THE IRON ROD, PART 2
I have to start by saying that this is still a study in progress - a fascinating and joyful study that I highly recommend. The entire Book of Mormon has opened up to me in a new way - and I did not think it a stranger before. That said, I am just as sure there are other layers and meanings in the scriptures referenced below, and I cannot write everything. I am sharing with the hope that we can help each other better understand THE WAY (It Is All Christ, is it not?), and in so doing we can all better draw and be drawn closer to Him. Please share your insights! It is making an amazing picture.
As mentioned in part 1, I believe one of the synonymous, symbolic references to the iron rod is the "arm of mercy."
Next, I want to bring in the cherubim and flaming sword. I picked up a few years ago the idea that the flaming sword represents justice. This seemed to be supported by scriptures (more below). This led me to the idea that maybe the cherubim represent mercy. Cherubim surround the MERCY seat, after all. They were on the tabernacle/temple curtains/wall and veil - guarding the holy WAY (I might say like armor...) - I even like to think of them as the "angels who stand as sentinels" spoken of by Brigham Young:
“Let me give you a definition in brief. Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the ANGELS who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell.” (Journal of Discourses, p. 416)
Anyway, I was pondering justice and mercy as two opposing halves (or arms) of the same whole, and was impressed with the thought: why am I splitting the cherubim and flaming sword?... Maybe the cherubim and flaming sword represent mercy AND the cherubim and flaming sword represent justice. I can't call one an arm and the other a fire (for example) - when they are both arms and both fires. Realizing I haven't laid everything out yet - consider two examples. First - the very same angel who came to rebuke Alma the Younger (justice) also came to bless him (mercy):
"...And now I say unto thee, Alma, go thy way, and seek to destroy the church no more, that their prayers may be answered, and this even if thou wilt of thyself be CAST OFF." Mosiah 27:15
"Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, LIFT UP thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the COMMANDMENTS of God from the time which thou receivedst thy first MESSAGE from him. Behold, I AM HE THAT DELIVERED IT unto you." Alma 8:15One might say they are both mercy ... I can see that (that may even reinforce the idea that they are more the same, and we are the difference), although the mercy was not really for Alma the Younger's benefit - it was mercy to Alma the Elder, and at the least a warning of impending justice to the Younger and company - they still had severe repenting to do (see also the Alma 26 verses quoted below). ...
Second example, consider that the same ANGEL and PILLAR (cherub and sword!) both protected the camp of Israel (mercy) and deflected the chariots of Egypt (justice):
Exodus 14:19-20It even makes me wonder if the opposition - the duality - of justice and mercy is some sort of mortal illusion. They were only placed after the Fall, after all:
"19 And the ANGEL of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the PILLAR of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
"20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and DARKNESS to them [Egyptians], but it gave LIGHT by night to these [Israel]: so that the one came not near the other all the night."
Genesis 3:24Not only were they only placed after the Fall, if justice and mercy are opposing names of the same principle (God is perfect, just, and merciful (Alma 42:15) so they cannot be mutually exclusive), it might explain how their effect on us (thanks to our dear Redeemer - this statement and everything would be impossible without Him!) depends on our state (with the Savior). Either we become a saint/penitent/gold/without spot, and claimed by mercy, or we remain natural man/enemy/dross/spotted, and cast off by justice:
"24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden CHERUBIMS, and a FLAMING SWORD which turned every way, to keep the WAY of the tree of life."
Alma 42:24 "For behold, JUSTICE exerciseth all his demands, and also MERCY claimeth all which is her own; and thus, none but the truly PENITENT are saved."Regardless of similarity or difference, in the scriptures, we often read of the "sword of justice" and the "arm of mercy" (never "the sword of mercy," I mean (saving the "bowels of mercy" for another day!)). Here are just a couple of each (2 for sword of justice, 2 for arm of mercy) out of many examples, because the idea pertains to my point:
Alma 22:6 "And also, what is this that Ammon said—If ye will REPENT ye shall be SAVED, and if ye will not repent, ye shall be CAST OFF at the last day?"
Alma 26:19-21(Interjecting to say I especially love this passage, because there is a lot of tree of life vision imagery going on here (gulf, sword, etc.). In fact, (at risk of stating the obvious,) aspects of the vision are hidden in plain sight throughout the Book of Mormon...)
