The Finger of God

I am always pleased when the Lord gives us a pattern. I look for patterns as I study the scriptures. In modern revelation the Lord says, "And again, I will give unto you a pattern in all things, that ye may not be deceived; for Satan is abroad in the land, and he goeth forth deceiving the nations" (D&C 52:14). Here, a pattern is given to help us from being deceived and to recognize gospel truth. We can ask ourselves as we examine new concepts, "Does it follow the Lord's pattern?"

In another example the Lord gives a pattern. Enoch asked the people, "Why counsel ye yourselves, and deny the God of heaven?" They are listening only to their own counsel and ignoring the Divine Council (something we need to explore later in another post). Then Enoch gives the pattern to avoid deception:

"For a book of remembrance we have written among us, according to the pattern given by the finger of God; and it is given in our own language" (Moses 6:46). If we back up one verse we can see this is a genealogical record going back to Adam, whose name in Hebrew means "man or mankind," and thus he becomes a type, or pattern, for us.

As I have looked at this pattern of the finger of God, it seems there is a central theme of gospel law, with the law being centered in Jesus Christ. Temple law originated in God's first temple--the Garden of Eden. Hence, the genealogy connects us to Adam and Eve.

When Moses finished communing with the Lord upon Mount Sinai, he was given "two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18). Of course here we have written the law of Moses. The law, or tables of testimony, would be written on stone and placed inside the Ark of the Covenant, in the sacred center of the tabernacle, in the Holy of Holies (see 1 Kings 8:9).

Is the Lord teaching us something about priorities? Is He teaching us to be centered in Christ?

So let's move forward one dispensation and we see Jesus teaching at the temple during the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2) on a special event where the king in Israel would stand and read what became called "the paragraph of the king," but was referred to as "the book of the law" under the law of Moses. Moses charged Joshua saying:

"At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,

"When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.

"Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law" (Deuteronomy 31:10-12).

It was Jehovah who gave the law written with His finger upon stony tables. But at this event, where the King of Israel would read the law during the Feast of Tabernacles, we have people gathered together by commandment, but they are questioning the King about the law of Moses. The scriptures record:

"And early in the morning he (Jesus) came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.

"And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

"They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?" (John 8:2-5).

Of course the unanswered question screams out, "Where was the man?"

The word midst is a Hebrew Leitwort (theme word) meaning sacred center, or most holy person, place, or thing. Notice the woman is being drawn into the midst.

Then Jesus does something very interesting. He "stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not" (verse 6). Do you see the pattern? Do you see Jehovah as the Word made flesh" writing gospel law with His finger? Did the scribes and Pharisees miss the pattern? In the next verses it says Jesus "lifted up Himself." The phrase "lifted up" refers to exaltation, to a higher gospel plane. And when the crowd decides to leave, as they walk away, "Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst."

Under the law of Moses, she (and the man) could have been stoned, but as she stands with the Savior in the midst (or sacred center) she learns new gospel law. Under the law of Moses the "paragraph of the king" was recorded in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. It is interesting in the same chapter (in verse 6) the law of witnesses is given:

"At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death."

The King of kings, standing in the midst, asks the woman, "Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." Just six verses later, Jesus will again quote the law of witnesses: "It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true" (see John 8:2-17).

The gospel law emphasizes Jesus as the central figure. It testifies of His grace and His Atonement.

In our dispensation the Lord said:

"Yea, the word of the Lord concerning his church, established in the last days for the restoration of his people, as he has spoken by the mouth of his prophets, and for the gathering of his saints to stand upon Mount Zion, which shall be the city of New Jerusalem.

"Which city shall be built, beginning at the temple lot, which is appointed by the finger of the Lord, in the western boundaries of the State of Missouri, and dedicated by the hand of Joseph Smith, Jun., and others with whom the Lord was well pleased" (D&C 84:2-3).

As the saints are gathered for the last time to a sacred center--Mount Zion, the New Jerusalem, and the temple of the Lord, the law is going forth to the ends of the earth. "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:3).

Do you see the pattern?