As Lehi prayed fervently for Jerusalem and for his family, there came a pillar of fire. This opened his eyes to a vision of the Heavenly Counsel, where he was given a book.
The pillar of fire was an important symbol. In the exodus of Israel, they were led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The scriptural record stated that this pillar came and dwelt upon a rock. There was a rock that was especially important in Lehi’s neighborhood: the rock the temple was built on. The pillar of fire was a manifestation of the glorious presence of God coming down. Wickedness could not abide the presence of the power of righteousness. And here, the pillar of fire came down and dwelt upon the temple. The people of Jerusalem believed that nothing could happen to their temple. What would Lehi go out and prophecy would happen? He prophesied that the temple, the Temple of Solomon, would not survive for more than a few years.
At the end of his vision, "[Lehi did] quake and trembled exceedingly," such was his experience with the Spirit.
The pillar of fire must signify something. Where else in scripture do we see a pillar of fire? Moses saw a burning or fiery bush. Jehovah’s presence led the children of Israel in a pillar of fire by night. In Lehi’s vision, the Lord may have been saying with the symbol of fire, "Lehi, like Moses, you have prayed, you are pleading for your people, but it is too late." Indeed, the pillar of fire that Lehi now saw coming down upon "the rock" may now have come to symbolize the consuming power of divine holocaust settling upon the temple, built in Jerusalem upon the primordial rock on the temple mount. Lehi was overwhelmed, but the Lord assured him, "I am with you. Follow me in the pillar of fire out into the wilderness just as Moses did."
Lehi went back to his house and cast himself down onto the bed, being overcome with the spirit and the things which he had seen. And while he was overcome, he received a second vision. And this is when he says he saw the heavens open and "God sitting upon his throne surrounded with numberless concourses of angels in the attitude of singing and praising their God" (1 Nephi 1:8). This is called a throne theophany. In such a vision, the prophet was admitted into the heavenly council. The purpose of the divine counsel is usually to dispense the judgment of God, and accordingly Lehi was then shown a book. And what does he read on that book or scroll? He reads the fate of Jerusalem: "Woe, woe unto Jerusalem for I have seen thine abominations!"
Is there a pattern here that you have seen in the scriptures where a prophet has a vision, rests, and then the vision continues, turning into something even greater? Joseph Smith and Moroni come to mind. Moroni came back again and again and said the same thing over and over. Similarly, Moses had a significant spiritual manifestation in which he saw and heard much, and then, it took him several hours before he regained his strength and said, "For this reason, I know that man is nothing" (Moses 1:10). Then he experienced another divine vision. He saw this extraordinary vision where he saw the entire earth, and there was not a particle of it which he did not behold. In these monumental visions, we see that Lehi was part of a great tradition of seers who were called to the work and speak in the name of the Lord.
Lehi was not alone in experiencing exhaustion following a great spiritual experience. Joseph found himself on his back in the grove after the First Vision. He also fell by the fence after his visit from Moroni. A significant spiritual experience exhausts you. After Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had the vision that is recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 76, Sidney was utterly exhausted. Smith instructed Rigdon that this is how a great out-pouring of the Spirit hits you at first.