Jesus In Exodus
Chapter 21
Chapter 21 deals with servanthood and as we shall see the type of Jesus is clearly brought out.
· Exodus 21:1-6 "These are the laws you are to set before them: 2 "If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. 3 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. 5 "But if the servant declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,' 6 then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.
This passage brings out the type of the perfect servant. Jesus is frequently referred to in the Scriptures as Servant. Over and over again in the Old Testament we see references to “My Servant” or “the Servant”. And in the New Testament:
· Philippians 2:5-8 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!
From the place of highest authority, to that of total dependency, did Jesus come as a servant. As the perfect servant He was bent on doing that which pleased His Master.
In verse 2 we notice that the servant was to serve his master for six years. Revelation 13:18 tells us that “six” is the number of man, therefore what is intended here is the measure of human responsibility, what man owes to his owner. The owner of man is God. Jesus came down to earth to honor His Father. He was obliged, as man, to fulfill His responsibility to God.
After six years, in the seventh year, He was free to go (after seven years, a complete number). The time had come in His life when, as man, He had done what He came to do, namely, to fulfill the Law. He had perfectly kept the commandments. At this point, according to the type, He was free to go His way.
Next, verses 3 and 4 talk about the servant’s wife and children. Jesus had no wife when He began His service because according to Isaiah 50:1, Israel had been divorced. Now, under the Law, He was entitled to go free, but under the same Law He should go alone. But there was no union possible with Jesus because of His perfection. Can you even imagine any woman being married to Jesus?
It is only on resurrection ground that union with Him is possible, and that implies death. Verses 5 and 6 say that he may choose not to go free because of the love he has for his master. Jesus did not choose to go free because He loved His heavenly Father. And it was Love, not Law, that led Him to undertake the service that involved suffering that the Law did not lay on Him. (The bored ear suggests suffering). The bored ear also marks the entire devotedness of the servant to the master and to the master’s will. What a picture of Jesus who suffered death on the cross in devotion to His Father’s will. And He is committed to doing His Father’s will forever.
The service of Jesus did not end with His ascension to heaven. He is still ministering to His own. So we see here the servant type of Jesus’ love for His master, His wife and His children, and that that service will last forever.
(Chapters 22 and 23 deal with rules that God laid down for protection of property, social relationships, laws of justice and mercy, and laws regarding the Sabbath). We will omit them in this study.
Chapter 24
Chapter 24 presents us with a most unusual scene. God calls some of His servants up to the mountain for a unique experience.
· Exodus 24:1-2 Then he said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, 2 but Moses alone is to approach the LORD; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him."
The wording of this passage seems strange to us in the light of what we are told in the Scriptures that no one can come face to face with God. We also know that for anyone to come to the Father, the work of Jesus was indispensable. An exception is made here in the case of Moses because he was the appointed mediator of his people, and therefore the type of Jesus. You will notice the number of prohibitions in verse 2 and this emphasizes what is said in verse 1 that Jesus has yet to suffer for sins.
· Exodus 24:3 When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do."
The “words” refers to the Ten Commandments and the “laws” to what was in chapters 21, 22 and 23. This is clear from what Moses said in verse 3 where he tells the people “all” that the Lord has said.
· Exodus 24:4-5 Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD.
These young men provided these priestly duties because the Levites had not yet been set apart for the office of the priesthood.
· Exodus 24:8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."
Do any of these words sound familiar to you?
· 1 Corinthians 11:25, In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
· Exodus 24:9-10, Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up 10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.
I would like for you to notice the amazing privilege of these 74 people who went up and “saw the God of Israel”. This privilege was the result of the blood that had been sprinkled on their behalf. The elders were representatives of Israel.
Verse 10 says that under God’s feet was something like a pavement made of Sapphire. Obviously we have to understand what is intended here. Do you suppose these 74 people actually “saw” God and looked down at His “feet”?
