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Post by Admin on Jun 15, 2023 15:49:13 GMT -5
Jesus: True Israel of the First Gospel
Nicholas T. Batzig/12/Feeding on Christ
If you suggested to most evangelicals that Jesus is the second Adam (a fact explicitly stated in Scripture–Romans 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15:22; 45) you might find that some of them will acknowledge it–and may even appreciate the theological implications; but, if you suggested to the same group of Christians that He is true Israel you would probably get a mixture of facial responses–ranging from a furrowed brow to a blank stare. This is, however, one of the richest, most necessary and most spiritually comforting truths taught in Scripture. If it is taught in Scripture, why do so many never come to understand this important aspect of God’s word? While several answers that could be given, the principle one is a failure to understand the representative nature of Christ’s work, and the typological nature of covenantal people, places, events, objects, and even nations in the Old Testament.
Throughout the years, I have benefited enormously from reading O. Palmer Robertson’s The Israel of God. Robertson’s principle argument in this work is that the New Covenant Church is the new Israel. Among the many helpful biblical observations he makes, Robertson points out that the very important fact that when Jesus picked the twelve disciples he was “reconstituting Israel” (12 tribes, 12 apostles). While the teaching of this book is substantial, it fails to firmly establish the fact that New Covenant believers are Israel by faith in Jesus, because Jesus Christ is Himself the true Israel. I have found several helpful volumes to supplement Robertson’s masterpiece. The first is David E. Holwerda’s Jesus and Israel: One Covenant or Two. The second (written by a Seventh Day Adventist) is Hans K. LaRondelle’s The Israel of God in Prophecy. It must also be acknowledged that the issue of the “New Exodus” comes into play in this discussion too (Luke 9:31; Acts 2-12). In this regard I would recommend James Dennison’s article on this subject.
When investigating the Scripture’s teaching about Jesus as true Israel, the first Gospel is a good place to start. Matthew’s Gospel certainly appears to teach that Jesus, as true Israel, recapitulates Old Covenant Israel’s history and purpose. Jesus is “the son of Abraham,” thus making Him Israel. God’s covenant promises given with respect to Abraham’s seed were really given to Christ. In the unfolding of redemptive history, the seed of Abraham, in typical form, was the nation of Israel–but, as the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 3:16, it was about Christ, the true spiritual ‘Seed.’ It is interesting to note at this point that the name Israel is not first given to the nation–rather, it is first given to an individual, Jacob. Jacob was a type of Christ–being for a time the head of the covenant, and as an individual with the name Israel he typifies the Redeemer who was going to be the true Israel. Here the individual precedes the corporate–a significant factor to consider with regard to this discussion. Matthew begins his Gospel with that fact.
At the beginning of the genealogy, Matthew mentions three major epochs in Israel’s history: fourteen generation from Abraham to David, fourteen generations from David to the Exile. The reference to the period from Abraham to David, and from David to the Exile, marks the totality of Israel’s history as they waited for the promise of the Father. The genealogy of Christ is more than a mere record of lineage. It introduces the idea of Christ being the fulfillment of the entirety of Israel’s promises, and prepares the reader for the idea of Christ as the one who recapitulates Israel’s history in order to fulfill those promises.
After He is born, Jesus goes down into Egypt, out of Egypt, through the waters, into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (where He overcomes by using Scripture that God gave to Israel in the wilderness), up on the mountain, down from the mountain to feed the people with bread like God fed Israel with the manna in the wilderness.
Jesus then recapitulates the Kingdom period, telling the religious leaders of Israel that He was “a greater than David,” “a greater than Solomon” and “a greater than the Temple” (which Solomon built), had arrived as King (Mat. 12). Jesus explains that He and His disciples were the antitype of David and His mighty men, when He walked through the grain fields on the Sabbath–doing something similar to what David did when he took the showbread for his mighty men! The Kingdom typology runs, not chronologically, but thematically throughout the book. Beside the typology of David and the mighty men, Jesus was the antitypical fulfillment of Solomon’s coronation when He, unsuspectingly, rode into Jerusalem on a Donkey. Solomon had rode to the throne, unsuspectingly, on a mule. Jesus also said in Matthew 12 that He, with His wisdom, was “greater than” (and yet, in a very real sense, similar to) that of Solomon, who built the Temple.
In addition, Jesus recapitulates the prophetic era and ministry when He pronounces woes on the Pharisees (Matthew 23). Here he promised the destruction of the physical Temple that stood in Israel. As in Ezekiel’s vision of the glory of God departing from the Temple–moving out til it stood at the Mount of Olives–(Ezekiel 1-11), so Jesus (the real glory of God) left the Temple for the last time and went to stand on the Mount of Olives, opposite the Temple.
Finally, He was exiled at the cross, and brought about the restoration (promised by the prophets) of the true Israel in His resurrection.
So what are we to make of all this, if indeed it is what was intended by the Holy Spirit?
The Apostle Paul explained, in 2 Corinthians 1:20, that “all the promises of God in Him (i.e. in Christ) are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” Jesus, as the true Israel, received the promises of God that were passed down from the fathers (i.e. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). He said ‘Yes’ to His heavenly Father with regard to all the stipulations and promises of the Covenant. This means He said ‘Yes’ to the demand for perfect obedience; and He said ‘Yes’ to the curses that were threatened for our disobedience. He did this as true Israel, and representative of His people. Just as He was the second Adam, obeying in every place where the first Adam failed to obey, He was as true Israel–obeying where Old Covenant Israel failed to obey. This is most clearly seen in His temptation in the wilderness. He was recapitulating Israel’s temptation in the wilderness. Where national Israel failed, Christ obeyed. National Israel failed to battle the temptations of the devil and the flesh by failing to use the word that God gave them in the wilderness. Jesus, in His temptation by the devil, battled back victoriously by appealing to and obeying the word of God that was given to Israel in the wilderness (all three verses came out of Deuteronomy).
“In every way that Israel proved to be the unrighteous son, Jesus proved that He was the righteous Son. The obedience of Christ is the emphasis of the temptation accounts; and, failure to see this fact, will inevitably lead to a failure to see His glory in redemption. We need a covenant keeper who has fulfilled the demands of the law for us. His obedience is credited to us, because, just as He represented us in His baptism, so also He represented us in His temptation. Here we find the “good news” of the Gospel. It is not simply His death on the cross–as detached from His obedient life–that justifies us. No, that death is attached to every subsequent act of obedience the Son of God placed on the divine scale for our salvation. God the Father was pleased with the Son at His baptism, He was pleased in His overcoming the attacks of the devil, and He was pleased with Him through the entirety of His obedient life, “even (and especially) to the point of death on the cross.”
As we approach Matthew’s account of the temptation of Christ, further indications of this typological structure surface. When Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, as Israel was tempted in the wilderness, He appeals to those portions of Scripture specifically given to Israel in the wilderness (Deut. 8:3; 6:16; 6:13). If it had been possible for to Israel to have obeyed when tested, the promise of blessing would have been procured. Israel would have overcome with the weapons God supplied. The true Israel must overcome by the word of God. It is by faith in Him that the blessings procured now become ours. God does not deal with us in the same way as He dealt with Jesus. The Lord was driven into the wilderness to be tested, and, subsequently, rewarded on the merits of His obedience.
‘He was tempted in all points even as we are, yet without sin,’ that we now have an Advocate in heaven who gives us ‘grace and mercy in time of need.’ He had no help when He was alone in the wilderness. Unlike Him, we are not taken out there to face the devil on our own. We have a victorious Savior–a representative figure–who has come ‘conquering and to conquer.”‘ May God grant us grace to see that we are “complete in Him” and may we know that peace and mercy that now rests upon us, he new Israel, in Him.1
1. The final paragraphs in this post are a slightly modified version of a 2009 article I wrote for Reformation 21, titled “God’s Obedient Son.”
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Post by Admin on Jun 15, 2023 19:50:22 GMT -5
There are four “Servant Songs” of Isaiah that describe the service, suffering, and exaltation of the Servant of the Lord, the Messiah. All four songs show the Messiah to be God’s meek and gentle Servant. He is a royal figure, representing Israel in its ideal form; He is the high priest, atoning for the sins of the world. Isaiah predicts that this Servant of the Lord would deliver the world from the prison of sin. In the royal terminology of the ancient Near East, a servant was a “trusted envoy,” a “confidential representative,” or “one who is chosen.” The Servant Songs are found in Isaiah 42:1–9; Isaiah 49:1–13; Isaiah 50:4–11; and Isaiah 52:13—53:12.
Isaiah initially identifies God’s servant as Israel (41:8; 44:1–2), who serves as God’s witness (43:10) and as a light to the Gentiles. Yet Israel could not fulfill this mission: Israel was deaf, blind (42:19), and in need of God’s forgiveness (44:21–22). Israel failed again and again. By contrast, God’s Servant, the Messiah, faithfully completes all the work He is given to do (cf. Luke 13:32; John 17:4). The Servant of the Lord is God’s faithful and true witness to humanity.
In Acts 3:13 Peter calls Jesus the “servant” of God. That verse says, in part, “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.” Peter’s description of Jesus as a “servant” is accurate for at least four reasons:
1) Jesus always did the will of the Father (John 4:34; 6:38).
