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Scripture Reading: Exo. 3:1-18; 19:1-6; Lev. 1:1-2; Num. 1:1
In this message we will begin to present a vital sketch of the divine revelation in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers concerning God's economy with His chosen and redeemed people. We may use four slogans to summarize certain crucial aspects of this sketch: "Purchased, redeemed, and saved from the bondage of the fall"; "Enjoying Christ, receiving revelation, and being built up in the Triune God"; "Formed into a priestly army to fight for God and to journey with God"; and "Possessed by God to possess the all-inclusive Christ as the good land." These slogans are a mingling of Old Testament typology and the fulfillment of this typology in the New Testament. This should not be surprising since the two sections of the Bible, the Old Testament and the New Testament, are one. We may say that the New Testament is hidden in the Old Testament and that the Old Testament is manifested in the New Testament.
These four slogans apply to the saints in both the Old Testament and New Testament. The saints have been chosen, redeemed, and saved from the bondage of the fall. The Old Testament saints were saved from bondage in Egypt, and we have been saved from the bondage of Satan. Having been saved, we are now enjoying Christ. Like the children of Israel at Mount Sinai, we have also received the divine revelation and are being built up with the processed Triune God. We are being built up with the Son as the embodiment of the Father and with the Spirit as the realization of the Son. Furthermore, we are being formed into a priestly army. The term priestly army may be an Old Testament term, but it also fits the New Testament fulfillment of Old Testament typology. This priestly army fights for God and journeys with God. While we are fighting for God and for His kingdom, we are journeying with Him. Finally, we have been prepared by God in every way to possess the all-inclusive Christ as the good land. This preparation is revealed in the last five chapters of Numbers, where we see the prearrangement of the distribution of the good land. This prearrangement was the preparation of God's people to enter into the land and possess it.
In this message and in the four following messages, we will present a vital sketch of the divine revelation in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers concerning God's economy with His chosen and redeemed people. The word economy is not used in the Old Testament, but it is found in the New Testament, especially in the writings of Paul, which strongly emphasize the matter of God's economy. Although this word may not be used in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, the typology in these books unveils God's economy. God's economy is His administration with His plan, His purpose, and His arrangement to accomplish His plan and attain His purpose for the fulfillment of the desire of His heart. This desire is to have a people not only created by Him but also regenerated, sanctified, transformed, and conformed to the image of Christ as the embodiment of the processed Triune God. Eventually, this people will be brought into glory, into the expression of the Triune God. This is God's economy. In the Old Testament we have a picture of God's economy; in the New Testament we have a clear speaking concerning God's economy.
God's chosen and redeemed people need to receive the divine revelation concerning God Himself and His economy for their training and building up as His testimony. Since God's choosing of His people is in the book of Genesis, this point covers Genesis as well as Exodus. In Genesis God's people were chosen, and in Exodus they received the divine revelation concerning God and His dwelling place.
God's chosen people received the divine revelation after their participation in God's initial salvation as realized in the Passover (Exo. 12). God brought the people out of Egypt to the mountain of God, Mount Sinai, and there gave them a full revelation of His dwelling place among the human race on earth. We may say the revelation contained the "blueprints" for the building of God's dwelling place. In order to dwell among the human race, God needs a people who are not only chosen and redeemed but also ready to receive the divine revelation concerning Him and His dwelling place. As the book of Exodus shows us, God's people did receive this revelation and they built the tabernacle according to it. When the tabernacle was set up, God's glory descended upon it.
The divine revelation was through the enjoyment of the divine provisions as tasted in the supply of the heavenly manna and the living water flowing out of the smitten rock (Exo. 16; 17:1-7).
The divine revelation was also through the experience of being an army that shared in God's fighting against His enemies, as in their fighting against the Egyptians and the Amalekites (Exo. 14; 17:9-16).
Eventually, in Exodus 19 God's chosen and redeemed people reached and arrived at the mountain of God. When God sent Moses to rescue the children of Israel out of the hand of Pharaoh, God told Moses that after he had brought the people out of Egypt, they would serve the Lord upon this mountain (Exo. 3:12). In Exodus 19 this word was fulfilled.
At Mount Sinai God's people received the revelation concerning God Himself that they might be separated unto the holy God as His sanctified people (Exo. 20—24). By the revelation of God Himself, we refer to the law. The law is a portrait of God. Before the children of Israel received the revelation concerning God's building, God gave them a portrait of Himself to show them what kind of God He is. The law reveals that God is a God of love and light and that He is holy and righteous. Therefore, love, light, holy, and righteous are crucial words describing the characteristics of the almighty, Triune God. As the God of love and light, He is altogether holy; that is, He is uncommon, different, and separate from everything else in the universe. Furthermore, God is altogether righteous. He is righteous with Himself, He is righteous in all He does, and He is righteous toward man and all His creatures. This is God as He is revealed in the picture in Exodus 20—24.
