I think the clincher showing the relationship the church must bear to the “greater” and the “lesser” lights, is described in the prophetic allegory of Revelation 12. The sun is portrayed as the greater light; the moon, which reflects light from the sun, as the lesser light. Both lights are indispensable to the woman, who symbolizes the church. She is clothed with the sun, and stands on the moon. In this allegory, Jesus and His perfect righteousness are like the sun with which the woman is clothed; and the Bible—the word, the testimony of Christ through His prophets—is like the moon upon which the woman—the church—stands. As I see it, the sun and moon symbols in relation to the woman are explained at the end of Revelation 12.
“And the dragon was wrath with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God [this is like the woman and her seed clothed with the sun, the greater light], and have the testimony of Jesus Christ [this is like the woman and her seed standing on the moon, the lesser light].” Revelation 12:17.
“… I am thy fellowservant and of thy brethren the prophets that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy [the lesser light, as demonstrated in the lives and writings of all the true prophets down through the ages, including Ellen White].” Revelation 19:10.
I believe when considering the greater light, lesser light issue, the overall testimony of Inspiration and the Holy Spirit say it is fitting to place the above words of Revelation 19:10 into the mouth of Ellen White, whose witness is also prophesied at the end of Revelation 12.
A testimony via a prophet in the here and now is “lesser light” only in that it must be tested and proved by the already established authority of the testimony of the prophets of the past. Even in Bible times, any new person claiming to be a prophet or have light from God, had to have their witness and words judged by the writings of established prophets, right back to Moses. This is what was happening in Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, and Stephen’s sermon to the Sanhedrin in Acts 7. It was right and safe to reject new teachings only if they contradicted what God’s prophets had said in the past.
When it is understood that the sun symbolizes Christ and His righteousness, and the moon His witness and testimony through the prophets, how awesomely significant that associated with the 1260 years of papal supremacy and the final time of trouble for this world, the Bible prophesies that the sun will be literally darkened and the moon turned to blood! But though terribly persecuted and trodden down, the Revelation 12 woman, symbol of God’s remnant church, is assuredly not in His eyes dressed in “filthy rags.” Undeceived like the rest of the world, owned by Him, putting on His robe of perfect righteousness so that it becomes her own (see Revelation 19:8), in a telling sense she is still by His grace looking forth “as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.” Solomon 6:10.
Any church claiming to be God’s remnant must be able to establish its teachings upon the writings of the prophets right back to Moses. Decade after decade, century after century, millennium after millennium, new light has added to (yes, like salt, it has enhanced) but never contradicted old light. In a recent series on 3ABN Pr Stephen Bohr has shown that the major teachings of Seventh-day Adventism can all be firmly established just from the writings of Moses. Is there another church anywhere on earth that could make such a claim?
Vitally important though the place of the Bible be in the life of the church, I feel it is an error and we lose much by saying Ellen White’s writings are the “lesser light” pointing to the Bible rather than to Christ as the “greater light.” I have read books of the Bible and by Ellen White many times over, and, like thousands of others, have sensed the presence of the same Holy Spirit in all these writings. For me, I am constrained and not ashamed to say that:-
the “lesser light” of Inspiration (the moon, upon which the Revelation 12 woman stands) is “the spirit of prophecy”—the witness and writings of prophets and holy men in the Bible, AND the witness and writings of Ellen White in more recent times.
the “greater light” of Inspiration (the sun, which clothes the woman of Revelation 12), is our Creator and wonderful Saviour, Christ Himself, and His unblemished righteousness, which He offers as a free gift to those who believe on Him.