2) Jesus never sought to please Himself but always to please the Father (John 5:30).
3) Jesus finished the work that God had sent Him to do (John 17:4).
4) Jesus came to glorify the Father (John 13:31; 17:4).
Additionally, Peter’s reference to Jesus as the “servant of God” would have brought to the minds of his Jewish hearers the passages in Isaiah that describe the Messiah as the “Servant of the Lord.” Here is a brief look at the four Servant Songs in Isaiah:
Isaiah 42:1–9. This first of the four Servant Songs introduces us to the Servant of the LORD:
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his teaching the islands will put their hope” (verses 1–4).
According to this song, the Servant of the Lord is chosen by God, and God delights in Him. The Servant has the Spirit of God abiding on Him. The first four verses of this passage are specifically applied to Jesus in Matthew 12:18–21.
When Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan, the Spirit of God descended upon Him, and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” This was a divine allusion to Isaiah 42. The clear teaching of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ is the Servant in the Servant Song prophecies.
Isaiah 49:1–13. This second of the four Servant Songs speaks of the Messiah’s work in the world and His success. The Servant’s statement that “before I was born the Lord called me” (verse 1) uses language similar to the call of the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5). The reference in Isaiah 49:2 to the mouth of the Servant of the LORD being “like a sharpened sword” is a prophetic image that crops up several times in the New Testament (Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 1:16; 2:12, 16; 19:15).
In the second Servant Song, the Messiah displays God’s splendor (verse 3), restores God’s people (verse 6), and is honored in God’s eyes (verse 5). Significantly, the Messiah feels a great loss: “I have labored in vain; / I have spent my strength for nothing at all” (verse 4), yet He receives worldwide acclaim in the end:
“To him who was despised and abhorred by the nation,
to the servant of rulers:
‘Kings will see you and stand up,
princes will see and bow down’” (verse 7).
The Servant of the Lord will oversee the restoration of the land and the establishing of a peaceful kingdom (verses 8–13). The Messiah will be the agent of the Lord’s comfort to His people (verse 13).
In addition to being the One to restore the land of Israel (verse 8), the Messiah is chosen to redeem the Gentiles:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (verse 6).
In this way, God’s salvation is brought to all people. Christ Jesus is “the light of the world” (Luke 2:30–32; John 8:12; 9:5) and the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies. On their first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas bring the gospel to the Gentiles in Antioch, and they quote Isaiah 49:6. The response of the Gentiles in Antioch is pure joy: “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord” (Acts 13:48). In Christ both Jews and Gentiles are made one (Ephesians 2:11–18).
Isaiah 50:4–11. This third Servant Song contrasts Israel’s sin with the Servant’s obedience. We also see that the Messiah will be persecuted yet vindicated. The verses preceding this song (Isaiah 50:1–3) liken Israel to an immoral wife; only God has the power to ransom her back. Starting in verse 4, the Servant responds to the instruction of God. He is not rebellious (verse 5), even when His obedience to God results in suffering:
“I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting” (verse 6).
The Servant of the Lord expresses His confidence that God will help Him and that He will be found innocent (verses 7–9). In this confidence, the Messiah resolves to see His task to completion, no matter how difficult the road becomes (cf. Luke 9:51).
Some 700 years later, Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, too. Abuse and insults were heaped upon our Lord as He was thrown to the Roman soldiers. His back was beaten, His face was hit, and He was spit upon (see John 19:1–3; Matthew 27:30). The Lord Jesus was obedient unto death (Philippians 2:8), and the Father vindicated His Suffering Servant by resurrecting Him. “Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, / I will not be disgraced” (Isaiah 52:7).
Isaiah 52:13—53:12. This climactic fourth Servant Song describes the suffering and triumph of the Servant of the LORD. It is also one of the most detailed passages in the Old Testament concerning the death and resurrection of the Messiah.
The song begins with a promise that the Servant will be exalted (Isaiah 52:13), but then immediately turns to a description of extreme violence:
“His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness” (Isaiah 52:14).
The Messiah will be “despised and rejected by mankind” (Isaiah 53:3). When He is brutally punished, people will assume that He is being afflicted by God (verse 4). But the fourth Servant Song makes it clear why He endures such persecution:
“He was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed” (verse 5).
It is our iniquity being placed on Him that explains His suffering (verse 6). Verse 7 predicts that the Messiah will be silent before His accusers (cf. Matthew 27:14). Verse 9 says that, although the Servant of the Lord is innocent, He will die with the wicked and be “with the rich in his death.”
Isaiah 53:10 tells us why the Servant dies:
“It was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and...the Lord makes his life an offering for sin.”
This is the substitutionary atonement. His life for ours. The death of the Messiah accomplished the will of God concerning our salvation.
Immediately following the prophecy of the Servant’s death, Isaiah makes a startling prophecy of the Servant’s victory:
“[The Lord] will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied. . . . Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong” (verses 10–12).
So, in the fourth Servant Song, death is not the end for the Servant. After He suffers, He will “see the light of life.” He will “divide the spoils.” His days will be prolonged. What we have here is a prophecy of the resurrection of Christ.
The whole of Isaiah 53 is a poignant and prophetic picture of the gospel. Jesus was despised and rejected by men (Luke 13:34; John 1:10–11); He was stricken by God (Matthew 27:46) and pierced for our transgressions (John 19:34; 1 Peter 2:24). By His suffering, Jesus received the punishment we deserved and became for us the ultimate and perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10). Although His Son was sinless, God laid on Him our sin, and we became God’s righteousness in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was silent in front of His accusers (Matthew 27:12, 14; 1 Peter 2:23). Jesus was crucified between two thieves yet buried in a rich man’s tomb (Matthew 27:38, 57–60). In the Suffering Servant’s humiliation and final exaltation, He reconciles humanity with God (Matthew 8:17; Acts 8:30–35; Romans 10:15–17; 15:21; 1 Peter 2:24–25).
As the Ethiopian eunuch is traveling home in his chariot, he is reading from one of the Servant Songs (Acts 8:32–33). The eunuch was unsure of whom Isaiah was speaking—was it the prophet himself, or another man? Philip the evangelist had the privilege of using Isaiah 53 to point the Ethiopian to Christ: “Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35). Without a doubt, the four Servant Songs in Isaiah are about Jesus. Our Lord is the theme of Scripture.
FOR FURTHER STUDY
Isaiah, Holman Old Testament Commentary by Trent Butler
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Post by Admin on Jul 31, 2023 21:44:18 GMT -5
Sacred Space in Promise: The Exodus
I. Background of the Exodus
1. All of salvation history, traced out in the Scriptures, is directed toward the creation’s redemption and renewal, which design has its ultimate goal in God becoming “all in all,” attaining full and perfect intimacy with His creation. * ref. 1 Cor. 15; Rom. 8; Rev. 21-22
2. God brought about a kind of “new creation” through Noah, but the curse of alienation and death remained. He later made a covenant with Abraham that He would be his God and the God of his descendents and dwell with them in an appointed place. However, this relationship in Canaan would be only a provisional recovery of sacred space, and even so it awaited a future time, as Abraham’s covenant descendents were exiled out of the land.
3. This exile began as God’s provision of life through Joseph, but later on it became a circumstance of slavery and cruel oppression. Nevertheless, God’s promise to make Israel a great nation in Egypt was undeterred (Gen. 46:1-4). The more the Egyptians sought to decimate the Hebrews, the more they increased in numbers and vitality, so much so that the
Egyptians came to fear them as a threat and the Pharaoh sought to weaken them and eventually exterminate them by depriving them of male offspring. * Exodus 1:1-22
4. The Egyptians sensed something remarkable at work among these Hebrews that enabled them to thrive against impossible odds, and it terrified them. Ironically, the Egyptians sensed what the Hebrews apparently did not; they didn’t see their God behind their astonishing circumstance. Indeed, as time passed the Israelites set their God aside and forgot about Him, even to the point of embracing the gods of Egypt. * ref. Ezekiel 20:1-9
Israel’s legacy of unfaithfulness and idolatry were firmly established in Egypt, and would only continue after the Lord brought them back to the covenant land. But God remained faithful to His covenant and His purposes in it, and so remembered and tended to His covenant people, even while they forsook Him.
5. Israel forsook and forgot their God, yet when they cried out in their suffering, He heard them and “remembered His covenant.” (It’s noteworthy that the text gives no clear indication that the Hebrews directed their pleas to Him – 2:23). The covenant sons had abandoned their God psychologically and covenantally, but He hadn’t forsaken them, for He is I am, unchangingin His purpose, promises and faithfulness (6:1-8). He had already chosen, preserved and
prepared a deliverer – Moses, “he who draws out” – and now He was sending His man to bring them out through His own triumph over Egypt and its gods, climaxing with the death of Egypt’s firstborn sons and new birth for His firstborn through the Passover. * Exodus 4:21ff
II. Significance of the Exodus
The Egyptian Exodus holds a unique place within Israel’s history; it was fundamental to Israel’s sense of itself, its relation to God, and its role in His purposes. Hence the Exodus episode is a primary theme in Israel’s scriptures as they unfold God’s purposes and their outworking.
The One who arose on behalf of His covenant to redeem and liberate the heirs from their bondage and restore them to Himself would do so again, this time with a greater redemptive work that would be final, fully effectual, and creation-wide in its scope.
