In Exodus
we have a revelation of God
in various aspects,
including the Divine Trinity:
The book of Exodus
reveals God
in various aspects:
God is
the self-existing
and ever-existing God.
God is
the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.
God is
the God of the Hebrews.
God is
the God of Israel.
God is
the speaking God.
God is
the God of the covenant.
God is
the sovereign God.
God is
the redeeming and saving God.
God is
the blessing God.
God is
the healing God.
God is
the infusing God.
God is
the courting God.
God is
the processed and consummated God.
God is the God
who dwells in the tabernacle.
In Exodus
there is a revelation
of the Divine Trinity:
Exodus emphasizes two matters
concerning the Divine Trinity:
the Angel of God, or the Angel of Jehovah,
and the Spirit of God.
The Divine Trinity
is revealed
in the type of
the pillar of cloud,
which signifies the Triune God
embodied in Christ
and realized as the Spirit.
The Divine Trinity
is revealed
in the type of
Jehovah and the Angel of Jehovah
bringing His redeemed
into the good land
and cutting off their enemies.
The Divine Trinity
is revealed
in the types of
the cleft rock,
the lampstand,
and the compound ointment.
The tabernacle
covered by the cloud
and filled with glory
typifies the embodied Triune God.
As a book of pictures,
Exodus reveals
that God’s building
is the goal of
His salvation, provision, and revelation:
God’s complete salvation
for His chosen people
includes
the passover,
the exodus from Egypt,
and the crossing of the Red Sea:
The passover
signifies redemption.
The exodus
signifies the going out of the world.
The crossing of the Red Sea
signifies baptism.
In the wilderness
the children of Israel
experienced God’s provision
—the heavenly manna
and the living water
out of the cleft rock:
To partake of manna
is to have a heavenly diet
and to be reconstituted with
a heavenly element.
Christ was smitten for us
so that living water
could flow out of Him
to quench our thirst.
As we eat and drink of Him,
the Triune God
works Himself into our being.
At the mountain of God (Mount Horeb),
the children of Israel
received a revelation
concerning God and the tabernacle:
The spiritual significance
of the mountain of God
is that it
is the place of
God’s speaking
with God’s vision.
At the mountain of God,
God’s people
saw a heavenly vision
by which they
came to know God Himself
and to know the kind of living
that is in accordance with God.
At the mountain of God,
God’s people
saw the revelation
of the desire of God’s heart
—to have a dwelling place
on earth.
The goal of
God’s salvation, provision, and revelation
is His building, His dwelling place
on earth:
God’s building
is the mingling of God with man,
the corporate expression of the Triune God,
and the enlargement of God.
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
to meet, communicate, and dwell mutually.
The purpose of the book of Exodus
is to show us
that the goal of God’s full salvation
is the building up
of His dwelling place:
Exodus is an account
of how God saved His chosen people
and gave them a heavenly vision
so that they could build
His dwelling place
on earth.
God’s goal
in dealing with
His people, the children of Israel,
was to obtain
a dwelling place.
God’s chosen people
were saved all the way
from their fallen condition
into God’s dwelling place.
In Christ
we and God, God and we,
are built together,
meet together,
and dwell together;
this is
the divine thought
in the book of Exodus.
The direction of the book of Exodus
is toward the building
of the tabernacle:
What God desires to have
is a corporate expression of Himself
through His called and redeemed people.
We need to be delivered
from the world
and freed
to participate in God’s building:
The world
is against God’s building,
and God’s building
is opposed to the world.
If God’s people
are willing to be rescued
from the world
unto God,
God can work out His purpose
to have a dwelling place.
For God’s building
we need to have
the experience of Marah and Elim
and to drink
the water of life in resurrection.
We must build God’s dwelling place
according to the pattern
revealed on the mountain;
the pattern of
the tabernacle and all its furnishings
is a full and complete type
of both the individual Christ
as the Head
and the corporate Christ
as the Body, the church,
including many details
of the experience of Christ
for the church life.
The direction of the book of Exodus
is toward the building
of the tabernacle:
What God desires to have
is a corporate expression of Himself
through His called and redeemed people.
We need to be delivered
from the world
and freed
to participate in God’s building:
The world
is against God’s building,
and God’s building
is opposed to the world.
If God’s people
are willing to be rescued
from the world
unto God,
God can work out His purpose
to have a dwelling place.
