September 21–27: "A Marvellous Work and a Wonder" (Isaiah 13–14; 22; 24–30; 35)

Isaiah saw us coming — a marvelous work so unexpected it would stun the wisest people on earth. This week your family discovers that the Restoration isn't ancient history; it's the story you're still living.

The Desert Is About to Bloom

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Your Game Plan for This Week

Big Idea — Isaiah 13–14; 22; 24–30; 35

Here's something worth sitting with at the dinner table this week: Isaiah wrote about us. Not in a vague, poetic, could-mean-anything kind of way — but specifically. The sealed book being opened (Isaiah 29:11–12), the voice speaking out of the dust, the wise men of the world scratching their heads — these are descriptions of events that happened in upstate New York in the 1820s, and they're events your family is still living out every time you open the Book of Mormon.

"A Marvelous Work" captures that sweep beautifully. The song moves from Isaiah's ancient vantage point — looking down a thousand years of wandering — all the way to the bloom of restoration. Line upon line, precept on precept, the Lord didn't abandon His covenant people. He just waited for the right moment to do something that would stun every man. That moment was the Restoration, and the invitation now is to recognize that we're not spectators of that work — we're participants in it.

For families, that's the real takeaway this week. The broken things in your life — the grief, the doubt, the habits that feel too heavy — Isaiah saw those too. And he saw the Lord meeting every single one of them. The desert blooms. The heavy heart learns to sing. That's not wishful thinking. That's covenant promise, and it has your family's name on it.

15-Minute Family Home Evening

Monday night — your launch for the week.

  • Ask this to open. Take 2–3 responses, then move on.
    Opening QuestionHas anyone ever written something down — a note, a letter, a prediction — that you knew you'd never get to see come true yourself? What made you write it anyway?
    2 min
  • Read this together:
    Set the StageIsaiah lived in the eighth century before Christ, surrounded by empires convinced of their own permanence. Babylon was the superpower of the ancient world — wealthy, ruthless, and certain it would last forever. Israel and Judah weren't doing much better spiritually. The covenant people had drifted. Into that mess stepped Isaiah, a man with a vision so far-reaching it made his contemporaries' heads spin. He wasn't just warning about the next decade. He was seeing centuries ahead — a sealed book coming out of the dust, a desert that would bloom, a scattered people finding the covenant again. Not through their own cleverness, but through something God would do that would stun the wise men of the world. He called it a marvellous work and a wonder. And then he wrote it all down, knowing he would never live to see it arrive.
    Isaiah 29:14Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
    2 min
  • Press play — watch together:

    🎵 It's a marvelous work, a wonder to see! The Lord is restoring what was meant to be! The desert's gonna bloom like a rose in the spring, And every heavy heart is gonna learn how to sing!

    Dive Deeper: A Marvelous Work
    3 min
  • Read the Big Idea together:
    Big Idea You Are the Marvelous Work
    Isaiah 29:14 is not just a compliment to God — it is a prophecy about your family, right now. The Restoration of the gospel, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the return of priesthood authority — these are the events Isaiah was pointing at from a thousand years away. That means when you open your scriptures this week, you are not studying ancient history from the outside; you are living inside the very miracle he described.
    2 min
  • Ask your family:
    Reflect TogetherIsaiah saw our day from a thousand years away and still had hope — so what does it mean for your life right now that God can see the hard things you're going through and already has a plan for them?
    3 min
  • Do this activity together:

    Sealed or Revealed?

    Try This: One person is the 'Sealed Book' — they think of a simple truth or fact and keep it completely secret (arms crossed, eyes closed, totally locked up). Everyone else asks yes/no questions to try to crack it open. When someone guesses correctly, shout 'Revealed!' and swap roles. Play several rounds, then pause and talk about how Isaiah's prophecies were like a sealed book for centuries — the words were written, but the world wasn't ready to receive them yet. The Restoration cracked the seal wide open.

    Reflect: What's something your family knows now — about the gospel, about God's plan — that people in Isaiah's day were still waiting and hoping for? How does it feel to live on this side of the 'marvelous work'?

    5 min
  • Close together: Say a family prayer. Then enjoy a special treat as a family.
    2 min

20-Minute Primary / Sunday School

Lead with Swallow Up Death.

