Tuesday 29 June 2010

The God of the Exodus

>From Vaughan Roberts' "God's Big Picture", I got this beautiful three-part division of the book of Exodus:
  1. The Exodus itself (approximately the first 18 chapters): The God who delivers
  2. The law given at Mount Sinai (chapters 19-24): The God who demands
  3. The Tabernacle described for building (25-31): The God who draws near
Combining this with a similar broad-level overview from Arthur Pink that incorporate Genesis, and adding in the covenant as a separate point in its own right which I think should be done, we get this clear five-part overview of salvation:
  1. The call of Abraham: God chooses his people
  2. The Exodus: God redeems his people
  3. Mount Sinai: God covenants with his people
  4. The law: God demands from his people
  5. The tabernacle: God dwells with his people
And then we can see the centrality of Christ in each of those acts:
  1. God choose his people in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4)
  2. God redeemed his people through the precious blood of Christ, the gospel Passover (John 1:29, 1 Corinthians 5:7, etc.)
  3. God brings his people into the New Covenant of which Christ is mediator, high priest, and whose blood ratifies the covenant, etc. (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 8-10, etc.)
  4. Christ is the New Covenant law-giver (Matthew 5-7), and the Spirit of Christ is the one who teaches his people the love which is the heart of the law (Romans 8:1-4, 13:8-10, etc.)
  5. Christ himself is the gospel tabernacle, the dwelling of God amongst us (John 1:14, 2:19-22, etc.)
This could surely be taken further, if we bring in the pillar of fire, the manna in the wilderness ("I am the bread who came down from heaven..."), the conquest and reception of the inheritance under Joshua etc...

Studying Exodus is thrilling!

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