THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
From Moses to Samuel
Message Two—Exodus (2)
Scripture Reading: Exo. 20:1-17; 34:28; Psa. 19:7; Rom. 7:14; 2 Cor. 3:6; 2 Tim. 3:16; John 5:39-40, Exo. 25:8-9; 31:1-6, 12-17; 36:1-2; 39:32-43; 40:1-38
I. The law as the testimony of God, the expression of God, is the revelation of who God is to His people—Exo. 16:34; 31:18; 32:15; 40:20; 25:21-22; 38:21; 20:1-17; Psa. 19:7; Gen. 1:26: (2015 ST, msg. 1)
A. A law is always a revelation of what kind of person has enacted that law. (2015 ST, msg. 1)
B. God regards the Ten Commandments, the ten laws, as “the ten words”—a further indication that the law is a revelation of God Himself, since the words a person speaks are a revelation of that person—Deut. 4:13; Exo. 34:28; 20:1. (2015 ST, msg. 1)
C. As the word of God and the testimony, the expression, of God, the law is a type of Christ as God’s Word and God’s testimony, God’s expression; Christ describes and expresses God in a full and adequate way—John 1:1, 18; Rev. 19:13; 1:5; Col. 1:15. (2015 ST, msg. 1)
D. Christ is the reality of the law as the testimony of God; the testimony of God signifies Christ, the embodiment of God, as the living portrait of what God is—2:9: (2015 ST, msg. 1)
1. As the law is the ten words of God that reveal God to His people, so Christ is the Word of God revealing God to us— John 1:1, 14. (2015 ST, msg. 1)
2. We should not try to keep the law from without but let Christ live Himself out from within so that we may become the testimony of God, the expansion and enlargement of God’s expression—Rom. 8:4. (2015 ST, msg. 1)
E. The reality of keeping the law is to live God and express God; such a living, a living in the eternal economy of God, is the living of a God-man, a life of continually denying the self and being crucified to live Christ, who is God’s testimony, by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ for the enlarged and expanded expression of God—Matt. 16:24; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:19-21a; Rom. 8:4. (2015 ST, msg. 1)
II. There are two aspects of the law—the aspect of the letter and the aspect of the Spirit; “the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life”—2 Cor. 3:6; cf. Psa. 119:50: (2015 ST, msg. 1)
A. If in coming to the law we do not seek God in love but rather separate the law from the living God as the source of life, the law, which was intended to result in life but cannot give life of itself, will become a condemning and killing element to us—cf. John 5:39-40; Gal. 3:21. (2015 ST, msg. 1)
B. However, if we take every part of the law—all the commandments, ordinances, statutes, precepts, and judgments—as the word breathed out by the God whom we love, we will have the law in the aspect of the life-giving Spirit—2 Tim. 3:16: (2015 ST, msg. 1)
1. If we love God, humble ourselves, and regard the law as His living word through which we contact Him and abide in Him, the law will become a channel through which the divine life and substance are conveyed to us for our supply and nourishment. (2015 ST, msg. 1)
2. By being infused with God’s substance through the law as God’s word, we become one with God in life, nature, and expression and spontaneously live a life that expresses God and corresponds to His law—Rom. 8:4; Phil. 1:21a; John 6:57, 63. (2015 ST, msg. 1)
III. The function of the law has two aspects—Rom. 3:20; 5:20; 7:7-8, Psa. 119:2, 88: (2015 ST, msg. 1)
A. On the negative side, the law exposes man’s sin and subdues sinners before God; the law also guards God’s chosen people in its custody that they might be conducted to Christ—Rom. 3:20; 5:20; 7:7-8; 3:19; Gal. 3:23-24. (2015 ST, msg. 1)
B. On the positive side, as God’s living testimony, the law functions to minister the living God to His seekers, and as God’s living word, the law functions to dispense God Himself as life and light into those who love the law—Psa. 119:2, 88, 25, 116, 130. (2015 ST, msg. 1)
IV. The law is the living word of God to infuse His substance into His loving seekers to make them His testimony for the fulfillment of His eternal economy—Rom. 7:14; John 4:24; 2 Tim. 3:16: (2015 ST, msg. 1)
A. The law is spiritual, the same in essence, nature, and substance as God, who is Spirit—Rom. 7:14; John 4:24. (2015 ST, msg. 1)
B. The law as God’s ten words is His breath to convey His element into the ones who receive His words—2 Tim. 3:16. (2015 ST, msg. 1)
V. The book of Exodus reveals that what God wants is the Ark of the Testimony in the Tabernacle of the Testimony—25:8, 21-22; 40:1-3, 20-21: (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
A. God’s intention is to have the ark; the ark is the Ark of the Testimony; and the Ark of the Testimony causes the tabernacle to become the Tabernacle of the Testimony—25:10, 16, 22; 38:21; 40:2-3. (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
B. According to the book of Revelation, the ark of God eventually consummates in a tabernacle which will be the New Jerusalem—God’s eternal goal—11:19; 15:5; 21:2-3. (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
VI. The book of Exodus portrays the building of the tabernacle—35:1—39:43: (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
A. The most noble task is the work of building up God’s dwelling place with all the furniture portraying Christ and our Christian experience—36:8—39:31. (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
B. For God’s building we need an uplifted heart; this kind of heart is an inner motor motivating us to do the work of building up God’s dwelling place—36:2. (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
C. All the builders of God’s dwelling place should be full of the Lord’s light—31:2. (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
D. If we would build God’s dwelling place, we must be filled with the Spirit of God—v. 3; 35:31. (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
E. The materials offered for the building of the tabernacle typify the Christ experienced by us in different aspects—25:2-7; 35:4—36:7. (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
VII. The book of Exodus portrays the erecting of the tabernacle—40:1-38: (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
A. The book of Exodus indicates that we need to have two beginnings: one typified by the Passover in chapter twelve, and the other typified by the erecting of the tabernacle in chapter forty: (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
1. The second beginning is related to the building of God’s dwelling place—40:2. (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
2. The building of the church as God’s house is the genuine second blessing, the blessing that takes place on the first day of the first month of the second year—1 Tim. 3:15. (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
3. When in our Christian life we experience the building of God’s dwelling place in a practical way, we have the second beginning. (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)
B. After the tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory filled the tabernacle—Exo. 40:34: (1999 FTTA, msg. 35)