  • Ask this to open. Take 2–3 responses, then move on.
    Opening QuestionHas anyone ever been in a really dark or scary situation and had someone show up — or say something — that made you feel like everything was actually going to be okay?
    3 min
  • Read this together:
    Set the StageIsaiah lived in one of the darkest stretches in Israel's history. The northern kingdom had already been swallowed by Assyria. Judah was surrounded. The covenant people were fracturing under pride and spiritual drift, and grief was everywhere. Into that darkness, Isaiah stood up and said something that must have sounded almost reckless — that death itself was going to lose. Tucked inside a long stretch of warnings and laments, Isaiah chapter 25 suddenly breaks open like a window thrown wide: a feast on the Lord's mountain, a veil of mourning lifted from all nations, and a promise so specific and so physical it stopped readers cold for centuries.
    Isaiah 25:8He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.
    2 min
  • Press play — watch together:

    🎵 He will swallow up death in victory! Break every chain and set the prisoners free! The Lord God will wipe every tear from your eyes, Underneath the beauty of the morning skies!

    Dive Deeper: Swallow Up Death
    3 min
  • Ask this. Give the class a moment to think before taking responses.
    Pivot QuestionWhy do you think Isaiah described the defeat of death with such confidence, as if he had already watched it happen, even though he lived seven hundred years before the Resurrection?
    3 min
  • Keep going:
    Follow-UpIf you were carrying real grief or loss right now, how would it feel to know that a prophet saw your specific morning — the end of that sorrow — and wrote it down thousands of years ago just for you?
    4 min
  • Liken it unto yourself. Hand each student a slip of paper. Give 2 minutes to write, then 2–3 share with the class.
    Liken Unto YourselfIs there a grief you've been carrying quietly — a loss, a fear, a 'what if' — that you haven't yet handed to the God who promised to wipe every tear from your face?
    5 min
  • Close With ThisIsaiah didn't write a wish — he wrote a report. He saw the Atonement of Jesus Christ from the far side of history, and what he saw was the end of death and the wiping away of every tear. That promise is still in force, and it belongs to your family right now.
    2 min
  • Optional Activity — use if you have extra time or a younger class:

    Chain Breakers

    Try This: Everyone links arms in a chain across the room. One person is the 'Swallower of Death' — they have to break through the chain by calling out something the Savior has power over (death, sorrow, sin, fear, darkness, etc.). If the answer is solid, the chain breaks apart and everyone cheers. Rotate who gets to be the breaker. Keep going until everyone has had a turn. See how fast your family can name things the Savior conquers!

    Reflect: Which one felt the most personal to you — death, sorrow, fear, or something else? Why do you think Isaiah wanted us to know the Savior has power over ALL of those things, not just one?

    5 min

Week Schedule

You don't have to do all seven — pick what fits. Monday launches, Sunday caps. Tap any day to expand or collapse.

Monday — FHE
Swallow Up Death + activity. Launch the week.
Tap to open+
⏰ Open 15-min Family Lesson
Tuesday
Read Isaiah 14:3.
Tap to open+
Before you ReadAsk this, then read together.The Babylonian king's downfall started with the belief that he could ascend above God on his own terms — and Isaiah says that's the same spirit as Satan's. Where do you notice that kind of thinking showing up in the world around you, or even in yourself?
📖  Isaiah 14:3 (KJV) — Babylon Is Ancient History — So Why Are We Still Talking About It? Tap to open+
Thoughtful QuestionAsk this in the car, on a walk, or at the dinner table.Isaiah promises 'rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear' — not just escape from Babylon, but actual rest. What would it feel like to let the Savior carry the specific fear or sorrow you're carrying right now?
Wednesday
A Marvelous Work in the car, a walk, or before bed.
Tap to open+
Before You WatchAsk this, then press play.Has anyone ever written something down — a note, a letter, a prediction — that you knew you'd never get to see come true yourself? What made you write it anyway?
Thoughtful QuestionAsk this in the car, on a walk, or at the dinner table.If Isaiah could see our day and wrote down what he saw — the temples, the Book of Mormon, your family gathered together — what do you think he would feel watching you live it?
Dive Deeper: A Marvelous Work
Thursday
Read Isaiah 22:22.
Tap to open+
Before you ReadAsk this, then read together.What does the image of a key on the shoulder teach us about how God gives authority to serve others?
📖  Isaiah 22:22 (KJV) — The Nail in the Sure Place: Shebna and Eliakim Tap to open+
Thoughtful QuestionAsk this in the car, on a walk, or at the dinner table.In what ways might we be tempted to use our stewardships — as parents, leaders, or members — to build monuments to ourselves rather than to serve like Eliakim did?
Friday
Read Isaiah 25:8.
Tap to open+
Before you ReadAsk this, then read together.Isaiah wrote about the Resurrection 700 years before it happened, with nothing but a vision and a God he trusted. What does it feel like to hold a promise from God that you haven't seen fulfilled yet?
📖  Isaiah 25:8 (KJV) — He Will Swallow Up Death in Victory Tap to open+
Thoughtful QuestionAsk this in the car, on a walk, or at the dinner table.Isaiah says God will wipe away tears 'from off all faces' — not just some faces, not just the faithful ones. What does that kind of total, universal mercy tell you about the character of the God we worship?
Saturday
Read Isaiah 29:13.
Tap to open+
Before you ReadAsk this, then read together.Isaiah describes people who said all the right things about God but whose hearts had quietly drifted far away. What's the difference between going through the motions of faith and actually living it — and how do you tell which one you're doing?
📖  Isaiah 29:13 (KJV) — Four Warning Signs of a Drifting Soul Tap to open+
Thoughtful QuestionAsk this in the car, on a walk, or at the dinner table.The people in Isaiah 30 told the prophets to stop saying hard things and just tell them what they wanted to hear. When is it tempting for us to do the same thing — to tune out the parts of the gospel that feel uncomfortable?
Sunday — Classroom
Use the 20-min plan. Anchor: Swallow Up Death
Tap to open+
🏫 Open 20-min Classroom Lesson
Sunday Dinner Table QuestionAsk this at Sunday dinner.Is there a grief you've been carrying quietly — a loss, a fear, a 'what if' — that you haven't yet handed to the God who promised to wipe every tear from your face?

