Readings from Genesis, Moses, and Abraham
In February, an amazing new artwork debuts at the MOA featuring 10 stories from the Old Testament! We're thrilled to include scenes from the Gates of Paradise in this year's Come, Follow Me series, starting this month. Remember, you can also subscribe to get email reminders when new artworks are ready or follow along weekly on Instagram or Facebook. We hope that art-lovers everywhere will be inspired by these artworks as they complement their gospel study, family discussions, and church classes with fine art from around the world.
January 26 - February 1
In Rose Hartwell’s painting pictured above, a mother tenderly rocks her baby. What might the mother be thinking about? What her baby will be like when she grows up? How to best love her child? All she will eventually need to teach her little one? Perhaps this and more. After instructing Adam, the Lord said, “Therefore I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your children…” (Moses 6:58). What does it mean to teach freely?
February 2-8
In C.C.A. Christensen’s 'Pioneers Crossing the Plains of Nebraska,' the early saints are shown on their path to Zion. For them, Zion was a specific place, as it was for Enoch. However, a place doesn’t become Zion because it is located at specific geographic coordinates; rather, Zion becomes such when we are “of one heart and one mind, and [dwell] in righteousness; and there [are] no poor among [us]” (Moses 7:18).
February 9-15
When Noah and his family exited the ark, they offered sacrifices and, as the JST adds, “gave thanks” (JST, Genesis 9:4). Genesis 8:20 informs us that they sacrificed “every clean beast” and “every clean fowl,” but in his panel pictured above, Lorenzo Ghiberti specifically depicts Noah’s family offering up a ram (see bottom right corner). This is the same animal Abraham sacrificed in the place of Isaac, a story that echoes the sacrifice Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ each made. We do not offer animal sacrifices today, but we will all be asked to sacrifice for the Lord. As you sacrifice for the Lord, do you, too, give thanks?
See this artwork on view at the MOA starting on Friday, February 20, 2026!
February 16-22
Melchizedek was a man of remarkable faith: even as a child he “stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the violence of fire” (JST, Genesis 14:26). Throughout the scriptures, we read about similarly grand manifestations of faith, but it doesn’t always have to be so dramatic. President Nelson reminded us that it takes faith to join the Church, to follow prophets, and “even more faith to accept a disappointing answer.” In Max Thalmann’s print Three Figures with Halos, worshippers demonstrate their everyday faith in a cathedral space. How do you demonstrate your faith in everyday ways?