1. In terms of its historical significance, the Exodus set the stage for God’s fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant as it regarded his descendents. If they were to inherit the covenant and its promises, they would first have to be delivered from Egypt.
2. The Exodus was the foundation for establishing the kingdom promised to Abraham (Gen. 15:12ff), and hence signified Israel’s birth as covenant son. * Exodus 2:24-3:17, 12:1-14
3. This is the reason the scriptural narrative presents Sinai as the focal point of the Exodus (cf.
3:1-12, 19:1-6), and so also of Israel’s national existence as Abraham’s covenant seed. At
Sinai, Israel was formally constituted a covenant nation and joined to Yahweh as His “son.”
4. But because Israel’s election and calling pertained to the entire cursed creation, the historical events of Israel’s existence had profound salvation-historical significance – significance centered in the Messiah, who is the climax of history and Israel’s own destiny.
a. Thus Israel’s exodus out of Egypt, with its premise in the Abrahamic Covenant and its focal point in the Passover, became the singular prefiguration and promise of a future counterpart – a second exodus in which God, through His messianic servant-king, would deliver the creation from its bondage and establish His presence and rule in the earth (i.e.,sacred space) as He had purposed from the beginning. * Isa. 49-55, also 2:1-4, 11:1-12
b. This conception of sacred space – God with us – is precisely what Canaan represented as the goal of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and constitution as a nation. The Abrahamic Covenant carried forward God’s oath in Eden, and so held out the promise of a sanctuary land where God and men would dwell together in covenant fellowship. The Exodus
served the fulfillment of that promise, albeit at the preparatory, typological level.
5. This truth is celebrated in the Song of Moses that the Israelites sang after Yahweh destroyed the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. It celebrated God’s faithfulness in delivering them, and so anticipated their entrance into His sanctuary land. Thus its two sections: vv. 1-12 and 13-18.
He’d delivered Israel, not as El Shaddai (God Almighty) but as Yahweh, the covenant God and Father of His elect son in order to gather His son to Himself. * 3:13-14, 4:21-23, 6:2-8 The Song of Moses reveals that God’s goal in redeeming His son was covenant fellowship, grounded in covenant love (hesed) and maintained by covenant integrity and faithfulness. “The point has been made that the word hesed is not applicable to the establishment of a
relationship, but reflects rather fidelity and loyalty to an existing relationship. The aim of the
hesed exhibited is to preserve the tenor of the relationship which already exists.” (Dumbrell)
Conclusions
1. The Exodus represented another symbolic “new creation” – the birth of a new image-son
appointed to rule God’s dwelling place in His name and for His sake as a faithful priest-king.
2. It had its basis, meaning, and goal in God’s intent for His creation as sacred space. Thus the
Exodus looked toward Canaan, which represented God’s new garden-sanctuary (note the
Edenic imagery of Canaan). But Canaan would fall short, even as Israel would fail as imageson. The Exodus fulfilled its purpose by enlarging and advancing the promise of another day.
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Post by Admin on Aug 12, 2023 19:44:56 GMT -5
One way of describing the redemption through Jesus Christ is as a new and greater Exodus, the telling of it patterned after the Exodus story. That there is a “typological parallel between the historical Exodus and the Messianic Salvation”
The Exodus Pattern
How can we speak of an Exodus pattern? To do so is to assume that Exodus was not an isolated occurrence, but revealed a pattern of God’s action,[ref]David Daube, The Exodus Pattern in the Bible (London: Faber & Faber, 1963), p. 14.[/ref] and that the narrative itself became a mold, “a prototype in which other stories . . . have been cast.”[ref]Ibid., p. 11.[/ref] This, to a remarkable degree, is true. Four elements form the essential pattern of the Exodus deliverance:
It was a deliverance accomplished by God. God is the central figure in Exodus; he stands at the “heart of the document.”[ref]J. Coert Rylaarsdam, “Introduction and Exegesis of Exodus,” The Interpreter’s Bible, 12 vols., ed. G. A. Buttrick (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1952), 1:296.[/ref] Exodus is characterized by a triumphant shout: “The Lord has triumphed; to him belongs the victory!”[ref]Honeycutt, p. 298.[/ref]
It was a deliverance from bondage and oppression to the freedom and dignity of sonship. Israel became God’s “chosen people, his possession, his son”[ref]James Iuilenburg, “Introduction to Isaiah Chapters 40-66,” The Interpreter’s Bible, 12 vols., ed. G. A. Buttrick (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1956), 5:400.[/ref] in the exodus from Egypt.
It was a deliverance which God accomplished through a man. Moses was God’s man, raised up, preserved, chosen, called, commissioned, and empowered by God.
It was a deliverance which created a lasting relationship between God and Israel, a relationship both of privilege and responsibility. Henceforth, God was Israel’s God in a special sense, and they were God’s people. Henceforth, also Israel must not go her own way but obey the demands of God.
The Exodus Pattern in the Old Testament
The use of Exodus as a pattern of deliverance is common in the Old Testament.[ref]Daube, p. 11.[/ref] The account of Joshua’s crossing of Jordan is full of elements designed to recall the Red Sea crossing.[ref]Ibid.[/ref] “At one time,” writes Daube, “I planned to, write on PATTERNS of deliverance in the Bible. . . . I soon discovered that there was none remotely comparable to the exodus.”[ref]Ibid.[/ref] The affirmation that “Yahweh delivered his people from Egypt,” repeated in every age and in various contexts became “Israel’s original confession.”[ref]Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, 2 vols., tr. E.M.G. Stalker (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1962), 1:176.[/ref] Exodus, though history in a sense is really “an exposition of the meaning of history for Israel,” ‘a statement of “Israel’s faith.”[ref]Rylaarsdam, p. 835.[/ref] Isaiah described Yahweh’s advent again and again “in language drawn from the Exodus (e.g. 43:19-20; 48:21; 52:11-12).” He believed “Israel’s first redemption will be repeated with even greater wonders.” His theology was “everywhere rooted deep in the sacred tradition.”[ref]Muilenburg, pp. 399-400.[/ref]
The Exodus Pattern in Interbiblical Judaism
Interbiblical Judaism was preoccupied with the coming Messianic salvation. This is clear from Rabbinic literature and the rise of such movements as the Qumran community. The habit of looking on Exodus as the pattern of God’s action became even more pronounced. “In the second century B.C. Ben-Sira prays for a repetition of ‘sings and wonders’ – he means final redemption thought of in terms of exodus.”[ref]Daube, p. 11.[/ref] A “standing formula” often met is: “As the first deliverer( i.e. Moses), so the last deliverer” (i.e. the Messiah). The “Messiah was expected to repeat what Moses had done.”[ref]Sahlin, p. 82.[/ref]
This hope probably arose from God’s promise to Moses, “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee” (Deut. 18:18, KJV), a prophecy which was interpreted messianically. It was strengthened by the reinterpretation of the Passover Feast as a “historical memorial of the Exodus from Egypt.”[ref]Ibid.[/ref] The feast was looked upon as pointing forward also to a new and greater deliverance.[ref]Ibid.[/ref]
Thus, the Exodus pattern came to be accepted as a pattern of the coming Messianic deliverance, not only in popular thought but also among serious theologians.[ref]Ibid., p. 83.[/ref]
The Exodus Pattern in the New Testament
The Exodus pattern lay ready for use, embedded in the life and thought of Israel, when the New Testament writers sought a model for use in proclaiming salvation through Jesus Christ. And they used it, not as the only model, but as an important one. I do not mean that they shaped the events to fit the pattern. Rather, they found in the Exodus event a historical pattern to which the redemption could be related. The method was more that of “homology” (i.e., showing the correspondence between the two deliverances) than the use of the pattern as a “hermeneutical principle to interpret the Christ event.”[ref]Wright, p. 63[/ref] The importance of the use of the pattern is seen not only in the number of quotations from the book of Exodus and the use of Exodus language but also, and more importantly, in an overall assessment of the influence of the Exodus narrative on the story of the Christ event.
One thing is certain: “the major portion of the vocabulary used to express the saving work of God in Christ is drawn from the Exodus event.”[ref]Ibid.[/ref] Such New Testament words as redemption, redeem, deliver, deliverance, ransom, purchase, slavery, and freedom entered the religious vocabulary of Israel through the Exodus event. Evidences of the use of the pattern can be found in the Gospels (especially Matthew and John), in the book of Acts, in the epistles (especially 1 and 2 Corinthians and Hebrews), and in Revelation. The pattern is discernible in the stories of the infancy, ministry, and death of Christ. We see it in the identification of John the Baptist and in the preaching of the gospel. We will note this influence under four major headings which correspond to the essentials of the Exodus pattern (see above).
A New and Great Act (Revelation?) of God
The controlling motif of Exodus is the revelation of God’s victorious power;[ref]Rylaarsdam, p. 833.[/ref] the unifying theme is “The Lordship of Yahweh.”[ref]Honeycutt, p. 299.[/ref] It was God who saw the afflictions of his people and heard their cry (2:25; 3:7), who moved to deliver his people (3:6, 16-17), who, by his plagues, overcame the objections of Pharaoh and showed the powerlessness of the gods of Egypt (7:14-11:10). It was God who claimed his people for his own (12:1-13:16), who guided them by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (13:21-24), who opened the Red Sea so the people could march across on dry ground (14: 1-30). God was the one who established his covenant with Israel and punished them when they disobeyed (19:1-20:20), who gave the tablets of stone with the basic laws for the life of the people (20:1-17), and gave directions for the building of the tabernacle. He sent the manna from heaven (16:22-30) and opened the rock to provide a spring of water (17: 1-7).
