Jesus, Creator of Worlds

In the opening pages of The Desire of Ages, where the modern reader is most likely to skim quickly, intending to bypass the introduction, there is a gem of a paragraph that is a treasure trove of skill and artistry. It is a paragraph meant to be read, seen, and heard. Let’s take a moment to read it:

Desire of Ages p. 20

In the beginning, God was revealed in all the works of creation. It was Christ that spread the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth. It was His hand that hung the worlds in space, and fashioned the flowers of the field, “His strength setteth fast the mountains.” “The sea is His, and He made it.”. It was He that filled the earth with beauty, and the air with song. And upon all things in earth, and air, and sky, He wrote the message of the Father’s love.

Ellen White was as much a writer as a painter of scenes and word musician. Her messages were carefully framed within a backdrop of beautiful imagery and sounds. It is helpful to a modern reader to be aware about the devices that Ellen White used when structuring her paragraphs.

Let’s examine a seemingly random paragraph from the Desire of Ages (DA20) shown above.

… the pattern, 1

This paragraph is organized as a chiasmus. The first and last lines are related, and so on. Let’s see,

In the beginning, God was revealed in all the works of creation.
- It was Christ that spread the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth.
  - It was His hand that hung the worlds in space, and fashioned the flowers of the field,
    - “His strength setteth fast the mountains.” “The sea is His, and He made it.”.
  - It was He that filled the earth with beauty, and the air with song.
- And upon all things in earth, and air, and sky, He wrote …
… the message of the Father’s love.

A skillful arrangement of the message. Let’s now analyze with some more detail.

Topical Sentence: In the beginning, God was revealed in all the works of creation. This is the key message of the paragraph.

Explanation Sentence: It was Christ that spread the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth. Jesus was who operated the creation of the extremes of the Universe, expressed with bookends: heaven and earth. Also, note how both are linked by the imagery in the synonyms: spread vs laid.

Garland 1: It was His hand that hung the worlds in space, and fashioned the flowers of the field. To elaborate the previous sentence, a sublime picture is painted. The sequence increases the proximity and detail of the Deity Also, it has two beautiful alliterations, the first letters of the words repeat: His/Hand/Hung, and Fashioned/Flowers/Field. This construction is made to evoke the “bookends” of the previous sentence (i.e. heaven and earth), and paint Jesus’ actions. The universe is painted as a tree with hanging fruits, in a meadow with flowers!

Center: Ps. 65:6 and 95:5.

Garland 2: It was He that filled the earth with beauty, and the air with song. in this garland, the objects of garland 1, worlds-flowers-fields, are now added with beauty and music.

Closing: And upon all things in earth, and air, and sky, He wrote the message of the Father’s love. This sentence closes pointing from the bottom up, from earth to sky, and bringing the Topical Sentence to a closure with “Father’s love” being key core of “God revealed in all the works of Creation“.

… the pattern, 2

There are 9 mentions to God and Jesus (an anaphora): 3 before the center verses, 3 in the verses, and 3 after the center: 3 groups of 3. Another grouping is, the first and last mentions are to the Father, the internal 7 to Jesus.

In the beginning, God…
It was Christ …
His hand …
<His strength…, is His…, He made…>
It was He …
He wrote …
…Father’s love.

And finally, there’s a rhythm in the syllables of the “garland 1” that musically emphasize the concepts mentioned in the alliterations.

… the visuals

There is:

Color: flowers,
Beauty
Movement and imagery: spreading of heavens, as if they were a canvas, hanging fruits as if the worlds were like fruits in a tree

… the music

The sentence with the alliterations, has a rhythmic structure that adds great beauty to the image of Christ hanging planets in the Cosmos and flowers in the fields.

… in summary

Such a short paragraph, and so much art in it! We see that the paragraph has a specific structure (chiasmus) to enhance the core message, the Father’s and Jesus’ love and involvement in Creation. It uses rhetorical devices (synecdoche, alliteration, and anaphora) to picture the different activities of Jesus, puts colors (flowers), and locates everything in a musical framework. All these resources, in a seemingly hidden paragraph, to enhance the message’s meaning! For Ellen White, each sentence counted and was engineered for maximum effect. You will find more patterns and insights that highlight God’s love!

Musical Paragraphs 1