Epilogue
From that time on, I, Adam, spent my time working the land,[1] as I had done in the Garden of Eden. The work was harder. The land was less fertile. The toil was burdensome as the Lord was no longer walking with me, and I mourned over my transgression. Eve and I were no longer joyful. So this was our punishment and our death, even as the Lord God had spoken to us.
We then understood that this world
was prepared beforehand for our sin.
The plans of God are unchangeable from everlasting.[2]
Before Man ever walked upon the earth,
God fashioned a world of both pleasure and pain,
beauty and ugliness, light and darkness, order and disorder.
All this was for our learning; set before us was life and death.[3]
We could follow the way of life and light and liberty,
or descend the path of death and darkness and drudgery.
The animals also were set before our eyes
as a lesson of ignorance and the folly of selfishness.
Such was the way of those forever separated from God.
Those who follow their own desires become as the brute beasts.
The majesty of the heavens, the mountains, the lightning,
the sun, the moon, the stars
were set there to display the glory of God[4]
and to turn our hearts to seek after Him.
Those who seek Him will be raised up to honor and immortality.[5]
was prepared beforehand for our sin.
The plans of God are unchangeable from everlasting.[2]
Before Man ever walked upon the earth,
God fashioned a world of both pleasure and pain,
beauty and ugliness, light and darkness, order and disorder.
All this was for our learning; set before us was life and death.[3]
We could follow the way of life and light and liberty,
or descend the path of death and darkness and drudgery.
The animals also were set before our eyes
as a lesson of ignorance and the folly of selfishness.
Such was the way of those forever separated from God.
Those who follow their own desires become as the brute beasts.
The majesty of the heavens, the mountains, the lightning,
the sun, the moon, the stars
were set there to display the glory of God[4]
and to turn our hearts to seek after Him.
Those who seek Him will be raised up to honor and immortality.[5]
It became
rare to see the Lord God from that time on, which became more painful than
anything else. Yet, in time, as I called upon the Lord and sought Him, He did
fulfill His promise to walk[6]
with me according to my faith. My spirit was somehow alive again![7]
Even when He was not visible, I felt His presence with me. I talked with Him
daily, and this time I knew Him with a new love. It was a love born of
forgiveness.[8]
The Lord had
somehow given me an understanding (and Eve also) that He would someday bring
forth a Child to redeem us from our fallen, sinful, and ruined condition. This
faith in a Redeemer, and the knowledge of God’s perfect forgiveness of our
sins, brought new hope and peace and even joy to rest sweetly upon our souls. One
day a Mighty Redeemer would come, and though our flesh would die and perish
like any beast of the field, our bodies would be raised up from the ground,[9]
and so we would forever live with our Lord. Then a new world of perfection
would be made, wherein there would be no death, sorrow, or pain.[10]
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