Lehi's Vision: A Testimony of Christ

Kevin Winters

 

                      What member of the Church is not familiar with the account of Lehi's vision? What child is not familiar with the rousing chorus of "The Iron Rod"?[1]  What seasoned Latter-day Saint could not unwaveringly tell and give the interpretation of the symbols of this vision? Many talk of this vision as an old familiar friend.

                      Unfortunately, familiarity is often accompanied with a comfortable complacency. We may feel that we have found the answers and therefore have no need to search further. In this state the scriptures become stale and lifeless. We become like those in the Savior's time who "seeing see not."[2] As with Christ's parables, Lehi's vision is full of symbolism and meaning which may escape the casual reader.

                      In the process of finding these meanings two “keys” of interpretation may be used. Joseph Smith gave the first key:

 

 I have a key by which I understand the scriptures.  I enquire, what was the question which drew out the answer... To ascertain its meaning, we must dig up the root and ascertain what it was that drew the saying out...[3]

 

This key will become equally important as we look at the "question and answer" format between Nephi and the angel.

                      The second key is found in a revelation given to Joseph Smith as instructions to the elders:

 

And again, the elders, priests and teachers of this church shall teach the gospel which are in the Bible and the Book of Mormon, in the which is the fullness of the gospel.[4]

 

The importance of combining the knowledge found in the Book of Mormon and the Bible (also including the other Standard Works), and the complete compatibility of the two, is shown in the prophecy of Ezekiel:

 

Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah [the Bible], and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim [the Book of Mormon], and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall be one in thine hand.[5]

 

The complete whole and continuity that both scriptures create can at times be marvelous. It is with these two keys in mind that we proceed.

 

The Vision

                      Lehi's vision consists of ten symbols - the "straight and narrow path," the "rod of iron," the "fountain of living waters," the "tree of life," the "fruit" of the tree of life, the "large and spacious field," the "river of filthy water," the "mists of darkness," the "great and spacious building," and the "great and terrible gulf." Of these ten, the first half may be seen as symbols of Christ, His role and His life. These five symbols will now be considered.

 

Straight and Narrow Path

                      Lehi, in vision, saw a "strait and narrow path, which came along by the rod of iron, even to the tree…"[6]  This may be akin to the path of which many of the holy prophets have spoken:

 

And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.[7]

 

That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.[8]

 

And he forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lord.[9]

 

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.[10]

 

But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.[11]

 

The way of the Lord is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to workers of iniquity.[12]

 

And an highway shall be there, a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therin.[13]

 

                      We can see that the way, or path, is seen as a work that we must do. It is in obedience to the ordinances, following the commandments and having faith in God. This has been the "path of the just" since the beginning of mankind, and even before.  Such is the basic interpretation, yet more can be found.

                      Christ, in His mortal ministry, said, "I am the way...no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."[14]  Christ is the personification of the path which we must follow to receive the fruit of the tree of life. Thus He has received the title of Great Exemplar.  Christ has said:

 

Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do; for that which ye have seen me do even that shall ye do.[15]

 

Such was the voice of Christ that Nephi heard, saying:

 

...He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do.[16]

 

                      Christ, as the "author of eternal salvation,"[17] opened the way that mankind might walk the path. From this we can see more in the meaning of John's cry, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord..."[18] We have received this call in our day[19] to prepare for Christ's Second Coming that He may do His second work, that of cleansing the earth. Whereas the first work was to set up the "way of [the] saints," the second work is the fulfilling of the "paths of judgement."[20] 

                      Prophets in nearly all ages have seen Christ, or the Messiah, as the only way to eternal life. The Lord proclaimed through Isaiah:

 

I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.[21]

 

Peter fearlessly proclaimed in front of a council:

 

[Christ] is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.[22]

 

 

To this the Book of Mormon prophets add:

 

And now, my son, I have told you this that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn of me that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness.[23]

 

O remember, remember, my sons, the words which king Benjamin spake unto his people; ye, remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be saved, only through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, who shall come; yea, remember that he cometh to redeem the world.[24]

 

                      Christ has come to open the way for men to return to Heavenly Father. Without Christ and His sacrifice we must all perish and none could be redeemed. For without the atonement wrought by Christ "all mankind must unavoidably perish."[25]

                      We can now better see that the "straight and narrow path" is a personification of Christ. It is one of His roles in the Plan of Salvation, to prepare the way for others and to show the way for those who believe.

 

The Rod of Iron

                      In his vision, Lehi describes a "rod of iron" that "extended along the bank of the river, and led to the tree by which [he] stood.”[26] Among the “rods’ purposes was to give help that he/she who grasped hold of it will be on the path, for one who held to rod would be upon the correct path. Likewise, the “rod” led those who "caught hold of it" to the precious tree of life. It also provided a sure means of finding the way through the mists of darkness.

