Throughout the Bible, indeed from the very beginning through the end, laboring in birth is a concept that YeHoVaH uses to describe intense suffering, transition, and even a curse.

In Genesis 3:16, we read:

To the woman He said, “I will greatly increase your pain from conception to labor. In pain will you give birth to children…”

This is a reality we are well acquainted with in our physical existence. Pregnancy and labor are amongst the most difficult events of the human experience — mostly for mothers, but surely the struggle is felt by all family members at times.

And, yet, even in the midst of a corrupt and fallen world, this experience of bringing forth children through suffering remains one of the most, if not the most, revered and treasured of the human experience. It is filled with pain, change, and even heartbreak in some cases. Yet, people remain willing to traverse this path for the sake of the fruit it brings forth. For generations, we have deemed the cost of pregnancy and labor worthy of the prize!

The undeniable joy of bringing forth life into this world is something we all rejoice in — believer or not! I believe this is why YeHoVaH, in all His wisdom, chose this as a consequence for humanity’s fall in the garden.

In John 16:21, we read:

“When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her hour has come. But when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of the joy that a human being has been born into the world.”

There is a great prize on the horizon. And, just as a child is born into the world, it will be brought forth through great suffering and sacrifice. Indeed, the suffering and sacrifice itself has been placed on the shoulders of the King himself who is coming to take back the dominion of Creation that was handed over to the serpent in the garden.

And, rightly so, we who will receive salvation from this King will partake in some of that suffering and sacrifice. The history of humanity can be paralleled to a (really) long pregnancy. The growth, transition, and discomfort universally felt by man is not without purpose. We need not struggle in vain!

When we accept the gift of salvation in Yeshua, we receive the promise of our sorrow being turned to joy.

You see, the curse Eve and her progeny received of bringing forth children in pain was really a blessing in disguise. It was the love story of humanity and their Creator wrapped up into an experience that every human on earth could understand. The Father’s plan of redemption was set into action that very day, and it would bring forth The Son who would take on the curse in our place.

As the birth pangs intensify, we remind you that soon it will all be worth it. I know that Yeshua’s words will ring true: that all of our sorrow will be forgotten the moment we hold the fulfillment of the promise in our hands.

So, hold on. Breathe. Your redemption draws nigh.