"Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw?" the angel asked.
Nephi replied, "Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men."
As Nephi's vision continued, he saw the Son of God going forth among the children of men in love and power, and Nephi again declared, "I . . . beheld that the tree of life was a representation of the love of God," the images of Christ and the tree being inextricably linked.
The echo to the modern reader through all of this is, of course, John's apostolic declaration of the greatness of the Father's gift in offering the life of his Firstborn child to redeem the rest of the human family: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. . . ."The life, mission, and atonement of Christ are the ultimate manifestations of the Tree of Life, the fruit of the gospel, the love of God, which "sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men."
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:
Types and Shadows: All Things Are the Typifying of Christ
Christ and the New Covenant
Types and Shadows: All Things Are the Typifying of Christ
Christ and the New Covenant
