Divine Pattern – Sun and Moon, Sabbath and the Law

(Thes thoughts came to me during the Sabbath hours)

There are times in life when you become aware that you are operating on a pattern or principles that through exposure and repetition becomes sub conscious. When I was visiting the United States a few years ago, I discovered this when walking down a sidewalk. As I was walking a person was coming in the opposite direction, I moved to the left and he moved to the right and when you are coming from opposite directions this means we both moved into each other. I had this happen several times. The pattern that has been developed in my mind of how traffic moves out of someone’s way is to move to the left. This is because all my life I have been exposed to a traffic system that moves on the left and allows traffic to pass on your right. In the United States, a person is conditioned to move to the right and allow traffic coming the other way to pass on the left. The more driving a person does the more this pattern becomes embedded in the thinking. These patterns become part of us and the repetition of the principle many times can make it something automatic.

When you move into a new home and you place your cups in a certain cupboard. What happens if you decide to move the cups to a different place? If I don’t consciously think about the fact I have moved the cups, I nearly always find myself staring at the place where the cups were stored before. A pattern was developed and I could enjoy life without having to always think carefully where the cups were.

These examples of patterns can have terrible results if we are not careful. I remember the story of a man who had spent some time in the USA and then travelled back to Australia. Although somewhat jetlagged, he hopped on a motor cycle to drive himself home. Having spent a long time in the USA, the pattern in his mind must have begun to change because he turned down the wrong side of a road and was killed by an oncoming car. This tragedy is a painful reminder that patterns incorrectly applied can be fatal.

When it comes to patterns there is nothing more important than the Divine Pattern of life. This pattern is universal and as unchanging as the persons who form this pattern. This divine pattern of life is found in 1 Cor 8:6

1 Cor 8:6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom [source] are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom [channel] are all things, and we by him.

The Bible clearly reveals the Father as the great source of all and that His Son is His express image and received all things from Him. Since the Son has received all things from His Father and is His express image, the only way we can mentally tell them apart is that the Son came from the Father and inherited all things from Him. His inheritance is the secret to preserving the personality and individuality of each. His inheritance also makes clear and distinct the “Of Whom” and “By Whom” sequence of the divine pattern.

The key to this pattern is that the second person is an image and expression of the first.

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power…

Let us carefully note that there is no tension between the source and the channel. The Son does nothing of Himself but is a glorious expression of the Father. Everything we see in the Son has found its source in the Father.

By beholding we are changed and if we behold the Father and Son as revealed in Scripture, this divine pattern of source and channel begins to lay the foundation for all our thinking. After some time of beholding them, everything becomes transformed into this pattern – for everything that has been created was made by Father and Son and therefore their stamp is upon everything created. Notice the following examples

To help clarify how this works let’s look at a different pattern that many people live by called the Yin/Yang principle.

In Chinese philosophy, the concept of yin-y?nyáng), which is often called "yin and yang", is used to describe how seemingly opposite or contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world; and, how they give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang [Emphasis mine]

Notice how this principle places two entities in opposition and yet at the same time they form a oneness. There is a tension between the two forces. Two equal forces that are in tension and form a oneness. Now notice how this pattern is then applied to things in the natural world.

Many natural dualities (such as male and female, light and dark, high and low, hot and cold, water and fire, life and death, and so on) are thought of as physical manifestations of the yin-yang concept. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang

In the Bible concept, the woman (meaning “from man”) is the glory or outshining of the man. (1 Cor 11:7) Yet in the Yin/Yang principle the woman is in tension with the man as a co-equal. The internal relationship is tension rather than expression. Let us look at a western concept of this tension and oneness principle.

Hegel developed a comprehensive philosophical framework, or "system", of Absolute idealism to account in an integrated and developmental way for the relation of mind and nature, the subject and object of knowledge, psychology, the state, history, art, religion, and philosophy. In particular, he developed the concept that mind or spirit manifested itself in a set of contradictions and oppositions that it ultimately integrated and united, without eliminating either pole or reducing one to the other. Examples of such contradictions include those between nature and freedom, and between immanence and transcendence. [Emphasis Mine] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hegel    

Most democratic countries operate their governments based on the principle of opposition in tension with a government that supposedly creates a synthesis or oneness.

Is it difficult to see that this concept of tension revealed in both eastern and western schools of thought is simply a reflection of what Satan desired in the beginning?

 Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Satan desired to be a co-ruler with God, an alter ego in tension with, and yet creating a oneness from that tension. Do you wonder why so many relationships have tension in them? What is the pattern of life that has embedded itself into our thinking that guides many of our relationships?

With these thoughts in mind, it should become evident that a true worship of Father and Son in the spirit of love received from them will bring about a change in the pattern that governs our relationships. Our natural tendency towards tension and opposition will be replaced with each person finding their place in the Divine Pattern and allowing the second person in each relationship to be an expression and glory of the first person without tension. True worship of God and His Son will lead to the unity and harmony found at the time of Pentecost.

As a natural example of how we can learn from this divine pattern I wish to take the example of Sun and Moon that I mentioned earlier and prepare a little Bible study on how divine pattern principles can teach us many things.

