“Helaman 14: Signs of the Savior,” Book of Mormon Teacher Manual (2024)
“Helaman 14,” Book of Mormon Teacher Manual
Helaman 14
Signs of the Savior
Heavenly Father sends prophets to help His children believe in His Beloved Son, such as when He instructed Samuel the Lamanite to prophesy to the Nephites. As part of his prophecies, Samuel told of signs that would announce the birth and death of Jesus Christ. This lesson can help you strengthen your belief in Jesus Christ as you understand signs God has given us.
Encourage each student to contribute to the learning experience. Provide multiple ways for students to participate in class. These could include drawing, writing on the board, explaining what they understand, or testifying. Recognize students’ efforts and encourage everyone to support the contributions of their peers.
Student preparation: Invite students to prepare to share how light could be compared to Jesus Christ. They could think about flashlights in dark places, light bulbs in a house, or natural lights like the sun and stars.
Possible Learning Activities
Announcements
Think of events in your life that are so important that you will announce them to friends and family ahead of time. In many cultures, formal announcements of graduation, marriage, significant birthdays, and other events are created and sent out weeks or months in advance.
Consider showing students examples of announcements or telling them about an event in your life that was announced to loved ones in advance.
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What are some reasons people would send these announcements before the day of the event?
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What are some events that Heavenly Father has chosen to announce beforehand through His prophets? Why do you think those events are so important to make known?
Through Samuel the Lamanite’s prophecies, God announced to the Nephites important future events and signs that would accompany them.
Read Helaman 14:12, looking for reasons God commanded Samuel to prophesy of these signs.
Help students identify a principle by inviting them to summarize what they learned from this verse. Students may use different words, but the truth they identify could be similar to the following.
One truth we can learn is that knowing signs God has given can affirm our belief in Jesus Christ.
How do you think witnessing the signs given by Samuel to announce the birth and death of Jesus Christ would have affected you? Ponder what signs or experiences God has given you to confirm your belief in the Savior. These might include signs that precede the Savior’s Second Coming.
Signs of the Savior’s birth and death
If you use the following activity, give students a time limit so there will be time for the remaining material your students need. Students could work in small groups, and you could assign different groups to study either Christ’s birth or His death. Remind students to treat His birth and death with respect as they create their announcements.
Another option is for all groups to create announcements about Christ’s birth and discuss in their groups how those signs testify of Him. Afterward, students could study the signs of Christ’s death as a class and discuss how those signs testify of Him.
Provide materials such as crayons and paper as needed. Students could use digital devices, if available, rather than paper.
Using the following prophecies, create announcements for the Nephites in Samuel’s day of the birth and death of the Savior. Strive to capture the excitement of the Savior’s birth and the weight of His death. Also include why people should prepare for these coming events.
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Signs of His birth: Helaman 14:2–8
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Signs of His death: Helaman 14:14–15, 20–27
Invite each group to present their announcement to another group. If different groups focused on different signs, invite them to present to a group that studied a different sign.
Then invite a class discussion about the Savior by asking questions like the following.
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Why do you think signs involving light and darkness announced the Savior’s birth and death?
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How might seeing these signs have affirmed the Nephites’ belief in the Savior?
If it would be helpful to students, consider inviting them to find a place in the scriptures where the Savior is compared to light—for example, John 8:12. Consider asking, “How has Jesus Christ been a light to you?”
Signs of the Second Coming
Just as Heavenly Father used signs to prepare the ancient Nephites for the coming of His Son, He uses signs in our day to help us prepare for the Second Coming of His Son.
This section is meant to help students understand some of the signs preceding the Second Coming. The matching quiz below is one way to help students do this. You could also use other methods, such as displaying a list of the signs while students answer the questions at the end of the lesson. Or you could ask each student to choose one reference to read and then report to the class the sign they discovered.
Answer key: 1-d, 2-b, 3-a, 4-c, 5-e
To help you become familiar with or remember some of the signs preceding the Second Coming, read the following scripture passages and match them with the description of the sign. If you would like to study more signs, see “Signs of the Times” in the Guide to the Scriptures (scriptures.ChurchofJesusChrist.org).
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How have you seen some of the signs of the Savior’s Second Coming fulfilled?
The following question could be important for students to ponder. Before they answer, consider giving them time to reflect on how the restored Church of Jesus Christ, missionary work, temples, the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon have affected their belief in the Savior.
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How has the fulfillment of these signs affirmed your faith in the Savior?
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According to Helaman 14:13, 28–29, why is it so important for us to believe in Christ?
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In what ways has your belief in Jesus Christ been a blessing to you?
Consider inviting students to record impressions they receive about the following in their study journal.
As you study 3 Nephi 1–10 in coming lessons, you will read about the fulfillment of the signs Samuel gave of the Savior’s birth and death. The people in Samuel’s day who believed the prophecies and prepared for the coming of Christ had very different experiences from those who did not.
In your study journal, write about your belief in the Savior and the experiences that led you to it. You might also include how you can strengthen that belief (for example, by continuing to study the Book of Mormon or by attending the temple).