From 1884 to 1885, Lund served as
president of the church's
Scandinavian
Mission. Lund served in the
Utah Territorial Legislature. He introduced the legislation that resulted in the founding of Utah State Agricultural College, which later became
Utah State University. Lund served on the Utah Capitol Grounds Committee when it was formed in 1888. Lund became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 7, 1889.
Church president John Taylor had died two years earlier. Lund was ordained along with two other
apostles,
Marriner W. Merrill and
Abraham H. Cannon. At the time of his ordination, Lund was the only monogamist in the Quorum of the Twelve. His wife was Sarah Ann Peterson, who he had married in 1870. He made a journey to the
Ottoman Empire in 1897, where he organized the Turkish Mission and looked into sought out a gathering place for the primarily Armenian church members in that mission. That same year, Lund delivered a
general conference sermon in which he emphasized that it was no longer church policy to encourage its members to emigrate to the western United States. In 1900, Lund became the superintendent of church religion classes. Church president
Joseph F. Smith selected Lund as second counselor in the First Presidency on October 17, 1901. He served in that position until April 7, 1910, when Smith called him as first counselor, to replace
John R. Winder, who had died in March. Lund assumed a myriad of duties, including heading various church agencies and again serving as a temple president. Lund also served as a member of several writing committees to revise the church's
standard works and other publications. He participated in numerous businesses in Utah, including the
Hotel Utah, the
Amalgamated Sugar Company (1914–20), and
ZCMI. Lund was the first member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and of the First Presidency whose native language was not English. While he was a member of the First Presidency, Lund also fulfilled civic roles. He replaced
John Henry Smith as a member of the Utah Capitol Commission after Smith died. After the death of Joseph F. Smith in 1918, new church president
Heber J. Grant retained Lund as first counselor in the First Presidency. At that time, Lund also became
President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Lund served as
Church Historian from 1900 to 1921. While in this office, he supervised the movement of the office and its materials to the new Church Administration Building in 1917. Lund served as president of the
Genealogical Society of Utah and was the first editor of the
Utah Historical and Genealogical Magazine. From 1911 to 1921, Lund was the
president of the
Salt Lake Temple. ==Death==