Message 1
The divine revelation in the Scriptures is progressive, unfolding and developing book by book and chapter by chapter. The sixty-six books of the Bible were written over a period of approximately sixteen hundred years. During this long period, God did not speak once for all at one specific time. Rather, He spoke to His people progressively, time after time, over a long period.
In Col. 1:25 Paul said that he was made a minister according to the economy of God “to complete the word of God.” At the time of Paul, God’s revelation in the Scriptures had not been completed. Thus, there was the need for Paul to take up the burden to speak and to write in order to complete the Word of God. It is John’s writing in the book of Revelation, however, that marks the completion of the divine revelation in the Scriptures. Because the revelation is complete, we are warned neither to add to nor to take away from the words of God’s revelation (Rev. 22:18-19). Now that God’s progressive revelation in the Scriptures has been completed, no one is permitted to add anything to it. What we need to do today is to read, study, and even search the Bible progressively book by book.
Having completed the life-study of Genesis, we come now to the book of Exodus. Historically, Exodus is the continuation of Genesis. Experientially, however, Exodus is not a continuation of Genesis. According to spiritual experience, what is portrayed in Exodus is not a continuation of the experience of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as recorded in Genesis. In our study of Genesis we pointed out that the experiences of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are three sections of the experience of one person, one believer: the experience of being called and of living in fellowship with God by faith (Abraham), the experience of enjoying the inheritance (Isaac), and the experience of transformation (Jacob). In Genesis we have a clear picture of the three main sections of a believer’s spiritual experience. Because the Old Testament presents such a vivid and detailed picture of spiritual experience, the Old Testament has become very precious to me, and I have come to regard it highly.
Spiritual experience has not only sections, but also different sides, different aspects. The portrait of our experience in Genesis covers just one side, one line. In Exodus we see another side, another line. The record of experience presented in Genesis is marvelous, but it is not complete. For the completion we need another aspect, which is found in Exodus.
By comparing Exodus with Genesis we can see how Exodus presents a side or line of spiritual experience not found in Genesis. For example, in Genesis we do not have a clear picture of redemption. With Abraham we see God’s calling, but there is no account of Abraham’s redemption. Abraham was an example of a typical called one; he was called by God out of Chaldea, out of the land of Babel, a land of rebellion and idolatry. When Abraham was still living in Babel, the God of glory appeared to him and called him (Acts 7:2, 3). But there is no clear word concerning redemption. The picture we see in all of Isaac’s experience is a picture of the enjoyment of the rich inheritance rather than a picture of redemption. Neither is there a picture of redemption in the record of Jacob’s experience. Although Jacob was eventually transformed into an Israel, a prince of God, there is no record regarding Jacob’s experience of redemption. Where then were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob redeemed? They were redeemed in Exodus. In this book we have a clear and full picture concerning God’s redemption.
What portrait of redemption could be clearer than that of the Passover? Not even in the New Testament do we find a more detailed picture. The Passover is a beautiful picture of our redemption. In this picture there is even an indication of the cross. I once read an article describing how the Passover lamb was slain by the Jews. According to this article, they took two wooden bars and formed a cross. Then they tied two of the lamb’s legs to the foot of the cross and fastened the other outstretched legs to the cross bar. Following this, the lamb was slain so that all its blood was shed. Hence, in the picture of the Passover we see the cross. Furthermore, as we consider the portrait of the Passover, we receive a vivid impression of the powerfulness of the blood of the Lamb of God. Exodus 12:13 says, “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.” Such a wonderful picture is in Exodus, but not in Genesis.
