Nephi continues to have a revelatory experience through the symbols of his father’s dream. Those symbols continue to emphasize the earthly mission of Jehovah. Although modern readers understand that this is Jesus, that isn’t the designation Nephi uses. The importance of this vision for Nephi is that Jehovah has come to earth. Nephi emphasizes his role as the redeemer, something only Jehovah could do.
The angel asks Nephi to behold the condescension of God. The meaning of condescension here is the voluntary descent from a higher rank to interact with those of a lower status. The angel is literally telling Nephi to behold his God, Jehovah, descending to become mortal.
The specifics of the condescension begin with Jesus’s baptism. It is a tight connection to the introduction to this part of the symbolism of the dream. In verse 25, Nephi saw the rod of iron, which led to the fountain of living waters. While the image of living waters is directly associated with Jesus’s atoning mission, that mission is accepted through the waters of baptism. Thus, there is an appropriate echo of the living waters that Nephi saw from his father’s dream and the waters of baptism that demonstrated the atoning mission of the Messiah on earth.
All four of the gospel writers note Jesus’s baptism and the descent of the Holy Ghost as a dove. It is no surprise, therefore, that something that the gospel writers thought so significant is reprised here in language similar to the language they used. It is certainly borrowed from them. Nevertheless, the vision that Nephi saw, and of which he testified, is the same of which Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John later testified.