The God who is revealed in even greater splendor by Jesus Christ is the same God revealed in the Exodus event. Some times the relationship is made explicit; God is spoken of in language taken from the book of Exodus. Jesus said, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20, RSV). The expression, “the finger of God,” comes from Exodus 8:19, where the magicians of Egypt confessed their impotence in the face of the divine visitation[ref]R.V.G. Tasker, The Old Testament in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1963), p. 28; Norman Perrin, Rediscovering the Teaching of Jesus (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1967), pp. 66-67.[/ref] (cf . also Rom. 9:15).
But the correspondence between the God of Exodus and the God of the New Testament is even clearer as he reveals himself in actions and words, and especially in Jesus. It is God who raises up, preserves, prepares, calls, commissions, em powers, and directs Jesus just as he did Moses. “When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son” (Gal. 4:4, KJV). Jesus was always aware of his dependence on the Father and said, “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works” (John 14:10, RSV; cf . John 4:34; 5:17). Paul believed that it was God, acting through the cross of Christ, who was “reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Cor. 5:19) . It was God who endued the inf ant church with divine power and gave them their message (Acts 2:1-38 ) , who gave leader ship to the gospel enterprise through his Holy Spirit (Acts 13:1-3) and protected his people from the efforts of his enemies to destroy his work (Acts 12:1-11; cf . 2 Cor. 1:9).
The teaching of the New Testament about election, realized eschatology, and salvation is rooted in the heritage of Israel which began in the Exodus event. Paul summed up his doctrine of salvation: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:3-4a, RSV; cf . 2:8- 10).
God is at the heart of the gospel just as he was at the heart of the Exodus. But there is a difference. The center of gravity changes from the God of Israel to the universal God. His love and nearness become primary; no longer is he simply a God of victorious power. He is the father of the individual worshiper as well as the father of his household. The dim outlines of the God of Israel, seen in the Exodus event, becomes the bright shining glory of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The New and Great Deliverance
Exodus was an event of deliverance for an oppressed people. A new king i.e., Pharaoh) rose up and determined to curb the population explosion of the Israelites and reduce them to servility. He “conscripted the Israelites into labor battalions,”[ref]Rylaarsdam[/ref] made them serve with “rigor” (Exod. 1:13-14), and sought to have all their male children put to death (Exod. 1:1-17, 22). No wonder “the people of Israel groaned under their bondage, and cried out for help” (Exod. 2:23, RSV).
Deliverance came; God “heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (Exod. 2:24 KJV). Chapters 1-15 is the story of God’s mighty deliverance of the people from their oppression and his reinstatement of them as his own people. Moses and the people sang, “Thou hast led in thy steadfast love the people whom thou hast redeemed, thou hast guided them by thy strength to thy holy abode” (Exod. 15:13, RSV).
G. Ernest Wright sees Colossians 1:13-14 as a deliberate use of the Exodus pattern to express the reality of Christian salvation. It reads: God ”has rescued us out of the tyrannical authority of darkness and changed us so as to bring us under the rightful rulership of his beloved son in whom we have the redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (my translation). In this passage, Paul “summarizes the Sacred Era in a single sentence. First, Redemption from bondage, followed by ‘translation’ (the journey to the Promised Land), then consecration by the remission of sins, and finally the kingdom of ‘David’ (the ‘Beloved’); the pattern is complete. This ‘kingdom’ in Christ is the Inheritance of the saints in light.”[ref]Wright, p. 63.[/ref]
Many passages in the New Testament reflect the Exodus pattern in the proclamation of deliverance. First, there are those passages which speak of sin as spiritual slavery; the Exodus pattern lies behind this concept either consciously or unconsciously. Jesus said, “every one who makes a habit of committing sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34, my translation). Paul told the Galatians, “Formerly . . . you were in bondage to beings that by nature are no gods” ( Gal. 4:8, RSV; cf. 1 Cor. 12:2 ).
Second, the same can be said with more reason when salvation is spoken of ,s deliverance. Only a sampling of passages makes this clear: But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we serve not under the old written code but in the new life of the spirit” (Rom. 7:6, RSV). “Sin shall no longer lord it over you” (Rom. 6:14, my translation). The eternal Lamb is he “who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (Rev. 1:5b-6a, RSV) . “For freedom Christ has set us free” (Gal. 5:1a, RSV).
Third, the new status of the believer with God is clearly related to the Exodus pattern. The Israelites were delivered out of Egypt, not just to relieve their sufferings, but to install them as God’s own people. So also the believer is delivered from sin, not just to escape punishment (ind misery, but that he might become the son of God and be a part of the people of God. The greatest of all New Testament chapters – Romans 8 – makes this clear. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death” ( v. 2, RSV ) . “If Christ is in you . . . your spirits are alive . . .” (v. 10, RSV). “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (vv. 15-17a RSV).
The pattern is there, but it is surpassed. The deliverance under Christ is a new but greater deliverance. Israel was delivered from the physical. bondage which could last only in this life; the believer is delivered from a far greater bondage – the unending bondage of sin. Israel was brought into the promised land as God’s people; the believer is “made to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6, RSV). Israel was made a people of God, an elect nation, but this involves the personal and intimate fellowship with God of every believer, a blessing of which the Exodus pattern knows nothing.
A New and Greater Moses
Next to God, Moses is the central figure in the Exodus. God raised him up, providentially protected him from the king’s decree of death, called and commissioned him to lead his people out of Egypt, and endued him with power to accomplish his task. Moses’ relationship with God was unique; he was God’s spokesman. Resistance to him was counted as resistance to God. God spoke to others “in a dream” but with Moses “mouth to mouth” (Num. 12:6-8).
Subsequent history enhanced the figure of Moses. In Deuteronomy 18:18-19 God said, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not give heed to my words which he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him” (RSV). In interbiblical Judaism, Moses became a messianic figure, prefiguring the final redemption of God. He is easily the most significant figure in the history of the Jews, both in Palestine and in the Greek world. Qumran seems to have looked for an eschatological figure, patterned after Moses, and called the prophet to come. Rabbinic literature relates Moses to the coming Messiah: “As the first redeemer (Moses), so the last redeemer (The Messiah).” “In many features, then, the messianic age is conceived after the pattern of the age of Moses.”[ref]Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, 1963 ed., s.v. ”Moses,” by R. F. Johnson.[/ref]
The New Testament uses Moses to explain the significance of Christ. “Moses and Christ are inseparably linked to one an other.”[ref]Ibid.[/ref] The most obvious link is the use of the prophecy of the coming prophet like loses (Deut. 18:18-19) to speak of Christ as the absolute prophet of God (specific use of this prophecy is found in John 1:21, 45; 7:40; Acts 3:22-26).
Apart from this, many instances in the story of Jesus re mind us of loses. This is not to say that New Testament writers invented stories to make Jesus appear to be another
Moses. Rather, they saw the similarity of the two careers and were ( perhaps unconsciously ) influenced in their telling of the story of Jesus by the well-known stories of Moses.
The nativity stories (especially in Matthew) reflect the Mosaic pattern of the infant deliverer snatched away from the evil designs of God’s enemy (Matt. 2: 13-18). The opening of the public career of Jesus was introduced by the ministry of John the Baptist, who came crying in the words of Isaiah, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Mark 1:3 and parallels). These words anticipate another deliverance patterned after Moses,[ref]Ibid.[/ref] since the deliverance prophesied in Isaiah was itself patterned after the Exodus event.[ref]Muilenburg, p. 399.[/ref]
Jesus, like Moses, used miracles to authenticate himself as a teacher come from God. The connection is quite clear. Miracles are found in only three eras in the Bible: that of Moses and Joshua, that of Elijah and Elisha, and that of Jesus and the apostles. In each case they marked the introduction of a new direction in God’s redemptive program. They were never ends in themselves but were used to authenticate the speakers as spokesmen of God. This is clear in the sixth chapter of John. After feeding the five thousand, Jesus departed to avoid being made a king by the crowd. They followed him. He accused them of doing so because they had eaten the loaves (i.e., made the miracle an end in itself) and not because they saw the miracle as a sign that he was to be heard.
