Isaiah prophesied about the suffering of the atonement
and says that, among other pains, it would be like the pain (and joy) of
childbirth. The scriptures use the word ‘travail’ to describe the painful
process of birth. Isaiah said, “He shall
see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11). The travail of Christ’s soul was
the suffering of the atonement, which was necessary so that our hearts could be
changed and we could be “born of him and … become his sons and his daughters”
(Mosiah 5:7).
The Lord revealed to Isaiah that he was like a mother,
but even more compassionate and thoughtful – “Can a woman forget her
sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea,
they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” (Isaiah 49:15). If Christ compares himself to a mother and each
of us to his child, then he implies that he experienced the painful process of
the atonement to birth us as “new creatures”, “born of God, changed from [our]
carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness”, and “unless [we] do this, [we] can
in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.” (Mosiah 27:25-26).
Of all the symbols and types of Christ’s suffering, the
type of a mother in labor is to me the most meaningful because it shows how
personal, intimate and loving Christ’s work of the atonement was and is. Like a
pregnant woman before giving birth to her first child, Christ didn’t know the
extent of the pain that he would have to endure. Like a soon-to-be mother, he
had an idea of the pain involved and was willing to suffer it “because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.” (1 Nephi 19:9).
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