Israel's Deliverance And Service From Mount Sinai

by J. BENNISON | Category: God's Centre And Man's Centre | Apr 1963

Is the saying true that "the New Testament is enfolded in the Old and the Old Testament is unfolded in the New"? We venture to assert that it is, that our study will substantiate this statement, and that the witness of the New Testament to the Old gives the key to interpretation.

"The New is in the Old contained,

The Old is by the New explained."

Writing of the history and vicissitudes of God's people Israel, Paul says,

"Now these things happened unto them by way of example ; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come" (1 Corinthians 10.11).

According to that statement every recorded happening to the children of Israel has a spiritual value and a lesson for the people of God today. The brazen serpent was the one incident our Lord chose to teach Nicodemus the story of His own uplifting as the Antitype. Further, and this touches us in our day, Israel failed to enter into God's rest through disobedience and this is a warning to us.

"Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience" (Hebrews 4.11).

In the opening chapter of the book of Exodus we see a people depressed and oppressed under a yolk of slavery and the lash of their merciless taskmasters. Hard was their lot and bitter their bondage. They were crushed and broken, having forgotten to a large extent the promise made to their forefather Abraham, some four hundred years earlier, " I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great" (Genesis 12. 2). They were slaves of Pharaoh, that haughty monarch, and sad to say, were idolaters, worshipping Egypt's gods (Ezekiel 20.1-8). Their condition was a sorry one, and, though the record is brief, it makes it abundantly clear that, if the purposes of God were to be accomplished, they would need a deliverer.

Meantime God raised up a deliverer in the person of Moses, who was "instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians; and he was mighty in his words and works" (Acts 7.22). Let us not forget that this great man of antiquity would never have found a place in the annals of the word of God apart from his faith in God. Three times over this is cited in Hebrews 11 as the secret of what Moses accomplished for the people of God. The life story of this great man is profoundly important, viewed in the light of God's purpose for His people through him. Almost forty years were spent in the court of Pharaoh. The second forty were spent in the back side of the desert, then follow the forty years leading the people of God through the wilderness. Throughout Israel's bitter and sore bondage God was not indifferent, His ear was open to their cry. Did He not say, " I have surely seen the affliction of My people ... and have heard their cry ... for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them ? (Exodus 3.7, 8). Again, "I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians ... and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgements: and I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God" (Exodus 6.6, 7).

Moses and Aaron in pursuance of the divine command, having summoned the elders of Israel together (Exodus 3.16-22), appeared before Pharaoh. No doubt he received them as he would any other suppliants, but what must have been his feelings when he heard what they said to him?

"Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness" (Exodus 5.1).

Pharaoh's reaction was one of supercilious scorn, answering the divine command with,

"Who is the LORD, that I should hearken unto His voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, and moreover I will not let Israel go" (Exodus 5.2).

With a bitter taunt they were dismissed from Pharaoh's presence; thus began the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, and the preparation for their redemption. Behind Moses was God Almighty, and behind Pharaoh was the power of darkness. It was really a spiritual conduct between two opposing forces fighting for supremacy. The issue is never in doubt.

"He hath made bare His arm, who shall His work withstand?

'Tis He His people's cause defends, who then can stay His hand?"

We can only briefly refer to the plagues that followed, commencing with the waters of Egypt being turned into blood. All of these plagues were aimed directly at the gods of Egypt. The last but one was the plague of darkness over the land of Egypt, which was a direct blow at Egypt's sun-god Ra. For three days there was midnight darkness, though Israel had light in their dwellings. When the darkness was dispelled, Pharaoh for the last time sent for Moses and made another effort at compromise. The people could go, but the flocks and herds must remain. To this Moses made answer, "There shall not an hoof be left behind" (Exodus 10.26). Again the proud spirit of the haughty monarch broke forth "Get thee from me ... for in the day thou seest my face thou shalt die"

(Exodus 10. 28).

