Lesson 3: The Vision of the Tree of Life

1 Nephi 8-12, 15

Purpose: To help class members understand the symbols in the vision of the tree of life and the application of these symbols in their lives.

[Note: That is the manual’s stated purpose. My class is so experienced in the Book of Mormon and in gospel doctrine that lessons like the one outlined, which goes through the symbols in Lehi’s dream and asks, over and over, “And what does such-and-such a thing represent? And what did he see next? And what does that represent?” is both unnecessary and unchallenging, allowing class members only to regurgitate many past similar lessons and not to testify to much. This lesson will instead use this vision as representative of the revelatory process, and we will focus on receiving revelation ourselves, and recognizing revelation of others who have stewardship over us.]

Lesson Development

1. The symbols in the vision of the tree of life
2. The people in the vision of the tree of life

I’m going to proceed with the class this year under the assumption that you have all either read the Book of Mormon several times, or that you have at least attended enough Seminary and Sunday School classes to be generally familiar with the narrative. That is, we won’t spend a lot of time merely rehearsing the narrative – Lehi did this and Nephi did that and then this other thing happened. Instead, I’ll give a quick summary of where we are in the story, and then we’ll discuss some principles associated with that story. However, if you’re ever not sure what is happening in the story, please don’t hesitate to say something – there are places where Mormon moves quite fast or where multiple events are going on at the same time, so if you need a quick refresher on the plot line, probably others do, too.

So, to summarize the story to this point: Lehi has received a divine command to take his family out of Jerusalem, which is soon to be destroyed and its people taken captive into Babylon. Lehi and his wife Sariah, then four sons – Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi, and perhaps some daughters, set up camp in the desert not too far from Jerusalem. Lehi teaches his family, he sends his sons back to Jerusalem to get the brass plates, which the brothers do; they return to their family, bringing not only the plates but Zoram, the former servant of Laban. Laman and Lemuel rebel against Nephi, making their most open resistance to date; Nephi teaches them, and they repent. Lehi sends the boys yet again to Jerusalem to bring back Ishmael’s family, which includes unmarried daughters who become the wives of Lehi’s sons. Ishmael’s family may also include two or more married daughters of Lehi and Sariah – Nephi mentions later that he has sisters, and they are old enough to be married, but the details are so sparse that we can’t be sure how many there are, or whether they are older or younger than Nephi. But whatever the case, this is the extended family group that has now gathered at Lehi’s camp in the wilderness:

1 Nephi 7:22

22 And it came to pass that we did come down unto the tent of our father. And after I and my brethren and all the house of Ishmael had come down unto the tent of my father, they did give thanks unto the Lord their God; and they did offer sacrifice and burnt offerings unto him.

This seems a very realistic, natural thing to me, acts of worship to mark a turning point in life, or to start out on a new venture with the blessing of the Lord. Can you think of other times in scripture or in Church history where th people of God offered prayers or performed ordinances to indicate that they were recommitting themselves and starting life anew? How about in your own life?

Chapter 8 begins with a remark that doesn’t sound like much, but which I think may be significant.

1 Nephi 8:1

1 And it came to pass that we had gathered together all manner of seeds of every kind, both of grain of eery kind, and also of the seeds of fruit of every kind.

This could be a reference to something Lehi’s family did before they left Jerusalem, but if so, this is a strange time to mention it, especially when nothing immediately before or after this verse seems to connect with it. If instead of referring to the departure from Jerusalem, this statement refers to an event after Ishmael’s family joins the party, why is it important enough to mention? [Suggest that it is an indication of the passage of time – the seasons are advancing, and the people are living there in the wilderness without making obvious progress toward … anything.]

Use your imagination a little. What do you think life in camp might have been like for this extended family? What are the various members of the family doing? What might their tempers or patience or other emotions be like?

What do you think Lehi is doing during this time?

1 Nephi 8:2

And it came to pass that while my father tarried in the wilderness he spake unto us, saying: Behold, I have dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision.

Lehi then goes on to give an account of the dream. Could one of you briefly summarize the content of that dream?

Can you think of other times in scripture where prophets have interpreted dreams as Lehi did, as revelations from God? [Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream of the seven lean cattle devouring seven fat cattle as a prediction of seven years of plenty to be followed by seven years of famine; Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue with the head of gold, the chest of silver, and so on, as a forecast of Israel’s future history; Peter’s dream of the great sheet filled with unclean animals, whom he was commanded to kill and eat, led to the understanding that the gospel should be taken to the Gentiles as well as the House of Israel.]

Besides dreams, what are some other ways that prophets have received revelation through the ages? How do you receive revelation for your own life and your own stewardships?

*** When you hear of Church leaders, or members, or someone in your family, or someone who is making waves on the internet, having had a revelation, how do you know whether it is a valid revelation from God? [This is the key discussion of the lesson – allow plenty of time, prompting with questions if necessary. Probe for different kinds of revelation – the answers to questions, promptings for personal behavior, confirmation of others’ testimony – as well as acknowledging who, according to the established order of heaven, receives revelation for whom.]

I like something a friend wrote a while ago: “After breakfast, I do not consult my hot chocolate mug for inspiration. But Joseph of Egypt might well have done so, and God may well have spoken to him that way because it was the cultural expectation.”

Are you familiar with ways that people of God have sought for revelation in the past that seem a little strange or uncomfortable to us of the 21st century? How do you feel about Joseph’s use of a stone to help in translation of the Book of Mormon? How do you feel about people who open the scriptures at random, close their eyes and jab a finger onto the page, and then take whatever verse they have pointed to as the answer to their question?

