…and you will be my people

The book of Exodus is about how God redeems his people from bondage in order to dwell with them. There are a lot of images and types that point to Christ.

He is our Passover lamb; he is our high priest; he is the atoning sacrifice; he is the tabernacle of God. In him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily – and so on.

If you miss Christ in the book of Exodus, then you simply have a weird god who demands weird things and makes people jump through hoops for no good reason. Throw in some frogs and locusts, and you have a pretty strange book of quaint and bizarre traditions.

But when Christ gives us light, the book opens up and we see wonderful things.

On this day of Pentecost, I would like to point out one of the beautiful themes of Exodus.

In the book, God redeems his people from Egypt. But they rebel against him. It is his purpose to dwell with his people and be their God, but he is a holy God and cannot dwell with sinful, rebellious humans.

If that were the end of it, it would be a pretty sad book. God would have brought them into the wilderness and then killed them for rebelling against him.

But God is love, as well as holy. He desires to dwell with his people in harmony and restore fallen creation. So he gives Moses instructions on building a large tent.

In that tent would be the “most holy place”, which would symbolize the throne room of God, the dwelling place of the most high between the Cherubim, where God lives with his people, just as he did in Eden.

But it would be hidden by a veil and accessed only by the high priest, and only once a year.

But before the high priest could enter the holy place representing the people, he had to sanctify himself. He had to make himself “holy”. He would sprinkle his garments, sprinkle himself, offer a sacrifice, wear the right garments.

THEN he could take the blood of the sacrifice into the Most Holy Place. And when that blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, God would “descend” and fill the tabernacle, dwelling again with his people.

The book of Exodus ends with the High Priest finishing his work and the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire descending on the Most Holy Place.

34 Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Ex 40:34–35.

But all of this was a picture to point us to Christ and illustrate his work.

Before Jesus went to the cross, he sanctified himself as the High Priest.

And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. Jn 17:19.

He offered his own blood on the altar of the cross and ascended into heaven, bringing the blood of the atoning sacrifice into the throne room of God.

12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Heb 9:12

And when he took the blood into heaven, he received the promise of the Father – a people called by His Name, where he would dwell with them and be their God, and they would be his people.

This is what is happening in Acts 2. Jesus ascended to God and the pillar of fire and cloud filled the tabernacle. Only this time, the tabernacle is the people of God, not a building.

5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Pet 2:5.

Now, this tabernacle isn’t mediated by men. The Holy Spirit is poured out on men and women, young men and maidens, children, old and young. All who are Christ’s. All who have come to the living Stone are his temple, filled with his presence.

Exodus is fulfilled at Pentecost.

Wonderful, isn’t it? You are the living temple of God because of the sacrifice and sprinkling of blood by our Great High Priest, Jesus.