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Scripture Reading: Exo. 14:19-20, 24-25; 17:6; 23:20-23, 25; 25:31-37; 30:23-25; 31:3; 32:34; 33:2-3; 35:31; 40:34
Prayer: Lord, we love You, and we love Your word. How we thank You for Your speaking. Lord, we trust in You, Your grace, Your anointing, and every word that You would speak to us. Lord, cover us. We praise You for Your cleansing blood, which allows us to enjoy Your rich anointing.
In Exodus there are two main matters related to the Divine Trinity: the Angel of God and the Spirit of God. These two matters correspond with the New Testament revelation of the Trinity. The Lord Jesus is the New Testament fulfillment of the Angel of Jehovah as God’s sent One, and the Spirit is also a major item in the New Testament.
The thought concerning the Divine Trinity in the Old Testament is exactly the same as the thought in the New Testament. However, the revelation of the Trinity is clearer in the New Testament but more detailed in the Old Testament. The New Testament revelation is clear because verses like Matthew 28:19 explicitly mention the three of the Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Divine Trinity is also clearly revealed in 2 Corinthians 13:14, which says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Revelation 1:4-5 says, “Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth.” These verses in Revelation 1 refer to the Father, the Spirit, and the Son, indicating the Divine Trinity. Several other New Testament passages reveal the Divine Trinity in a similar way.
Although the revelation of the Trinity in the Old Testament is not as clear as in the New Testament, the Old Testament conveys more details concerning the Trinity. When the children of Israel were thirsty in the wilderness, God told Moses to strike the rock in Horeb, and water came out of the smitten rock (Exo. 17:6). In 1 Corinthians 10:4 Paul says that the rock typifies Christ, the second of the Trinity, who was smitten by God to flow out living water (cf. John 19:34). In John 7:37-38 the Lord Jesus cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.” Verse 39 indicates that the living water is the Spirit. Therefore, the New Testament allows us to see that the Old Testament type of the smitten rock flowing out living water portrays the Triune God flowing out to dispense Himself into His thirsty people. These details concerning the Trinity are particularly revealed in the Old Testament.
Another Old Testament type is the lampstand. The lampstand in Exodus 25:31-37 typifies Christ as the embodiment and expression of the Triune God (Matt. 4:16; John 1:4-9). According to Zechariah 4:10, the seven lamps of the lampstand signify the seven eyes of Jehovah. Revelation says that the seven lamps are the seven Spirits of God (4:5), which are the seven eyes of the Lamb (5:6). By these verses we can see that the lampstand is Christ shining with the Spirit as the lamps. The nature, or substance, of the lampstand is gold, which signifies God the Father in His divine nature. Thus, the lampstand reveals the Father as the substance, the nature; the Son as the embodiment, the form; and the Spirit as the shining, the expression.
The compound ointment in Exodus 30:23-25, which signifies the all-inclusive Spirit in the New Testament, is another type full of details that can be found only in the Old Testament picture. We need much time, prayer, and appreciation to digest the details of the Divine Trinity as revealed in the Old Testament. The revelation concerning the Trinity is clear in the New Testament, but it is more detailed in the Old Testament. For this reason, we need to study the entire Bible concerning the Trinity.
We need a proper heart in order to thoroughly study the Trinity in the Bible. Since my youth I have had a heart for this. Anytime I heard others talking about the Trinity, I would leave whatever I was doing and go to listen. Whenever I learned of a book concerning the Triune God, I would buy it and read it.
The Divine Trinity is the structure of the entire Bible. Although steel may not be visible in a large building, the basic structure of the building is a steel frame. The rest of the building does not mean anything without the steel frame. Similarly, the framework of the entire divine revelation is the Divine Trinity.