                      Nephi, in his inspired interpretation, said:

 

And it came to pass that I beheld that the rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the word of God, which led to the fountain of living waters, or the tree of life..."[27]

 

Nephi later spoke of the "words of Christ" which "will tell [us] all things what [we] must do."[28] We can see then that God's words are a guiding principle in our lives. It directs us to the paths that will lead to happiness and eternal life. But, again, more can be found.

                      John, at the beginning of his gospel, gives a new title to Christ:

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.[29]

 

From modern day revelation this somewhat obscure passage was simplified:

 

 In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was God.[30]

 

                      Since the beginning, a term denoting a time before the creation,[31] Christ has preached the word of God, the gospel. He has, by divine investiture of authority, taken on the title of God so that He may talk as God and deliver His words. Joseph Fielding Smith made this plain:

 

All revelation since the fall has come through Jesus Christ, who is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. In all of the scriptures, where God is mentioned and where he has appeared, it was Jehovah who talked with Abraham, with Noah, Enoch, Moses and all the prophets. He is the God of Israel, the Holy One of Israel; the one who led that nation out of Egyptian bondage, and who gave and fulfilled the Law of Moses. [1 Ne. 19:10; 3 Ne. 11:10, 14; 15:2-9] The Father has never dealt with man directly and personally since the fall, and he has never appeared except to introduce and bear record of the Son. Thus the Inspired Version records that "no man hath seen God at any time, except he hath borne record of the Son." [JST John 1:19][32]

 

With the fall of Adam and Eve "all mankind were fallen, and they were in the grasp of justice; yea, the justice of God, which consigned them forever to be cut off from his presence."[33]  Because men were cut off from God there was need of a Mediator between God and man. Christ was given that role and, since the Fall, has spoken for God and appeared to men in His place. Christ expressed this himself in his premortal state:

 

And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my own name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.[34]

 

                      In His life Christ said, "I do nothing of myself; but as the Father hath taught me, I speak these things."[35] This is fulfillment of the prophecy given to Moses:

 

The Lord God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall harken.[36]

 

Peter, in reciting this prophecy, adds "And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people."[37] Christ seems to be very particular about the fact that the words which He spake were not His own.[38]

                      Christ could well take on the title "the word of God." He has been the "spokesman for God" since the beginning and, even today, continues to be so. That the "iron rod" is a symbol of Christ can be readily seen.

 

The Fountain of Living Waters

                      It is only from Nephi’s vision that we see this symbol:

 

And it came to pass that I beheld that the rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the word of God, which led to the fountain of living waters…which waters are a representation of the love of God.[39]

 

                      The use of the symbol of water is numerous in holy writ. A few allusions will suffice.

                      Water has, since “the beginning,” been a symbol of life. In the account of Genesis life began, or sprang from, the “primordial waters”:

 

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and foul that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly…[40]

 

                      Ezekiel testified of the life giving waters. In his vision of the heavenly temple Ezekiel is shown the waters that are “issued out from under the threshold of the [temple] eastward.”[41] His angelic guide prophecies:

 

And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, withersoever the rivers shall come shall live…[42]

 

                      The idea that water is associated with life is very logical. Water, before food, is a basic necessity of life. The total weight of the human body consists of between 52%-63% of water.  Water is in every cell of our body. To deny the body of water is to slowly kill it.  Bruce R. McConkie has stated:

 

For the thirsty and choking traveler in a desert wilderness to find water is to find life, to find an escape from agonizing death; similarly the weary pilgrim traveling through the wilderness of mortality saves himself eternally by drinking from the wells of living water found in the gospel.[43]

 

This life giving water is nourishment to the spirit. On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles

 

Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scriptures hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

 

To which John adds:

 

(But this he spake of the Spirit, which they that believe in him should receive…)[44]

 

                      The likening of the living waters to the Spirit, particularly at the Feast of Tabernacles, is a common interpretation. The celebrated Christian scholar, Alfred Edersheim, in speaking of the pouring of the water at the Feast, has written:

 

Its main and real application was to the future outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as predicted—probably in allusion to this very rite—by Isaiah the prophet. Thus the Talmud says distinctly: “Why is the name of it called, The drawing out of water? Because the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, according to what is said: ‘With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of the wells of salvation.’[45]” Hence, also, the feast and the peculiar joyousness of it are alike designated as those of “the drawing out of water;” for, according to the same Rabbinical authorities, the Holy Spirit dwells in a man only through joy.[46]

 

                      The Spirit has many spiritual similarities to the concept of water. The Spirit is often associated with fire, a very powerful cleansing and refining element. In relation to our mortal sphere we are much more familiar with the cleansing power of water than with the use of heat and fire, yet both cleanse and envelop the individual. Likewise, with waters permeability, the Spirit may fill the whole being of the person. We are given the promise:

 

And blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.[47]

 

Just as food and water are nourishing to the human body so is the Holy Ghost to the human spirit. The Holy Ghost is a spiritual necessity for a hungering and thirsting spirit. These concepts of life and Spirit and their relationship to the living waters are unanimously found in another member of the Godhead, Jesus Christ.

