While many have blamed and condemned Adam for the fall, the Mormons, through the light of revelation, have gained the highest respect for him. He is the Grand Patriarch who bore the burden of progeny for a thousand years. The Prophet Joseph Smith described him as “The Ancient of Days” and “Michael,” who “held the First Presidency,” who obtained the priesthood keys in the creation;” and those “keys are revealed by him” because he “has dominion over every living creature,” and “presides over the spirits of all men.” (TPJS p. 157) He also was the “first to know gospel ordinances,” and the “first to hold spiritual blessings.” He “holds the keys of all dispensations.” But most astounding is that “Christ is revealed through the authority of Adam.” (TPJS p. 167)

Adam’s mission was to perform the requirements of breaking a law to provide the earth life of all his children. Men were first spirits—children born in the heavens who basked in the glory of their Eternal Father. After the fall those children were given a tabernacle body which surrounds the temple of their spirit, at which time the veil of immortality and spirituality were severed. Because men are estranged from God by sin, they are trapped in the mire of mortality and now grope in the bondage of darkness. However, the seeds of immortality still strive within them. The burden of the physical does not wholly extinguish that spark of spiritual light that echoes of a life and glory he once knew.