Exodus 14:19-20 says, “The Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. And the cloud was there with the darkness, yet it gave light by night to them. Thus one did not come near the other all night.” Verses 24 through 25 say, “At the morning watch Jehovah looked down upon the camp of the Egyptians from within the pillar of fire and of cloud and threw the camp of the Egyptians into confusion...so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from Israel, for Jehovah is fighting for them against the Egyptians.” In these verses we can see three key items concerning the Trinity: the Angel of God, the pillar of cloud, and Jehovah.
It is not easy to understand what the pillar of cloud was. By day it appeared as a cloud, but in the night it appeared as a fire (13:21). Normally, it is impossible for clouds and fire to remain together. As I began to study the Word in the early years of my Christian life, I discovered that many such matters were not addressed adequately in Christian literature. For this reason, I am not content with the shallow, traditional teachings common among Christians today. We need a thorough study of the divine Word.
In 1 Corinthians 10:2 Paul says, “All were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” The New Testament believers are baptized into the death of Christ and into the Spirit (Rom. 6:4; 1 Cor. 12:13). Thus, in typology the Red Sea prefigures the death of Christ, and the cloud signifies the Spirit. The New Testament also says that the believers are baptized into name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19) and into the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 8:16), which is to be baptized into Christ Himself (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27). Thus, we are baptized into four items: the death of Christ, the Spirit, the Triune God, and Christ Himself. However, in the type of baptism there are only two items: the sea and the cloud. We have seen that the sea typifies the death of Christ, and the cloud typifies the Spirit. Thus, we may wonder what typifies Christ and the Triune God. Actually, Christ is the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17), and the Spirit is the consummate expression of the Triune God (John 7:39; Rev. 22:17). This means that to be baptized into the Spirit is to be baptized into Christ and into the Triune God. In the Gospels we are told to be baptized into the Triune God (Matt. 28:19), in Acts we are told to be baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus (8:16), and in the Epistles we are told to be to be baptized into the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13). This also indicates that to be baptized into the Triune God is to be baptized into Christ and into the Spirit.
The Triune God is embodied in Christ (Col. 2:9), and Christ is realized as the Spirit (John 14:16-18; 2 Cor. 3:17). Christ embodies God, and we experience Christ as the Spirit. We come to the Triune God through Christ in the Spirit (Eph. 2:18), and the Triune God comes to us in Christ through the Spirit. Therefore, to be baptized into the Spirit is to be baptized into Christ, and to be baptized into Christ is to be baptized into the Triune God. It is one thing to be baptized into the Triune God, into Christ, and into the Spirit. The children of Israel were baptized in the water of the Red Sea, which typifies the death of Christ, and in the cloud, which typifies the Triune God embodied in Christ and realized as the Spirit. The pillar of cloud is the Spirit as the realization of Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God. Today the Spirit dwells in us as the pillar of cloud. In the clear day He is the cloud, and in the dark night He is the fire.
The cloud in Exodus 14 is a wonderful type of the Triune God in Christ as the Spirit. This cloud was continually with the children of Israel from the passover until they entered into the good land. When the tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered it, and the element of the cloud filled it as glory (40:34). The cloud and the fire were only the outward appearance; the inward element of the cloud was the divine nature of the Triune God. The cloud settled on the tabernacle, and when the cloud moved, the children of Israel journeyed with it. The cloud led the way, fought the battle for them, and abode with them. This is our Triune God. Because of religious concepts, it may be difficult for some to accept the thought that the cloud is the Triune God. However, this is what the Bible reveals. Our God, who is triune, is the pillar of cloud today to the church. This cloud abides with the church, leads the church on, opens the way and fights the battle for the church, and is the glory in the church. When we sense the Lord’s glory in the church, what we sense is the element of the Triune God.