Another contrast between Genesis and Exodus is seen in the matter of the Lord’s care for His people. After Abraham was called, he began to follow the Lord. Not knowing where he was to go, Abraham enjoyed the presence of the Lord as his living road map. He simply journeyed according to the Lord’s presence. Although Abraham traveled the long distance from Chaldea to the land of Canaan, the book of Genesis does not tell us how the Lord supported him or took care of him. We know, of course, in a general way that the Lord supplied Abraham with all he needed, but in Genesis we do not have the same kind of specific instances showing the Lord’s direct care for Abraham as we have in Exodus showing His care for His people. In Exodus from the very beginning we have a clear and detailed record of how the Lord took care of His redeemed people. When they were short of food, He supplied them with manna. When they had no water to drink, He gave them living water out of the cleft rock. In Exodus we see not only the Lord’s leading but also a vivid portrait of how the Lord took care of the daily needs of His redeemed people. In this matter Exodus is more detailed and solid than Genesis. Not even in the New Testament do we find such a picture of the spiritual life supply. This should cause us to be impressed with the significance and importance of the book of Exodus.
Some further comparisons will make this impression even stronger. Although the Lord led Abraham by His presence, the Lord’s leading in Genesis is rather vague and abstract. In Exodus, however, it is much more solid and substantial, for in Exodus the Lord led His people by means of the pillar, something strong and solid. As we all know, in the daytime the Lord’s presence was a pillar of cloud, and during the night it was a pillar of fire. Because the Lord’s leading had a visible substance, all the people could recognize it.
In Genesis 18 God visited Abraham and ate with him; He stayed with Abraham for part of a day. However, in Genesis there is no clear revelation regarding the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place. In Exodus there is not only the revelation of the pattern of God’s dwelling place, but there is also a detailed record of the actual building of God’s dwelling place in a practical way. In Genesis God appeared to His chosen people again and again, but He did not have a substantial dwelling place among them. The book of Exodus, however, records in a very full way both the revelation and the building of the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place on earth.
A further contrast between Genesis and Exodus is seen in the difference between individual experience and corporate experience. The experience in Genesis is primarily individual, but the experience in Exodus is corporate. Abraham, for example, was called as an individual. Even what the Lord gained by transforming Jacob into Israel was an individual matter. Jacob had twelve sons, but all except Joseph were below the standard. The entire experience portrayed in Exodus, on the contrary, is corporate. The redemption, the leading, the revelation, and the building are all corporate matters.
In our spiritual experience there are two sides, the individual side and the corporate side. No doubt, the individual side is basic, but the corporate side is richer, higher, and greater. The ultimate consummation and completion of our experience as believers is not individual; it is corporate. In Genesis we have the basic, individual experience, but in Exodus we have the ultimate, corporate experience.
Consider as an illustration the use of the name “Israel” in these two books. The book of Genesis concludes with an individual Israel, but the book of Exodus concludes with a corporate Israel. Exodus 14:30 says, “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore.” In this verse the word “Israel” is used in a corporate way to refer to all the Israelites. But in Genesis the name “Israel” is used in a personal and individual way to refer to the transformed Jacob (Gen. 35:10, 21). In Genesis Israel is an individual person, but in Exodus Israel is a corporate people. The individual Israel at the end of Genesis can be compared to a little sprout of a seed, but the corporate Israel at the end of Exodus is like a full-grown tree bearing fruit. The corporate Israel, composed of the descendants of the individual Israel, is the increase and enlargement of the individual Israel. In Exodus 40 we have not an Israel limited to one person, but an Israel enlarged to be a corporate entity composed of the descendants of the individual Israel. It is vital that we see this.
Furthermore, in Exodus salvation is not an individual matter; rather it involves all the children of Israel. At the time of the exodus from Egypt there were approximately two million Israelites, all of whom were saved simultaneously; they passed through God’s judgment at the same time.
On the one hand, we Christians were saved individually and personally. However, on the other hand and in the eyes of God, we were saved together. We were saved corporately. This is Paul’s concept in Ephesians 2:6, where we are told that we were raised up together and seated together in the heavenlies. The word “together” in this verse means with one another. In the eyes of God, we all were raised up at the same time. Peter was not raised up at one time; Stephen, at another; and Paul, at still another. No matter when we were born, we were all raised up in Christ corporately at the same time.
Although we were redeemed collectively, in a sense, we are called individually. None of us was called when the Apostle Paul was called. Concerning God’s calling, there is an individual element; however, with God’s redemption there is nothing individual, but everything is corporate.
