Exodus is
not only a book telling how the Israelites got out of Egypt; it is a book
of redemption, supply, revelation, and building. The exodus
from Egypt was simply the beginning. This was followed by the supply, the
revelation, and the building....The central thought of Exodus is that Christ is
the redemption, salvation, and supply of God’s people and the means for them to
worship and serve God so that in Him they may be built up with God together for
them and God to meet, communicate, and dwell mutually.
If we read the book of Exodus according to the
natural concept, we shall emphasize the giving of the law. To us, the
book of Exodus will primarily be a record of how God gave commandments,
ordinances, and statutes through Moses. However, if we have a divine, spiritual
viewpoint in reading this book, we shall realize that Exodus is not primarily a
story of the giving of the law, but is
an account of how God saved His chosen people and gave them a heavenly vision
so that they could build His dwelling place on earth.
The purpose
of Exodus is to show God’s full salvation for the building up of His dwelling
place. In the first chapter we see God’s chosen people in a fallen condition
in Egypt, but in the last chapter we see the tabernacle as God’s dwelling
place. What a contrast! God’s chosen people are saved all the way from their
fallen condition into God’s dwelling place.
In Exodus Christ is many other items: the pillar of
cloud and the pillar of fire, the seventy palm trees and twelve springs at
Elim, and the tabernacle with all its furniture. Through the tabernacle and its
furniture, God’s redeemed people could serve Him and worship Him. This
indicates that Christ is the means by which we serve God and worship Him. God’s chosen people are to be built up
together into one entity, the tabernacle, where God and man may mutually meet,
communicate, and dwell. In Christ we and God, God and we, are built together,
meet together, and dwell together. This is the central thought of the book of
Exodus. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 570, 11)
No comments:
Post a Comment