1 Nephi 11:26

26 And the angel said unto me again: Look and behold the condescension of God!

The angel teaches more about the condescension of God. Elder Bruce R. McConkie suggests that the first one (vs. 16–19) could refer to God the Father condescending to father a child by a mortal woman, while this one could refer to the condescension of Christ through submitting himself to the hardships of mortal life (see Mormon Doctrine, p. 155). I think, however, that another point of His condescension was his baptism, as will be described hereafter. To think that a perfect person needs to be cleansed from non-existent sin is in itself a form of condescension.

1 Nephi 11:24–25

24 And after he had said these words, he said unto me: Look! And I looked, and I beheld the Son of God going forth among the children of men; and I saw many fall down at his feet and worship him.

25 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 to the tree of life; which waters are a representation of the love of God; and I also beheld that the tree of life was a representation of the love of God.

Nephi is shown the ministry of Christ, His teaching and healing. His attention then goes back to Lehi’s vision, specifically the iron rod. This sequence leads Nephi to the interpretation of the iron rod being the word of God. This rod of iron acts like a banister. If we hold to it, we a re led to the Tree of Life. In other words, as we adhere to the teachings of Christ, we will be led to partake of the love of God. Verse 25 also gives the fountain of living waters as the love of God.

I would like to focus on the relationship between the rod of iron and the Tree of Life. I think the rod of iron is evidence of the Fall of Adam and mankind. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were allowed to partake of any fruit freely (Genesis 2:16–17), including the fruit of the Tree of Life. The single exception to this permission was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The day they took that fruit was the day they would die, or be separated from freely eating the Tree of Life fruit. In other words, they would have to make some other effort to partake of the Love of God.

Adam’s Tree of Life may well be an actual tree with actual fruit, but I don’t think we should lose sight of the symbolism. Partaking of Lehi’s Tree of Life was the same as dwelling continually in the Love of God. Adam had that freely because he was clean and pure, without sin. Once he fell by transgressing God’s commandment, he had to earn the right to re-enter the benefits of God’s love. So he has the gospel preached to him (Moses 5:5–7) — the iron rod — to bring him back to the full benefit of God’s presence and love. So God’s love (Tree of Life) is offered to all, but no longer freely, as it was to Adam and Eve before the Fall. In order to experience the full benefit of God’s love, each person must make their way to it. We must adhere to the word of God (iron rod) that leads us to His love. The more strictly we adhere to the Word, the more sure our path will be.

• John 1:1–14
• Revelation 2:27, See especially JST
• 1 Nephi 8:19

1 Nephi 11:21–23

21 And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?

22 And I answered him, saying: 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.

23 And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.

A couple of things impress me about these verses. First, they give the interpretation of the tree. Second, they show how Christ personifies God’s love.

I find the sequence here to be interesting. Nephi asks the meaning of the tree (vs. 11), he sees a vision of Mary (vs. 13), when he confesses to the angel that he doesn’t know the meaning of God’s condescension, he is told who the virgin is, and her significance (vs. 16–18). Now he sees the birth of Christ (vs. 19–20), and is immediately asked if he knows the meaning of the tree.

So Nephi knows there is a connection between the tree (his original question) and the birth of Christ (his answer). Nephi’s answer had to have been inspired, or at least I don’t know that I would have come up with the same answer without some divine help. His correct answer is that the tree represents the love of God. So Christ personifies the love of God, which, coupled with the symbol of the tree is quite simple and profound. The Tree’s fruit is available to everyone, but we must make the effort to partake of it. Alma 5:62 tells us that the way we partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life (love of God) is to be baptized unto repentance. Moroni 8:25–26 gets more detailed. It gives the process like this: repentance, whose first fruit is baptism, which is a result of faith, the kind of faith it takes to keep the commandments. Keeping the commandments with faith brings a remission of sins. The remission of sins brings meekness and lowliness of heart, then comes the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which fills you with hope and perfect love, which is charity, defined as the pure love of Christ (Moroni 7:47), or the fruit of the Tree of Life.

