Genesis is a book of creation, and Exodus is a book of redemption. We have seen in the first two chapters of Genesis that from the very beginning God’s intention was that man would partake of the tree of life. The tree of life signifies God Himself as life to us in the form of food. The more that we eat of Him, enjoy Him, partake of Him as our life, the more He will be assimilated into us to be one with us in the way of mingling. In Genesis 3 it is recorded that man fell. The evil one came into the man that God created for His purpose, so man was corrupted, ruined. There is a real problem with man, so there is the need of deliverance. This is why the book of Exodus is needed.
From Genesis 3 to Exodus 12 is a long period with a long history. In this long period of time, the fall of man is recorded. This fall started from Adam and went on to the children of Israel. The end of Genesis shows us where man was. Genesis 50:26 tells us that man ended up “in a coffin in Egypt.” This was the place where man fell. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and then God created man in His own image. God placed this man in front of the tree of life with the intention that man would partake of this tree. But man fell and fell and fell until he ended up “in a coffin in Egypt.” The first verse of Genesis says, “In the beginning God created...”, and the last verse says that man was now “in a coffin in Egypt.” Because man was now in a coffin in Egypt he needed redemption, deliverance. This is why the book of Exodus is needed.
The first part of Exodus tells us that man was in slavery working for Satan. Pharaoh who typifies God’s enemy Satan, forced the children of Israel to build two treasure cities for him (Exo. 1:11). This work was a work of death, a dead work. In God’s eyes the children of Israel were working in a coffin in Egypt, so they needed deliverance. Exodus 12 tells us how God came in to deliver His people from the bondage of His enemy. In Exodus 12 God did not present the children of Israel with the tree of life but with a lamb. The tree of life was changed to the lamb because man had become fallen.
In the book of Exodus God came in to recover man, who had fallen into a coffin in Egypt. Before we got saved we also were in a coffin in Egypt. The Lord came to us when we were in such a situation, and He presented Himself to us as the Lamb of God. Since man fell, the tree of life was not in itself adequate to deliver man. To solve the problem of the fall of man, both life and redemption are needed. Redemption recovers the fallen people, and life keeps the original purpose of God. We all need to say, “Hallelujah for the Lamb,” because the Lamb fulfills the purpose of redemption and the purpose of life. The Lamb affords us both blood and meat. The blood of the lamb is for redemption (12:7, 13), and the meat of the lamb is for life (12:4, 8-11). God did not give up His original purpose, but because of man’s fall something else had been added. Life is not adequate and there is now the need of redemption, so the tree of life was changed to the lamb.
Both the lamb and the tree are in the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John tells us that in the beginning was the Word (1:1a), the Word was God (1:1b), the Word became flesh (1:14), and this Word become flesh, this God-man, is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (v. 29). John 15 unveils the vine tree, which is the tree of life that supplies life. The lamb is Christ for redemption and the tree is Christ for life.
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