Crystallization Study of Exodus 1.5

Having been redeemed by the Passover lamb, we traveled through the wilderness and experienced Christ as the heavenly manna and enjoyed Him as the living water out of the cleft rock. Eventually, we were brought to Mount Sinai, and it is here that we have the church life, typified by the living of the children of Israel around the Tent of Meeting. Even if not all of us have entered into the tabernacle, we all are gathered around the Tent of Meeting, and we can see the cloud on the Tent of Meeting. Here there is no sin, no death, and no world. Here at the Tent of Meeting we have God in His presence and glory. Here we become His dwelling, and He becomes our dwelling. This is a mutual abode. With the Tent of Meeting what we have is not merely an individual expression; we have a people as God’s corporate expression. The goal of God’s purpose is to have such an expression through His redeemed people. This expression is the goal not only of God’s redemption, but also of His eternal purpose. What God desires is to have a corporate expression of Himself through His called and redeemed people.

In the second section of Exodus, chapters eighteen through forty, we see that God’s redeemed people were in the enjoyment of the kingdom. Having been delivered from the world and having dealt with the flesh, they were able to build the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place.

Through all these pictures with all the plagues we can see the real situation of our fallen human life. No other portion in the Bible shows us such a detailed picture of the worldly life as it opposes God’s building. The world is against God’s building, and God’s building is opposed to the world. God’s chosen people are the crucial factor between these two opposing forces. If God’s people remain in the world, God cannot do anything. But if they are willing to be rescued from the world unto God, God can work out His purpose on the earth to have His dwelling place.