Well, first of all, God doesn’t have feet, and since God is spirit, they could not “see” Him. However, the idea here is that the manifestation of God made it perfectly clear that they were in the presence of the eternal God!!
Now do you suppose they heard God speak? Well, yes. I think so. God’s voice is available to us on certain occasions when He chooses to speak. The following verse requires a similar understanding.
· Exodus 24:11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.
You will remember that this scene began with Moses taking the blood of the bulls and sprinkling it on the altar. An unregenerate might ask how could the blood of bulls make any difference in their fitness to approach God.
And the answer is, just as a few pieces of paper may cause one to become wealthy. The pieces of paper are actually worthless except for what they represent in terms of gold or silver. Just as valueless was the blood of the bulls, except that it represents the blood of Jesus. And just as those pieces of paper could raise one from poverty to wealth, so that blood of the bulls constituted the Israelites as a holy people in covenant with God.
We mentioned Nadab and Abihu. These two were given a very special privilege to go with Moses and Aaron. They were sons of Aaron and even though they became part of the priesthood, they dishonored God and He destroyed them. The message for us here is that office and special privilege are of little value to God.
Interestingly, there has never been another instance of the elders of Israel “seeing” or “eating” with God. Sin came in and the very next thing we will see in this scene is Israel worshipping the golden calf.
· Exodus 24:15-18 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
After six days, which speaks of work, on the seventh day Moses, the mediator, is called by God to enter the glory. After Jesus had done the work that God had for Him to do, He was called up into the clouds. So Moses going up the Mount and entering the cloud to commune with God is a type of the ascension of Jesus following the completion of the work given Him to do.
We are not left to wonder what happened during the forty days that Moses was on the mountain with God. The next six chapters of Exodus tell us that Moses was given extensive instructions regarding the Tabernacle. As we shall see, the Tabernacle and all its parts prefigure the many perfections of Jesus. It is not until after the Tabernacle has been fully described that we see Moses descending the mountain. We conclude from this scene that the Holy Spirit shows that the Tabernacle speaks of what God’s grace has furnished for us during the time of the Mediator’s absence from the earth.
Looking farther ahead we ask, what do we see following the forty days Moses spends in the Mountain? Why, we see Moses descending the mountain and returning to his people. So also, Jesus who has gone back to heaven will return.
Those of you who were with us during our study of the book of Revelation will recall that we had a discussion on the various interpretations of the second coming of Jesus. At that time I suggested that the second coming would occur in two stages; the first, according to:
· 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18, For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Now notice that Jesus does not return to earth. This rapture of the church just mentioned happens and these saints meet Jesus in the air. After the church has been removed from the earth there follows a time of Jacob’s trouble, called the Great Tribulation. It is following this seven year period that Jesus returns to earth.
Now we have an amazing type of this situation right here in Exodus. Moses came down from the mountain twice, once when he found the people worshipping idols and returned to the mountain to intercede with God on behalf of the people, and the second time when he returned with the second set of stone tablets on which were written the Ten Commandments. We will get to all of this soon.
The Tabernacle
From the beginning of chapter 25 to the end of chapter 40, excepting chapters 32, 33 and 34, we will see the longest section of scriptures dealing with any one subject, the Tabernacle. And it is often scanned and given scarce consideration.
Too many have seen the Tabernacle as only a ritual of the past---a record of Jewish manners and customs which have long since passed away and which have no meaning or value for us. However, much of the book of Hebrews cannot be properly understood without reference to the contents of Exodus and Leviticus.
The Tabernacle has at least three meanings, typically speaking.
· First, it is a type, a visible illustration, of that heavenly place where God has His dwelling.
· Second, it is a type of Jesus, who is the meeting place between God and man.
· Third, it is a type of Jesus in the church---of the communion of Jesus with all believers.
The key to the Tabernacle then is Jesus. The Tabernacle foreshadows the person and work of Jesus and each detail in it typified some aspect of His person or ministry.
