We have noted that it takes 2 to go from 6 to 8… from death to life and from sin to righteousness. Let’s consider the 3 dimensional divine shadow testimony answering the significance of this simple observation.
There is an extreme scriptural and creational pattern demonstrating a dual emphasis in the context of the principle of salvation and divine principles. The few examples offered in the previous 4 posts barely scratch the surface of this pattern. The critical issue in the recognition of this pattern is in how one of the dual aspects in a series of these features of our Creator’s truths and principles are being systematically denied by Brothers and Sisters within the enlightened community in this last generation of the Ecclesial Age. This denial instead of the balancing of these dual aspects of our Creator’s truths and principles is what is fueling the prophesied divine unacceptability of this last generation just before divine enlightenment is no longer optional. The divine principles of atonement, sin, righteousness, life, the fear of God and the terms of judgment are being inappropriately reduced to a single application. This imbalances our understandings of these divine principles, which is extremely dangerous from a salvation hope perspective.
Let’s reference a few more examples of this extreme dual emphasis throughout the 2 avenues of divine testimony (Bible & creation) in order to cement this understanding.
There are 2 saviors and we need both of them. God saves us. He is referred to as our savior all through scripture. However Jesus Christ is also our savior. It is presuming these are not 2 separate saviors but only 1 that defines the blasphemous doctrine of the trinity. Our 2 saviors are certainly not equal but there are 2 distinctly separate saviors we depend on for salvation. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself (2 Cor. 5:19). Both Father and son are independently but cooperatively needed for our salvation, but there is no equality between these 2 saviors.
There are 2 names for our divinely appointed savior: Jesus Christ. That name and that title define his distinctive dual origin of a human mother and divine Father. This recognition offers a demonstration of the ultimate application of the dual nature of all divine principles, the harmonizing of heaven and earth. Jesus Christ is the mediator between the Creator and mankind, where the dual investment of God’s image and likeness had been originally invested in that 6th evening and morning of creation but then forfeited due to choosing the serpent’s right-ness over the Creator’s.
Those 2 original design components of the image and the likeness of God were invested into the 2 structural components of the 2 genders of mankind. Those 2 structural components are scripturally defined as the dust of the earth and the breath from heaven. And Yahweh Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7). Just as there was no equality in the 2 saviors and the 2 origin sources of Jesus Christ, there is no equality in the 2 genders of mankind. While that recognition has absolutely nothing to do with inherent value, it has everything to do with respecting the divine creation order and the Edenic gender judgments. This divine inequality in spiritual assignments is emphasized in the 2 gender based rituals of the Ecclesial Age: headcoverings during prayer and Sisters’ silence.
There were 2 creational procedures divinely employed over those 6 creation days that were separated into the two categories of night and day. The first creational procedure was to verbally command individual components into existence or into place. By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast (Ps. 33:6-9). However there was one component of creation that was not commanded into existence and that was mankind. Adam and Eve were crafted and not commanded into existence like the animals and plants.
Therefore it should not be surprising to realize each divine sanctuary was designed with 2 chambers. There was the Holy chamber where the priests entered every morning and night to perform 2 daily rituals. The priests had to refuel the 7 golden lamps & burn the incense inside that 1st of the 2 sanctuary chambers twice each day (Ex. 27:20-21; Lev. 24:2-3; Ex. 30:7-8). The 2nd sanctuary chamber was the Most Holy chamber. Only the High priest would enter this 2nd sanctuary section and only on the Day of Atonement. Once again, there is no equality in these 2 divisions of each of those 2 categories of sanctuaries. The first sanctuary category was the mobile tent produced at Sinai. The 2nd and 3rd divine sanctuaries were immobile buildings constructed at Jerusalem. All three of these divine sanctuaries had these 2 separate chambers, with that veil separating the two of them that is scripturally interpreted as representing the flesh of Christ (Heb. 10:19-20).
That veil representing the flesh of our savior, separating those 2 temple chambers, was ripped into two components at the moment of the crucifixion death of Christ (Matt. 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). This action of the cleaving of 1 component into 2 in the context of salvation is a common theme throughout scripture. The memorial bread, also representing the flesh of Christ, has to be broken before being eaten in order to follow the pattern Jesus established at that first memorial service on Passover night. The Red Sea clave in two to both save the Israelites and to facilitate the destruction of the pursuing Egyptian cavalry’. Similarly if we imbalance a divine principle by dismissing one of the 2 categories of a single truth within the water of the word, we invite a similar fate. The Jordan River clave in two to permit the enlightened community to enter the promised land when the priests bearing the Christ Ark stepped into those waters about to flow into the mouth of the Dead Sea. In fact the Jordan River miraculously clave on exactly 3 occasions, paralleling the 3 immortalization events in the Creator’s plan. Additionally, the rock at Rephidim clave in two at the stroke of the rod of the future High Priest, wielded by Moses, to release the waters that would save the enlightened community from a thirsty death (Ps 78:15; Is. 48:21). That cleaved rock is also identified as a symbol of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 10:1-4).
Both of the two salvation arks are shadows of the substance casting those 2 shadows: Jesus Christ. God mandated these 2 salvation arks to each have 2 coverings. Noah’s salvation ark had to have pitch applied both inside and outside. Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch (Gen. 6:14). It should be noted the verb translated as ‘to pitch’ here is the same Hebrew word predominantly translated as ‘make an atonement’ throughout the Old Testament. The 2nd salvation ark was the golden Ark of the Covenant. The 6 surfaces of the Acacia wood box had to be covered inside and outside with gold. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it (Ex. 25:11). That gold covering over the 6 panels of the Ark both inside and outside is a perfect parallel to the 6 sin offerings for guilty transgressional sins (the High Priest, a ruler, a commoner, the poor and the destitute; Lev. 4-5) and the 6 cleansing sin offerings for unclean physical conditions for which no repentance was required (healed leper, healed bodily issue, touching the dead, a woman who gave birth, the dedication of the Christ Altar of Burnt Offering and the annual sin offering for the entire Tabernacle on each Day of Atonement).
When our teaching and writing Brethren insist the principle of atonement has only the exclusive application of the forgiveness of sins, but not a 2nd application of a physical covering that cleanses from sin, they are denying our Messiah’s assignment as being the substance casting these two shadows in the context of his capacity to save. There are 2 covering aspects to atonement, not just one. They have to be understood and balanced. Isn’t it a fascinating observation that there are 2 shadow directions extending from the same substance each day in creation’s testimony of the terms of our Creator’s righteousness? Shadows generated by the sun extend west to east in the morning but from east to west after mid-day. There will be long & thin shadows or short & squat throughout the day, but the substance casting those 2 shadow directions is always the same. In the same manner the eternal divine truths will cast different temporary shadows throughout the 8 divine days of our Creator’s plan, but the substance is always the same. Let’s not discount the validity of this dual shadow observation from creation’s testimony as there are many more creational validations for this extensive pattern of dual applications of a single truth and principle.
This divine pattern, its significance and the dangerous implications of denying this duality of divine principles will continue in the subsequent posts.