As we pointed out in the last message, the Bible gives us a wonderful picture in the Old Testament. Before we go on to consider the unique place for God’s name and for His habitation, we need to review this picture. The whole revelation of the Bible indicates that God has an eternal purpose, an eternal intention. This purpose is to gain a people to be His expression. In the Old Testament God called the children of Israel, and they became His people to express Him on earth. The children of Israel, however, were a type; they were not the reality. The reality came in the New Testament. In the New Testament we see a people, which is the church, the real expression of God. Although we have the reality in the New Testament, we do not have there a full picture. If we had only the New Testament reality, it would be difficult to understand every aspect of this reality. Every reality is present, in type, in the Old Testament. Therefore, we need to consider further the picture in the Old Testament.
God chose the children of Israel. According to the picture in the Old Testament, this people fell into Egypt. At the end of the book of Genesis, we are told that Joseph, the representative of the chosen people of God, was put in a coffin in Egypt (Gen. 50:26). Thus, the first book of the Bible ends with God’s chosen people being put into a coffin in Egypt. If the Bible had only this one book, we would have to weep for this pitiful situation. But praise the Lord that Exodus follows Genesis. The word exodus means a going out. The children of Israel went out of their coffin and out of Egypt. Before we made our exodus, we were in a coffin in “Egypt,” in the world. That was my condition fifty years ago. Hallelujah, we have made our exodus out of our coffin in Egypt!
The exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt included two things: the Passover and the crossing of the Red Sea. In the Passover there were two main items—the blood of the lamb and the meat of the lamb. The blood covered the children of Israel so that God’s righteous judgment might pass over them. The word Passover indicates that God passed over His people who were under the redeeming blood of the Passover lamb (Exo. 12:13). Hallelujah for the blood! Although God’s people were covered by the blood, they still had to eat the meat of the lamb in order to be strengthened to escape from Egypt. They had to be strengthened to walk out of the coffin and ultimately out of Egypt. On God’s side, the children of Israel had been redeemed and strengthened. But, on Satan’s side, the side of the evil power signified by Pharaoh and the Egyptian forces, the children of Israel were not allowed to flee. Hence, there was the need for the crossing of the Red Sea.
In contrast to the river of water of life, the water of the Red Sea does not appear to be very pleasant or positive. No one would care to drink water from the Red Sea. In God’s economy there are two kinds of water: the water of the Red Sea, and the water of life in the flowing river proceeding from the throne (Rev. 22:1). Although the water of the Red Sea does not quench our thirst, it surely buries the Egyptian army, the evil forces of Satan. By the crossing of the Red Sea, God’s chosen people were delivered from Pharaoh’s tyranny. The blood of the Passover lamb did not deliver them from this; the blood that covered them delivered them from God’s judgment. It was the water of the Red Sea that delivered God’s chosen people from Pharaoh’s tyranny. Hallelujah for the Passover and for the exodus! Now, having made our exodus out of Egypt, we are on the seashore dancing and praising (Exo. 15:20-21). Praise the Lord, we are real Hebrews, true river crossers. We all have passed through the waters of the Red Sea. Our baptism was our crossing of the Red Sea (1 Cor. 10:1-2).