The Iron Rod, Part 1

View Part 2 here.

I have been studying Lehi's vision in depth recently, in particular the iron rod in conjunction with the armor of God, the justice and mercy of God, and the cherubim and flaming sword. More recently, I have felt _flooded_ with inspiration - I keep feeling like I need to share it, but every time I have started to write this out, I have been led to new nuances - opened new doors and made new connections - there's no way I can write it ALL here, so I am praying for the words and the focus God would have me share. The words are finally flowing, so here goes!

Doctrine & Covenants 33:1 "...hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, whose WORD is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged SWORD, to the dividing asunder of the joints and marrow, soul and spirit; and is a DISCERNER of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

The iron rod represents the word of God. So does the sword of the Spirit, part of the armor of God, in Ephesians 6:

17 "And take the helmet of salvation, and THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, which is the WORD OF GOD:"

I have thought it interesting that you can loosely describe a sword as a rod of iron, but there is more - I believe it could also be called the "arm of God," in particular the arm of mercy which is extended towards us. One definition of the word "arm" is weapon - (consider the right to bear ARMS). I find it even more interesting that the word "armor" has the word arm in it (kind of the arm-ing of the armed).

1 Nephi 15:23-24
"23 And they said unto me: What meaneth the ROD OF IRON which our father saw, that LED TO THE TREE?"

Pausing to point out that the iron rod follows (I might say guards, like armor!) the path to the tree of life. This is another big clue as to what it represents. More later.

"24 And I said unto them that it was the WORD OF GOD; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the FIERY DARTS of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction."

This last verse shows us that the iron rod has additional properties which also belong to the armor of God from Ephesians 6 - concerning the fiery darts of the adversary.

"16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the FIERY DARTS of the wicked."

So somehow, so far, the iron rod is both sword and shield (this actually eventually led me to an understanding that holding the iron rod is putting on all the armor of God, but I'm getting ahead of myself). There is more.

There are two more scripture verses that mention "fiery darts," both in Doctrine & Covenants - Doctrine & Covenants 27 has good stuff, but I wanted to point out Doctrine & Covenants 3:8:

"8 Yet you should have been faithful; and he would have EXTENDED HIS ARM and supported you against all the FIERY DARTS of the adversary; and he would have been with you in every time of trouble."

So far, the iron rod is a sword (/shield) or an arm (/armor). Swords have hilts. Arms have hands. So much symbolism. In fact, the 1828 Webster definition of "hilt" is  "The handle of any thing; but chiefly applied to the handle of a sword."  I love that word HAND-le.  :)  Now in the past, I have always imagined us walking hand over hand along the iron rod, and in a sense, I think that's a fine image. But thinking of the iron rod as a sword - consider again the verbiage in 1 Nephi 8 24:

"And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and CAUGHT HOLD OF THE END of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree."

That sounds to me now more like holding a sword than going hand over hand along a railing. Consider also v. 30 of the same chapter:

"But, to be short in writing, behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and CAUGHT HOLD OF THE END of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually HOLDING FAST to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree."

I looked up the word "hold" in the 1828 Webster dictionary. As a verb, one of the definitions is "to wield." As a noun, the first part of the definition reads, "A grasp with the hand; an embrace with the arms; any act or exertion of the strength or limbs which keeps a thing fast and prevents escape. Keep your hold; never quit your hold" Related, and interesting, is the next part of the definition, "It is much used after the verbs to take, and to lay; to take hold or to lay hold is to seize. It is used in a literal sense; as to take hold with the hands, with the arms, or with the teeth; or in a figurative sense." (That reminds me of Mormon in Moroni 7 ... lay hold [seize] upon every good gift, touch not the evil gift.)

The first two definitions of the word "fast" also teach us: "1. Literally, set, stopped, fixed, or pressed close. Hence, close; tight; as, make fast the door; take fast hold.  2. Firm; immovable."  Hold fast can thus mean to hold or press close - even firmly!  (You can see relation to the words FASTEN and STEADFAST, as well).


John Pontius spent a lot of time writing about the "word of God" including more than scriptures and conference/prophets; it is also personal revelation through the Holy Ghost. The scriptures also teach us that angels are involved in transmission of the word.

Alma 32:23
"And now, HE IMPARTETH HIS WORD BY ANGELS unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned."