The Sun and Moon can represent the Divine Pattern of Father and the Son.

Gen 1:16  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

Joh_14:28  Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

The Moon is the outshining of the light of the Sun. In the sky the Moon is the same size as the Sun and therefore appears equal to the sun when the Moon is full.

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Christ was brought forth from the Father and is the outshining of His brightness.

The moon was to rule the night and all things were placed in the hands of the Son during the great controversy. But when the plan of salvation is complete there will be no more night.

John 5:22  For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:

John 3:35  The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

1Co 15:24,25  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. [Rule by night]

Rev 22:5  And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

The Stars represent the children/angels of God

Job 38:7  When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

With this in mind we see the story of salvation played out in the 6^th seal

The Three Angel's Messages were preached from 1831 onwards. Were the signs in the sky from 1780 and 1833 a prediction of how the world would respond to these messages?

I saw that as the Jews crucified Jesus, so the nominal churches had crucified these messages, and therefore they have no knowledge of the way into the most holy. Early Writings 261

Other things we might note is that we are not able to look directly at the Sun, yet we can look upon the moon. We know that it is not possible to look upon the Father because He dwells in the light which no man can approach unto. 1 Tim 6:16 Also consider the woman clothed in the Sun but has the moon under her feet? Rev 12:1. Is not Christ the only foundation that can be laid for the Christian Church and does not the Son of God appeal to His Father to give us help and strength (light 1 John 1:5) to advance the cause of truth?

My favourite example is that on the night that Jesus prayed in the garden and sweat drops of blood it was a full moon. (DA 685.) At the death of the Cross we see the Son of God revealed in the fullness of glory. In the light of the full Moon we get increased gravitational force through the alignment (not tension) of Sun and moon. I also find comfort in the knowledge that the moon is very close to us even as Christ is close to us and comforts us in this dark night of woe.

There are many other examples we could draw to show ways we can learn from the Divine Pattern in the Sun and the Moon, but the key point I want to stress is that the moon is an expression of the Sun as opposed to the moon being in tension with the Sun and used by Satan to advance his philosophy of life.

Satan perverts the symbol of Sun, Moon and stars even as he perverted the symbols of bread and the cup after the cross.

Deu 4:19  And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

When we lose our knowledge of the Divine Pattern, all relationships at all levels are altered into a process of oneness through tension or even oneness through merging two into one. It can even be revealed in a process of elevating the second person/power at the expense of the first.

Take for instance the question of Lunar Sabbaths. The observance of the Seventh day Sabbath relies upon an observation of Sun every seven days. Lunar Sabbaths depend upon the movements of the moon. If we see a principle occurring where someone wishes to observe Lunar Sabbaths at the expense of the Seventh day Sabbath, we are witnessing a violation of the Divine Pattern. The observance of something connected to the moon should never eclipse (excuse the pun!) the Sabbath connected to movement of the Sun.

Another important principle that we see connected to the moon is that the Sun does not change yet while the moon itself does not change it does go through Phases. So also we see that the Father never changes his expression and yet we see the Son of God has phases that are emphasised. We see Christ in the Old Testament as the Angel of His presence and then in His incarnation as teacher, prophet and then sacrifice. Then we see Him in heaven as Priest and then Judge. Finally we see Him as King when He returns to earth. All the same person, yet there are different phases.

With these thoughts in mind let us consider how this Divine Pattern plays out in relation to the law. We know that the Ten Commandments are the “Father’s commandments.” (John 15:10.) We also know that the law of Moses was an expression of the Ten Commandments in its various regulations and Judgments. Seeing the Law of God and the Law of Moses in a Divine Pattern relationship, we see that one is an expression of the other. They are not in tension with each other. And just as the moon goes through different phases so the principles in the Law of Moses has continued to go through phases – the same principles, but different phases and expressions. Before the cross is a different phase to after the cross. The same principles but a different expression. We know that there were principles from the law of Moses that carried through into the New Testament as expressed in Acts 15. Simply saying that all these laws and Judgments are no longer applicable in any way destroys the Divine Pattern. I suggest we look for the same principles though under a different phase. Just as the moon itself does not change, yet its expression or phase does change.

It is also worth pointing out that the Woman in Revelation 12 is standing on the Moon – this is her foundation. Clothed in the source (10 Commandments = source of light) yet standing on the moon – expressions of the Ten Commandments in different phases. Without the principles of the law of Moses found in the Sanctuary and its services, the church will lose its foundation, for the Sanctuary is the central pillar and foundation of our faith.

What would happen if we were to hold a pattern of co-equals and apply it to the Law of God and the Law of Moses? We might be forced to unify them in tension or merge them into one and therefore destroy both. Or we might be inclined to simply remove the second one altogether. As long as we are in this world, we need the Moon to guide us towards the Sun even as we need the Spirit of Prophecy to guide us towards the Bible. A word to the wise.

I realise that I have touched on many points but I hope that you can see that having a correct divine pattern for relationships can have massive ramifications for how we view things in Scripture and the world around us.

Choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house we will serve the Father and His Son. And in them is no tension at all.