Having been redeemed from God's judgment and saved from the bondage of the fall, we, like the children of Israel in the Old Testament, are now enjoying the divine care and Christ as the heavenly and divine provisions (Exo. 15—17). Under God's care, we enjoy His nourishing and cherishing us with Christ as our provisions—as the manna, as the living water which flows out of the smitten rock which follows us, and as the tree (the crucified Christ) cast into the bitter water. No matter what our circumstances may be, if we apply the crucified Christ to our situation, the bitter water will become sweet (Exo. 15:23-25). This is an aspect of Christ as the heavenly and divine provisions. Another aspect is typified by the twelve springs and seventy palm trees at Elim (Exo. 15:27).
At Mount Sinai the children of Israel received the divine revelation recorded in Exodus 19—40 and Leviticus 1—27. This revelation is marvelous; human, philosophical writings cannot compare with it. The type here signifies that the church today has received God's revelation.
At Mount Sinai the children of Israel not only received the divine revelation but were also trained in knowing God, in being built up together with God in His divine trinity as His dwelling on earth for the expression and testimony of the Triune God, and in the priesthood for the divine service. The children of Israel stayed at Mount Sinai for nine months, and during that time they were trained by the Lord. We may say that through this training they became a divinely cultured people, with God Himself as the main constituent of this culture. In the church life today, we also are being trained by the Lord in knowing Him, in being built up together with Him, and in serving Him.
According to the book of Numbers, the children of Israel were formed into an army of God to fight for God's economy (Num. 1—4; 21:1-4, 21-35; 31:1-12). We have a similar revelation in the book of Ephesians. The first five chapters of this book are sufficient for the revelation concerning the church. But in the sixth chapter Paul goes on to show us that the believers have been formed into an army to fight for God's economy.
The church today is also journeying with God and suffering frustrations and trials for its purification. Before we were saved, we were traveling in this worldly wilderness by ourselves, but now that we have been saved we are journeying with God. God is our companion not merely beside us or in front of us but mainly within us. Sometimes we may not want to walk with Him, but He continues to walk with us, and His presence changes our journey. At other times we may cause Him to be unhappy with us or we may not agree with Him, but we cannot get away from Him. Even if we decide to give up journeying with Him, He will not stop journeying with us, and eventually we have to come back to Him to be one with Him.
As we are journeying with the Lord, we suffer frustrations and trials for our purification. These trials and frustrations deal with our peculiar traits. The members of our family, the brothers and sisters in the church, and the many different persons and things in our environment may be contrary to us and thus become frustrations to us. However, these frustrations are needed for our purification.
As a result of the foregoing, the church is prepared by God to take the all-inclusive Christ as its good land.