Getting to Know Adam

Day sixty

I have a better attitude this morning, it's amazing what sleep can do for you!  I was up early this morning and off to the 6:30am seminary in-service meeting.  My prayer this morning focused on gratitude for a better attitude and for a chance to serve the seminary staff.  My requests were that the Spirit would be at our meeting, that I would share the things the Lord wanted them to hear, and that I would be able to accomplish those things which were important today and let go of those things that were less important.

To start my study of the Old Testament I thought it would be interesting to learn more about Adam.  My study of the Pearl of Great Price had given me some insights, but I wanted to know more.  I used the scriptures, Bible Dictionary, Church Manuals, and a talk by Robert L. Millet titled, The Man Adam, as the main sources for my information.

Adam and the Plan of Salvation
Adam was involved in the Creation, the Fall, and will be involved in the ultimate redemption of God's children. His ministry stretches from premortality to the future resurrection, judgment, and beyond.

Premortal Life
Adam is Michael the archangel, who led the forces of God in the War in Heaven.  Michael literally means one "who is like God". (2 Ne 24:12; D&C 76:25-27; JST, Rev 12:6-8)

Michael stood with Jehovah in defense of the plan of the Father, in opposition to the plan of Lucifer.

None of all our Father's children equalled him in intelligence and might, save Jesus only. (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 2d ed. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966), p. 16.)

Michael was directly involved in the preparation of the physical world.  Christ, under the direction of the Father, is the Creator; Michael, his companion and associate, presided over much of the creative work..."
(“Eve and the Fall,” in Spencer W. Kimball et al, Woman (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979), p. 59.)

"The Priesthood was first given to Adam; he obtained the First Presidency, and held the keys of it from generation to generation.  He obtained it in the Creation, before the world was formed, as in Gen 1:26-28"  Prophet Joseph Smith (Teachings, p. 157; emphasis added.)

Mortal Life
Why was Adam chosen to be the first man?
Adam's name means "man" or "man-kind" and his position as the "first of all men" (Moses 1:34) suggests the eminence of his premortal status.  By his diligence and obedience there he attained a stature and power second only to Christ. (Robert Millet article)

What do we know about what Adam did on earth?
Adam had a pure and perfect language that was both written and spoken (Moses 6:5-6)
He was taught the gospel of Jesus Christ (Moses 6:51-63)
He was baptized in water and received the Holy Ghost (Moses 6:64-68)
He was visited personally by the Lord (D&C 107:55-56)
He was made "lord and governor of all things on earth" (Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985), 2:12.)
The Fall -"He partook of the fruit for one good reason, and that was to open the door to bring you and me and everyone else into this world." (In Conference Report, Oct. 1967, p. 121.)
He was earth's first Christian.  He was the Lord's prophet-leader (Millet, The Man Adam)
He was married to Eve (See History of the Church, 2:320; Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 118.)
He taught the gospel to his children and mourned over the choices of his loved ones (Moses 5:13, 18, 27-28)
He ceased not to call on God (Moses 5:16)
Three years before he died he gathered his posterity and blessed them with patriarchal blessings. (Teachings, pp. 158–59; see also D&C 107:53-57)
He died around 930 years old. (Moses 6:12)

After Death
Adam still has his priesthood. Adam holds the keys of the dispensation of the fullness of times; i.e., the dispensation of all the times have been and will be revealed through him from the beginning to Christ, and from Christ to the end of the dispensations that are to be revealed. (Teachings, pp. 167–68)

At death Adam entered the postmortal world of spirits and became a part of that abode of the righteous known as paradise. (See 2 Nephi 9:13; Alma 40:12; Moroni 10:34)

There he ministered and labored among his faithful descendants for some three thousand years (Millet, The Man Adam)

“Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil about the body of Moses..." (Jude 1:9)  (This passage appears to be a reference to a rather obscure pseudepigraphic work known as the Assumption of Moses. We know that the man Moses was translated. It appears that Satan, as one who has broad power in the material world, sought Moses’ death in order to gain control over his body, so that Moses “would not have a tangible body in which to come—along with Elijah, who also was taken up without tasting death—to confer the keys of the priesthood upon Peter, James, and John” on the Mount of Transfiguration) ( Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1965–73), 3:422–23.)

Michael, on the banks of the Susquehanna River, detected “the devil when he appeared as an angel of light.” (D&C 128:20)

Adam at Gethsemane? “And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.” (Luke 22:42-43) An angel sent from the courts of glory. An angel sent to assist, to support, to sustain the sinless Son of Man in the depths of his greatest agony. “The angelic ministrant is not named,” Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote. “If we might indulge in speculation, we would suggest that the angel who came into this second Eden was the same person who dwelt in the first Eden. At least Adam, who is Michael, the archangel—the head of the whole heavenly hierarchy of angelic ministrants—seems the logical one to give aid and comfort to his Lord on such a solemn occasion. Adam fell, and Christ redeemed men from the fall; theirs was a joint enterprise, both parts of which were essential for the salvation of the Father’s children." (Larry E. Dahl, “Adam’s Role from the Fall to the End—and Beyond,” in The Man Adam, ed. Joseph F. McConkie and Robert L. Millet (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1990), p. 121.)

In the Future
Adam will attend the meeting at Adam-ondi-Ahman in preparation for the Millennial Reign (D&C 116).  There Adam delivers up his stewardship to Christ, that which was delivered to him as holding the keys of the universe, but retains his standing as head of the human family.” (Teachings, p. 157.)

"Before the earth shall pass away, Michael, mine archangel, shall sound his trump, and then shall all the dead awake, for their graves shall be opened, and they shall come forth.” (D&C 29:26).

At the final battle, at the end of the Millennium, Michael shall fight the battle, and shall overcome him who seeketh the throne (Satan). (D&C 88:114-116)

Michael's final victory is in preparation for the celestialization of the earth. (Millet, The Man Adam)

It took some time to gather and read all the information I could find on Adam, but I'm really glad I did it.  I learned some things and gained a better understanding of some of the things I already knew. After all this, I can't wait to meet Adam some day and thank him for all he's done.  What a great servant of the Lord!