The link with Moses is seen in the transfiguration. Jesus was accompanied by three – Peter, James, and John – just as Moses was accompanied to the holy mountain by Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu (Exod. 24:1). Moses saw the glory of the Lord and “the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God” (Exod. 34:29, RSV). At the transfiguration the face of the new and greater Moses shone not with a reflected glory but with an unborrowed glory similar to the rays of the sun. So Matthew writes, “His face shone like the sun . . . and his garments became white as light . . . a bright cloud over shadowed them” (17:2-5a, RSV; italics author’s) . And, “as at Sinai, it is the divine voice which strikes fear into the hearts of the apostles.”[ref]Tasker, pp. 45-47.[/ref]
The cross was the climactic event in the Christ event. We would expect to find here, if it is to be found at all, a connection with Moses. And we do. That the two figures were linked in the minds of the New Testament Christians is shown by their reinterpretation of the career of the first Moses from the perspective of the second Moses. “The preeminence of the cross has led to emphasis upon Moses as a suffering figure. He prefers abuse for Christ to the treasures of Egypt, and ill treatment shared with God’s people to the ‘fleeting pleasures of sin’ (Heb. 11:23-28). He knows the anguish of rejection by those very people for whose sake he has been sent (Acts 7:25, 29).”[ref]Johnson, p. 449.[/ref]
John, in his passion story, presents the sacrifices of Jesus in the light of the requirements of the law. The seamless robe over which the soldiers gambled (cf. Ps. 22:19) fulfilled the requirement of the law that the “robe of the priest’s ephod shall be woven work and so constructed as not to be rent” (cf. Ex. 28:31,32).[ref]Tasker, p. 60.[/ref] The unbroken bones of Jesus fulfilled an other law which said that no bone of the sacrificial animal should be broken (cf. Ex. 12:46).[ref]Ibid., p. 122.[/ref] Paul speaks of Christ as the passover lamb (1 Cor. 5:7) . From the starting point of the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul understood that “Jesus Christ is the New Moses, effecting the New Exodus of Salvation.”[ref]Sahlin, p. 91.[/ref]
Jesus is the new Moses; he is also the greater Moses. The comparison is there, but so is the contrast. “The law,” John wrote, “was given through the mediation of Moses; grace and truth came into being by the work of Jesus Christ” (John 1:17, my translation). Moses was a faithful attendant in the house of God; his task was to testify of the “things that were to be spoken later” (Heb. 3:5; RSV). Christ was a son over the whole house, including Moses, and incomparably greater than Moses. He was so much more worthy of honor than Moses as the builder of a house has more honor than the house he builds (Heb. 3:3). “Moses was able to seal the covenant only with the blood of calves and goats; Christ is the mediator of a new covenant sealed in his own blood.”[ref]Johnson, p. 449.[/ref]
A New and Greater Covenant People of God
Yahweh said, “If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples. . .” (Exod. 19:5, RSV). This statement describes the new status of Israel. Three things are involved in it: One, God was their God in a peculiar sense; they were his people. The book of Exodus is more than a history; it is a statement of the faith of Israel that “in a certain place God revealed himself and Israel became his people.”[ref]Rylaarsdam, p. 846.[/ref] God had “acquired” or “purchased” them for himself.[ref]Rad, p. 177.[/ref]
Two, they were obligated to obey God. The new relation ship was not only one of privilege, giving them the right to depend on Yahweh’s help, but also one of obligation. The giving of the law, the building of the tabernacle, and the establishment of the sacrificial system all give testimony to Israel’s obligation.
Three, this new relationship would be a lasting one. The same privileges and obligations that belonged to the original congregation in the wilderness passed on to their descendants. The Passover Feast preserved this idea. Annually celebrated as a commemoration of the Exodus out of Egypt, it was under stood to imply “that those who took part in it became one with the Exodus generation.”[ref]Sahlin, p. 84.[/ref]
As it was with Israel, so it is with believers. The deliverance from the bondage of sin has made each believer a part of the new covenant people of God with a common father, a common salvation, a common hope, and a common obligation to serve and obey God in Jesus Christ.
To call the second major portion of our Bible “The New Testament” ( i.e., The New Covenant ) indicates that it is a record of the establishment and constitution of the new people of God.[ref]Honeycutt, p. 301.[/ref] The use of the word “saints” in the plural points to all believers as the true successors of the Exodus generation (cf. 1 Cor. 1:2). The use of the number “twelve” is suggestive of the same relationship. Jesus chose “twelve” to follow him. The book of Revelation speaks of 144,000 out of each of the “twelve” tribes of Israel as symbolizing the entire company of God’s redeemed on earth (Rev. 7:1-8).
The language of Exodus is used when Peter speaks of his readers as a “royal priesthood” and a “holy nation” (1 Pet. 2:9, cf. Exod. 19:6).[ref]Tasker, p. 123.[.ref] The same source lies behind the saying, “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (Rev. 1:5b-6a, RSV). Paul makes the same connection in his admonition: “Cleanse out the old leaven . . . you really are unleavened . . . celebrate the festival . . . with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:7-8, RSV). The Corinthians are unleavened; they have been cleansed by the blood of our Passover, Christ. Paul is thinking of the Christian life as a true and continuous Passover Feast.[ref]Sahlin, p. 85.[/ref]
The clearest juxtaposition of the new and old people of God is found in 1Corinthians 10:1-22. Paul spoke of the wilderness generation as “our fathers,” i.e., the fathers of all Christians. He spoke of their sins and punishments as being written for the warning of those “upon whom the end of the ages has come” (v. 11). Paul clearly thought all Christians, including Gentile believers, are the true successors of the wilderness generation and turn heirs of the privileges and responsibilities of being the people of God.
The clearest exposition of the concept of Christians as the new covenant people of God is found in the book of Hebrews. Both the likenesses and unlikenesses are stressed. The privileges and responsibilities of the new people of God are infinitely superior to those of the old people of God. The new Covenant is already in force, established by the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ. It consists of: (1) the implanting of the law in the minds and hearts of Christians so that they will spontaneously know and love the will of God; (2) a personal and unmediated knowledge of God; and (3) the complete blotting out of sins.[ref]F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1964), pp. 172-75.[/ref] The writer points out that the Old Testament heroes of faith died without receiving the things promised “that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (Heb. 11:40b, RSV).
Conclusion
We see, then, that it is legitimate to use the category, “The New and Greater Exodus,” to describe both the continuity of the gospel with the Old Testament and its infinite superiority.
CATEGORY: JOURNAL ARTICLE
TAGS: EXODUS, OLD TESTAMENT NARRATIVE
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Southwestern Journal of Theology
To download full issues and find more information on the Southwestern Journal of Theology, go to swbts.edu/journal.[ref]Harold Sahlin, “The New Exodus of Salvation According to Paul,” in The Root of the Vine: Essays in Biblical Theology, ed. Anton Fridrichsen (Westminister: Dacre Press, 1953), p. 82.[/ref] is certain. The degree is open to question. One writer thinks that it is “fundamental”[ref]Ibid.[/ref] and “determines the thought of St. Paul.”[ref]Ibid., p. 84.[/ref] Others say only that it is “important.”[ref]Roy L. Honeycutt, Jr., “Exodus,” Broadman Bible Commentary, rev. ed., 12 vols., ed. Clifton J. Allen (Nashville: Broadman Press 1973), 1:298; G. Ernest Wright, God Who Acts (London SCM Press, 1952 ), p. 63.[/ref]
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Post by Admin on Sept 12, 2023 20:59:29 GMT -5
From AW.Pink Gleanings in Exodus Introduction
Historically, the book of Exodus treats of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt; but viewed doctrinally, it deals with redemption.
Just as the first book of the Bible teaches that God elects unto salvation, so the second instructs us how God saves, namely, by redemption. Redemption, then, is the dominant subject of Exodus.
Following this, we are shown what we are redeemed for
—worship, and this characterizes Leviticus, where we learn of the holy requirements of God and the gracious provisions He has made to meet these. In Numbers we have the walk and warfare of the wilderness, where we have a typical representation of our experiences as we pass through this scene of sin and trial
—our repeated and excuseless failures, and God’s long-sufferance and faithfulness. And so we might continue.
But to return to Exodus. This we have pointed out (as others before us have done) treats of redemption. To the writer it appears that its contents fall into five divisions, which we may summarize as follows:
—First, we see the need for redemption—pictured by a people enslaved: chapters to 6.
Second, we are shown the might of the Redeemer—displayed in the plagues on Egypt: chapters 7 to 11.
Third, we behold the character of redemption—purchased by blood, emancipated by power: chapters 12 to 18.
Fourth, we are taught the duty of the redeemed—obedience to the Lord: chapters 19 to 24.
Fifth, we have revealed the provisions made for the failures of the redeemed—seen in the tabernacle and its services: chapters 25 to 40.
In proof of what we have just said we would refer the reader to Exodus 15:13, which we regard as the key verse to the book,
"Thou in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou hast redeemed:
Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation."
Note that here we have the need for redemption implied
—God’s "mercy"; the power of the Redeemer is referred to
—His "strength"; the character of redemption is described
—"led forth the people";
the responsibilities of the redeemed and their privileges are signified in a reference to the tabernacle
—"unto Thy holy habitation."
Another thing which is a great help in the study of Exodus is to note its numerical position in the Sacred Canon. Exodus is the second book of the Bible, and it will be found that the character of its contents fully accords with this. The number two in its scriptural significations, treats of difference or division. Proof of this is found in its first occurrence in the Bible: the second day of Genesis was when God divided the waters. Hence, two is the number of witness, for if the testimony of two different men agree, the truth is established. Two is therefore the number of opposition. One is the
number of unity, but two brings in another, who is either in accord with the first or opposed to him. Hence, two is also the number of contrast, consequently, whenever we find two men coupled together in Scripture it is, with rare exceptions, for the purpose of bringing out the difference there is between them: for example, Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon, etc.