In the New Testament we have a description of God, but we do not have a picture of God. John tells us clearly that God is love and light, and Paul tells us that the very God who is love and light is absolutely holy and righteous.
The Ten Commandments are a type signifying Christ as the portrait of God, as the expression of God's image. Hebrews 1:3 says that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is the express image of God's substance. Using a modern term, we may say that Christ is a photograph of God. To see Him is to see God.
The law is also a portrait of God. By studying the commandments of the law, we can see that God is love and light and that He is holy and righteous. Because the law is such a picture of God, the law was called the testimony of God (Exo. 25:16, 21; 31:18). The ark in which the law was placed was called the ark of the testimony (Exo. 25:22), and the tabernacle was called the tabernacle of testimony (Exo. 38:21). In the Psalms the law is often referred to as the testimony (Psa. 19:7; 25:10; 119:2). This testimony was a portrait, a picture, of God.
God's people received the revelation concerning God Himself so that they might be separated unto the holy God as His sanctified people. This matter is given particular emphasis in the book of Leviticus. For example, Leviticus 11:44 says, "I am Jehovah your God; you shall therefore sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy."
In addition to receiving the divine revelation concerning God Himself, the children of Israel received the divine revelation concerning God's economy that they might be built up together with God in His divine Trinity as His dwelling place on earth for His testimony (Exo. 25—40). The revelation concerning God's economy includes the revelation concerning the divine arrangement, administration, and purpose.
That God's people were to be built up together with Him is indicated by the materials which were to be used for the building of the tabernacle. For instance, the boards of the tabernacle, like the ark, were made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The boards of acacia wood are a type of God's people, and the gold overlaying the boards is a type of the divine Person. Thus, the boards of acacia wood overlaid with gold signifies God's people being built up together with God to be His dwelling place. From this we see that not only are God's people the building materials for His dwelling place but also that God Himself is the building material.
In the tabernacle we can see a picture of the divine Trinity. It is rather easy to see that the tabernacle reveals Christ the Son. For example, the ark, the showbread table, and the incense altar all signify the Son. But where do we see God the Father and God the Spirit? The Father is signified by the gold, for in typology gold signifies the nature of God, which, no doubt, is related to God the Father. God the Spirit is signified by the oil in the seven lamps in the lampstand. If the lamps had not had oil, they would have been useless, and there would not have been any light in the tabernacle. (Here we would also point out that the lampstand, which is a single entity, signifies the Triune God. The gold signifies the Father, the form signifies the Son, and the oil signifies the Spirit.) Therefore, with the tabernacle we have the Triune God — with the Son signified by the furniture, the Father signified by the gold, and the Spirit signified by the oil — and humanity, signified by the acacia wood. This is a revelation of God's people being built up with the Triune God to be His dwelling place on earth.
The entire tabernacle was God's testimony. As we have pointed out, the two tablets of the law were called the testimony, the ark was called the ark of the testimony, and the tabernacle was called the tabernacle of testimony. For this reason, the entire tabernacle, from the inside to the outside, was considered the testimony of God. This means that the tabernacle was a portrait of the Triune God. Furthermore, the Triune God is actually His own dwelling place, for the dweller and the dwelling are one. The dweller is the dwelling place.
The forty-eight boards of the tabernacle correspond to the forty-eight cities given to the Levites. Six of these cities were to be refuge cities. The most striking point regarding the refuge cities is that they were enterable. Eventually, these forty-eight cities of the Levites will consummate in a unique city — the New Jerusalem. The tabernacle revealed in Exodus is a miniature of this unique city. In the Old Testament God's testimony was the tabernacle, and in the New Testament it is the church, the Body of Christ. In eternity this testimony will consummate in the New Jerusalem, which is also called a tabernacle (Rev. 21:3). Thus, there was a tabernacle in the Old Testament, there is a tabernacle in the New Testament, and there will be a tabernacle in eternity. In the Old Testament the tabernacle was with the children of Israel, and in the New Testament the tabernacle is firstly Christ (John 1:14) and then the church as the enlargement of Christ. In eternity there will be the ultimate, consummate tabernacle, the New Jerusalem. In each case, the striking point is that the tabernacle is enterable. An entry into the tabernacle is available to us today. Hallelujah, the Triune God is enterable!
Finally, God's chosen and redeemed people received the divine revelation concerning God's priesthood with all its offerings and its services. The entire book of Leviticus is a record of this revelation.
