This week’s “Come, Follow Me” study guide covers Doctrine and Covenants 29, which includes prophecies about Jesus Christ’s Second Coming.
Following are a few quotes from past and present Church leaders about this section of the Doctrine and Covenants.
A new heaven and a new earth
“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 Revelation 21:1; Ether 13:9; Doctrine and Covenants 29:23–24).
“It is our charge — it is our privilege — to help prepare the world for that day.”
— President Russell M. Nelson in the April 2020 YA Weekly article, “The Future Church: Preparing the World for the Savior’s Second Coming”
The role of opposition
“To be tested, we must have the agency to choose between alternatives. To provide alternatives on which to exercise our agency, we must have opposition.
“The rest of the plan is also essential. When we make wrong choices — as we inevitably will — we are soiled by sin and must be cleansed to proceed toward our eternal destiny. The Father’s plan provides the way to do this, the way to satisfy the eternal demands of justice: a Savior pays the price to redeem us from our sins. That Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God the Eternal Father, whose atoning sacrifice — whose suffering — pays the price for our sins if we will repent of them. …
“In modern revelation the Lord declares, ‘It must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves’ (Doctrine and Covenants 29:39). …
“Satan’s purpose was to gain for himself the Father’s honor and power… ‘because that Satan rebelled against me … I caused that he should be cast down’ (Moses 4:3) with all the spirits who had exercised their agency to follow him (see Jude 1:6; Revelation 12:8-9; Doctrine and Covenants 29:36-37). Cast down as unembodied spirits in mortality, Satan and his followers tempt and seek to deceive and captivate the children of God. So it is that the evil one, who opposed and sought to destroy the Father’s plan, actually facilitated it, because it is opposition that enables choice and it is the opportunity of making the right choices that leads to the growth that is the purpose of the Father’s plan.”
— President Dallin H. Oaks, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 2016 general conference, “Opposition in All Things”
Bitter and sweet
“The world lacks faith, foresight and the ‘eternal perspective’ offered by the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
“That perspective helps us understand our mortal life and its many trials. We face fear, betrayal, temptation, sin, loss and loneliness. Disease, disaster, depression and death shatter our dreams. At times, our burdens seem greater than we can bear. …
“We brave the bitter that we might savor the sweet (see Doctrine and Covenants 29:39).”
— Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in the September 2022 Liahona article, “Hope and Comfort in Christ”
“During the past years I have at times been asked by the Brethren to meet with repentant members of the Church and interview them for the restoration of their temple blessings. This has always been a spiritually moving experience to restore the blessings of those wonderful people who have repented. I have asked some of them the question, ‘What happened in your life that caused you to temporarily lose your membership in the Church?’ With tear-filled eyes they answered: ‘I didn’t obey the basic principles of the gospel: prayer, attending church regularly, serving in the Church and studying the gospel. I then gave in to temptations and lost the guidance of the Holy Spirit.’ It is always a special experience for me to meet these repentant souls and to feel with them the miracle of forgiveness and the joy of being reunited with the Saints and the Holy Spirit.
“Temptation is a necessary part of our earthly experience. The Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith explains the reason why we are tempted: ‘It must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet’ (Doctrine and Covenants 29:39).”
— The late Elder Rulon G. Craven, then a General Authority Seventy, April 1996 general conference, “Temptation”
“Challenges are true opportunities to obtain blessings which are received by overcoming, through faith, and by discerning what the Spirit and the Savior want to teach us.
“Many people complain or murmur when trials, illness, accidents, loss of employment or death come. They say, ‘Why me? This isn’t fair,’ or they become so depressed that they suffer breakdowns from which it is difficult to recover.
“Another reason for our trials is taught in Doctrine and Covenants 29:39: ‘And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet.‘”
— The late Elder Horacio A. Tenorio, then a General Authority Seventy, April 1990 general conference, “Teachings of a Loving Father”
“Modern revelation tells us: “It must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet” (Doctrine and Covenants 29:39).
“So it is with us today, we must also have the bitter in order to know the sweet. Sometimes some of us think we have the bitter and not enough of the sweet. This is normal. We all have our trials of life to strengthen us. Each thinks he has the hardest or most severe trials. It may be that they are the most difficult only because they are the hardest or most difficult for you. The diamond is enhanced and made more valuable with polishing. Steel is made harder and more valuable through tempering. So also opposition builds the character of man.”