Such details concerning the Trinity are found only in the Old Testament pictures. The expression pillar of cloud is composed of plain words, but these words convey a picture, a sign, that allows us to see something. Pictures are used to teach children in elementary school. It is important that the children not only read and hear but also see what they are learning. The cloud in Exodus is such a picture; it is not an ordinary cloud. Similarly, when the Lord was baptized and came up out of the water, the Spirit descended upon Him like a dove (Matt. 3:16). Here the picture of the dove represents the Spirit well. By seeing the picture of the dove, we can understand more than many words could explain. The standing pillar of cloud in Exodus is a picture full of meaning concerning the Triune God. At the crucial time this pillar moved behind the camp of Israel and stood between them and the camp of the Egyptians as a pillar full of darkness on the side of the Egyptians and shining with light on the side of Israel. This cloud represents the Triune God in Christ as the Spirit.
The Angel of God, the pillar of cloud, and Jehovah, as the Divine Trinity, protected God’s redeemed people and fought their enemies for them for the purpose of bringing the redeemed into the enjoyment of the Triune God. In Exodus 14 God appeared as the Angel of God, the pillar of cloud, and Jehovah. We may wonder why God did not do things as Himself directly but was “complicated” by doing things as the Angel of God and the pillar of cloud. According to verses 19 through 20, it was the pillar of cloud that protected Israel from Pharaoh and the Egyptian army. However, verses 24 and 25 say that it was Jehovah who fought from within the cloud (cf. Num. 14:14). Actually, it was the Triune God who fought. Although many such points concerning the Trinity are puzzling and even inexplicable, we know that the Trinity exists for the purpose of dispensing God into us.
One of the compound names of Jehovah in the Old Testament is Jehovah-shammah, which means “Jehovah Is There,” or “Jehovah is present” (Ezek. 48:35). The presence of God today is God Himself as the Spirit. The Spirit is not something other than God. The presence of God as the Spirit is for dispensing. Thus, Jehovah-shammah is God Himself for dispensing. While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, the pillar of cloud and of fire was a sign that gave them peace by causing them to realize that God was with them. Moreover, they all knew when it was time to move, because they all could see when the cloud moved. This typifies the Triune God moving with them and dispensing Himself for their enjoyment.
According to Exodus 14:24 and Numbers 14:14, Jehovah was in the cloud and in the fire. Although normally nothing can exist within fire, our God was in the fire for the purpose of dispensing Himself to His people so that they could partake of Him, participate in Him, and enjoy Him. The Angel of God, the pillar of cloud, and Jehovah, as the Divine Trinity, brought God’s redeemed people first to feast with the Triune God, then into the tabernacle, and finally into the good land. The feast, the tabernacle, and the good land signify the Triune God for His people’s enjoyment.
Exodus 23:20-23 says, “I am now sending an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Be careful before Him, and listen to His voice; do not rebel against Him,...for My name is in Him. But if you will indeed listen to His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. For My Angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites...and I will cut them off.” Verse 25 says, “You shall serve Jehovah your God, and He will bless your bread and your water.”
Just as the Angel came in the name of Jehovah, the Lord Jesus as the sent One of God came in the name of the Father (John 5:43). Exodus 23:22 shows that the Angel’s voice was Jehovah’s speaking, proving that the Angel and Jehovah are one. The Angel’s voice being Jehovah’s speaking is similar to the Lord Jesus never speaking from Himself but only from the Father (John 8:28; 12:49). When others heard the Lord’s voice, they received the words of the Father. For this reason, the Lord said in John 5:24, “He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me.”
The first part of Exodus 23:23 says that it is the Angel of Jehovah who will go before Israel, but the end of the verse says that it is Jehovah who will cut off their enemies. This also shows that the Angel and Jehovah are one. Exodus 32:34 says, “Now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you. Now My Angel will go before you.” Exodus 33:2-3 says, “I will send an Angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanites...Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey.” In these verses also, the Angel of Jehovah and I, Jehovah, are used interchangeably. The Angel of Jehovah, Jehovah as the Triune God (Elohim), brought His redeemed people into the good land and cut off their enemies so that the redeemed could enjoy the riches of the Triune God. This is the Trinity revealed in the second book of the Old Testament. This shows that we cannot systematize the truth in the Bible.