For God’s building
we need to have
the experience of Marah and Elim
and to drink
the water of life in resurrection.
We must build God’s dwelling place
according to the pattern
revealed on the mountain;
the pattern of
the tabernacle and all its furnishings
is a full and complete type
of both the individual Christ
as the Head
and the corporate Christ
as the Body, the church,
including many details
of the experience of Christ
for the church life.
God’s dwelling place
is built with the Christ
whom we have experienced,
enjoyed,
and offered to God:
The church
is built with the Christ
who has become our experience.
The materials
with which the church is built
are filled with
the character of resurrection
and are altogether
in a heavenly position.
The materials
for God’s building
are the virtues
of Christ’s person
and work
that have been possessed,
experienced,
and enjoyed
by us
and offered to God
in resurrection
as a heave offering.
For the building up
of God’s dwelling place,
we need a consecration
in which we offer precious things
to God;
without such a consecration,
the building of God
cannot come into being
in a practical way.
The book of Exodus
begins with
slavery in Egypt
and ends with
the building of the tabernacle;
Exodus consummates with
God’s tabernacle, His dwelling place,
filled with His glory.
The physical tabernacle
(and later the temple),
as God’s dwelling place
in the Old Testament,
was actually a symbol
of a corporate people, the children of Israel
as the house of God:
At the beginning
of the New Testament age,
the incarnated Christ
as God’s embodiment
was both the tabernacle
and the temple of God.
Through His death and resurrection
the individual Christ
was enlarged to be
the corporate Christ, the church,
composed of the New Testament believers
as the temple,
the house of God,
and the Body of Christ.
Ultimately,
the tabernacle and the temple
will consummate in the New Jerusalem
—the Triune God
mingled with His redeemed people
of both the Old Testament
and the New Testament—
as God’s eternal dwelling place.
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Prophecy note, 12 April 2015
How different
is the conclusion of Exodus
from the conclusion of Genesis!
At the end of Exodus
we do not have a coffin
containing a dead body;
we have a tabernacle
containing the glorious God.
The book of Genesis
ends with a dead person
in a coffin
in Egypt.
Exodus
begins with a picture
of God’s people
serving as slaves
in Egypt.
As we consider the situation
both at the end of Genesis
and at the beginning of Exodus,
we see
that we were dead,
and also slaves of Satan,
typified by Pharaoh.
We all
were usurped by Satan
and were enslaved to him.
But Christ
as our Passover
has delivered us,
released us,
from this slavery.
Christ’s redemption
has brought us
out of the satanic slavery in Egypt
into a land of freedom, the wilderness.
In the wilderness
God’s further activity
brings us
to a glorified tabernacle.
Here
there is
no death,
no sin,
no world.
Instead,
we have God
with His presence and glory.
No longer
are we dead
and in the world,
but now
we are part
of a living and moving tabernacle
for the accomplishment
of God’s purpose
on earth.
Here
at the Tent of Meeting
we have God
in His presence and glory.
Here
we become His dwelling,
and He becomes our dwelling.
This is
a mutual abode.
With the Tent of Meeting
what we have
is not merely an individual expression;
we have a people
as God’s corporate expression.
The goal of God’s purpose
is to have such an expression
through His redeemed people.
What God desires
is to have
a corporate expression of Himself
through His called and redeemed people.
Day 6
The church is
not built with any natural materials,
and it is
not even built with Christ directly.
Rather,
it is
built with the Christ
who has become our experience.
The church
is built
not merely with the Christ
prepared by God,
but with the Christ
possessed, enjoyed, and experienced
by us
in resurrection and in the heavenlies.
We need
a rich experience
of Christ’s resurrection and ascension.
We should not be
natural or earthly.
On the contrary,
we should be
in resurrection and in the heavenlies.
In Exodus 25:2
the heave offering,
not the wave offering,
is mentioned.
The fact
that the materials
were to be presented
as a heave offering
means that these materials
refer to
what we have experienced
in resurrection.
All the virtues
of Christ’s person
and work
are offered to God
as a heave offering
in the character of resurrection,
in the position of the heavenlies,
and for the building
of God’s dwelling place
on earth.
The materials
we offer
must have
the character of resurrection
and a heavenly position.
This indicates
that the church
is built with materials
which are filled with
the character of resurrection
and altogether in a heavenly position.