Doctrine and Covenants 1:24

Behold, I am God and have spoken it; these commandments are of me, and were given unto my servants in their weakness, after the manner of their language, that they might come to understanding.

Is it easy to get revelation from heaven?

Doctrine and Covenants 9:7-8

7 Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me.

8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

[Encourage personal examples.]

If you are seeking revelation – say, the answer to a personal question, or the wisdom to cope with a personal problem or make a personal decision – what are some of the things you do to communicate with God?

Is it always easy to understand revelation?

When Peter dreamed about the unclean animals being lowered from heaven, he did not immediately understand what God was trying to tell him.

Acts 10:17

17 Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate,

Cornelius was not a Jew, but he was a man of great faith who had been directed by God to visit Peter just at the time Peter was “doubting” – or struggling to understand – the meaning of his vision. Through meeting with Cornelius, and recognizing just how sincerely God was working through that Gentile, Peter came to understand the meaning of his ream, that there were no “clean and unclean” people, but that God was no respecter of persons and the Gospel should be taken to everyone, Jew and Gentile.

Can you think of other occasions, other questions, where someone has had to struggle to know the will of the Lord?

[This story may be useful, depending on time:]

“Some years ago when I served as a stake president,” President Lee said, “we had a very grievous case that had to come before the high council and the stake presidency and that resulted in the excommunication of a man who had harmed a lovely young girl. After a nearly all-night session of the council that had taken that action, I went to my office rather wearily the next morning to be confronted by a brother to this man whom we had had on trial the night before. This man said, “I want to tell you that my brother wasn’t guilty of that thing which you charged him with.”

“How do you know he wasn’t guilty?” I asked.

“Because I prayed, and the Lord told me he was innocent,” the man answered.

I invited him to come into the office, and we sat down. I asked, “Would you mind if I ask you a few personal questions?” and he replied, “Certainly not.”

[President Lee asked the man a series of questions: Did he keep the Word of Wisdom? Did he pay his tithing? Did he attend priesthood meeting? Did he hold family prayer? Did he study the scriptures?]

“No, sir,” was the answer to one question after another.

President Lee continued, “In my home I have a beautiful instrument called a radio. When everything is in good working order, we can dial it to a certain station and pick up a speaker or the voice of a singer all the way across the continent or sometimes on the other side of the world, bringing them into the front room as though they were standing right there. But after we have used it for a long time, there are some little delicate instruments or electrical devices on the inside called radio tubes that begin to wear out. When one of them wears out, we get a kind of a static—it isn’t so clear. Another wears out and if we don’t give it attention it fades in and out just when we are about to hear who makes the winning touchdown. If we don’t give that attention and another one wears out—well, the radio sits there looking quite like it did before, but something has happened on the inside. We don’t hear. We can’t get any singer; we can’t get any speaker.

He went on to say that there was something analogous in the soul – a “Go-to-Sacrament-Meeting” tube, a “Pay-your-tithing” tube, and so on.

If one of these becomes worn-out by disuse or is not active—if we fail to keep the commandments of God—it has the same effect upon our spiritual selves that that same worn-out tube in the radio in my home has upon the reception we otherwise could receive …

“Now, then,” I said, “fifteen of the best-living men in the stake prayed last night. They heard the evidence, and every man was united in saying that your brother was guilty. Now you who do none of these things, you say you prayed, and you got an opposite answer. How would you explain that?”

And then this man gave an answer that I think was a classic. He said, “Well, President Lee, I think I must have gotten my answer from the wrong source.”

Here is another kind of situation that can interfere with receiving revelation, or completely understanding it:

One day [15 October 1915] in Salt Lake City a son kissed his mother good morning, took his dinner bucket, and went to City Creek Canyon where he worked. He was a switchman on the train that was carrying logs out of the canyon. Before noon his body was brought back lifeless. The mother was inconsolable. She could not be reconciled to that tragedy—her boy just in his early twenties so suddenly taken away. The funeral was held, and words of consolation were spoken, but she was not consoled. She couldn’t understand it.

One forenoon, so she says, after her husband [John Wells, counselor in the Presiding Bishopric] had gone to his office to attend to his duties as a member of the Presiding Bishopric, she lay in a relaxed state on the bed, still yearning and praying for some consolation. She said that her son appeared and said, “Mother, you needn’t worry. That was merely an accident. I gave the signal to the engineer to move on, and as the train started, I jumped for the handle of the freight car, and my foot got caught in a sagebrush, and I fell under the wheel. I went to Father soon after that, but he was so busy in the office I couldn’t influence him—I couldn’t make any impression upon him, and I tried again. Today I come to you to give you that comfort and tell you that I am happy.”

Well, you may not believe it. You may think she imagined it, but you can’t make her think so, and you can’t make that boy’s father think it. I [David O. McKay] cite it today as an instance of the reality of the existence of intelligence and environment to which you and I are “dead,” so to speak, as was this boy’s father.

[Discuss, particularly the point that Bishop Wells was “so busy” that the son couldn’t reach him.]

After hearing Lehi relate his vision of the tree of life, Nephi desired to receive the same vision. His prayer was granted, and he saw the same vision of the tree of life, the iron rod, the great and spacious building, and so on. But there’s one interesting difference:

1 Nephi 15:27

27 And I said unto them that 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.

How does that relate to the story about Bishop Wells being too occupied to be sensitive to his son’s attempts to reach him?

[Summary and conclusion]