When Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit, not
only were they cut off or fell from the presence of the Lord, but their natures
as well as all living things upon the earth also became “fallen.” In addition,
Adam and Eve — and their posterity — were to suffer more consequences.
To Eve the Lord said, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy desire
shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” To Adam, the Lord said,
“… cursed shall be the ground for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all
the days of thy life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee,
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. By the sweat of thy face shall thou
eat bread, until thou shalt return unto the ground, for thou shalt surely die
…” [Moses 4:22-23].
Jesus Christ was foreordained to remedy the effects of
the Fall and to bring mankind back into the presence of the Lord. He likewise
had to suffer the effects of the Fall. As we look at each “curse” in relation
to mankind and Jesus Christ, we can more fully understand the aspects of His
atoning sacrifice.
Thorns and Thistles
The curse of thorns and thistles is obvious to mankind.
But as many physical things can teach us spiritual truths, we should also look
at this curse with spiritual eyes. In his epistle to the Hebrews, Paul stated,
“But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto
cursing; whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better
things of you …”[Hebrews 6:8-9].
In Isaiah 10:17 we read, “And the light of Israel shall
be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his
thorns and his briers in one day.”
In these verses, thorns and
briars refer to wickedness, not plants. On a spiritual level, we can see the
effects of the fall in ourselves as the brother of Jared so succinctly said, “…
because of the fall, our natures have become evil continually” [Ether 3:2] —
and as King Benjamin stated, “an enemy to God” [Mosiah 3:19]. Instead of
naturally “bearing the good fruits” of kindness, patience, forgiveness, and so
on, our natural tendencies are “thorns and briars” of pride, selfishness, envy,
and other forms of wickedness that if left unchecked, will crowd out the spiritual
good fruit.
When we come to a realization of our carnal or fallen
nature, we can plead as King Benjamin’s people for the application of the
atoning blood of Christ [Mosiah 4:2] and pray that we can have “this wicked
spirit rooted out of our breast” [Alma 22:15] — not only to receive a remission
of our sins, but to become “born again” and become new creatures in Christ [2
Corinthians 5:17]. It is only through the atonement of Jesus Christ that the
natural man can be overcome. Not only did Christ pay for the “briars and
thorns” of our fallen nature in Gethsemane, He was also “wounded for our
transgressions” [Isaiah 53:5] with a literal crown of thorns and pierced to the
cross with “thorns” of iron. He bore the symbols of the Fall that He has paid
the price for.
Sweat of Brow We Earn Our
Bread
Adam was told that by the sweat of his face, he would eat
his daily bread. We know that for most of us, long hours and hard work are
required to make a living. On a spiritual level, since we are cut off from the
presence of the Lord, it requires hard work to earn our spiritual bread. In the
scriptures we read of those who “wrestled in mighty prayer before the Lord’
[Enos 1:2], who fasted and prayed many days to know certain truths [Alma 5:46].
The scriptures clearly indicate that we must nourish our faith with great
diligence and good works. Jesus Christ
offers us “living bread” if we will come unto Him, for He is the Bread of Life
[See John 6:33].
Christ’s work to bring to pass the immortality and
eternal life of man [Moses 1:39] also required intense labor. He has declared
that He has “suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.”
[3 Nephi 11:11] We read in Doctrine and Covenants 19:18-19, “Which suffering
caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and
to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit — and would that I
might not drink the bitter cup and shrink — nevertheless, glory be to the
Father, and I partook and finished my preparations unto the children of men.”
Christ “sweat as it were great drops of blood” [Luke 22:55] as He bore the sins
of mankind, another symbol of this curse of the Fall.
Sorrow in Bringing Forth
Children
The Lord told Eve, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow
and thy conception. In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children.” Because of
their fallen nature, children do not always grow up obedient, full of patience
and willing to serve one another. Parents often experience much sorrow in
child- rearing.
Jesus Christ, in order for mankind to become His
spiritually begotten sons and daughters, also experienced great sorrow in the
conception and bringing forth of His children. In Matthew 26:36-38 we read,
“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane … and began to be
sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, ‘My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death.’” Abinadi testified, “… that when his soul has been
made a offering for sin, he shall see his seed … for these are they whose sins
he has borne; these are they for whom he has died, to redeem them from their
transgressions. And now, are they not his seed?” [Mosiah 15:10 & 12] Isaiah said, “He shall see the travail
of his soul, and be satisfied” [Isaiah 53:11, emphasis added].
Wives Subject to Husbands
Because Eve yielded unto temptation in the Garden, she
was told, “And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over
thee.” Throughout the ages, women have been oppressed and mistreated because of
unrighteous dominion. However, Jesus Christ has instructed His prophets to
teach the people the proper order of marriage. Paul counseled, “Husbands, love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it … So ought
men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself [Ephesians 5:25, 28]. Our latter-day prophets have likewise counseled
husbands to love and respect their wives.
Paul used the analogy of the relationship of Christ to
the church as husbands to wives. In one way, we can view Adam as a type of
Christ and Eve as representative of mankind. It was Eve who succumbed to
temptation and was doomed to the Fall, or spiritual death in being cut off from
the presence of God. Adam had a choice and he partook that “man might be” (2
Nephi 9:25). Likewise Jesus Christ did
not yield to temptation, but “partook that I might finish my preparations unto
the children of men” (D & C 19:19). Eve (or all mankind) in order to be
redeemed from the effects of the “fall,” needed to covenant to yield her will
to her husband, Adam, which is a type of Christ.
The scriptures use the imagery of a marriage covenant
with Christ being the bridegoom and the church as the bride [Revelations 19,
Doctrine & Covenants 33:17, 65:3, 133:19]. Hosea teaches us of this
covenant relationship with the Lord. He also shows that we, the covenant bride,
have played the “harlot” and have gone after other lovers, breaking that
covenant relationship. When we come to a realization that these other lovers do
not bring us happiness, then we shall say, “I will go and return to my first
husband; for then was it better with me than now” [Hosea 2:7].
When we return to Christ, the faithful husband, He then
says that He will “allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak
comfortably unto her.” And He promises, “I will betroth thee unto me forever;
yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in
loving kindness, and in mercies. I will betroth thee unto me in faithfulness;
and thou shalt know the Lord.” [Hosea 2:14, 19 “And it shall be at that day,
saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi (which means husband); and shalt
call me no more Baali (which means master) [vs. 16].”
Death
Adam and Eve were told, “For thou shalt surely die” as a
result from partaking of the forbidden fruit.
Spiritual and physical death was a result of the Fall. Adam and Eve and
all mankind, because of the Fall and our sinful natures, are cut off from the
presence of God — hence the first spiritual death. Jesus Christ suffered
spiritual death when he vicariously became unclean when he took upon himself
the sins of the world. It was the first time he had experienced the separation
from the Father and he exclaimed, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
(Matthew 27:46).
And as “In Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive” (1st Corinthians 15:22), all mankind suffer physical
death. Christ also suffered physical death. He overcame both physical and spiritual
death through the resurrection and the atonement in order to open the way for
each one of us to be resurrected and redeemed from our sinful nature and to be
brought back into the presence of the Father.
In this “fallen” world, mankind was put in a position of
spiritual and physical death. Because Jesus Christ chose to be our Savior, He
took upon Himself the effects of the Fall and overcame them. He took upon Himself our sicknesses, pains,
infirmities, and our sins so that He would know how to truly succor us and blot
out our transgressions according to the power of his deliverance (Alma
7:11-13). Truly “there is no other name given nor any other way nor means
whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the
name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent” [Mosiah 3:17].
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