The River and the Rod

There's a part of the vision of the tree of life that we don't talk about but which I think stands as an important warning for us.  Lehi told us, “I beheld a river of water; and it ran along, and it was near the tree of which I was partaking the fruit….   And I beheld a rod of iron, and it extended along the bank of the river, and led to the tree by which I stood” (1 Nephi 8:13, 19).  Without reading anything outside of 1 Nephi 8, we would assume that this was a refreshing source of water for those making the difficult trek along the straight and narrow path.  After Nephi received the same vision, Laman and Lemuel asked him this question: “What meaneth the river of water which our father saw?”  Nephi responded, “The water which my father saw was filthiness; and so much was his mind swallowed up in other things that he beheld not the filthiness of the water.  And I said unto them that it was an awful gulf, which separated the wicked from the tree of life, and also from the saints of God.  And I said unto them that it was a representation of that awful hell, which the angel said unto me was prepared for the wicked” (1 Nephi 15:26-29).  So far from being a place of refreshment, the river whose bank contained the iron rod was described as filthiness and hell.  To me it is a sobering thought that so close to the iron rod and straight and narrow path is this river of filthiness.  When I think of walking along the bank of a river I imagine being close enough that one or two missteps could send you right into the river itself.  So perhaps the message for us is that we don’t have to go too far from the iron rod and straight and narrow path to find very serious trouble.     

We once lived in a home that was near a wooded area with some walking paths. In the middle of those paths was a stagnant little pond that terrified us. The reason it scared my wife and me was because it was not fenced or blocked off. There were warning signs but nothing physical to stop a young child from entering the filthy and deep water.  We had two little ones at the time and we were afraid they would sometime, without our knowing, make the five minute walk to the pond, leave the path, and enter and drown in the water.  I think this image of the river in Lehi's dream similarly shows us that there is no fence to stop us from leaving the path and falling into the filthy, dangerous river.  The only protection is the rod of iron, but for the rod to do us any good we have to hold on to it.  Otherwise, without too many steps away from the path we will find ourselves in the water.  Our hope lies in holding on to the word of God and following the counsel that we have in Helaman 3:29-30: “Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.”