Let us now see how these slightly varied meanings of the number two are traceable in the character and contents of this
second book of Scripture. Two is the number of division. In the first chapter of Exodus we find Pharaoh ordering a division to be made among the babies of the Israelites: if a son was born he should be killed, if a daughter she should be spared. In the plagues, the Lord made a division between His people and the Egyptians: "And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.And I will put a division between My people and thy people;tomorrow shall this sign be(Ex.8:22, 23). So, too, He divided between their cattle: "And the Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt:
and there shall nothing die of all that is the children’s of Israel" (Ex. 9:4). When Israel came to the Red Sea we are told, "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the Sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided" (14:21). Again; it is only in Exodus (26:33) that we read of the veil which was to "divide between the holy place and the most holy."
Two is also the number of witness, and mark how this note is sounded throughout the book. The sufferings and groanings of the Hebrews witnessed to their need of deliverance. The plagues bore witness to the power and wrath of God, and it is noteworthy that God employed two witnesses, Moses and Aaron, in announcing these to Pharaoh. The Passover-night witnessed to the value and sufficiency of the blood. The wilderness experiences of Israel witnessed to the faithfulness and tender love of God. The giving of the law witnessed to the righteousness government of Jehovah. The tabernacle bore typical witness to the manifold perfections of Christ.
Again; two is the number of opposition. This is something which is prominently marked in Exodus. The antagonism of the
Enemy is very manifest throughout. First, we behold it in the determined and cruel effort made to prevent the increase of the Hebrews. Then we see the children of Israel oppressed by merciless task-masters.
Next, when Moses goes in and performs his miraculous signs before the king, Pharaoh’s magicians "withstood" him: and it is striking to observe that only two of their names have been preserved in Holy Writ (2 Tim. 3:8). In connection with Israel’s
exodus from Egypt, Pharaoh opposed every step of the way. Even after Israel left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea, we see the
Amalakites opposing them in the wilderness (17:8)
—note it was not the Israelites who attacked the Amalakites, but the enemy who came to fight against the people of God.
Finally, two is the number of contrast. Even a casual reading will reveal the marked differences between the first two books ofScripture: let us note a few of them. In the book of Genesis we have the history of a family, in Exodus the history of a nation. In Genesis the descendants of Abraham are seen few in number, in Exodus they are to he numbered by the million. In the former we see the Hebrews welcomed and honored in Egypt, in the latter they are viewed as feared and hated. In the former there is a Pharaoh who says to Joseph, "God hath showed thee all this" (41:39) ; in the latter there is
a Pharaoh who says to Moses, "I know not the Lord" (5:2). In Genesis there is a "lamb" promised (22:8) ; in Exodus the "lamb" is slain (chap. 12). In the one we see the entry of Israel into Egypt; in the other we behold their exodus. In the one we see the patriarchs in the land "which flowed with milk and honey"; in the other we behold their descendants in the wilderness. Genesis ends with Joseph in a coffin; while Exodus closes with the glory of the Lord filling the tabernacle. A series of more vivid contrasts could scarcely be imagined.
The central doctrine of the book of Exodus is redemption,but this is not formally expounded, rather is it strikingly illustrated, in earliest times, God, it would seem, did not communicate to His people an explicit and systematic form of doctrine; instead, He instructed them, mainly, through His providential dealings and by means of types and symbols. Once this is clearly grasped by us it gives new interest to the Old Testament scriptures. The opening books of the Bible contain very much more than an inspired history of events that happened thousands of years ago: they are filled with adumbrations and illustrations of the great doctrines of our faith which are set forth categorically in the New Testament epistles.
Thus "whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning" (Rom. 15:4), and we lose much if we neglect to study the historical portions of the Old Testament with this fact before us.
The deliverance of Israel from Egypt furnishes a remarkably full and accurate typification of our redemption by Christ. The
details of this will come before us, God willing, in our later studies.
Here, we can only call attention to the broad outlines of the picture. Israel in Egypt illustrates the place we were in before Divine grace saved us. Egypt symbolizes the world, according to the course of which we all walked in time past. Pharaoh, who knew not the Lord, who defied Him, who was the inveterate enemy of God’s people, but who at the end was overthrown by God, shadows forth the great adversary, the Devil. The cruel bondage of the enslaved Hebrews pictures the tyrannical dominion of sin over its captives. The groaning of the Israelites under their burdens speaks of the painful
exercises of conscience and heart when convicted of our lost condition. The deliverer raised up by God in the person of Moses,points to the greater Deliverer, even our Lord Jesus Christ. The Passover-night tells of the security of the believer beneath the sheltering blood of God’s Lamb.
The exodus from Egypt announces our deliverance from the yoke of bondage and our judicial separation from the world.
The crossing of the Red Sea depicts our union with Christ in His death and resurrection.
The journey through the wilderness
—its trials and testings, with God’s provision to meet every need
—represent the experiences of our pilgrim course.
The giving of the law to Israel teaches us the obedient submission which we owe to our new Master.
The tabernacle with its beautiful fittings and furnishings, shows us the varied excellencies and glories of Christ.
Thus it will be found that almost everything in this second book of the Bible has a spiritual message and application to us.
It is also to be remarked that there is much in the hook of Exodus that looks forward to and anticipates the future. The
historical portions of this second book of Scripture have a dispensational as well as doctrinal value, a prophetic as well as a moral and spiritual signification. There is not a little in it that will minister instruction and comfort to the people of God in a coming day, as well as to us now. History repeats itself, and what is recorded in Exodus will be found to foreshadow a later chapter in the vicissitudes of Abraham’s descendants. The lot of Israel in the Tribulation period will be even worse than it was in the days of Moses. A greater tyrant than Pharaoh will yet be "raised up" by God to chastise them. A more determined effort than that of old will be made to cut them off from being a nation. Groanings and cryings more intense and piteous will yet ascend to heaven. Plagues even more fearful than those sent upon the land of Pharaoh will yet be poured out upon the world from the vials of God’s wrath. God shall again send forth two witnesses, empowered by Him to show forth mighty signs and wonders, but their testimony shall be rejected as was that of Moses and Aaron of old. Emissaries of Satan, supernaturally endowed, will perform greater prodigies than did the magicians of Egypt. A remnant of Israel shall again be found in the wilderness, there to be sustained by God. And at the end shall come
forth the great Deliverer, who will vanquish the enemies of His people by a sorer judgment than that which overtook the Egyptians at the Red Sea. Finally, there shall yet be an even greater exodus than that from Egypt, when the Lord shall gather to Palestine the outcasts of Israel from "the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven."
In addition to the illustrations of the various parts and aspects of the doctrine of redemption and the prophetic forecast of Israel’s lot in the day to come, there are in the book of Exodus quite a number of precious types of the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. In many respects there is a remarkable correspondency between Moses and Christ, and if the Lord permits us to complete this series of articles, we shall, at the close, systematize these correspondencies, and show them to be as numerous and striking as those which engaged our attention when Joseph was before us. In addition to the personal type of Moses we shall consider how the burning bush, the Passover lamb, the crossing of the Red Sea, the manna, the smitten rock, the tabernacle as a whole, and everything in it, looked at separately, each and all tell forth in symbolic but unmistakable language the manifold glories of Christ. A rich feast is before us; may God the Holy Spirit sharpen our appetites so that we may feed upon them in faith, and be so nourished thereby that we shall grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
As the title of these papers intimates, we shall not attempt a complete verse by verse exposition of the book of Exodus, rather shall we continue the course followed by us in our articles on Genesis. Our endeavor will be to stimulate the people of God to a more careful and systematic study of the Old Testament scriptures, by calling attention to some of the hidden wonders which escape the notice of the careless reader, but which cause the reverent student to say with one of old, "I rejoice at Thy word as one that findeth great spoil" (Ps. 119:162). While we shall not ignore the practical application of the message to our own lives, and shall seek to profitfrom the many salutary lessons to be found for us in Exodus,
nevertheless, our chief concern will be the study of those typical pictures which meet us at every turn. The next article will be devoted to Exodus 1, and in the meantime we would urge the interested reader to make a careful study of its contents. May the God of all grace anoint our eyes, and may the Spirit of Truth constantly guide our thoughts as we pass from chapter to chapter.
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Post by Admin on Sept 12, 2023 23:21:29 GMT -5
Exodus 12 records the last of the ten plagues. This was the death of the firstborn, and inasmuch as death is "the wages of sin", we have no difficulty in perceiving that it is the question of SIN which is here raised and dealt with by God. This being the case, both the Egyptians and the Israelites alike were obnoxious to His
righteous judgment, for both were sinners before Him. This was dealt with at some length in our last paper. In this respect the Egyptians and the Israelites were alike: both in nature and in practice they were sinners. "There is no difference: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:22, 23). It is true that God had purposed to redeem Israel out of Egypt, but He would do so only on a righteous basis. Holiness can never ignore sin, no matter where it is found. When the angels sinned God "spared them not" (2 Pet. 2:4). The elect are "children of wrath even as others"
(Eph. 2:3). God made no exception of His own blessed Son: when He was "made sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21)
—He spared Him not (Rom. 8:32). But all of this only seems to make the problem more impossible of solution. The Israelites were sinners: their guilt was irrefutably established: a just God can "by no means clear the guilty"
(Ex. 34:7): sentence of death was passed upon them (Ex. 11:5).