                      To Jeremiah, Christ, speaking as the Old Testament Jehovah, condemned the Children of Israel

 

For [they] have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.[48]

 

The people had not only forsaken Jehovah/Christ, the personification of living water, but they also befitted themselves that they could not hold the Spirit, that which testifies of Christ and the Father. They had rejected the Source as well as that which brings the Source to light. Christ, speaking in his pre-mortal spirit, similarly called himself “the fountain of all righteousness.”[49]

                      Christ is a giver of life. He has said, “I am…the life.”[50] John testifies that

 

In him was life; and the life was the light of men.[51]

 

In relation to the Creation, King Benjamin identifies Christ as “the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning…”[52] Christ, in this dispensation, similarly said:

 

I am the same which spake, and the world was made, and all things came by me.[53]

 

                      Christ is also a giver of another kind of life--resurrection. Christ in his mortal life said

 

I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.[54]

 

                      This power of resurrection gives Christ the greatest ability known to man, to restore life. Today men are dabbling in the area of cloning, of making life through a scientific process. [55] Yet despite man’s advances in this field he cannot restore life to the dead. That gift is God’s alone to give. It is only through Christ that life may be restored.

                      Christ, in a wonderful way, may also enter into us. In the great Intercessory Prayer Christ begs that his disciples

 

may be one, even as [the Father and Christ] are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.[56]

 

This is done that we may be “partakers of the divine nature.”[57]

                      Paul testified:

 

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith on the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.[58]

 

Likewise, those who “have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”[59]

The imagery of “putting on Christ” has the connotation of being surrounded by him, much like relaxing in a warm blanket or coat, or an embrace. The warmth envelops us and comforts us in the cold. But this connection is much more than outward warmth and protection but works within the whole man:

 

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image form glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.[60]

 

This is when we receive a “newness of spirit”[61] and “walk in the newness of life.”[62]

                      We can now see then that the “fountain of living waters” may speak of the life that Christ gave and will continue to give to the inhabitants of the earth. It may also speak of the incredible cleansing power of Christ’s atonement. Indeed, Christ is the “Grand Medium though which all blessings flow to the human family.”[63]

 

The Tree of Life

                      After emerging from the mists of darkness Lehi sees "a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy."[64]  Nephi gives a description of the tree:

 

And I...beheld a tree; and it was like unto the tree which my father had seen; and the beauty thereof was far beyond, yea, exceeding of all beauty; and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow...the tree which is precious above all.[65]

 

                      Nephi, at his guides request, gives the interpretation of the Tree:

 

Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore it is the most desirable above all things.[66]

 

From this we gain the understanding that the tree is a representation of the "love of God." But what exactly is the "love of God?"

                      As Nephi first sees the Tree and sees its preciousness and beauty he desires an interpretation.  In answer he is bidden to look. He sees "in the city of Nazareth...a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white."[67]  In further answer to Nephi's question his new angelic guide asks, "Knowest thou the condescension of God?"[68]  Nephi is then told that the virgin who he had seen is the "mother of the Son of God."[69]  He is the "Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!"[70]  After seeing these things Nephi understood that the Tree represented the love of God, even Christ.

                      Nearly 600 years later, John, an apostle that Nephi saw, records:

 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.[71]

 

John later declared:

 

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.[72]

 

Paul adds his testimony:

 

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.[73]

 

The love of God is expressed in the sacrifice of His Son.

                      The prospect that the Tree of Life is a reflection of Christ is made more prominent when we look at the terminology that Nephi employs. Nephi describes the love of God as "shedding" itself upon us. This word brings our minds directly to the temple in ancient Israel. Paul, in speaking of the ancient law of sacrifice, says:

 

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission of sins.[74]

 

He describes the earthly sacrifices as "patterns of things in the heavens...but the heavenly things themselves [were] better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us."[75] According to the ancient order of blood sacrifice, the Lord said to Moses:

 

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the alter to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.[76]

 

                      This principle was understood in the New World as well.  Amulek, companion to Alma the Younger, testified of the need for an infinite sacrifice apart from the ancient order:

 

Therefore, it is expedient that there should be a great and last sacrifice, and then shall there be, or it is expedient that there should be, a stop of the shedding of blood; then shall the law of Moses be fulfilled...and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal.[77]

 

Moroni also spoke of the "shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of sins."[78]

                      Christ likewise used this terminology in reference to His sacrifice. During the Last Supper, Christ administered the wine with these words:

 

For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.[79]

 

Christ, the Great High Priest, sacrificed Himself, the Lamb of God, that the love of God may be manifest. His atonement, wrought through the shedding of His blood, showed not only God's love but His own. It is the fruit of His work and mission that we lastly consider.