"19 Oh then, why did he not consign us to an awful destruction, yea, why did he not let the SWORD OF HIS JUSTICE fall upon us, and doom us to eternal despair?
"20 Oh, my soul, almost as it were, fleeth at the thought. Behold, he did not exercise his JUSTICE upon us, but in his great MERCY hath brought us over that everlasting GULF of death and misery, even to the SALVATION of our souls.
"21 And now behold, my brethren, what NATURAL MAN is there that knoweth these things? I say unto you, there is none that knoweth these things, save it be the PENITENT."
3 Nephi 29:4 "And when ye shall see these sayings coming forth among you, then ye need not any longer spurn at the doings of the Lord, for the SWORD OF HIS JUSTICE is in his RIGHT HAND; and behold, at that day, if ye shall spurn at his doings he will cause that it shall soon overtake you."(Me again - just to point out here that justice is (at least sometimes) associated with the right hand! - I had been thinking solely right vs. left - which also has a ring to it and important symbology (nods to Gileadi) - until I came across this scripture - just more food for thought...)
Mosiah 29:20 "...and thus doth the Lord work with his power in all cases among the children of men, extending the ARM OF MERCY towards them that put their TRUST in him."
Jacob 6:5 "...And while his ARM OF MERCY is extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your hearts."Ok - so all that is really intro for this next bit. ...
While I was studying the doctrine of Christ last year, the following scripture rang in my ears like a bell:
2 Nephi 31:21I got thinking that if there is ONLY ONE WAY, that Nephi may be describing through the doctrine of Christ in 2 Nephi 31 the same WAY that guards the tree of life! (See the Genesis scripture above). So I started putting things together. I went back to Lehi's vision, thinking if this impression was correct, then this tree of life vision should also correspond to Genesis and 2 Nephi 31 (I realize it is also in the temple endowment ceremony, but I am not directly addressing that here, except to say it is the same WAY, because there is ONLY ONE); I further thought I should be able to find the cherubim and flaming sword in Lehi's vision, and I wanted to see if they were there in a connection to justice and mercy, as well. ... I was not disappointed:
"And now, behold, my beloved brethren, THIS IS THE WAY; and there is NONE OTHER WAY nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen."
1 Nephi 12:18 "And the large and spacious building, which thy father saw, is vain imaginations and the pride of the children of men. And a great and a terrible GULF divideth them; yea, even the [S]WORD OF THE JUSTICE of the Eternal God, AND THE MESSIAH who is the Lamb of God, of whom the Holy Ghost beareth record, from the beginning of the world until this time, and from this time henceforth and forever." [side-note: this is a scripture that Skousen has pointed out a typo - comparing the original manuscript (sword) to the printer's manuscript (word) - but both work for this demonstration!]So I easily found justice - and there are even terms like "flaming" that exactly match the flaming sword, but where was the cherubim/mercy?? It dawned on me as it may have you ... the iron rod! (Btw, does not the ascending brightness of flaming fire also remind you of a "pillar of fire/light" - Moses, Lehi, Joseph Smith, etc.? ... more similarities in this justice/mercy dichotomy.)
1 Nephi 15:30 "And I said unto them that our father also saw that the JUSTICE OF GOD did also divide the wicked from the righteous; and the brightness thereof was like unto the brightness of a FLAMING FIRE, which ASCENDETH UP UNTO GOD forever and ever, and hath no end."
Back to Lehi. There are only two verses that specifically mention "mercy" in our record of Lehi's vision:
1 Nephi 8:8-9Lehi prays for mercy, and he can SEE (discussed in part 1). The extension of mercy (light/truth/Spirit/etc.) in answer to his prayer deflects the darkness. There are also a multitude (like a host - Lord of Hosts?), which is interesting with the idea that Christ sends ministering servants (angels and mortals) also discussed in Part 1. Here's another scripture that took on additional meaning for me:
"8 And after I had traveled for the space of many hours in darkness, I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have MERCY on me, according to the MULTITUDE of his TENDER MERCIES.
"9 And it came to pass after I had prayed unto the Lord I BEHELD a large and spacious field."