We have pointed out that at the end of Genesis we have an individual Israel. But in the last chapter of Exodus, we have a corporate vessel, God’s habitation, God’s dwelling place with man on earth. Through this contrast we can see the difference between the line in Genesis and the line in Exodus. In Genesis there is the line of individual spiritual experience, whereas in Exodus there is the line of corporate experience. In Genesis basically two people, Abraham and his wife, came out of Chaldea, but in Exodus over two million people came out of Egypt. What a contrast!
Although the book of Genesis is rich, in this book we do not see God’s glory manifested among His people in a substantial way. However, in chapter forty of Exodus, the glory of God came down visibly and substantially when the tabernacle was erected. Not only did the glory of God come down upon the tabernacle, but it also filled it.
A further contrast between Genesis and Exodus is seen in the way the fall is presented in these two books. The Bible shows us different aspects of man’s fall. In Genesis the fall was a fall into rebellion and idolatry, that is, a fall into Babel. Before we were saved, we were in Babel, in a land of rebellion and idolatry. But we were also in Egypt, the place of the fall as described in Exodus. Egypt is a land of fleshly enjoyment. This enjoyment brings people into slavery, under bondage. Therefore, in the Bible, Egypt signifies the world as the fleshly enjoyment which brings us into slavery. Before we were saved, we were in Babel on the one hand and in Egypt on the other. This means that we were in rebellion and idolatry and also in the world with its enjoyment, including sports and entertainments. The fleshly enjoyment in the world is for the satisfaction of the natural man. Through this fleshly and worldly enjoyment, fallen man is held in slavery under Satan as his Pharaoh. Fallen people are like those in Babel and like the children of Israel in Egypt. If we were limited to the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the book of Genesis, we would see only the aspect of our fall that is depicted by Babel. We would see rebellion and idolatry, but not slavery and bondage through worldly enjoyment. Even with man’s fall there are two lines. On one hand, we are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; on the other hand, we are the children of Israel.
Having seen many of the contrasts between Genesis and Exodus, we should no longer consider Exodus a continuation of Genesis as far as our experience is concerned. To repeat, Exodus is not a continuation of the spiritual experience in Genesis; it reveals another side or line of the believer’s experience. The experience in Genesis is somewhat vague and abstract, but the experience presented in Exodus is solid and substantial. Every aspect of the experience in Exodus is solid, from the Lord’s presence as the pillar to the glory filling the tabernacle.
Both Genesis and Exodus contain pictures of the spiritual experiences described in the New Testament. The pictures in Genesis, however, are not as definite as those in Exodus. From beginning to end, Exodus is a picture book. Both Pharaoh and the land of Egypt, for example, are pictures. Pharaoh portrays Satan, and Egypt depicts the rich, productive aspect of the world. (The sinful aspect of the world is represented by Sodom.) Watered by the Nile, the land of Egypt produces cucumbers, garlic, leeks, and onions. During the years of wandering in the wilderness, the children of Israel complained about the lack of those particular foods that they enjoyed abundantly in Egypt. In Egypt the Israelites had much enjoyment of the Egyptian produce, but in the wilderness they had only manna to eat. This is a picture.
As you read the book of Exodus, keep in mind that you are not merely reading words, but looking at pictures. The celebration of the Passover and the smiting of the firstborn by the destroying angel are pictures. While all the firstborn in Egypt were being smitten, the children of Israel were enjoying peace, rest, and safety as they ate the Passover lamb in their houses under the covering of the blood. What a marvelous picture! The pursuit of the Israelites by Pharaoh and his armies is also a picture of Satan and his host of rebellious angels in pursuit of God’s redeemed ones. When we come to the book of Exodus, we are watching a heavenly television. On this television we see pictures of our own redemption and salvation. Pharaoh and his army pursued the children of Israel into the Red Sea and were drowned there. The Israelites, however, marched through the sea triumphantly. Nowhere else in the Bible can we find such a picture.