If we see this,
we shall not take
the way of organization.
Organizing is natural;
it has nothing
to do with resurrection.
The material
for the building of the church
must be full of
the character of resurrection.
The last verse of Genesis
says,
“And Joseph died
…and he was put in a coffin
in Egypt.”
In this verse
we can see death,
which is the result of sin,
and also the world.
This is
the conclusion of Genesis.
How different
is the conclusion
of the book of Exodus!
At the end of Exodus
we do not have a coffin
containing a dead body;
we have a tabernacle
containing the glorious God.
The book of Genesis
ends with a dead person
in a coffin
in Egypt.
Exodus
begins with a picture
of God’s people
serving as slaves
in Egypt.
As we consider the situation
both at the end of Genesis
and at the beginning of Exodus,
we see
that we were dead,
on the one hand,
and also slaves of Satan,
typified by Pharaoh,
on the other hand.
We all
were usurped by Satan
and were enslaved to him.
But Christ
as our Passover
has delivered us,
released us,
from this slavery.
Christ’s redemption has brought us
out of the satanic slavery in Egypt
into a land of freedom (the wilderness).
In the wilderness
God’s further activity
brings us
to a glorified tabernacle.
Here
there is
no death,
no sin,
no world.
Instead,
we have God
with His presence and glory.
No longer
are we dead
and in the world,
but now
we are
part of a living and moving tabernacle
for the accomplishment
of God’s purpose
on earth.
The physical tabernacle
(and later the temple)
as God’s dwelling place
in the Old Testament
was actually a symbol
of a corporate people, the children of Israel
as the house of God.
At the beginning
of the New Testament age
the incarnated Christ
as God’s embodiment
was both the tabernacle
and the temple of God.
Through His death and resurrection
the individual Christ
was enlarged
to be the corporate Christ, the church
composed of the New Testament believers
as the temple,
the house of God,
and the Body of Christ.
Ultimately,
the tabernacle and the temple
will consummate in the New Jerusalem
—the Triune God
mingled with His redeemed people
of both the Old Testament
and the New Testament—
as God’s eternal dwelling place.
Day 5
The direction of the book of Exodus
is toward the building of the tabernacle.
We have pointed out
that Bezaleel, the grandson of Hur,
was granted the gift
by God
to become skilled in working
on various aspects of the tabernacle.
This indicates
that our prayer
needs to be
with a view to the building of the church.
What God is doing today
is toward this goal.
If our prayer life
does not have in view
the building of the church,
our prayer
will not last very long.
But if we
have the priesthood and the kingship
and care for the building up
of the tabernacle, the church,
our prayer life
will not become heavy.
Rather,
it will be supported
by the priesthood and the kingship,
and it will have
the building of the church
in view.
Having been redeemed
by the Passover lamb,
we traveled
through the wilderness
and experienced Christ
as the heavenly manna
and enjoyed Him
as the living water
out of the cleft rock.
Eventually,
we were brought to Mount Sinai,
and it is here
that we have the church life,
typified by
the living of the children of Israel
around the Tent of Meeting.
Even if not all of us
have entered into the tabernacle,
we all are gathered
around the Tent of Meeting,
and we can see the cloud
on the Tent of Meeting.
Here
there is
no sin,
no death,
and no world.
Here
at the Tent of Meeting
we have God
in His presence and glory.
Here
we become His dwelling,
and He becomes our dwelling.
This is
a mutual abode.
With the Tent of Meeting
what we have
is not merely an individual expression;
we have a people
as God’s corporate expression.
The goal of God’s purpose
is to have such an expression
through His redeemed people.
This expression
is the goal
not only of God’s redemption,
but also of His eternal purpose.
What God desires
is to have
a corporate expression of Himself
through His called and redeemed people.
In the second section of Exodus,
chapters eighteen through forty,
we see
that God’s redeemed people
were in the enjoyment of the kingdom.
Having been delivered from the world
and having dealt with the flesh,
they were able to build the tabernacle
as God’s dwelling place.
Through all these pictures
with all the plagues
we can see
the real situation
of our fallen human life.
No other portion in the Bible
shows us
such a detailed picture
of the worldly life
as it opposes God’s building.
The world
is against God’s building,
and God’s building
is opposed to the world.
God’s chosen people
are the crucial factor
between these two opposing forces.