— The late Elder Eldred G. Smith, then the patriarch to the Church, October 1973 general conference, “Opposition in Order to Strengthen Us”
Stewardship of the earth
“Because the earth and all on it are the ‘workmanship of [His] hand’ (Doctrine and Covenants 29:25), it all belongs to Him. As temporary inhabitants of this earth, we are stewards — not owners. As such, we are accountable to God — the owner — for what we do with His creation.”
— Elder Marcus B. Nash, General Authority Seventy, in the March 2021 Liahona article, “Becoming Better Stewards of the Earth God Created for Us”
Gathering the elect
“It is our responsibility as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to gather Abraham’s seed and bring them unto Christ. They should be easy to find, for they are as numerous as the sands of the seashore. That really means they are all around us. Are we looking? Are we asking? Are our good friends or the people we work with who are nonmembers the seed of Abraham? Are we opening our mouths to see if we can find out? The Savior counseled, ‘Ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect; for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts’ (Doctrine and Covenants 29:7). In keeping with this counsel of the Savior, do we talk about the Church? Are we listening to the prompting of the Spirit? The seed of Abraham hear His voice and will not harden their hearts. Do we invite them to come unto Christ? Are we allowing them to hear His voice?”
— The late Elder E Ray Bateman, then a General Authority Seventy, October 1998 general conference, “Pearls from the Sand”
“In summary, the voice of the Lord may be received by listening to the Lord’s servants, studying the scriptures and being prompted through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. And for those who not only hear but also hearken to the Lord’s voice, the Lord calls them ‘mine elect,’ ‘for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts’ (Doctrine and Covenants 29:7).”
— Elder Francisco J. Viñas, then a General Authority Seventy, October 1996 general conference, “Listening to the Voice of the Lord”
‘All things unto me are spiritual’
“The Lord’s organization for women is here so we may bring relief to those who need us. Such important work demands our understanding that to God, all things are spiritual (see Doctrine and Covenants 29:34). As women in the Church, we have knowledge many others lack; consequently we remind ourselves our work is not dedicated to triviality or entertainment. We have all been blessed with the truths we feel when we sing ‘I Am a Child of God’ (“Hymns,” no. 301), but we need to remember in our hearts that our experiences here require us also to be adults of God. … We do not seek to lose the fresh teachableness of children; we seek to claim steadfastness and the courage to act on our hard-won convictions.”
— The late Sister Aileen H. Clyde, then the second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, October 1996 general conference, “Confirmed in Faith”
“All of God’s commandments, including the Word of Wisdom, are spiritual (see Doctrine and Covenants 29:34–35). We need to nourish ourselves spiritually even more than physically. Are we giving adequate emphasis to our spiritual health?”
— The late Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 1990 general conference, “The Straight and Narrow Way”
“When we speak of preparedness, often our first thoughts center on temporal or physical preparations — food, clothing, shelter. While these preparations are important and necessary, they are not all-inclusive.
“There is a crucial balance between the temporal and the spiritual aspects of this principle. The Lord has said, ‘All things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal’ (Doctrine and Covenants 29:34).”
— The late Sister Barbara W. Winder, then the Relief Society general president, October 1988 general conference, “Becoming a Prepared People”
‘I am in your midst’
“We are part of a grand whole. We need each other to make our sisterhood complete. When we reach out to clasp the hands of our sisters, we reach to every continent, for we are of every nation. We are bonded as we try to understand what the Lord has to say to us, what He will make of us. We speak in different tongues, yet we are a family who can still be of one heart. We work, play, give birth, nurture, dream dreams; we cry, pray, laugh, sometimes clap for joy, and find that mortality teaches us our need for our Savior, Jesus Christ.
“The Lord has told us, ‘Be glad, for I am in your midst’ (Doctrine and Covenants 29:5). He is with all of us, and His Spirit draws us closer as we link arms together in our gospel sisterhood.”
— Sister Elaine L. Jack, then the Relief Society general president, April 1992 general conference, “‘Charity Never Faileth’”
The importance of fathers
“When the Lord declared that ‘power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children, until they begin to become accountable,’ He revealed that this period of childhood and unaccountability was given to children so that ‘great things may be required at the hand of their fathers’ (see Doctrine and Covenants 29:47-48).
“‘That great things may be required at the hand of their fathers’! What confidence the Lord has in fathers, and what a responsibility He has placed on fathers! Great things are required of fathers today.”
— The late President Ezra Taft Benson, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 1981 general conference, “Great Things Required of Their Fathers”
