“Among All the Workmanship of Mine Hands There Has Not Been So Great Wickedness”

This morning, I was thinking about what scripture teaches about the world we live on. The first scripture that came to mind (while shaving) is found in Moses 7:36. I’ve been interested in the Savior’s teachings about this earth when He compared it to His other creations. The Savior answering Enoch’s question when Enoch wondered how a God can weep, said: 

“Behold, I am God; Man of Holiness is my name; Man of Counsel is my name; and Endless and Eternal is my name, also.

Wherefore, I can stretch forth mine hands and hold all the creations which I have made; and mine eye can pierce them also, and among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren.” Pearl of Great Price | Moses 7:35 – 36

This verse is telling. We know from scripture that the “workmanship of mine hands” includes worlds inhabited by sons and daughters of God, “and innumerable are they unto man.” Out of all the Lord’s creations, our world in Enoch’s day, was described by the Savior as the most wicked among all creation (Enoch lived prior to the flood, the great-grandfather of Noah).

Does this mean that there is something about this world that is different from other worlds? Or was there something about the people in Enoch’s day that was different? Fortunately, there are other scriptures that provide insight into these questions. The prophet Joseph Smith learned that the Savior had to descend below all things in order to accomplish the atonement.

“He that ascended up on high, as also he descended below all things, in that he comprehended all things, that he might be in all and through all things, the light of truth…” (D&C 88:6).

In order to comprehend all things the Savior experienced all things through suffering all the different kinds of pain mankind is subject to. This includes the pain we experience in our body, mind, and heart.

Brigham Young describing this world taught:

“We are inhabitants of a world of sin and sorrow; pain and anguish, every ill that can be heaped upon intelligent beings in a probation we are heirs to. I suppose that God never organized an earth and peopled it that was ever reduced to a lower state of darkness, sin and ignorance than this. I suppose this is one of the lowest kingdoms that ever the Lord Almighty created, and on that account is capable of becoming exalted to be one of the highest kingdoms that has ever had an exaltation in all the eternities. In proportion as it has been reduced so it will be exalted, with that portion of its inhabitants who in their humiliation have cleaved to righteousness and acknowledged God in all things. In proportion as it has been reduced so it will be exalted, with that portion of its inhabitants who in their humiliation have cleaved to righteousness and acknowledged God in all things. In proportion to our fall through sin, so shall we be exalted in the presence of our Father and God, through Jesus Christ and by living the righteousness of his Gospel. All this the people will understand in due time through their faithfulness, and learn to rejoice even in the midst of afflictions.” Brigham Young, May 1863, JD 10:175

It was necessary that the Savior of the world descend below all things so he could ascend above all things, and this earth is the place He accomplished it. We know the Savior was without sin, He lived a perfect life (Hebrews 4:15, D&C 45:4) and He did it all on this earth.

This earth appears to be the least of His creations in the sense of the degree sin, pain, and suffering that can be experienced here. That is why the Savior came here, to descend below all things because this earth is the most “fallen” earth out of all the earth’s the Lord created, and therefore accordingly will be the most “exalted” some day?

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