow. For those of us who are concerned that our words be taken seriously and that we be listened to when we speak the truth to others, the example of Ether is like that of Enoch: patience and persistence in well doing.”
— The late Elder Neal A. Maxwell, then of the presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy, in the August 1978 Ensign article, “Three Jaredites: Contrasting Contemporaries”
Ether 14
“In contrast to Ether’s righteousness, Shiz and Coriantumr, Ether’s contemporaries, are classic examples of ruthless military rivals who finally reached the point where they did not care for their own lives or for the lives of their people.
“Shiz was the brother of Lib, a previous military leader who was killed by Coriantumr’s forces. Our first encounter with Shiz in the scriptures introduces his insensitivity, for he ‘did slay both women and children, and he did burn the cities’ (Ether 14:17).
“We see in the rivalry of Shiz and Coriantumr, as in other Book of Mormon episodes, an awful cycle of family vengeance. Those who are caught up in revenge lose all perspective concerning the sanctity of life.”
— The late Elder Neal A. Maxwell, then of the presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy, in the August 1978 Ensign article, “Three Jaredites: Contrasting Contemporaries”
Ether 15
“If your eyes are always on your shoelaces, if all you can see is this class or that test, this date or that friend, this disappointment or that dilemma, then it really is quite easy to throw in the towel and stop the fight. But what if it is the fight of your life? Or more precisely what if it is the fight for your life, and your eternal life at that? What if beyond this class or that test, this date or that friend, this disappointment or that dilemma you really can see and hope for all the best and right things that God has to offer? Oh, it may be blurred a bit by the perspiration that keeps running riverlike into your eyes, and in a really difficult fight one of the eyes might even be closing a bit; but faintly, dimly, and ever so far away you can see the object of it all. And you say it is worth it, you do want it, you will fight on. Like Coriantumr, you will lean upon your sword to rest a while, then rise to fight again (see Ether 15:24-30).”
— President Jeffrey R. Holland, then the president of Brigham Young University, in the 1983 New Era article, “However Long and Hard the Road”
“Ether’s great love for the people reflected a selflessness and lack of concern for his own life. Ether said, ‘Whether the Lord will that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God’ (Ether 15:34). The willingness to die which is born of a despair and a disdain for life is not the same thing as Ether’s courage, in which he was willing to suffer before death and then to die, if necessary — even though he loved life. …
“Unlike the selfless Ether, Coriantumr was not willing to give up his own life to save his people. ‘And behold, the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed; wherefore they went again to battle’ (Ether 15:19). …
“There for us to ponder also is a clear case in which personal pride and rage kept two principals from acting for the welfare of their people. Shiz insisted on ‘getting his man,’ even if it meant the destruction of his own people; and Coriantumr offered his kingdom but not his life for his people. Each said, in effect, that the ultimate object of his selfishness was nonnegotiable! Neither was willing to play the role of the intervenor and say of the circumstances, ‘This has gone too far — enough is enough.’ How often on a lesser scale in human affairs do tinier tragedies occur for want of this selfless intervention? How often do we withhold the one thing that is needed to make a difference?”
— The late Elder Neal A. Maxwell, then of the presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy, in the August 1978 Ensign article, “Three Jaredites: Contrasting Contemporaries”
