There is an unspeakable beauty to “the mind of God”. When it comes to "the ways, and the workings, and the wisdom" of His mind, the mathematical and creative genius of “His higher thoughts and His higher ways” (Isaiah 55:8) makes even the most stellar minds of man simply pale into insignificance. In everything God says and does, there is a marvel of intriguing patterns interwoven with other intricate patterns that illustrate the enormity of the genius of His beautiful mind.

     These patterns demonstrate not only a “signature of singular authorship” to the Word, but also a marvel of “order and precise premeditation” to everything that He is, that He does, and that He says. For example, in Ephesians 2:10, God describes man as His “masterpiece”. “For we are God’s MASTERPIECE. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” In this scripture, God makes a profound statement. He says, “so we can "DO" the GOOD THINGS He planned for us LONG AGO.” The measure of what is "long ago” for someone like God showcases the sheer enormity of His forward-thinking, and the extent of His premeditation and deliberation in all things.

     When it comes to that masterpiece, an illustration of His masterpiece is in the design of the human heart. Not just with the biological functioning of it, but more so with how the functioning of the human heart and the symbolism of the human heart maps "as a pattern" to the “pattern of His Word”. Through His mind-boggling forethought and purposefulness, God has intentionally designed the working of man’s “physical heart” to be an exact reflection of the operation of man’s “spiritual heart” (where the heart is the “icon of love”). This same God tells us that the "model of true love" is found in the two greatest commandments (Matthew 22:37-39). And these two commandments work together like the operation of the human heart. There needs to first be an “inflow” of love from “communion with God”, and then an “outflow” of love through "community with man". 

     In that way, the heart, being the symbol of love, clearly demonstrates that the fullness of love is “a TWO-WAY operation”, just like the human heart is a two-way operation, one upon which all of life depends. And as an expression of the outflow of "God's heart", for those who are children of God, being those who are led by the Spirit (through communion) (Romans 8:14), then out of the abundance of the "heart of man" so filled BY the Father and WITH the Father, we get to partake in the greatest privilege of all, which is to share the extravagant love of an astonishingly intimate and thoughtful Father with all who are our neighbour (through community). And in that way, in the operation of the fullness of love, man then becomes that side of "the pump house of God’s heart" that receives the oxygen-rich (or Spirit-filled) blood from “communion with the Father” and then pumps it to “the Body” through “community with man”, just like the physical heart pumps blood to the physical body.

     So God has "premeditated" long ago that we all have TWO halves to the human heart, which maps precisely “to the pattern and operation” of the TWO greatest commandments of love long ago. What else does this pattern of "TWO" map to? Since we are speaking of "commandments", Moses was instructed by God to write the “Ten Commandments” on TWO slabs of stone. Side by side. Like the two sides of the human heart. Has one ever wondered why “TWO”? And not just "one"? There were only ten commandments, after all? Ten could have easily fitted onto one slab? It’s because the Ten Commandments map precisely to the "TWO" greatest commandments that like the heart are effectively one. "TWO" stone tablets, with one stone tablet pertaining to "the sins against God", and the other stone tablet pertaining to "those sins against man". We prove we don’t love God with “all our heart, soul and mind” when we commit the 5 sins “against God”, sins to be avoided by the inflow through "communion with God" into the one side of our heart of “loving God with all our heart, mind and soul”. On the other hand, we prove we don’t love our neighbour as ourselves when we commit the other 5 sins “against man”, sins to be avoided by observing the 5 laws of love written on the other side of our heart, laws of love which provide for the outflow of love towards our neighbour through "community with man". And so through sin, our spiritual heart, which is representative of love, effectively malfunctions. The Ten Commandments represents the GOOD THINGS that God planned for man to do, in Christ, LONG AGO. And it’s when we DO those GOOD THINGS, that we become the masterpiece that He planned for long ago.

     This TWO-sided categorisation, represented by the TWO slabs of stone, is mirrored by the flying TWO-sided scroll in Zechariah 5:1-5. “I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll. He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.” And he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished. The Lord Almighty declares, ‘I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones.’”

     Ignoring for a moment the pattern illustrated by this scripture being verse "5:1-5", where there are "5" commandments on one side, and "5" on the other, listed from "1-5", the laws of love written on the one side that fall under the category of those who "swear falsely by His name", represent those sins against God. And the laws of love written on the other side, represented by the thief, represent those sins against man. As with the Ten Commandments, the flying scroll represents the duality of the two major categories of sins, which are further summarized by disobedience to the TWO greatest commandments. For those who do not abide by His great counsel and model of love, then on the one hand, for “the thief", being those who have "robbed" their neighbour of love (sinned against man), and on the other hand, for "the perjurer", being those who have "lied" that they love God with all their heart, soul and mind (sinned against God), they shall both be summarily and permanently EXPELLED from the "house of love", for they have shown that they have not love in their hearts.

     And when it comes to "doing the good things" that are "ALL" the laws of love, laws proclaimed by "the hand of Moses", for the "proper and authentic operation of love" to be evidenced in the life of each man, symbolized by the proper operation of "the human heart", love requires us to observe "all" TEN commandments. Which introduces another pattern. The beautiful mind of God uses numbers to emphasize or clarify the significance and meaning of things He both does and says. The number TEN has the symbolic meaning of an indefinite time span concerning the responsibility of man to both God and neighbour. In summary, a Christian’s responsibility to adhere to the teachings of Christendom is for the entire "length of his life", and they apply for ALL of man, and not only towards God, but towards God’s masterpiece too, being our neighbour. 

     With that being said, the number TEN represents however long that life on earth lasts. This pattern of TEN is seen in Revelation 2:10, where Jesus is telling the body of Christ that persecution by Satan for His namesake, whether it is TEN days, TEN months, TEN years, or a lifetime, is to be expected from our enemy. And Christ expects us to be faithful to Him for all TEN DAYS of that persecution. "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for TEN DAYS. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life." This pattern of doing all TEN commandments for “all of life” is patterned in 2 Chronicles 33:8. “Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed TO DO ALL that I have commanded them, according to the WHOLE law and the statutes and the ordinances BY THE HAND OF MOSES." When it comes to "ALL", another pattern we are familiar with in God's Word is the pattern of THREE. "THREE" represents being complete or whole. God's standard of love, in order to be complete and whole, requires us to observe all TEN commandments, both the 5 written on one side of our hearts, and the 5 written on the other side of our hearts. And the complete TEN is patterned by the THREE categories of "the standard of love" according to (1) the WHOLE law and (2) the statutes and (3) the ordinances "BY THE HAND OF MOSES".

     So when it comes to the TEN Commandments, it is only when “the standard of love” has become emblazoned upon the TWO halves of our hearts, as opposed to being merely written on TWO slabs of stone (Ezekiel 36:26), and when the hearts of man take heed "TO DO ALL” according to the "THREE" of (1) the whole law, (2) the statutes and (3) the ordinances according to the hand of Moses for "ALL OUR LIVES" (TEN), that the masterpiece God "planned for long ago" becomes, "in Christ", that masterpiece NOW. 

     And for those who are "in Christ", when the flying scroll travels all over the whole land, God’s covenant of love, as written upon the contours of His own heart, declares that He will never, ever leave us or forsake us, or ever remove us from "the house of love".

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

God’s richest blessings, for now and for always. Amen and amen.

Wayne Biehn