In the Book of Mormon Lehi has a dream of the tree of life. He talks of the Tree, the Fruit (which is precious, exceedingly white and makes one happy…that is a discussion for another day) and the rod of iron that leads to the tree.
What does the iron rod represent?
Let’s talk about the WORD of GOD. What do you think of when you hear that?
I think of the scriptures, words of the modern day prophets and promptings of the Spirit. After all, is that not the word of God or the words of Christ?
2 Nephi 32:3
Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.
Also, Christ himself is referred to as the WORD in John 1:1 and 1:14.
vs. 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
vs. 14: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
JST also gives us clarification that the WORD or the gospel was WITH Christ.
JST vs 1 In the beginning was the gospel preached through the Son. And the gospel was the word, and the word was with the Son, and the Son was with God, and the Son was of God.
Now that we have established what the WORD is, let’s look at some scriptures to discover why this WORD is so powerful. What can it do?
As I look at this list, I can't think of many things I feel I want and need in this life that can't come from the word. Look at the list again. Which of of these blessings do you desire now? This variety of changes and blessings that can come from the word teach me more about who Christ is (also known as the word) and what He wants to provide us with.
God tells us to seek the word, treasure up the word, give heed to the word, feast upon the word, believe the word, declare the word. In this post we discussed what the word is and what it can do (a few of the WHYs about the word).
In the next post we will look at the HOW...how can I get this "word" to activate these blessings in my life. What do the scriptures say about that?