2 Nephi 32:3
"ANGELS speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they SPEAK THE WORDS OF CHRIST. ..."

One day at church earlier this year, a friend of mine said to me... did you notice that Lehi did not hold the iron rod on his way to the tree? This led to a fun discussion as I responded - what if the man dressed in white WAS Lehi's iron rod - and he held his arm/hand as he pressed forward to the tree? What if Lehi's personal journey to the tree is part of the MEANING of others' journeys in the same vision. ...

From 1 Nephi 8, going in order, but paraphrasing:
v. 4 Lehi sees a dark and dreary wilderness (world).
vv. 5-6 He sees a man in a white robe who speaks and bids him to follow him (caught hold of iron rod)
v. 7 beholds the dark and dreary waste (mist of darkness descends)
v. 8 after many hours in darkness, he prays for mercy
v. 9-10 after he prays he can see the tree (the mist of darkness is dispelled!)
v. 11 continues until he partakes of the tree (love of God/Jesus Christ)
v. 13 looks for his family
v. 15 BECKONS to his family and says to "come unto me" (he becomes the iron rod for others - bringing souls to Christ)

I came across new meaning to this beautiful scripture earlier this year which I want to tie in:

Alma 19:6
"Now, this was what Ammon desired, for he knew that king Lamoni was under the power of God; he knew that the DARK VEIL OF UNBELIEF was being cast away from his mind, and the LIGHT which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous light of his goodness—yea, this light had infused such joy into his soul, the CLOUD OF DARKNESS having been dispelled, and that the LIGHT of everlasting life was lit up in his soul, yea, he knew that this had overcome his natural frame, and he was carried away in God—"

CLOUD of darkness reminded me of the MIST of darkness from Lehi's dream - the temptations of the adversary - maybe in particular the temptation of unbelief if the mists of darkness are also the dark veil of unbelief - interesting also that it is "cast away." Also noteworthy to me that light takes its place.

I want to include the next scripture because there is lots of Lehi's vision imagery:

Psalm 119:105
"Thy WORD is a lamp unto my feet, and a LIGHT unto my PATH." (also here could be seen as a connection to the feet shod with spiritual armor)

Now back to 1 Nephi 8. After Sariah, Sam and Nephi make it to the tree, there are still 2 more journeys to the tree that Lehi outlines.
Group 1 that makes the tree:
v. 21 numberless concourses press forward to obtain the path
v. 23 exceedingly great mist of darkness causing many to stray
v. 24 others press forward THROUGH THE MIST, clinging to the iron rod until they come forth and partake
v. 25 after they partake of the fruit they look around as if ashamed
v. 28 the ashamed fall away into forbidden paths and are lost

Group 2 that makes the tree:
v. 30 other multitudes press forward,
catch hold of the rod of iron,
press forward holding fast to the rod of iron,
come forth and fall down at and partake of the tree
v. 33 heed not the scorners
v. 34 (or whoever does falls away)

There are a couple of differences between these groups - but one possible difference that I never noticed until recently. Now, I am still studying this, and there might be other interpretations, so please, look for the gold if any and discard the dross. Group 1 maybe never has their mist of darkness lifted until they are at (or close to) the tree (they didn't look around until then!) - which might imply blind faith, or no perspective, or they can't give up the so-called comfort in the temptations/false beliefs of the adversary - they are going through the motions - but ultimately, at the tree, they are ashamed and heed the scorners. Maybe they didn't pray for mercy like Lehi did (v. 8), or ultimately could not forgive themselves, or whatever the case...  Edited to add - this shame and falling may be the ultimate deceptions that "deceive the very elect if that were possible."  Deception is another way of saying false belief.

Notice that in group 2, the mist of darkness is not mentioned! Now, it could be implied, I suppose. But it makes me wonder if their mists of darkness were dispelled early, like Lehi - and Lamoni - their dark veils or cloud of darknesses were cast away or dispelled - they didn't travel THROUGH them like group 1, but they could see their goal more clearly and keep what we might call an "eternal perspective" along the path. They received light and their light grew brighter and brighter - a lamp/light unto their feet on the path. Perhaps that made all the difference at the tree with not feeling ashamed and not heeding the scorners. ?



I feel to stop here and make a part 2 later, because this is already pretty long.

Part 2 will be as soon as it feels right.  I was in a good writing flow, and I could feel it turn off almost like a water faucet!  (Then the doubt about sharing this inspired knowledge creeped in.)  But blessed be the name of the Lord!  :)