Prepare your mind and heart to learn. Be ready to take notes and mark or write down scripture passages to help you preserve personal insights and lessons you learn.
Please begin your study with prayer.
What is God’s greatest creation?
Watch as President Russell M. Nelson describes what we can learn by looking at God’s greatest creation.
There is value in memorizing scriptures. You can find opportunities throughout the week to memorize doctrinal mastery passages.
Take a few minutes to memorize Proverbs 3:5–6. Consider using the first letters of each word in the passage as a help (T i t L w a t h; a l n u t o u. I a t w a h, a h s d t p).
A doctrinal statement we can identify from Moses 2:1 is that Jesus Christ created the earth under the direction of Heavenly Father.
Some people suggest that the Creation of the earth and all life on it happened by chance. We know that that is not true.
What difference could it make in someone’s life to know that Jesus Christ created the earth?
The Creation—in the Beginning
Read Moses 2:2–5, looking for what Jesus Christ did at the beginning of the Creation, during the period that the Lord refers to as “the first day” (verse 5).
To understand the meaning of the term day as used in this chapter, read the following statement by President Russell M. Nelson:
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President Russell M. Nelson
“The physical Creation itself was staged through ordered periods of time. In Genesis and Moses, those periods are called days. But in the book of Abraham, each period is referred to as a time [see Abraham 4:8–5:3]. Whether termed a day, a time, or an age, each phase was a period between two identifiable events—a division of eternity” (Russell M. Nelson, “The Creation,” Ensign, May 2000, 85).
As you study the creative periods from day 2 through day 6 in Moses 2, look for what the Lord accomplished during each period as described in the following passages.
God created a variety of living creatures in the seas and birds in the sky.
God placed the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens.
God divided the waters (the water on the earth and the atmosphere).
God created animal life on the earth and created man and woman.
God divided the land from the waters. The land produced trees, other plants, and seeds.
All Creations
The scriptures do not contain all the details of the process of the Creation (see Moses 1:31); rather, they testify that the Lord thoughtfully carried out the Creation of the earth and all life on it.
Read the following statement by President Nelson, who testified that the Creation was planned and purposeful:
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Russell M. Nelson
“The entire Creation was planned by God. …
“I testify that the earth and all life upon it are of divine origin. The Creation did not happen by chance. … The Creation itself testifies of a Creator” (Russell M. Nelson, “The Creation,” 84–85).
1. What are some examples that show how the Creation (of the earth and everything on it) testifies of the Creator?
2. What feelings do you have for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ as you consider Their creations?
Genesis 1:26–27, like Moses 2:26–27, teaches what the Lord did on the sixth day after creating all forms of animal life. Genesis 1:26–27 is designated as a doctrinal mastery passage because it can help prepare you to teach others the doctrine of the Creation from the Bible. You may want to mark doctrinal mastery passages in a distinctive way so you can locate them more easily.
Read Genesis 1:26–27, and consider what doctrine this passage teaches concerning our creation.
Children of God—Created in His Image
One doctrinal truth that can be identified from Genesis 1:26–27 is that we have been created in the image of God.
Read the following statement by President Thomas S. Monson (1927–2018). What could you teach someone who wants to know what God looks like?
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President Thomas S. Monson
“God our Father has ears with which to hear our prayers. He has eyes with which to see our actions. He has a mouth with which to speak to us. He has a heart with which to feel compassion and love. He is real. He is living. We are his children, made in his image. We look like him, and he looks like us” (Thomas S. Monson, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives,” Ensign, Apr. 1990, 6).
Scenario 1
Consider the following scenario:
A young woman has been told that gender is a matter of chance. She has begun to question if gender matters and whether it should influence any of her choices in life.
Read the following statement from “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” and answer the questions that follow.
“All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2017, 145).
3. How could you use Genesis 1:26–27 and the statement from the family proclamation to help the young woman in this scenario?
4. Why is it important to know that gender is not a matter of chance but is part of our eternal identity and purpose?
Scenario 2
Consider this next scenario:
A young man does not like his body. He struggles with feelings of low self-worth because of his physical appearance.
Read what President Russell M. Nelson taught about the body that could help this young man.
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President Russell M. Nelson
“Think of [God’s] gift to you of your own physical body. The many amazing attributes of your body attest to your own ‘divine nature’ [2 Peter 1:4]” (Russell M. Nelson, “Thanks Be to God,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2012, 78).
5. Why do you think it would be important to remember that your physical body is a gift from God?
6. How could you use Genesis 1:26–27 and the statement by President Nelson to help the young man in this scenario?
As recorded in Moses 2:28, after Heavenly Father created the physical bodies of Adam and Eve, He blessed them and gave them a commandment. The Lord then married Adam to Eve. They entered into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage.
Read Genesis 1:28 and consider marking this doctrinal mastery passage in a distinctive way so you can locate it more easily. Genesis 1:28, like Moses 2:28, teaches the importance of marrying and having children. Genesis 1:28 is designated as a doctrinal mastery passage because it can help prepare you to teach others the importance of marriage and parenting from the Bible.
According to verse 28, what was the first commandment God gave to Adam and Eve as husband and wife?
The Family
From Genesis 1:28 we can identify that God has commanded those who are married as husband and wife to have children.
Scan Moses 2:10, 12, 18, 21, 25. What did God say when looking over His creations? (He saw that they were “good.”) As recorded in Moses 2:31, after He completed the Creation, including the physical creation of Adam and Eve, God said that all He had created was “very good.” Consider marking these words in each of these verses.
Remember, though, that the purpose of the Creation of the earth was to provide a place for us to live and progress. This knowledge helps us understand the importance of the commandment in Genesis 1:28 for husbands and wives to have children. Read the following statement by President Nelson, looking for the importance of the family as it relates to the Creation.
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President Russell M. Nelson
“Grand as it is, planet Earth is part of something even grander—that great plan of God. Simply summarized, the earth was created that families might be” (Russell M. Nelson, “The Creation,” 85).