We see more pictures in the calling of Moses. When God called Moses, He firstly gave him a vision of a burning bush, a bush that was burning without being consumed (3:2-4). Unable to escape God’s calling, Moses expressed his concern that the children of Israel would not believe him nor hearken to his voice (4:1). Therefore, God told Moses to cast his rod on the ground. When Moses did so, the rod became a serpent. But when Moses took up the serpent by the tail, it became a rod again in his hand (4:2-4). Then the Lord commanded Moses to put his hand into his bosom. When Moses took his hand out of his bosom, it was “leprous as snow” (4:6). At the Lord’s command, he put his hand into his bosom again and took it out, and “it was turned again as his other flesh” (4:7). After showing these signs to Moses, signs that were to be proofs to the children of Israel that the Lord had truly appeared to him, the Lord said, “If they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice,...thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land” (4:9). This was to be a further sign.
These signs are very meaningful. The bush denotes our natural man. The fact that the bush was burning without being consumed indicates that when God calls us, He does not intend to use our natural man.
The rod represents anything other than God that we rely on. The rod becoming a serpent reveals that anything apart from God that we rely upon is a serpent, the Devil. Thus, if you rely upon your husband or wife, your husband or wife is a “serpent.” The same is true of your education or your bank account. When we obey the Lord to cast down the rod, it becomes a serpent. But God does not want us to cast away the rod forever. At His command, we need to take it up again by the “tail.” We need to grasp our education or bank account by the “tail.”
Moses’ hand becoming leprous is an indication that in our flesh there is nothing good; our flesh is the embodiment of leprosy. If we touch ourselves, we become leprous.
Finally, the changing of the water of the Nile into blood signifies that the enjoyment of the world is death.
These signs indicate that God will not use our natural man, that everything we rely on other than God is Satan, that our flesh is leprous, and that the enjoyment of the world is death. These are some of the pictures in Exodus. There are other pictures in this book related to the Red Sea, the manna, the water flowing from the smitten rock, and the tabernacle with its furniture.
The general sketch of Exodus firstly shows how the children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt (1:8-14). Then it reveals that the children of Israel were redeemed and saved (12:27; 14:30). After their redemption and salvation, the children of Israel were led by the Lord in the wilderness (13:17-18, 21-22; 17:1; 19:1-2; 40:36-38). They were led by the pillar of cloud and by the pillar of fire. Furthermore, manna rained down from heaven, and living water flowed from the cleft rock. In their journeys the children of Israel eventually were brought by the Lord to Mount Sinai where they received a revelation of God’s eternal purpose, which is to have His dwelling place on earth (25:8-9, 40). After receiving this revelation, they built the tabernacle for God’s habitation (39:32; 40:2, 34-35).
Exodus is not only a book telling how the Israelites got out of Egypt; it is a book of redemption, supply, revelation, and building. The exodus from Egypt was simply the beginning. This was followed by the supply, the revelation, and the building.
The central thought of Exodus is that Christ is the redemption, salvation, and supply of God’s people and the means for them to worship and serve God so that in Him they may be built up with God together for them and God to meet, communicate, and dwell mutually. We see Christ throughout the book of Exodus. As the Passover, He is the means of our redemption. As the great salvation for God’s people, He saves us out of the hand of Pharaoh, Satan. As the manna and the living water, He is our life supply. Furthermore, the Red Sea signifies Christ’s death in which we are baptized (1 Cor. 10:2). Romans 6:3 says that those who are baptized into Christ are baptized into His death.
In Exodus Christ is many other items: the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, the seventy palm trees and twelve springs at Elim, and the tabernacle with all its furniture. Through the tabernacle and its furniture, God’s redeemed people could serve Him and worship Him. This indicates that Christ is the means by which we serve God and worship Him. God’s chosen people are to be built up together into one entity, the tabernacle, where God and man may mutually meet, communicate, and dwell. In Christ we and God, God and we, are built together, meet together, and dwell together. This is the central thought of the book of Exodus.
We may outline the sections of Exodus in a simple way. The book is arranged in five sections: enslaved (1:1-22), redeemed and saved (2:1—15:21), led (15:22—18:27), receiving revelation (19:1—34:35), and building the tabernacle (35:1—40:38). Having this introductory word before us, we shall get into the details of this book in the following messages.