 

Fruit of the Tree of Life

                      Lehi describes seeing fruit on the Tree of Life that was "desirable to make one happy...it was most sweet" and "the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that [he] had ever seen."  The nourishment of the fruit was such that  "it filled [his] soul with exceedingly great joy."[80]

                      Nephi, in discourse with his rebellious brothers, speaks of the fruit of the Tree of Life as being "most precious and most desirable above all other fruits; yea, and it is the greatest of all the gifts of God."[81]  The Lord defined the "greatest of all the gifts of God" as "eternal life."  We see, then, that the fruit is a representation of eternal life, of the end state of the righteous who "keep [God's] commandments and endure to the end."[82]  However, more can be found.

                      Alma gives a similar description of the fruit that the faithful will partake. In his discourse on faith to the poor Zoramites Alma likens the word of God to a seed. He describes how we must plant the seed in our hearts and nourish it.

 

And because of [our] diligence and [our] faith and [our] patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in [us], behold, by and by [we] shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and [we] shall feast upon this fruit even until [we] are filled, and [we] hunger not, neither shall [we] thirst.  Then, my brethren, [we] shall reap the rewards of [our] faith, and [our] patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto us.[83]

 

The fruit of the faithful is that of peace and joy.

                      Isaiah, in speaking of the time of the gathering of Israel, described the guidance and sustenance that the Lord would provide his people:

 

They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.[84]

 

Similarly, Alma, in conversation with his son Helaman, speaks of the exceeding joy that he received from Christ:

 

...I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death. And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my sins no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain![85]

 

                      Alma's description of the effects of Christ's atonement, even to the remission of his sins, matches that of Lehi given above. It is significant that later in his talk with Helaman Alma describes his redemption in terms of food:

 

Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost...for because of the word which [the Lord] has imparted unto me, behold, many have been born of God, and have tasted as I have tasted...[86]

 

                      Nephi, at the end of his discourse with his brothers, states:

 

Wherefore, the wicked are rejected from the righteous, and also from that tree of life, whose fruit is most precious and most desirable above all other fruits; yea, and it is the greatest of all the gifts of God.[87]

 

From modern revelation we learn that if we "keep [God's] commandments and endure to the end [we] shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God."[88]

                      We can now see that the "fruit of the tree" is not only the atonement of Christ but eternal life, exaltation. The great significance of this symbol is that it is a fruit of the tree of life, or Christ.

                      In the context of scripture "fruit" is often a designation of good works or that which comes of a persons actions. This may have been the idea behind "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."[89]  This fruit is the consequences of our actions, whether good or bad.  The fruit, in this context, is not Christ personally but the consequence of his life and its effects upon the whole human family.

                      The scriptures are abounding in references to the need of Christ for life. I believe that no man fully testified of this more than John, whether in speaking by himself or giving us Christ's words:

 

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.[90]

 

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me [Christ]. And ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life.[91]

 

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live for ever.[92]

 

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.[93]

 

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.[94]

 

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that they Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.[95]

 

The other testimonies and words of John in his epistles on this matter are equally great.[96] Abinadi well summarized John's testimony in these words:

 

But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.[97]

 

                      With Christ's resurrection all will be resurrected. With Christ's sacrifice all who desire may receive salvation. To those who jointly receive both in their fullness they may receive eternal life. This is the fruit of Christ's mission, the fruit of His life and work. This is the way to happiness and joy. All come because of Christ, they are His fruits which He unselfishly offers to us.

 

Conclusion

                      How appropriate it is to have a book claiming to be "another testimony of Jesus Christ" to start with a revelation about Christ and His centrality to God's Plan. Also, how incredible that this first revelation of Christ in the Book of Mormon also fulfills its role of the unifying of the Old World scriptures, the Old and New Testament, in symbol and in meaning with that of the New World.

                      This study is in no way an exhaustive search of this great vision. This has simply been the simple reflections of a lover of the scriptures. More could be said about the specific symbols given above, about their further significance in scripture or tradition. More could be said of how many of the symbols work into a temple setting, using similar symbols and ideas as expressed in temples throughout the ages. One could just as well use this vision as an expression of the Gospel Plan. Further searching can also find information about what is called the "Doctrine of The Two Ways."[98]  Many more treasures of doctrinal and even eternal significance may be found in this generally simple vision.  The author is certain that he is not the first to come to these above conclusions. The hope of the author is that others will see the further possibilities and doctrinal depth that is in this vision and will apply new techniques in drawing out further depth from this and other scriptures. Said Bruce R. McConkie:

 

We know only droplets of truth taken from an immense ocean; we have drunk only a few swallows from the streams of living water; there is so much more to learn.[99]