Moses replied,

"Thou hast spoken well; I will see thy face again no more" (Exodus 10.29).

"Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of

Egypt: and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die" (Exodus 11. 4-5).

The time had now come for the final judgement on Egypt. The LORD would go out into the midst of Egypt, and smite every firstborn of man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt He would execute judgement. There followed that awful cry in Egypt. It was a cry of despair: there was not a house where there was not one dead. God is long-suffering, He waits, He pleads, but when men harden their hearts so surely will the wrath of God burst forth in all its fury. It was in that midnight hour that the judgement came, but a far more terrible judgement awaits this godless scene, when the Lord shall come as a thief in the night, suddenly, swiftly-" In flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel" (2 Thessalonians 1.8). In the homes of the Israelites, where the blood had been applied, they were calmly feasting on the roast lamb, with loins girt, shoes on feet, and staff in hand, ready to depart, and conscious of perfect security, having obeyed the word of the LORD.

A new era had begun. Israel's bondage was over; they bade farewell to Egypt, to its idolatry and slavery for ever. As the LORD decreed, "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months" (Exodus 12.2). Even so it is today, the cross of Christ is the way of escape from a doomed world. "Our Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil world " (Galatians 1.8, 4). By the cross of Christ the believer is crucified to the world, of which Egypt is a type, and separated unto God (see Galatians 6.14).

Exodus gives us the fullest and clearest foreshadowings of the truth of redemption. In the type the firstborn represented the family, and the decree was that "all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die" (Exodus 11.5). There was no exemption for Israel but the way of deliverance God devised. The paschal lamb had to be killed for every house, pointing forward to the great culminating sacrifice, "For our Passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ" (1 Corinthians 5.7).

We learn from this typology, and from the teaching of the New Testament, that the passover was the initial step in the full redemption of God's people Israel. The decree had gone forth - "Let My people go, that they may serve Me" (Exodus 8.1; 9.1; 10.8). Obedience was necessary to divine deliverance, and divine deliverance was necessary to Israel's service. Israel was delivered from Egypt's bondage and doom, redemption by blood was followed by redemption by power. With a strong hand were they brought forth, hut their deliverance was not complete until they stood on the wilderness side of the Red Sea. Looking back, they beheld their enemies dead on the sea shore. The power that had enslaved them was broken. "The Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever" (Exodus 14.18). They saw, they believed and they sang.

"Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, ...

I will sing unto the LORD, for He hath triumphed gloriously:

The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.

The LORD is my strength and song,

And He is become my salvation" (Exodus 15. 1, 2).

The early months of Israel's wilderness experiences are worthy of prayerful study. It was a time of proving; their trials were sent to

test, not to distress. Alas, how unwilling they were to learn! "Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea... and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water" (Exodus 15.22). And "the people murmured". Their murmuring against Moses was in reality rebellion against God. Yet, throughout their chequered history, God was longsuffering, bearing patiently with their waywardness and hardness of heart. To make it abundantly clear that God Himself was planning, they were bidden to "Come near ... and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud" (Exodus 16.9, 10). Thus in the raining of bread from heaven, and the ordinances of its gathering, and in the smiting of the rock at Rephidim, God proved Israel.

The spiritual import of all this is very clear to us. "The bread of God is that which cometh down out of heaven... I am the Bread of life: he that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst" (John 6.83, 85) (see also 1 Corinthians 10.8, 4).

"Jesus, the bread of life, is given to be our daily food:

And from the Rock that once was riven we drink the streams of God."

Subsequently, as Israel journeyed on they met their first enemy of the wilderness, Amalek (Exodus 17.8-16). Israel were not the aggressors in this battle. Amalek was a strong warlike people" the first of the nations". It was their object to destroy God's people and blot them out. The war with Israel at Rephidim foreshadows the conflict every believer experiences. " The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh" (Galatians 5.17). From the moment of the new birth, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, war with Amalek begins. As with Israel so with the believer, Amalek, the flesh, is the aggressor. This conflict continues unabated, subtle and treacherous, to counter the Spirit's working in the child of God.

