Friday, February 13, 2009

The Tree of Life

When Nephi is shown his father’s vision, an angel guides him, commanding him to “Look!” Every time Nephi obeys he is shown something new and the angel asks him a question. They continue like this for some time. Commanding. Obeying. Learning.

At one point Nephi is shown the Tree of Life and the angel asks, “Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?” Since it is the Tree of Life you would expect Nephi to answer that it is about life. But instead he says, “Yea, it is the love of God.”

If you stop to ponder that answer doors of understanding open. Eternal life is love. Jesus Christ, who is the Tree of Life, is love. The gospel, given to us by Jesus Christ, is love. That Tree represents so very much that it could have taken Nephi hours to explain. But he understood all that it represented and summed it up in six little words, “It is the love of God.”

2 comments:

Wendi said...

I absolutely love anything about the Tree of Life or the fruit from that Tree in the scriptures. I also love the passages about the Bread of Life, Living Water, and the Serpent on the pole in the wilderness. They all boil down to the love of the Savior and the love of His Father in sending Him to Atone for us. Thank you for sharing this. :)

Sherrie Mills Johnson said...

Wendi, It all takes us back to the love of God, doesn't it!