This Week's Fireside Moment

The full story behind the songs — in one sitting.

This week's Fireside Moment walks through A Marvellous Work and a Wonder with full scripture cross-references and lyric-by-lyric breakdowns for each song.

Fireside Moment
Or Go Song-by-Song Swallow Up Death Swallow Up Death A Marvelous Work A Marvelous Work

Watch & Listen

Swallow Up Death

There is a verse in Isaiah that the Apostle Paul thought was so important he quoted it in his great resurrection sermon, that Abinadi cited before a wicked king who was about to have him killed, and that Joseph Smith's Restoration brought roaring back into the world after centuries of spiritual fog: 'He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces' (Isaiah 25:8). Isaiah wrote those words in a world drowning in grief — kingdoms falling, families scattered, the dead staying dead. And yet he stood up and announced, with the confidence of someone who had seen the throne room of heaven, that death itself would be consumed. Not survived. Consumed.

That is the scripture Swallow Up Death is built on — and the song refuses to earn that triumph cheaply. It starts exactly where Isaiah's audience was: standing beside the silence, carrying sorrow, watching the daylight go. Verse one doesn't flinch from the dark because the covenant doesn't flinch from the dark. The promise of resurrection was never meant to skip over grief. It was meant to go all the way down into it and come back up victorious. When the chorus finally breaks open — 'He will swallow up death in victory! Break every chain and set the prisoners free!' — it lands with the weight of everything that came before it.

For Latter-day Saint families, this is home territory. We believe in a literal resurrection. We believe covenants reach across the veil. We believe the 'marvellous work and a wonder' Isaiah also foretold is the Restoration we are living inside right now. This song is for anyone who has stood at a graveside and needed to hear, out loud, that the grave is not the ending of the covenant song.

Want the full story? Read the complete Fireside Moment or explore the Lyric-Scripture Blueprint in our Joy Tier Deep Dive.
Swallow Up Death
A song that stands in the dark long enough to mean it when the morning comes.
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A Marvelous Work

Isaiah was handed an assignment that would have broken most people: write down a detailed description of something that won't happen for centuries, knowing your own generation will mostly ignore it. No press release. No confirmation that you got it right. Just write it down and trust that the morning will eventually come.

That's the emotional core of Isaiah 29, and it's what A Marvelous Work is built on. Isaiah saw a sealed book coming out of the dust — scholars now recognize this as one of the most precise prophetic descriptions of the Book of Mormon in all of scripture. He saw a desert blooming. He saw deaf ears opened and blind eyes seeing. He saw a restoration so complete and so unexpected that the learned men of the world would call it impossible. And then he wrote it all down and waited for a morning he would never personally see.

The song captures that long arc — from Isaiah's vision in verse one, through the pre-chorus's 'line upon line' patience, all the way to the bridge where the morning finally arrives: 'The book came from the dust and the covenant survived.' It's a song that moves through time like a river, gathering momentum until it lands squarely in the present tense. The chorus doesn't say the marvelous work happened. It says it's happening — rolling on, desert blooming, temple doors wide open.

For your family this week, that's the invitation. You're not studying ancient history. You're recognizing the world Isaiah described — and realizing you're living inside it.

