What was the Great and Terrible Gulf in Lehi’s Dream?

This article was originally posted by Book of Mormon Central and shared by Meridian Magazine. The following is an excerpt. 

The Know

Lehi’s dream is famous. Its imagery influenced almost all Book of Mormon writers, and it continues to teach people today many vivid lessons about righteous living.

In his vision, Lehi saw a river that separated the tree of life from a great and spacious building (1 Nephi 8:26). He also saw that many people “were drowned in the depths of the fountain” as they felt their way through the mists of darkness aiming to get into that “strange building” (1 Nephi 8:31–33).

As his father’s dream was unfolded to Nephi, he also saw that fountain. Nephi said it was filled with “filthy water” and its depths “are the depths of hell” (1 Nephi 12:16). He called this “a great and a terrible gulf,” which he equated with “the word of justice of the Eternal God” that divides the righteous from the wicked (1 Nephi 12:18). As Nephi explained this to his brothers, the “awful gulf” was “a representation of that awful hell prepared for the wicked” (1 Nephi 15:26–29).

One way to approach Lehi’s dream is to see it as illuminating the “two ways” doctrine: the narrow way to the tree and the broad ways that lead to destruction. But what’s interesting is that Lehi’s dream gives us a depiction of the no-man’s land that lies between these two ways.

Read the full article at ldsmag.com.