As in the antitype so in the type, the battlefield had its upper and lower spheres. Whilst Moses on the hill-top had his hands uplifted, Joshua in the valley was triumphant, Israel prevailed. Praise God it need never be otherwise, for the LORD, mighty in battle, is for us, and He it is who gives the victory.

"While Moses stood with arms spread wide,

Success was found on Israel's side

But when through weariness they failed,

That moment Amalek prevailed."

Following the victory at Rephidim, Israel moved on to the wilderness of Sinai and encamped before the mount (see Exodus 19). The sojourn of the people of God at Sinai was a most vital one. The giving of the law was the first of the great events recorded, it was an expression of divine grace and truth. After His previous gracious dealings, the LORD was desirous of entering into covenant with them.

"If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me from among all peoples : for all the earth is Mine and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (Exodus

19.5,6).

Though "the earth is the LORD'S... the world, and they that dwell therein " (Psalm 24.1), Israel was to be His precious possession, His choice treasure, for so the word implies. A similar expression is used of the people of God in the present dispensation, "Ye are an elect race ... a people for God's own possession" (1 Peter 2.9) (see also Titus 2.14). When Moses made known to Israel the gracious purpose of God, they declared their readiness to obey the word of the LORD.

"And all the people answered ... all that the LORD hath spoken we will do" (Exodus 19.8).

Then on the third day, after ceremonial cleansing, bounds having been set round Sinai, for the mount burned with fire, God proclaimed His holy law amidst portentous signs. These signs produced such an impression on the people that they were afraid and besought Moses that any future communications should be made through him. In acceding to their request, Moses explained the reason of all that they had witnessed. "Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before you, that ye sin not" (Exodus 20.20). Once again Moses stood in the thick cloud where He received from God further ordinances (see Exodus 24). All of which was necessary in the setting apart of these people as His own precious heritage.

Though we do not undervalue matters relative to their social life which were necessary, these were preceded by an indication of the manner in which Israel was to worship God (see Exodus 20.24-26). The altar was to be a simple structure of earth, or of unhewn stone. Moreover it was only to be reared where God appointed it, where He recorded His name. In other words their worship was to be regulated by His manifested presence and not by their ideas.

When the people had accepted the terms of the covenant (Exodus 24.3) it was inaugurated by sacrifice and the sprinkling of blood.

This transaction was possibly the most important in the whole history of Israel, for by this sacrifice, never renewed, Israel was set apart as the people of God. It lay at the very foundation of all the spiritual service that followed. Half of the blood was sprinkled on the altar, the other half on the people, and also the book, with the words,

"Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you upon all these conditions" (Exodus 24.8, marg.).

There is an unmistakable parallel to this in the introduction to Peter's first epistle addressed to "The elect ... according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1.1, 2). The order here is precise and instructive. The sanctification of the Spirit of which Peter here speaks precedes the sprinkling of blood. This truth is clearly seen in the typology. Israel agreed to do whatever the law demanded, and thereupon the blood of the victims was taken and sprinkled on the people, as well as on the book that bound them.

When the national constitution had been perfected, they were indeed a Theocracy, a people subject to the throne of God. It was necessary that God could meet with them, and moreover dwell amongst them. Once again God calls Moses to the mount and there shows him the pattern of the Tabernacle.

"Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them" (Exodus 25.8, 9).

Not only in its grand outline, but also in every detail it had its special significance both in type and shadow. It was from His dwelling place that God gave commandments regarding all that pertained to His worship. It was here that the priesthood and sacrifice, collective worship and order began, typifying the service of that which we have presented in the New Testament as "the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth"

(1 Timothy 3.15).

J. BENNISON | Apr 1963
God's Centre And Man's Centre