Doctrine & Covenants 1:38His servants are not just His mortal servants, but also His authorized representative angels! Also vice versa. His servants are not just His angels, but also His authorized representative mortals! (God may have shattered some triangles for me here.) :)
"What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my WORD shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my SERVANTS, it is the same."
The second "mercy" scripture from Lehi (technically after his vision) is the following. To me it is a perfect match to the iron rod and mercy/justice keywords:
1 Nephi 8:37So, I guess I am leaving the conclusions somewhat open.
"And he did exhort them [Laman & Lemuel] then with all the feeling of a tender parent, that they would hearken to his WORDS, that perhaps the Lord would be MERCIFUL to them, and not CAST THEM OFF; yea, my father did preach unto them."
For fun, where do you think "justice, love, and mercy meet in harmony divine?"
See also 2 Nephi 1:15.
A couple more comments:
Comment 1:
An interesting connection is the idea of being an "instrument" in the hands of God, which has long been a desire of my heart. I think now, that this idea coincides with this symbology - we become instruments of spiritual warfare - iron rods or swords of the Spirit (as we are in alignment with the Spirit) in the hand of God. I used to think more in the musical instrument capacity ... I think that can still be a part of it, too. :) ...
This imagery goes right along with the command to make straight the paths of the Lord. I used to wonder at that. Is not His path straight? Not because He isn't straight ... but because He gives us the privilege of being extensions of mercy from Him to strengthen feeble knees, to be His emissaries, His servants, etc. WE need to continue to "straighten up" to continue our ascent and to increase our privilege of laboring in His vineyard - helping with His work.
Comment 2:
There are actually many synonymous, symbolic references to the iron rod/word of God. So far, I have found scriptures (often more than one - these references are just examples) that seem to link the iron rod/word of God to the Spirit and a sword (Ephesians 6:17), an arm (D&C 3:8), mercy (Mosiah 16:12), light and truth (D&C 84:45), favor (1 Nephi 17:35), atonement (D&C 29:1), grace (2 Nephi 10:24), preachings/prophesyings (Omni 1:13), an instrument in God's hands (Mosiah 27:35-36), promises (Alma 17:15), nourishment (Jacob 5:47), wisdom (2 Nephi 2:12), power (Omni 1:13), guide (Mosiah 2:36), virtue (Alma 31:5), testimony (Alma 7:20), tongue of angels (2 Nephi 31:13-14), discernment (Hebrews 4:12), and there are more I'm leaving out, and I'm sure more I haven't discovered yet ...
Comment 3:
If this imagery is also the same as Jacob's Ladder ... we can see the covenant path as a sort of ladder ascending upward, with the angels (flaming tongues?) descending and ascending on their ministries/missions, and messages/reports thereof. I like to picture it in my mind as a spiral staircase (double helix). I like the spiral idea, because not only does it coincide with the idea of cyclic rebirthing closer to the Savior, but it matches the flaming sword "which turned every way" - that could be a spiral sort of pattern - maybe?
"An experience from the life of Jacob, an Old Testament prophet, illustrates the importance of covenants. As a young man, Jacob was sent to a distant city by his father with a specific assignment. He camped during his journey. One night, he experienced a vision. He saw the Lord, and communicated with Him. The Lord made specific promises to Jacob regarding himself and his posterity. After the vision, Jacob set up a stone as a memorial for what he had experienced there. He named the place Bethel, which means “the house of God.” In connection with this sacred event, he also made a promise to God that he would be faithful in observing a specific commandment (see Genesis 28).
"President Marion G. Romney (1897-1988) related the following about Jacob’s experience: “When Jacob traveled from Beersheba toward Haran, he had a dream in which he saw himself on the earth at the foot of a ladder that reached to heaven where the Lord stood above it. He beheld angels ascending and descending thereon, and Jacob realized that the covenants he made with the Lord there were the rungs on the ladder that he himself would have to climb in order to obtain the promised blessings—blessings that would entitle him to enter heaven and associate with the Lord.” (Temples—The Gates to Heaven, Ensign, Mar. 1971) Just as Jacob had to climb each step of the ladder to ascend to heaven, so we must receive and obey the ordinances and covenants of the temple to return to God’s presence and become like Him."
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