Christ at the Center

In his most recent general conference address, Elder Holland said this about the meaning of our gathering as a church: “Those blessed with sight will recognize that, in spite of everything else this conference tradition may offer us, it will mean little or nothing unless we find Jesus at the center of it all. To grasp the vision we are seeking, the healing that He promises, the significance we somehow know is here, we must cut through the commotion—joyful as it is—and fix our attention on Him.”  The purpose of our assembling together is first and foremost to come unto the Savior and worship Him, to learn more fully how to be like Him and receive His grace in our lives.  This invitation, though, is one for more than just general conference; in our regular church meetings, in serving in our callings, in our scripture study, in our temple attendance, and even in our homes teaching our children, we should seek to find Christ at the center of it all and focus on Him.  Each day, no matter what we are doing, we can “always remember Him” as we promise each week and turn our hearts to seek to do those things He would be have us do.  

               In that spirit, when we read the vision of the tree of life recorded in 1 Nephi 8, we might think at first that the Savior is not a part of it.  He is not mentioned specifically other than Lehi’s passing references to “the Lord” near the beginning and then at the end when encouraging Laman and Lemuel to righteousness.  When we think of the vision, we typically focus on the tree, the fruit, the iron rod, the great and spacious building, the river of water, and all the people making their way through various parts of the visionary landscape.  The Savior seems nowhere to be found and we could easily forget that the vision has anything to do with Him as we talk about what Lehi physically saw.  Gratefully Nephi’s subsequent vision helped us to see that, in fact, Christ was not only present in the vision—He was at the center.  When the Spirit came to Nephi and showed him his own version of the vision, he introduced it this way: “After thou hast beheld the tree which bore the fruit which thy father tasted, thou shalt also behold a man descending out of heaven, and him shall ye witness; and after ye have witnessed him ye shall bear record that it is the Son of God.” In other words, Nephi was to behold the fruit—the most prominent feature of his father’s vision—and then he would see that it was connected to the Son of God.  Nephi requested that he learn the “the interpretation” of the tree that his father saw, and immediately he was shown Mary and her bringing forth of the Savior into the world.  The angel said to Nephi as he saw this: “Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?” Nephi responded, “Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men.”  It is Christ and His love that is at the center of the vision and what we should see when we behold the tree of life. 

Everywhere Nephi looked as he beheld the things his father saw, he also saw the Savior, a vision masterfully woven between the images of Lehi’s dream and scenes of the life of the Son of God.  He wrote, “I beheld the Lamb of God going forth among the children of men…. I looked and beheld the Lamb of God, that he was taken by the people; yea, the Son of the everlasting God was judged of the world…. I, Nephi, saw that he was lifted up upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world.”  Even in seeing that persecution of the Savior, which seemingly had little to do with the vision of his father, he saw that those who fought against Jesus and His apostles were “in a large and spacious building, like unto the building which my father saw” (1 Nephi 11:7-35).  The vision of the tree of life is focused on the Savior and our coming unto Him, our holding onto His word in the iron rod and ultimately partaking of His goodness and love in the fruit.  Just as in this vision, if we look closely enough we can similarly find the Savior in our lives as we seek to follow the counsel of Elder Holland: “Sisters and brothers, through the incessant din and drumbeat of our day, may we strive to see Christ at the center of our lives, of our faith, and of our service. That is where true meaning lies.”