If God’s people
remain in the world,
God cannot do anything.
But if they
are willing to be rescued
from the world
unto God,
God can work out His purpose
on the earth
to have His dwelling place.
In chapters fourteen through seventeen
we have
a portrait of the many experiences
through which we pass
after baptism.
These experiences
include the experiences at Marah and Elim,
the eating of the heavenly manna
to satisfy our hunger,
and the drinking of the living water
to quench our thirst.
After we were saved and baptized,
we had
the experiences at Marah and at Elim.
Then
we ate the manna
and drank the living water.
The water
which came out of the rock
is the water of life
in resurrection.
Resurrection denotes something
which has been put to death
and which is alive again.
It also denotes life
which springs forth
out of something
that has passed through death.
The pattern of
the tabernacle and all its furnishings
is a full and complete type
of both the individual Christ
as the Head
and the corporate Christ
as the Body, the church,
including many details
of the experience of Christ
for the church life.
Day 4
Exo. 1:11
So they set taskmasters over them
to afflict them
with their burdens.
And they built
storage cities for Pharaoh,
Pithom and Raamses.
Exo. 40:35
And Moses was not able to enter
the Tent of Meeting,
because the cloud settled on it
and the glory of Jehovah
filled the tabernacle.
Many Christians
have read through the book of Exodus
without being deeply impressed with the fact
that the goal of God’s salvation
is to bring His redeemed people
into His dwelling place on earth.
God’s aim in His salvation
is to make us
His dwelling place.
This crucial matter
must be emphasized repeatedly
until it makes a deep impression on us.
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.
The complete view of the book of Exodus
encompasses God’s salvation
for the building of His dwelling place.
In the first seventeen chapters of this book
we have a portrait of
how God saved His people,
delivered them,
rescued them,
and provided for them
in the wilderness.
Then
He brought them to Mount Sinai
to give them the vision
of the building of His dwelling place
so that they
might build it
according to this vision.
If we read the book of Exodus
according to the natural concept,
we shall emphasize
the giving of the law.
To us,
the book of Exodus
will primarily be a record of
how God gave
commandments, ordinances, and statutes
through Moses.
However,
if we have a divine, spiritual viewpoint
in reading this book,
we shall realize
that Exodus is
not primarily a story of
the giving of the law,
but is an account of
how God saved His chosen people
and gave them a heavenly vision
so that they could build
His dwelling place
on earth.
God’s goal in dealing with
His people, the children of Israel,
was to obtain
a proper dwelling place.
Deuteronomy 33:16
speaks of
God as the One
who dwelt in the thornbush.
This word, written by Moses,
indicates that God
possessed that burning thornbush
as His house, His dwelling place.
God’s goal
is to work Himself
into His redeemed people.
God wants to work Himself
into His chosen people
that He may have
a full expression
in eternity.
This is
the goal of God’s full salvation.
God’s dispensation
is toward this goal.
We must see
not only God’s dispensation
but also the goal of God’s dispensation,
that is,
God is working Himself
into His chosen people.
The purpose of Exodus
is to show God’s full salvation
for the building up of His dwelling place.
In the first chapter
we see
God’s chosen people
in a fallen condition
in Egypt,
but in the last chapter
we see
the tabernacle
as God’s dwelling place.
What a contrast!
God’s chosen people
are saved all the way
from their fallen condition
into God’s dwelling place.
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.
Day 3
God’s complete salvation
for His chosen people
includes
the passover,
the exodus from Egypt,
and the crossing of the Red Sea.
The passover
signifies redemption;
the exodus
signifies the going out
from the world;
and the crossing of the Red Sea
signifies baptism.
A full salvation
with all these aspects
is exactly what we need
and what we enjoy today.
In Exodus chapters 12 through 14
God’s people
experienced His redemption and salvation.
In chapters 15, 16, and 17
they enjoyed God’s provision.
The bitter water
was made sweet,
the people enjoyed the twelve springs
and seventy palms at Elim,
and they partook of the manna
and of the living water
from the smitten rock.
Through God’s salvation and provision,
His people
were brought
into a position
of being in the kingdom of God.
Chapter 18
is a picture, a type, of the kingdom.
Although we
have been redeemed, delivered,
cleansed, and purified,
all this
is negative;
we do not yet have
anything positive.
Hence,
we are not yet qualified
to be God’s dwelling place.
