After the patriarchs, God manifested Himself in man among the people of Israel. This was a great step in God’s manifestation, and it contains numerous types and stories that express God. This step of manifestation occupies a great place in the Bible. Among the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, thirty-eight speak concerning this step in God’s manifestation, showing the God who is among the people of Israel. We can only briefly mention the important points.
God first manifested Himself among the people of Israel through the law He gave with all of its supplementary ordinances, rituals, and regulations (Lev. 11:44-45). If we look at every article, every item, of these laws, ordinances, rituals, and regulations according to the letter, they are merely the letter (2 Cor. 3:6). However, if we have the revelation of the Holy Spirit, we can see God in them. We can see God’s appearance in the law, and we can see God’s likeness in the ordinances. Even the rituals and regulations explain God and express God; therefore, they are revelations of God.
It is not hard to understand that the laws and ordinances that God gave to the Israelites expressed God to them. For example, in our homes we have rules and regulations, such as when to get out of bed, when to turn off the lights, when to eat meals, when to pray, when to clean, and when to take care of personal matters. When we look at a rule, we know something concerning the person who makes the rule. If eight o’clock is our time to get out of bed and ten o’clock is our time to eat breakfast, then we are a group of lazy people who love to sleep. The laws and regulations that a person makes always reflect upon the one who makes the law. The laws and regulations enacted by a person are a revelation of the person. In like manner, if we carefully read each law and ordinance enacted by God in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua, we definitely would bow our head and worship, saying, “I have seen a God who is holy, righteous, upright, and full of light. I have seen a God who is great yet detailed and fine, a God who takes care of great things but who also does not neglect small matters. He is forbearing, patient, fair, and loving.” O dear brothers and sisters, we should not merely read the laws and regulations; we need to see God in them because they are expressions of God.
Among the people of Israel the tabernacle was a mysterious thing. When the tabernacle was raised up at the end of Exodus, a cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of God filled the tabernacle (Exo. 40:34-35). When people saw the tabernacle, they saw the glory of God. The glory of God is the expression of God. God Himself was expressed in the tabernacle. The tabernacle not only typifies the church but also signified the people of Israel. At that time, the whole congregation of the people of Israel was a tabernacle of God. God dwelt among them to express Himself. In addition to the tabernacle, there also was the Ark, which denotes Christ, and the altar, which denotes the cross. Through the cross and in Christ, God was able to dwell among the people of Israel. These are all types. But this is a principle: The tabernacle was a place where God was expressed. We do not have the time to read all the stories of the tabernacle, but readers of the Bible know that there are many items related to the tabernacle, and every item reveals the nature or character of God and expresses God.
The temple came after the tabernacle. The temple is an enlarged tabernacle, a fixed and stable tabernacle. In principle the two are the same. When the building of the temple was completed, the glory of God also filled the temple (1 Kings 8:10-11). Like the tabernacle, the temple not only typifies the church but also signified the people of Israel. In God’s view, all of the people of Israel were God’s dwelling place on earth at that time. This dwelling, however, was still through the altar and by the Ark; that is, God’s expression among His people is through the cross and in Christ. Therefore, the temple was also an expression of God. It was an expression of God on a great scale.
Among the people of Israel, there were some with offices. First, there were priests, later there were judges, still later there were kings, and finally there were prophets (Deut. 33:8-10; Judg. 6:12; 1 Sam. 13:14; 1 Kings 17:18, 24; 2 Kings 4:9, 22). We do not have the time to speak concerning them in detail; however, there is a principle: In all of these offices, whether priests, judges, kings, or prophets, we can see the likeness of God to a certain extent. In the priests we see God’s holiness, in the judges we see God’s might, in the kings we see God’s authority, and in the prophets we see God’s wisdom and prudence. After we read the stories of these persons, we can see the manifestation of God to a certain degree. They expressed God. Some of them expressed God to such an extent that even when people saw them, they perceived that they were “men of God.” When people saw them, it was as if they saw God.
Among the people of Israel, there were also some godly men who lived in the presence of God. In the Bible they were called men of God. For example, in the title of Psalm 90 Moses is called “the man of God.” They were not only men but also men of God. They were not only men who belonged to God but also men who expressed God. God was seen in them and in their situations. When people saw them, they saw the appearance of God in them. Consider the three friends of Daniel. They were thrown into a fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, yet the words they spoke and the attitude they expressed all conveyed the flavor of God. It is no wonder, therefore, that when they were in the fiery furnace, someone whose appearance was like the Son of God was with them; they really had the semblance of God (Dan. 3:25). The elderly Simeon in Luke 2:25 is another example. In him we can sense God, that is, he was in an atmosphere of God and had a certain flavor of God. Therefore, these men of God were men who expressed God.