This makes it sound like our Heavenly Father is playing favorites among His children. But if we consider love to be a verb instead of a feeling, it makes more sense. Of course God loves all His children, or in other words, has that feeling toward all His children. That’s why He makes the same opportunity available to all. The verb “love,” however, is reserved for those who make an effort toward Him, in other words, partake of the fruit. God would like all His children to partake, but He shows favor and blessing to those who actually do partake.

• 1 John 4:7–9
• Alma 5:62
• Moroni 8:26

1 Nephi 11:18–20

18 And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh.

19 And it came to pass that I beheld that she was carried away in the Spirit; and after she had been carried away in the Spirit for the space of a time the angel spake unto me, saying: Look!

20 And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms.

Here Nephi is allowed to see for himself how Christ was to come miraculously into the world. He doesn’t need to see the details of how Jesus was conceived; that doesn’t matter. What matters is that Christ is literally the Son of God, not how it happened to be so. This is, to my knowledge, the earliest record in all the scriptures, giving this much detail as to how this virgin was to conceive the Son of God. Again, this is a story I have heard my whole life, but Nephi was seeing this for the first time. Do I take this miracle for granted? Having seen this for himself, Nephi can testify with sure knowledge regarding the divinity of Christ.

1 Nephi 11:14–17

14 And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou?

15 And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins.

16 And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God?

17 And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.

I think sometimes I take for granted the knowledge and understanding that is available to me through these scriptures, and through modern revelation. But if I stop and put myself in Nephi’s position, I get a whole different perspective. I’m sure he had read the prophets such as Isaiah when they talked about how a virgin would “conceive and bear a son,” (Isaiah 7:14), but I’m not sure he totally comprehended the big picture or that it actually struck him how significant this was before this vision. After Nephi correctly identifies to the angel that what he saw was a virgin, he is asked if he knows what the condescension of God is. Nephi had to have been a bit confused at this point, not knowing where this was going. So he gives what to me is a great answer. He basically says, “I know that God loves His children, but I don’t know what this condescension thing is.” He had to have been wondering what all this had to do with the interpretation of Lehi’s tree. We’ll see that Nephi is a quick study, but I think at this point the angel has taken him by surprise and lead this discussion in an unexpected direction.

1 Nephi 11:13

13 And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white.

I find it interesting that Nephi’s direct questions are answered indirectly here. Instead of just being told the meaning of the Tree of Life, he is given visionary clues. From these clues, he is to draw meaning and interpret the dream. It’s a great teaching method because what we discover, we own and remember. The knowledge that I best retain is understanding that I figure out more than information I’m given, unless that information is a clue to a deeper understanding. This also ensures the learner learns what he is ready for and nothing more that may be forgotten, or worse, overwhelming to him. A teacher can lead a student to draw his own correct conclusions (thereby teaching himself) by leading him through a series of lesser, already understood principles.

1 Nephi 11:12

12 And it came to pass that he said unto me: Look! And I looked as if to look upon him, and I saw him not; for he had gone from before my presence.

I used to play with the idea that this verse, coupled with verse 14, where an angel came to replace the Spirit of the Lord, was evidence that the first visitor was the pre-mortal Lord Himself, that His spirit could only be in one place at a time, and it was needed to show the rest of the vision about Him. Therefore, a replacement was needed to talk to Nephi. The Lord’s spirit was needed to be in the vision about Him, and since He couldn’t be in the vision and explain it at the same time, an angel came to do the explaining. Now, I suppose this might be the case, but I have never heard or read anything else about that. So I don’t necessarily subscribe to the idea, but Nephi seems to make it very clear that he was visited by two separate Beings. If the first visitor was the Holy Ghost, he wouldn’t need to leave, since his job is to testify anyway. I had this question while serving my mission. James E. Talmage and Bruce R. McConkie didn’t agree on this, one saying it was Christ, the other saying it was the Holy Ghost. The footnotes used to cross-reference Nephi’s Spirit of the Lord with the brother of Jared’s Spirit of the Lord, which was definitely Christ. The version of The Book of Mormon we currently have doesn’t make that reference. So we’re left to our own now, but my best guess is that this Spirit of the Lord is Christ.