In order to be God’s habitation,
something heavenly
must be wrought into our being.
Therefore,
we need to eat the heavenly manna
and drink the living water
so that something heavenly and living
might be constituted into us.
Now
we are daily and even hourly
eating of the manna
and drinking of the water.
Although God
is faithful and merciful,
we are sinful,
just as the children of Israel were.
Although they
had been redeemed,
at Massah
they still behaved like sinners.
Christ was smitten for us
so that the living water
could flow out of Him
to quench the thirst
of sinful people.
The Triune God
works Himself into our being
as we eat and drink of Him.
As our food and water,
He enters into us
to be one with us organically.
What we take into us
by eating and drinking
becomes one with us
in this way.
It penetrates our fiber
and becomes our organic tissue.
When the food
we take in by eating and drinking
is digested and assimilated,
it becomes our constituent.
Thus,
we are
a constitution of
what we eat and drink.
The children of Israel
were brought into the presence of God
at Mount Sinai.
The significance of Mount Sinai
is that it is the place
for God
to speak.
On Mount Sinai
God did not perform miracles.
Rather,
He simply spoke.
With God’s speaking,
there is also
the heavenly vision.
Therefore,
the spiritual significance
of the mountain of God
is that it
is the place of
God’s speaking
with God’s vision.
First,
the children of Israel
heard God speaking;
then
they saw the vision.
This vision
was of the pattern
for God’s dwelling place
on earth.
The book of Exodus
reveals that God
desires to rescue His people
from everything
other than Himself,
that He wants to deliver them
from everything that is not God.
After the exodus from Egypt,
God’s people
saw a heavenly vision
by which they came to know God Himself
and, in addition,
to know the kind of living
that is in accordance with God.
Then
they could be built up
as God’s dwelling place
on earth.
This is
the basic concept
of the book of Exodus.
It is on the mountain
that God’s people
can also see the revelation
of the desire of God’s heart.
Here
we see that God
wants us
to live
according to
what He is
because the desire of His heart
is to have a dwelling place
on earth.
The tabernacle
was erected
as the temporary fulfillment
of this desire.
Before the tabernacle was built,
a detailed revelation
regarding every aspect of it
was given to Moses
in chapters 25 to 31.
The remaining chapters
cover the experience
of the children of Israel
at the mountain
and tell of
the building of the tabernacle.
Day 2
Exodus stresses two matters
concerning the Trinity:
the Angel of God, or the Angel of Jehovah,
and the Spirit of God.
An angel
is one
who is sent by God.
The Spirit of God
is the One
who comes from God
to reach man
and, in a deeper sense,
to enter into man.
One who is sent to us
may come to us
but not enter into us,
but the Spirit
comes from God
to reach us
not only objectively
but also subjectively
by entering into us.
In Exodus
God is
the Angel of God,
who is sent
to be with man,
and the Spirit of God,
who comes
to reach man
in a subjective way.
In the New Testament
the One sent by God to us
was Jesus Christ,
the second of the Trinity.
In John
the Lord often said
that He was sent
by the Father.
Then
this sent One said
that He would ask the Father
to send
another Comforter, the Spirit.
These two, Christ and the Spirit,
in the New Testament
are the fulfillment of
the Angel and the Spirit
in Exodus.
The cloud in Exodus 14
is a wonderful type
of the Triune God
in Christ
as the Spirit.
This cloud
was continually with
the children of Israel
from the Passover
until they entered
into the good land.
When the tabernacle
was erected,
the cloud covered it,
and the element of the cloud
filled it
as glory.
The cloud and the fire
were only the outward appearance;
the inward element of the cloud
was the divine nature
of the Triune God.
The Angel of Jehovah,
Jehovah as the Triune God (Elohim),
brought His redeemed people
into the good land
and cut off their enemies
so that the redeemed
could enjoy
the riches of the Triune God.
This is the Trinity
revealed in the second book
of the Old Testament.
In Exodus 17:6
Moses represented the law.
Jehovah as the smiting God,
the rock as the crucified Christ,
and water as the Spirit of life
signify the Divine Trinity.
The water flowing out
signifies the dispensing of God.
This clearly reveals
that the Divine Trinity
is for God’s flowing out
into His people.
Exodus 25:31 says,
“You shall make
a lampstand of pure gold….”
Verse 37 says,
“You shall make
its lamps, seven.”
