Nephi had asked to do two things, to see what his father saw, and to understand the meaning of it.
The angel proceeds to provide the answer to both requests simultaneously. Nephi begins to be carefully walked through the vision, but the meaning is inextricably woven into the vision itself. Rather than symbol only, Nephi sees precisely how Christ is the meaning of the dream, and the symbols are explicated by their relevance to the life and mission of the Savior.
Verse 25 sets the stage of the vision again, after the important introductory vision of the birth and beginning of the ministry of Christ. In this verse we have the function of the iron rod made explicit. The rod was clearly a guide, and now that guide is clearly introduced as the word of God, and by implication, the words of Christ during his ministry, and Christ is the embodiment of the love of God, and that love extends to the words by which we should lived.