Want the full story? Read the complete Fireside Moment or explore the Lyric-Scripture Blueprint in our Joy Tier Deep Dive.

Lyric–Scripture Blueprint (Preview)

Did you know these lyrics come straight from the scriptures?
Explore the full Lyric–Scripture Blueprints and deeper activities in the Joy Tier.

Access Joy Tier
Lyric Highlight Scripture Bridge Why It Matters
"(Instrumental / no lyrics — song opens before Verse 1)" Isaiah 29:14
"Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid."

2 Nephi 27:26
"Therefore, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, yea, a marvelous work and a wonder, for the wisdom of their wise and learned shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent shall be hid."

D&C 4:1
"Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men."		 The Marvelous Work Announced: Even before a single lyric is sung, the title itself is a doctrinal declaration. Isaiah 29:14 is the Old Testament source; 2 Nephi 27:26 is Nephi quoting and expanding that same prophecy with Restoration clarity; and Doctrine and Covenants 4:1 is the Lord announcing its fulfillment to Joseph Smith. The intro moment — silence before the song breaks open — mirrors the centuries of waiting between Isaiah's prophecy and its fulfillment.

For Families: Ask your kids what they think a 'marvelous work' looks like today, before the song even starts.
"I'm looking down the line through a thousand years, / Past the heavy kingdoms and the valley of the tears. / I see the people wandering, looking for a sign, / Searching for a truth they left somewhere behind." Isaiah 13:1–4
"The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see... I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness."

Isaiah 24:5
"The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant."

1 Nephi 13:26
"And after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the formation of that great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious."

D&C 1:15
"For they have strayed from mine ordinances, and have broken mine everlasting covenant."		 The Great Apostasy Seen from Isaiah's Vantage Point: Isaiah is writing as a seer — literally looking forward through time at kingdoms rising and falling and covenant people losing their way. The 'truth they left somewhere behind' is not vague spiritual drift; it is the specific loss of priesthood authority, plain gospel truths, and covenant ordinances that both Nephi in 1 Nephi 13 and the Lord in Doctrine and Covenants 1 describe with precision. Isaiah saw the problem; the Restoration is the answer.

For Families: Talk about what it would feel like to lose something precious and not even know it was gone — that is the condition Isaiah is describing.
"The vision's like a book that is sealed up tight, / Waiting on the morning to reveal the light. / The wise men of the world gonna scratch their heads, / Wondering at the power of the words He said." Isaiah 29:11–12
"And the vision of all is become unto you as the words 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: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned."

2 Nephi 27:6–9
"And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book, and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered. And behold the book shall be sealed... and the book shall be hid from the eyes of the world."

Isaiah 29:14
"For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid."

Joseph Smith—History 1:64–65
"He then said to me, 'I cannot read a sealed book.' I said to him... 'I cannot, for it is sealed.' Charles Anthon then put the paper into his pocket."		 The Sealed Book Prophecy Fulfilled: This is one of the most precisely fulfilled prophecies in all of scripture. Isaiah 29:11–12 describes a sealed book delivered to a learned man who says he cannot read it — and 2 Nephi 27 expands that vision with unmistakable Restoration detail. The fulfillment came when Martin Harris took characters from the gold plates to Professor Charles Anthon, who declared he could not read a sealed book — exactly as Isaiah foretold. The 'wise men scratching their heads' is not a metaphor; it happened in a New York professor's office in 1828.

For Families: Pull up Joseph Smith—History 1:63–65 and read the Anthon story together — it will make this lyric feel electric.
A Marvelous Work
Isaiah wrote the morning down centuries before it arrived — and this song is what it sounds like when the desert finally blooms.
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Miss last week?

Every lesson stands on its own — but together, they tell one continuous story.

September 14–20: “God Is My Salvation” (Isaiah 1–12)
Isaiah wrote to people who felt too far gone to come back — and his answer was an open door, a reasoning Father, and a promise that scarlet can become snow. This week, your family finds out that promise still stands.
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Don’t Stop the Music

The Joy Tier starts right here. Go deeper into this week’s scripture story and explore the meaning behind the songs.

Inside Joy you’ll find:

  • A weekly Fireside Moment overview of the Come, Follow Me lesson
  • Expanded Set the Stage teaching guides for every song
  • Choose Your Adventure family activities and simple weekly habits
  • Lyric–Scripture Blueprints, printable coloring pages, and lyric sheets
  • Cinematic reflection videos designed for quiet viewing and discussion

Access Joy below to turn this week’s song into a weeklong experience of scripture, music, and family conversation.


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