Nothing remained but the carrying out of the sentence. A reprieve was out of the question. Justice must be satisfied; sin must be paid its wages.
What, then? Shall Israel perish after all? It would seem so.
Human wisdom could furnish no solution. No; but man’s extremity is God’s opportunity, and He did find a solution. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Rom. 5:20), and yet grace was not shown at the expense of righteousness. Every demand of justice was satisfied, every claim of holiness was fully met. But how? By means of a substitute. Sentence of death was executed, but it fell upon an innocent victim. That which was "without blemish" died in the stead of those who had "no soundness" (Isa. 1:6) in them.
The "difference" between the Egyptians and Israel was not a moral one, but was made solely by the blood of the pascal lamb! It was in the blood of the Lamb that mercy and truth met together and righteousness and peace kissed each other (Ps. 85:10). The whole value of the blood of the pascal lamb lay in its being a type of the Lord Jesus
—"Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast" (1 Cor. 5:7, 8). Here is Divine authority for our regarding the contents of Exodus 12 as typical of the Cross-work of our blessed Savior. And it is this which invests
every detail of our chapter with such deep interest. May our eyes be anointed so that we shall be able to perceive some, at least, of the precious unfoldings of the truth which are typically set forth in our chapter.
The first great truth to lay hold of here is what we are told in the 11th verse: "It is the Lord’s passover". This emphasizes a side of the truth which is much neglected to-day in evangelical preaching. Gospellers have much to say about what Christ’s death accomplished for those who believe in Him, but very little is said about what that Death accomplished Godwards. The fact is that the death of Christ glorified God if never a single sinner had been saved by virtue of it. Nor is this simply a matter of theology. The more we study the teaching of Scripture on this subject, and the more we lay
hold by simple faith of what the Cross meant to God, the more stable will be our peace and the deeper our joy and praise.
The particular aspect of truth which we now desire to press upon the reader is plainly taught in many a passage. Take the very first (direct) reference to the "Lamb" in Scripture. In Geneses 22:8 we read that Abraham said to his son, "God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering". It was not simply God would "provide" a lamb, but that He would "provide Himself a lamb". The Lamb was "provided" to glorify God’s character, to vindicate His throne, to satisfy His justice, to magnify His holiness. So, too, in the ritual on the annual Day of Atonement, we read of the two goats. Why two?
To foreshadow the two great aspects of Christ’s atoning work—
Godwards and usward. "And he shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the Tabernacle of the
congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other for the scapegoat" (Lev. 16:7, 8). It is this aspect of truth which is before us in Romans 3:24-26, "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness... that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus". In 1 Corinthians 5:7
we read, "Christ our Passover". He is now our Passover, because He was first the Lord’s Passover (Ex. 12:11).
If further confirmation of what we have said above be needed it is supplied by another term which is used in Exodus 12:27.
Here we are expressly told that the Passover was a "sacrifice"
—"It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover". Nor is this the only verse in the Scriptures where the Passover is called a sacrifice. In Exodus 34:25 we read that God said unto Israel, "Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left unto the morning". Again, in Deuteronomy 16:2
we read, "Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God". So also in the New Testament, it is said, "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Cor. 5:7). We emphasize this point because it has been denied by many that the Passover was a "sacrifice". Objectors have pointed out that the pascal lamb was not slain by the priest, nor was it offered upon the altar, for there was no altar which God could own in Egypt. But such an objection is quickly removed if reference be made to the later Scriptures on the subject. After the Exodus the "passover" was never allowed to be
killed anywhere except in the place which God had chosen. This is abundantly clear from Deuteronomy 16:4, 5, "And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coasts seven days, neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee; but at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest
forth out of Egypt".
The Israelites were here expressly forbidden to kill the passover in their own homes, and were commanded to sacrifice it only "at the place which the Lord Thy God shall choose to place His name in". What that "place" was we may learn from Deuteronomy 12:5, 6 and similar passages
—it was the Tabernacle, afterwards the Temple.
That the Passover was a "sacrifice", a priestly offering, is further proven by the fact that in Numbers 9:6, 7, 13, it is
specifically designated a "corban", and it is certain that nothing was ever so called except what was brought and offered to God in the Tabernacle or the Temple. Furthermore, there is definite scripture to show that the blood of the pascal sacrifice was poured out, sprinkled, offered at the altar by the priests. "Thou shalt not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of My sacrifice remain until the morning" (Ex. 23:18)
— only the priests "offered" the blood. Plainer still is the testimony of 2 Chronicles 30:15, 16, "Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the Lord. And they stood in their place after their manner according to the Law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood". And 2 Chronicles 35:11, "And they killed the passover and the priests sprinkled the blood". So again Ezra 6:20, "For the priests and the Levites were purified together, all
of them were pure, and killed the passover for all the children of the captivity and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves". Note "the priests and Levites" killed the passover for all the children of the captivity!
Now there are two lines of thought associated with sacrifices in Scripture. First, a sacrifice is a propitiatory satisfaction rendered unto God. It is to placate His holy wrath. It is to appease His righteous hatred of sin. It is to pacify the claims of His justice. It is to settle the demands of His law. God is "light" as well as "love". He is of "purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity"
(Hab. 1:13). This truth is denied on every side today. Yet this should not surprise us; it is exactly what prophecy foretold (2 Tim. 4:3, 4).
Plain and pointed is the teaching of Scripture on this subject. Following the rebellion and destruction of Korah, we read that all the Congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron saying, "Ye have killed the people". What was God’s response? This: "The Lord spake unto Moses saying, "Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment" (Num. 16:45).How was the consuming anger of God averted? Thus: "And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer and put fire therein off the altar, and put on incense and go quickly unto the congregation and make an atonement for them; for there is wrath gone out from the Lord; the plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people; and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed" (Num. 16:46-48)! A similar passage is found in the last chapter of Job. There we read, "The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends; for ye have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams and go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept; lest I deal with you after your folly." Here, then, is the primary thought connected with "sacrifice". It is a bloody offering to appease the holy wrath of a sin-hating and sin punishing God. And this is the very word which is used again and again in connection with the Lord Jesus the Great Sacrifice. Thus,
Ephesians 5:2: "Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor."
Again, "Once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself", (Heb. 9:26). And again, "This man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God (Heb. 10:12). The meaning of these passages is explained by Romans 3:25, 26: Christ was unto God a "propitiation", an appeasement, a pacification, a legal satisfaction.
Therefore could the forerunner of the Redeemer say, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The second thought associated with "sacrifice" in the Scriptures is that of thanksgiving and praise unto God; this being the effect of the former. It is because Christ has propitiated God on their behalf that believers can now offer "a sacrifice of praise" (Heb. 13:15). Said one of old, "And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me; therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy" (Ps. 27:6). Said another, "I will sacrifice unto Thee with a voice of thanksgiving"(Jon. 2:9). This is why, after being told that "Christ our Passover hath been sacrificed for us", the exhortation follows "therefore let us keep the feast" (1 Cor. 5:7). The pascal lamb was first a sacrifice unto God; second, it then became the food of those sheltered beneath its blood.
The ritual in connection with the Passover in Egypt was very striking. The lamb was to be killed (Ex. 12:6). Death must be
inflicted either upon the guilty transgressor or upon an innocent substitute. Then its blood was to be taken and sprinkled upon the door-posts and lintel of the house wherein the Israelites sheltered that night. "Without shedding of blood is no remission" (Heb. 9:22), and without sprinkling of blood is no salvation. The two words are by no means synonymous. The former is for Propitiation; the latter is faith’s appropriation. It is not until the converted sinner applies the blood that it avails for him. An Israelite might have selected a proper lamb, he might have slain it, but unless he had applied its blood to the outside of the door, the Angel of Death would have entered his house and slain his firstborn. In like manner today, it is not enough for me to know that the precious blood of the Lamb of God was shed for the remission of sins. A Savior provided is not sufficient: he must be received. There must be "faith in His blood" (Rom. 3:25), and faith is a personal thing. I must exercise faith. I must by faith take the blood and shelter beneath it. I must place it
between my sins and the thrice Holy God. I must rely upon it as the sole ground of my acceptance with Him.
"For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment; I am the Lord.
And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt" (Ex. 12:12, 13). When the executioner of God’s judgment saw the blood upon the houses of the Israelites, he entered not, and why? Because death had already done its work there! The innocent had died in the place of the guilty. And thus justice was satisfied. To punish twice for the same crime would be unjust. To exact payment twice for the same debt is unlawful: Even so those within the bloodsprinkled house were secure. Blessed, blessed truth is this. It is not merely God’s mercy but His righteousness which is now on the side
of His people. Justice itself demands the acquittal of every believer in Christ. Herein lies the glory of the Gospel. Said the apostle Paul, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (Rom. 1:16). And why was he not "ashamed" of the Gospel?
Hear his next words, "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith".
"And when I see the blood I will pass over you". God’s eye was not upon the house, but on the blood. It might have been a lofty house, a strong house, a beautiful house; this made no difference; if there was no blood there judgment entered and did its deadly work.