· John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
Some versions say He “tabernacled among us”. Tabernacle means dwelling or to dwell. Consider the following:
The Tabernacle was a temporary arrangement. It was a tent, a temporary convenience. It was different from the temple of Solomon. So it was with Jesus who tabernacled among men during His brief stay on earth, and like the type, He lived not long in any place, but was constantly on the move.
· The Tabernacle was for use in the wilderness. A careful reading of the Pentateuch will reveal that the Tabernacle was in use in the wilderness for less than thirty-five years.
· The Tabernacle was humble and unattractive in outward appearance. It was also true of Jesus.
· The Tabernacle was God’s dwelling place. Jesus was God in human form on earth.
· The Tabernacle was the place where God met man. How perfect is the type as Jesus is now the meeting-place between God and man.
· The Tabernacle was the center of Israel’s camp, just as Jesus is our gathering place.
· The Tabernacle was the place where the Law was preserved. It was Jesus who came to fulfill the Law.
· The Tabernacle was the place where sacrifice was made and Jesus was the sacrifice.
· The Tabernacle was the place where the priestly family was fed. Jesus is the Bread of Life of God’s priestly family of today, that is, all believers.
· The Tabernacle was the place of worship and we today come to worship Jesus.
· The Tabernacle had only one door. Jesus is the only way to approach God.
· The Tabernacle was approached through the tribe of Judah. It was through the tribe of Judah that Jesus entered the world and it is through Him that we approach God.
If you studied the book of Exodus carefully you would notice that there are two accounts given of the construction of the Tabernacle. First we have a description of the Tabernacle and its furniture as it was given to Moses by God Himself on the mountain. Then beginning in chapter 35 to the end of the book we have the actual construction of the Tabernacle. There is a reason for these two accounts.
Look how this prefigures Jesus. First, there is the Tabernacle as it was originally planned in heaven and then shown to Moses as a pattern. Jesus, the great sacrifice, was no afterthought on God’s part. God throughout the Old Testament gave prophecies to prophets of the planned Savior.
Next, in chapters 32 and 33 we will see a dark interval of rebellion, when Israel sinned against God. This depicts the failure of man during the whole of the Old Testament period and it speaks of the need of redemption which God had planned in Jesus.
In the last six chapters we will see the actual erection of the Tabernacle, typifying the actual outworking of God’s plan for the Savior to come through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The neglect of typology and the ignorance today concerning the spiritual significance of the Tabernacle is a solemn sign of our times. The pyramids of Egypt and the catacombs of Rome are popular areas of interest. The ancient abbeys of England and pagan temples attract thousands of visitors each year. But the Tabernacle of God, like its antitype, is almost despised and rejected by mankind. While it is no longer visible on earth, a detailed account of it is given to us in Scripture. But it is so widely ignored that comparatively few Christians know anything of the wonders and spiritual beauties to be found in the book of Exodus.
G. Needham writes:
“The typical portions of Scripture are supremely important and as a study vastly interesting. Types are shadows. Shadows imply substance. A type has lessons. It was the design of Jehovah to express His great thought of redemption to His people Israel in a typical or symbolic manner. By laws, ceremonies, institutions, persons and incidents, He sought to keep alive in Israel’s heart the hope of a coming Redeemer. Christ is therefore the key to Moses’ gospel. This then is our advantage, that we can minutely compare type and antitype, and learn thereby the lessons of grace which bringeth forth salvation,”
The Tabernacle---the materials of which it was made, the seven pieces of furniture, the priesthood who ministered there, the offering and sacrifices---is one of the great object lessons teaching us spiritual truth. By means of the Tabernacle God revealed His character and made known His purpose of redemption. The Tabernacle was the place of cleansing.
Probably the most important lesson taught us through the Tabernacle was the way in which a sinner might approach God, given the fact that sin had separated him form God. The order in which the Tabernacle and its contents are described is significant. The order is from the interior to the exterior. This is the order of grace. In the second description of the Tabernacle the order is reversed and it goes from exterior to interior.