by Dwight A. Pryor
God in Pursuit of a People, a Purpose, and a Place
We saw in Part One of our examination of the Exodus Epic that the God of Israel is powerful, passionate and purposeful in the redemption of His covenant people from enslavement to Pharaoh and Egypt.
First, YHWH’s mighty acts on Israel’s behalf demonstrate His power over every deity of the Egyptian pantheon, including the supreme Sun. “Who is like Thee among the gods, O LORD?” (Exodus 15.11) Moses declares rhetorically.
Second, Israel is beloved for the sake of the patriarchs, and God is passionate in keeping his promise to Abraham and bringing his offspring to Himself. He brings the children of Israel to a high place of revelation and responsibility, at Sinai, and there like a bride, Israel receives YHWH as bridegroom and King. “Na’aseh v’nishma” the beloved replies to her Lover and Redeemer – “We will do and we will hear” all that the LORD says (Exodus 24.7).
Finally, the liberty wrought by YHWH’s redemption of Israel is purposeful. It is more than freedom from slavery to Pharaoh; it is freedom for the service of the LORD. “Let my people go . . . that they might serve/worship Me.” (Exodus 8.1) God saves Israel not alone for their sakes, but for His purposes as well.
Actually the goals of the Exodus are many, all relating to YHWH’s covenantal plan and promise to Abraham. First, to deliver Israel from bondage and take her out of Egypt. Second, to bring His beloved covenant people to Himself, to be near them and they to be His treasured people. Third, to reveal His will, wisdom and direction for their lives in Torah or Divine Instruction. Fourth, to reign over them as King and love them as a Husband. Fifth, for this kingdom of priests to construct a Sanctuary or Mikdash so that the King of the Universe can dwell continually in the midst of a holy nation. Finally, to lead His covenant children to a place of promise, a Land divinely deeded centuries before to their forefather Abraham.
All these redemptive goals come to fruition 430 years later (1 Kings 6.1) when a man of peace, Shlomo (Solomon), builds a house suitable for YHWH’s habitation in the center of the whole earth, Jerusalem – on the very mount where Abraham first offered up his only beloved son, Isaac. The journey from slavery to sanctuary comes to climax in the clouds of God’s indwelling glory.
Messiah and the End of the Exodus
Surely it is significant that God devotes only three chapters of sacred Scripture to the creation of the entire cosmos, but He devotes thirteen chapters to Israel’s building of the holy Sanctuary (Mikdash). In this we see YHWH’s ultimate priorities in the earth and His final purposes for the redemption from Egypt.
But how does all this relate to the great Exodus from the Egypt of sin and death effected in the redemption of the Paschal Lamb’s sacrifice? Clearly God is passionate and He is purposeful with respect to His covenant people Israel. But where do we, the nations, fit into this plan? Is there some continuity between Moses and Messiah that should bear upon our biblical worldview and the calling upon our lives as the witnessing community of faith in Yeshua?
According to the gospel of God concerning His son, the righteousness (covenant faithfulness) of God to Israel is revealed in the faithfulness of Messiah unto death for the benefit of all who believe. In Messiah, YHWH’s love is set upon the nations as it is upon Israel. As Gentiles we were apart from God, excluded from the covenants of promise, and without hope; but the blood of the Passover Lamb brings us near to this powerful, passionate, and purposeful God. We no longer are strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, but now we are adopted sons and fellow heirs. We who were not a ‘people’, now in Messiah we are irrevocably joined to the covenant People of God – engrafted to a holy root in order to bear godly fruit for His name’s sake.
In view of this, how then shall we live? For what purpose was this done? We must understand that God’s purposes change not. From the Exodus to Solomon, and now to the Sar Shalom (Prince of Peace), Yeshua, and His covenant community – God’s redemptive purposes are the same throughout history. We have been joined to that great continuum of covenant and blessing, and equally called to construct for our Redeemer a House suitable for His habitation in the earth.
Paul declares to the Gentiles who are drawing nigh unto the God of Israel through Messiah: “You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone…” (Ephesians 2.19) What is being built on this sure foundation? It is the Mikdash, or Sanctuary, for God! The building is being fitted together compactly like the stones of Jerusalem, constructed into a holy habitation for the LORD. As living stones quickened by the Spirit of Messiah, we “are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2.22)
The divine call upon the church (ekkleisia) is the same as upon the congregation in the wilderness. We are redeemed for God’s sake ever bit as much as for our own. We are saved to serve, redeemed to rebuild that which is fallen. From the broad perspective of biblical revelation – from Tanakh to the Apostolic Writings – salvation should be seen as a summons to the service of the King! And the King seeks a House to inhabit, a People to indwell.
Therefore, as children (banim) of God it is our purpose to be builders (bonim) under His kingship. Let us build Him a Sanctuary. Let us turn our hearts to the heart of the Father; let us hear and follow His instructions, obey His commandments, and contribute toward the telos of the Exodus Epic. His passion united with our partnership will culminate in the construction of a place in which God dwells, a people in whom He delights, and a planet filled with His presence.