In Exodus 17:6 Jehovah said to Moses, “I will be standing before you there upon the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.” Moses represented the law. Jehovah as the smiting God, the rock as the crucified Christ, and water as the Spirit of life signify the Divine Trinity (1 Cor. 10:4). The water flowing out signifies the dispensing of God. This clearly reveals that the Divine Trinity is for God’s flowing out into His people. By the authority of God, Christ was smitten on the cross, and the living water flowed out (John 19:34). This living water is the Spirit, who flows into our being. The rock being smitten typifies Christ being crucified so that the Triune God might gush out as the thirst-quenching Spirit into His redeemed people for their enjoyment and satisfaction (7:37-39; Rev. 22:1).
Exodus 25:31 says, “You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand with its base and its shaft shall be made of beaten work.” Verse 37 says, “You shall make its lamps, seven.” The lampstand as God’s embodiment (Christ the Son), gold as God’s nature (the Father), and the seven lamps as God’s expression (the sevenfold Spirit) signify the Divine Trinity and show that the Triune God is consummated as the sevenfold intensified Spirit to shine out the Triune God as light into us (Rev. 4:5; 5:6).
Exodus 30:23-25 says, “You also take the finest spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred fifty shekels, and of fragrant calamus two hundred fifty shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels...and a hin of olive oil. And you shall make it a holy anointing oil, a fragrant ointment compounded.” One hin signifies the unique God, and olive oil signifies the Spirit of God. The three units of five hundred shekels signify the Triune God; the split middle unit, comprising two units of two hundred fifty shekels each, signifies the crucified Christ as the second of the Divine Trinity. Four signifies the human nature of Christ. The spices signify Christ’s death (myrrh), the effectiveness of Christ’s death (cinnamon), Christ’s resurrection (calamus), and the power of Christ’s resurrection (cassia). All these ingredients and measurements are compounded into one ointment as the holy anointing oil, signifying the processed, all-inclusive, compound Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God to anoint His redeemed people. The compound ointment was used to anoint the tabernacle, the altar, and the priests. Anointing is similar to painting. When paint is applied to an object, the paint becomes one with the painted object. We are “painted” with the Triune God and thereby become one with Him. The Triune God was processed to become the all-inclusive compound Spirit for the purpose that the Triune God in His ultimate expression may impart His divine element with all the processes He went through, including incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, into His redeemed people, making them one with Him.
Exodus 31:3 says, “I [Jehovah] have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom and with understanding and with knowledge and with all kinds of workmanship.” Exodus 35:31 says, “He [Jehovah] has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom.” The design of the various parts of the tabernacle with all its furniture is marvelous. No human mind could produce such a design. The wisdom came from the Spirit, who is God Himself. For the building of God’s dwelling, which is the church today, what is needed is not a momentary, sudden outpouring of the Spirit, as with speaking in tongues, but the inward filling of the Spirit. God filled the builders of the tabernacle with His Spirit not in power but in wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and workmanship. The Spirit of the Triune God (Elohim) filled the workers of the tabernacle for the building up of God’s dwelling place on the earth so that the Triune God might be experienced and enjoyed by His redeemed people. The tabernacle was built so that God’s redeemed people could enter into it to experience God and could stay there to enjoy God through the work of the filling Spirit, that is, of the Triune God.
In Exodus the Angel of Jehovah God as the second of the Trinity delivered God’s people out of their bondage, brought them to the wilderness to feast with the Triune God, and brought them farther into the good land to enjoy the riches of the Divine Trinity. The Spirit of God as the third of the Divine Trinity and the ultimate expression of the Triune God, typified by the water flowing out of the cleft rock, the seven lamps of the lampstand, and the compound ointment, reached God’s redeemed people to satisfy them, enlighten them, and anoint them with the element of the Triune God and all the “ingredients” of His processes for the building up of His habitation on the earth so that they might partake of Him, enjoy Him, and express Him.