Its height, its strength, its magnificence availed nothing, if the blood was lacking. On the other hand, the house might be a miserable, falling to pieces with age and decay; but no matter; if blood was upon its door, those within were perfectly safe. Nor was God’s eye upon those within the house. They might be lineal descendants of Abraham, they might have been
circumcised on the eighth day, and in their outward life they might be walking blamelessly so far as the Law was concerned. But it was neither their genealogy, nor their ceremonial observances, nor their works, which secured deliverance from God’s judgments. It was their personal application of the shed blood, and of that alone.
"And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you" (v. 13). To the mind of the natural man this was consummate folly. What difference will it make, proud reason might ask, if blood be smeared upon the door? Ah I "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him (1 Cor. 2:14).
Supremely true is this in connection with God’s way of salvation
—"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God... But we preach
Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the
Greeks foolishness" (1 Cor. 1:18, 23). It is faith, not reasoning,
which God requires; and it was faith which rendered the Passover sacrifice effective; "Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood lest he that destroyed the first-born should touch them" (Heb. 11:28).
"To realize what this faith must have been, we have to go back to ‘that night’, and note the special circumstances, which can alone explain the meaning of the words ‘by faith’. God’s judgments had been poured out on Egypt and its king, and its people. A crisis had arrived; for, after nine plagues had been sent, Pharaoh and the Egyptians still remained obdurate. Indeed, Moses had been threatened with death if he ever came again into Pharaoh’s presence (Ex. 10:28,29). On the other hand, the Hebrews were in more evil case than ever and Moses, who was to have delivered them, had not made good his promises.
"It was at such a moment that Moses heard from God what he was to do. To sense and sight it must have seemed most
inadequate, and quite unlikely to accomplish the desired result. Why should this last plague be expected to accomplish what the nine had failed to do with all their accumulating terrors? Why should the mere sprinkling of the blood have such a marvelous effect? And if they were indeed to leave Egypt ‘that same night’ why should the
People be burdened with all those minute ceremonial observances at the moment when they ought to be making preparation for their departure? Nothing but ‘faith’ could be of any avail here. Everything was opposed to human understanding and human reasoning. "With all the consciousness of ill-success upon him, nothing but unfeigned faith in the living God and what he had heard from Him,could have enabled Moses to go to the people and rehearse all the intricacies of the Pascal observances, and tell them to exercisethe greatest care in the selection of a lamb on the tenth day of the month, to be slain on the fourteenth day, and eaten with (to them) an unmeaning ceremony. It called for no ordinary confidence in what Moses had heard from God to enable him to go to his brethren who, in their deep distress, must have been ill-disposed to listen; for,
hitherto, his efforts had only increased the hatred of their oppressors, and their own miseries as bondmen. It would to human sight be a difficult if not impossible task to persuade the people, and convince them of the absolute necessity of complying with all the minute details of the observance of the Passover ordinance.
"But this is just where faith came in. This was just the field on which it could obtain its greatest victory. Hence we read that, "through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood" (Heb. 11:28), and thus every difficulty was overcome, and the Exodus accomplished. All was based on ‘the hearing of faith’. The words of Jehovah produced the faith, and were at once the cause and effect of all the blessing" (Dr. Bullinger)
"And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy, when I smite the land of Egypt" (v. 13). In connection with this it is deeply important that we should distinguish between two things; the foundation of security and the proof basis of peace. That which provided a safe refuge from judgment was the death of the lamb and sprinkling of the blood.
That which offered a stay to the heart was the promise of Him who cannot lie. So many err on this second point. They want to make their experience, their feelings, something within themselves, the basis of their assurance. This is a favorite device of Satan, to turn the eye downwards upon ourselves. The Holy Spirit ever directs the eye away front ourselves to God and His Word.
Let us suppose a case. Here are two households on that Passover night. At the head of the one is an unbelieving father who
has refused to heed the Divine warning and avail himself of the Divine provision. Early that evening his firstborn says, "Father I am very uneasy. Moses has declared that at midnight an Angel is to visit this land and slay all the firstborn, except in those houses which are protected by the blood of a lamb".
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Post by Admin on Sept 27, 2023 22:39:12 GMT -5
At Saint Andrew’s Chapel, we recently concluded a two-and-a-half-year study of the book of Exodus in our Sunday evening worship services. It was a tremendous journey as we made our way from Egypt, through the Red Sea, through the wilderness, up and down Mount Sinai, and toward the promised land. From the outset, we observed that one of the fundamental reasons for God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt was not simply that the Israelites would be free from bondage but that they would be set free in order to worship the Lord. Simply put, Exodus is not fundamentally about the exodus but about worship. The Lord delivered Israel that they might worship Him. The narrative of Exodus corresponds to the overarching theological narrative of Scripture, and the grand overarching narrative of Scripture is not simply redemption from bondage but redemption for worship.
Throughout the New Testament, the Lord gloriously unfolds how the promised Messiah fulfilled the prophecies, promises, and plan of our triune God.
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Throughout the New Testament, the Lord gloriously unfolds how the promised Messiah fulfilled the prophecies, promises, and plan of our triune God. Matthew’s gospel reveals how Jesus is the true and greater Israel of God (Matt. 2:13–15; 5:17; see Hos. 11:1) who accomplished what Israel failed to accomplish. He went down into Egypt and came up out of Egypt (Matt. 2). He passed through the waters (3:13–17) and through the wilderness, where He was tempted to worship something other than God alone and was sustained by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (4:1–11). He spoke with Moses and Elijah about His departure (literally, His “exodus”; see Luke 9:31). And as He repeated the story of Israel in His own person, He fulfilled the offices of king and prophet, serving as the King in the line of David who is also David’s greater Son (2:2; 12; 21:5; 27:27–31; see 2 Sam. 7) and as the Prophet greater than Moses (11:1–19; 23–24; see Deut. 18:15–22).
Jesus repeated, advanced, and fulfilled the history of Israel in the climax of His work. He suffered the exile of His death on the cross (Matt. 27:32–50), where He also fulfilled His role as the greater High Priest and the sacrificed Passover Lamb (26:1–13; 27:51). There, the temple of His body was destroyed (26:61; 27:40), but on the third day He was restored from the exile of death in His resurrection, raising up the temple of His body (28:1–10) and becoming the cornerstone of the new temple, His church, which is the fulfillment of God’s plan for His true people Israel (1 Peter 2:4–8). God’s sovereign plan and promise could not be thwarted, for now Jesus Christ has all authority in heaven and earth, and is with us to the end of the age, and He will return as our King and take us to the heavenly Promised Land.
Dr. Burk Parsons is editor of Tabletalk magazine and senior pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla. He is cotranslator and coeditor of A Little Book on the Christian Life by John Calvin and author of Why Do We Have Creeds? He is on X at @burkparsons.
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Post by Admin on Nov 9, 2023 17:10:27 GMT -5
The concept of exodus holds profound significance in both ancient history and religious narratives. Let us explore the journey from the First Exodus to the New Exodus through the lens of faith:
The First Exodus
In the Old Testament, the First Exodus refers to the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Led by Moses, they embarked on a treacherous journey across the wilderness, guided by divine signs and miracles. The Red Sea parted, manna fell from heaven, and the Ten Commandments were etched on stone tablets. This exodus symbolized freedom, covenant, and the birth of a nation.
The New Exodus in Jesus
Fast-forward to the New Testament. Here, we encounter Jesus, the embodiment of God’s love and redemption. His life, death, and resurrection form the heart of the New Exodus:
Liberation from Sin: Just as the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, humanity was bound by sin. Jesus came as the ultimate liberator, breaking the chains that held us captive. His sacrifice on the cross became our Passover lamb, securing our release.
The Wilderness Journey: Jesus’ earthly ministry mirrors the wilderness trek. He faced temptation, hunger, and isolation. Yet, unlike Moses, He didn’t lead us to a physical Promised Land; He led us to the kingdom of God—a realm of grace, forgiveness, and eternal life.
The Red Sea Crossing: In the New Exodus, the waters part once more. Baptism becomes our Red Sea moment—a passage from death to life. As we emerge from the water, we identify with Christ’s death and resurrection.
The New Covenant: At the Last Supper, Jesus inaugurated a new covenant. The bread and wine symbolized His body and blood—the ultimate Passover. Through communion, we remember this covenant, sealed not with ink but with love.
The Promised Land: The New Exodus doesn’t end in a geographical haven. It leads us to the heart of God. Jesus promised a dwelling place—a mansion in His Father’s house. Our Promised Land is communion with the Divine, where tears are wiped away, and joy reigns.
The Cosmic Exodus
But there’s more. The New Exodus isn’t limited to individual salvation. It’s cosmic—a restoration of all things. Creation groans, awaiting redemption. Jesus’ resurrection inaugurated this cosmic renewal. The New Jerusalem descends, and Eden blooms anew.
So, whether you’re a wanderer in the wilderness or a seeker at the crossroads, remember: the Exodus continues. Jesus invites us to follow—through deserts, storms, doubts, and joys. His banner over us is love, and His footsteps echo through eternity.
May our hearts be pilgrim hearts,
tracing the path from bondage to glory,
from Egypt’s chains to resurrection dawn.
For in Jesus, the New Exodus unfolds,
and we are free, forevermore. 🌟
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