From Redemption to Restoration
The apocalyptic Revelation given to John witnesses to this grand climax of the Exodus Epic. Behind this revelation we find the language of the Exodus from Egypt and the Rabbinic understanding of the Kingdom of God. In Exodus 15, we read the Spirit-inspired “Song of Moses” – a prophetic proclamation of the victory of YHWH over Israel’s enemies. In verse 18 Moses concludes with four famous words in Jewish tradition: Adonai yimlokh l’olam va’ed! “The LORD reigns forever and ever!”
The Sages of Israel understand this text to be the first proclamation of Malkhut Ha-Shamayim, the Kingdom of Heaven (God), in the Torah. YHWH manifests His kingship in his mighty righteous deeds on Israel’s behalf, throwing Pharaoh’s horses and riders into the sea. Redemption results intentionally in the Revelation at Sinai, where the redeemed receive YHWH as King of Israel. They acknowledge their responsibility – to walk in the light of His instruction and in obedience to His commands – and they follow Him (literally, walk after Him) through the wilderness to the place of promise, the Land where His house will be built.
When Yeshua comes out of the wilderness, He announces, “The Kingdom of Heaven (God) is here!” The Kingdom first proclaimed by Moses (in Exodus 15) now comes in the person of the Messiah (in Matthew 3). This prophet like Moses announces liberty to the captives, performs mighty deeds that demonstrate Kingdom power, teaches Torah to those willing to hear, and invites them to walk after (follow) Him as disciples. His atoning death secures forgiveness of sins and freedom from their consequence, death. But the ultimate purposes of God remain the same, and the end of the Exodus still awaits.
With this background, notice now what happens at the very end of time according to the visionary, John. “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.” (Revelation 15.1) God’s final judgment against wickedness, unrighteousness and evil in the earth comes to completion. But is that the end of the story? Absolutely not!
John continues: “And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, ‘Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!’” (Revelation 15.2-3)
At the climax of history and the consummation of all things, the God of Israel becomes King over every nation, and all the righteous, both Jew and Gentile, with one voice sing an old-yet-new song – the Song of Moses joined to the Song of the Lamb! The great continuum of YHWH’s redemptive agenda in the earth – from the Exodus to Sinai, to Solomon and the Temple in Jerusalem, to David’s son, Yeshua the Messiah, and His witnessing community of faith – the prophetic song of freedom and kingship comes to its intended crescendo when “all the nations come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.” (Revelation 15:4). The glorious end of the Exodus occurs when all the redeemed of the LORD sing the Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb.
The New Jerusalem Coming Down
Where will be the destined place for this perpetual praise by God’s people? If our final home is in heaven then why bother building a sanctuary for the LORD? He has no need of a residence in the heavens. But YHWH’s passion and persistent intention has always been to bring heaven to earth. He saves us, not that we can go ‘up’, but that He might come ‘down’ in the midst of us!
John the Revelator sees the place where all things are consummated. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth… And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.’” (Revelation 21.1-3)
The God of the Bible is not the Unmoved Mover of the philosophers – distant, immutable and implacable. He is the “Moved Mover” (A.J. Heschel) that is passionate, purposeful and filled with pathos for His people. Therefore, the movement of God is always down, into the earth. He comes down in the Creation and in Gan Eden (Garden of Eden); He comes down in clouds of glory to redeem His beloved children Israel from Egypt, to meet with them at Sinai, and to guide them through the wilderness; He comes down in Solomon’s sanctuary and fills the House with His Shekhinah; He comes down in the person of His Son made flesh for the salvation of all nations; He comes down by His Spirit to indwell His disciples and empower them to walk in the promise of the new covenant. And ultimately the glorious city of the Great King is coming down, to be established in its rightful place forever!
The exodus from Egypt led to Israel’s inheritance of its land and the construction of a sanctuary suitable for God therein. In the great exodus from sin and death through our Messiah, we too have a promised inheritance: a new earth. In our justification and eventual glorification in the resurrection to come, the universe itself will be set free from bondage and enter into the liberty and splendor of God’s children. (Romans 8.19ff) The redemption wrought by the Lamb of God shall eventuate in the restoration of the creation itself to the beauty and bounty intended by the Creator.
Then the LORD God comes into the renewed and restored earth in the fullness of His glorious presence and tabernacles among us. Then the dwelling of the King will be “with mankind, and He will live among them.” Similar language is used of Yeshua in the Fourth Gospel: “And the Word (Torah) became flesh, and dwelt among us.” (John 1.14) That was for a season, but a time is coming when God will tabernacle with us forever, His presence unabated, and His glory covering the whole earth. Then the Exodus will know its destined end.
Such is the grand panorama of the Exodus Epic. It is a story being written still, even on the hearts and in the lives of covenant people everywhere. It is a revelation of the Torah, but written for our instruction as well (Romans 15.4; 1 Corinthians 10.11). Let us walk therefore in the light of His word and in cooperation with His purposes. Let us hear and do that which the LORD says: “Build Me A Sanctuary …”
==============
Want to study this subject in-depth? We recommend God in Pursuit of a People.
Take me back to the library. Or if you prefer, back to the topic Biblical Feasts.