The lampstand as God’s embodiment
(Christ the Son),
gold as God’s nature
(the Father),
and the seven lamps as God’s expression
(the sevenfold Spirit)
signify the Divine Trinity
and show that the Triune God
is consummated
as the sevenfold intensified Spirit
to shine out
the Triune God
as light
into us.
The ingredients and measurements
of the holy anointing oil
in Exodus 30
are compounded
into one ointment
as the holy anointing oil,
signifying
the processed, all-inclusive compound Spirit
as the ultimate consummation
of the Triune God
to anoint His redeemed people.
The Triune God
was processed
to become
the all-inclusive compound Spirit
for the purpose
that the Triune God
in His ultimate expression
may impart His divine element
with all the processes
He went through,
including incarnation, human living,
crucifixion, and resurrection,
into His redeemed people,
making them
one with Him.
In Exodus 40
we see
the entire, completed tabernacle
for the first time.
Immediately after the tabernacle
was raised up,
the cloud descended
to cover it,
and the glory entered
to fill it.
For the tabernacle
to become
an entire, completed,
living, and genuine tabernacle,
it needed
not only to be constructed
and raised up
but also to be covered by the cloud
and filled by the glory.
When the tabernacle
was raised up,
covered by the cloud,
and filled with the glory,
it became
a full type
of the Triune God.
Day 1
In Exodus 5:1
we have an important title of God:
Jehovah the God of Israel.
In verse 3
God is entitled
the God of the Hebrews.
Hence,
the demand on Pharaoh
was made by
Jehovah, the God of Israel, the God of the Hebrews.
We have pointed out
that in Hebrew
the title Jehovah
is a form of
the verb to be.
This indicates
that Jehovah
is the unique self-existing One.
He is the One
who was, who is, and who will be.
Only to Him
can the verb to be be
applied
in an absolute sense.
Only God is;
we and all other things
are not.
In 6:3
God says,
“I appeared
to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob
as the All-sufficient God;
but by My name Jehovah
I did not make Myself
known to them.”
God revealed Himself as Jehovah
for the first time
in Exodus 3.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
did not receive
this revelation of Him.
In Exodus 5:1
God is also called
the God of Israel.
This title
is different from the title
the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob,
a title
which signifies God
as the God of resurrection.
The title the God of Israel
indicates that God
is the God of a transformed people.
In the eyes of God,
His chosen people
had already been transformed
into victors and kings.
God is
the God of our father,
and He is
the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob.
These titles of God
also indicate
the God of the covenant.
The covenanting God
is for everyone.
No matter who you may be,
He is your God,
and He is qualified
to call you.
If we need healing,
God is the best healing
for any sickness
in our psychology, our soul, or our body.
He is Jehovah Ropheka,
which means
“Jehovah your Healer” (Exo. 15:26).
He is Jehovah,
the God who heals.
With Him
we have healing.
In Exodus 34,
through God’s speaking to Moses
during his lengthy stay with God,
Moses was thoroughly infused with God
and saturated with Him.
As a result,
Moses’ face shone.
According to this chapter,
God did not first give Moses
the tablets of the law;
rather,
He first spent time
to infuse Moses with Himself
by speaking to Moses
concerning the enjoyment of Himself.
Before God gave the law to Moses,
God gave Himself to him.
This clearly portrays
God’s intention.
The Bible truly is
a book of courtship,
and our God
is a courting God.
Some people
may disagree with the statement
that God is a courting God.
But unless we disregard the Bible,
we must admit
that this is the truth.
The Bible clearly reveals
that God is courting man.
A number of gospel songs
speak of the Lord’s calling,
and many preachers say
that the believers
are a people
called by God.
This, of course,
is true.
However,
God’s calling of sinners to Himself
is His way of courting them.
His calling
is His courting of His seeking people
not only to be saved
but also to be His bride
loving Him
in an affectionate way.
In the Old Testament
the tabernacle
was God’s dwelling,
and at the same time
it was also
the priests’ dwelling
in which they served.
Both God and His serving priests
dwelt in the same tabernacle.
To God
the New Jerusalem
is His dwelling,
and to us
God is
our dwelling.
Therefore,
the tabernacle is
God’s dwelling place,
and this God
who dwells in the tabernacle
is the temple,
which is
the dwelling place
of His serving ones.