The word Exodus
means exit, departure, and here describes the departure of the
Israelites from Egyptian bondage to begin their journey to the land of
Canaan, that release being a type of the deliverance experienced by every
sinner the instant he trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
Egypt represents the world
of business and pleasure, living in defiant independence of God, the time
Israel spent there being symbolic of that part of the believer’s life prior
to conversion. Israel’s forty years in the wilderness represents the
believer’s journey through life from the moment of conversion, till death
releases his soul into eternal bliss in heaven, leaving his body to return
to the dust from which it came originally with the creation of Adam the
human father of us all, there to await the resurrection of life, at which
time it will be changed into a redeemed spiritual body, indwelt again by the
redeemed soul and spirit, to dwell for ever in heaven with Christ.
While death has been the
experience of all the generations of believers since that Passover night
until the present, there is one generation that will be the exception. It
is the one mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, “Behold, I show you
a mystery; We shall not all sleep (die), but we shall all be changed, in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the dead shall be
raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Everything in the state of
the world today points to the fact that we could well be that generation
that will be raptured home to heaven without dying.
As noted already, Israel’s
forty years in the wilderness foreshadows typologically our experience here
on earth from the moment of conversion until the Lord calls us home. During
those years they neither planted nor harvested any crops, for God fed them
with manna, and supplied them with water from the smitten rock, the manna
and water being types of Christ our spiritual food and drink as set before
us in the written Word.
The exodus began with the
slaying of the Passover lamb, the application of its blood to the door posts
and lintels of the houses in which the Hebrews dwelt, and their feasting
upon it through the night as they awaited the coming of morning when they
would begin their journey to Canaan. That lamb was a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the true Passover Lamb, as it is written in 1 Corinthians 5:7, “For
even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.”
The blood on the doors was
the evidence of their faith to believe God’s word. A Christ like life and a
faithful witness for Him are the evidence by which we are privileged to show
the world that we also believe His Word.
With the exception of
Joshua and Caleb, that generation that left Egypt gradually died out during
the forty-year pilgrimage, and a new generation, their children, entered
Canaan; and in this we are being taught typologically, that with the
exception of those portrayed by that preserved generation, we too will die
physically, it being the “new man,” the spiritual, that will enter heaven,
as it is written, “... flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,” 1
Corinthians 15:50.
Their coming to the end of
the wilderness journey, and their crossing into Canaan on dry ground through
a miraculously divided Jordan (the unvarying biblical symbol of death),
points to what will be the experience of the last generation of believers of
this present Church age: they will be raptured to heaven without dying.
That crossing of Jordan
however, is symbolic of another spiritual truth which is stated explicitly
in Romans 7:4, “... ye also are become dead to the law by the body of
Christ....” Faith in Christ delivers us from the condemnation of the law,
for by His vicarious death He has met all its claims against us. We are now
typified by those who crossed Jordan to take possession of their God-given
inheritance in Canaan. Having become dead to the things of the world
through faith in Christ, we are now responsible and privileged to enter into
the enjoyment of all our spiritual blessings as typified by Israel’s taking
possession of Canaan, an activity that involved warfare and work, and
relative to which we are reminded that, “... we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high place,”
Ephesians 6:12.
The book of Exodus is the
typological prewritten record of our journey through the wilderness of this
world as we journey home to heaven, the record of Israel’s experiences
during those forty years having been preserved to teach us the blessedness
of obedience, and the folly of rebellion.
[Exodus 1]