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| The Vision of the Tree of Life/Lehi's Dream |
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| The Great & Spacious Building and the Mist of Darkness |
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| The River of Filthy Water |
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| The Tree of Life |
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| The Iron Rod |
In the Book of Mormon there is a prophet named Lehi. He has a vision called "The Tree of Life." In the vision there is an iron rod that leads to a tree. Surrounding the iron rod is a mist of darkness, a great and spacious building, and a river of filthy water.
Everything in the dream is a metaphor. The mist of darkness is the temptations of the devil, the great and spacious building(s) are the vain imaginations and pride of man, and the river of filthy water is the depths of Hell.
The iron rod symbolizes the Word of God, while the tree, or the tree of life, symbolizes the love of God. The meaning of this dream is: the way to God is straight and narrow; and there are dangers all around us. As long as we stay on the path and hold to the iron rod, we will feel Gods love and eventually be able to return to live with Him. However if we let go of the iron rod, we become susceptible to the dangers around us.
For the scripture story, please read 1st Nephi 8 and 1st Nephi 11
