In the Old Testament there are a lot of pictures, types, and figures which are fulfilled and realized in the New Testament. The entire Bible speaks of and is wrapped up with the Divine Trinity, and we can see both the Triune God and the working of the Triune God in all the books of the Bible.
In the book of Exodus especially we see how the Triune God cares for His people, calling them and bringing them out of Egypt, and then caring for them in the wilderness. Even from the very beginning when God called Moses from the burning thornbush we can see how the Angel of God who appeared to him was Jehovah Himself, a type of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit as the ones sent from the Father to His people.
Time and time again in Exodus we can see the Divine Trinity being revealed in God’s care for His people – primarily in pictures and in types. In types such as the pillar of cloud, the Angel of Jehovah, the cleft rock, the lampstand, the compound ointment, and the tabernacle covered by the cloud and filled with God’s glory we can see a revelation of the Divine Trinity.
The Bible doesn’t merely mention such items as the lampstand, the ointment for the tabernacle, the cleft rock, etc; these all are types and figures for us, the New Testament people of God, to enjoy in our experience of God. May any religious and cultural veil be removed from our eyes that we may see a clear revelation of the Divine Trinity in the book of Exodus!
A Revelation of the Divine Trinity in the Types and Pictures in the Book of Exodus
Jehovah, the Angel of Jehovah, and the Spirit of God
In Exodus we see two titles emphatically repeated concerning the Divine Trinity: the Angel of God (or the Angel of Jehovah) and the Spirit of God (see Exodus 3:2, 4, 6-7, 14-15). When God appeared to Moses in the wilderness, He came as the Angel of Jehovah, who was Jehovah Himself. The Angel of Jehovah is the One sent from Jehovah, and the Spirit of God is sent by God to reach man in a subjective way.
In the New Testament, the One sent to us by God is the Lord Jesus Christ; He was God’s sent one to care for us, minister to us, and express God to us (see John 5:36; 6:57; 8:16; 12:49; 14:24). This Christ went through death and resurrection and came back to us as the life-giving Spirit, another Comforter (John 14:16, 26; 15:26).
Later in Exodus, we see that Jehovah and the Angel of Jehovah brought His redeemed ones into the good land and cut off their enemies (Exo. 23:20-23). Here we see the Divine Trinity in type bringing us, His redeemed ones, into the all-inclusive Christ as the good land and cutting off all our enemies.
The Pillar of Cloud signifies the Triune God Embodied in Christ and Realized as the Spirit
The Divine Trinity is revealed in the type of the pillar of cloud in Exo. 14:19-20, which signifies the Triune God embodied in Christ and realized as the Spirit.
How can we say that the pillar of cloud is a type of the Triune God? If we compare the Scripture with the Scripture, in 1 Cor. 10:1-2 the water is a type of the death of Christ and the cloud is a type of the Spirit (the people of Israel were all baptized into the water – the death of Christ – and into the cloud – the Spirit). Then, in 1 Cor. 12:13 we see that we all were baptized in one Spirit, which is the realization of Christ, and Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God.
In Exodus 14 we see the cloud with Jehovah speaking from the cloud and the cloud fighting against the Egyptians: a picture of the Divine Trinity!
Furthermore, this cloud was with the people of Israel continually from the Passover until they entered into the good land – the Triune God embodied in Christ and realized as the Spirit is not only the realm we’re baptized into (Matt. 28:19) but He also is with us all the days of our Christian life in the church life to shepherd us, care for us, and bring us into the full enjoyment of Christ.
The Cleft Rock, the Lampstand, and the Compound Ointment – types of the Divine Trinity
In Exodus 17:6 we see the cleft rock, which is a type of the Divine Trinity working together to flow out into man and quench man’s thirst. Moses represented the law; Moses’ striking the rock typifies Christ being smitten by God on the cross, and out of Christ came the living water, the living Spirit, for us to drink (1 Cor. 10:4; John 19:34). The water flowing from the smitten rock is a type of how God in His Divine Trinity dispenses Himself into man and flows into man to quench man’s thirst.
In Exo. 25:31 the golden lampstand is a type of the Divine Trinity being processed and consummated to be the sevenfold intensified Spirit to shine out the Triune God as light into us. The nature of the lampstand is pure gold, typifying the nature of the Father; the shape and form of the lampstand typifies Christ the Son as the embodiment and expression of the Father, and the seven lamps as God’s expression typify the sevenfold intensified Spirit (Rev. 4:5; 5:6).
The type of the lampstand shows us how the Father is embodied in the Son to shine out as the sevenfold intensified Spirit to shine out the Triune God as light into us.
In Exodus 30:23-25 we see God’s specific instructions on the making of the compound ointment with which all the tabernacle and the utensils had to be anointed. The ingredients and measurements of this holy anointing oil and their compounding signify the processed, all-inclusive, compound Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God to anoint His redeemed people.
In the type of the compound ointment we see how the Triune God was processed to become the compound Spirit so that the Triune God would impart His divine element mingled with all the processes He went through (incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection) into us, His people, to make us one with Him. Wow, Hallelujah!
The Tabernacle Covered by the Cloud and Filled with Glory Typifies the Embodied Triune God
At the end of Exodus we see that, when the tabernacle is set up as Moses commanded and as God ordained, the cloud covers the tabernacle and the glory of God fills it (see Exo. 40:2, 9, 34, 36-38). The tabernacle covered by the cloud and filled with God’s glory typifies the embodied Triune God.
First, the tabernacle refers to Christ as the embodiment of God, the One who came to tabernacle among us (John 1:14), the cloud refers to the Spirit descending on the Lord Jesus to abide on Him (John 1:32), and the glory is the glory as of the Only begotten of the Father which we beheld (John 1:14).
The picture in Exodus 40 is unpacked and made real to us in John 1. When the tabernacle was raised up (Christ), covered by the cloud (the Spirit), and filled with glory (God Himself), this tabernacle became a full type of the Triune God. Today this tabernacle has been enlarged to become the church, where the Triune God lives, dwells, and is fully expressed!
Wow, Hallelujah for such a revelation of the Divine Trinity in the book of Exodus! Praise the Lord for the ministry of the age which unpacks and explains in a proper way the types and figures in the Old Testament which refer to the reality expressed in the New Testament!
Hallelujah, we have been baptized into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit, and we have been given to drink one Spirit! God in His Divine Trinity is constantly dispensing Himself into us as the cleft rock flowing out with living water so that we may drink God and be satisfied with Him! Praise the Lord, the Triune God has been consummated to be the sevenfold intensified Spirit to shine out the Triune God as light into us! Lord, keep us enjoying the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity with all the elements of Your divinity, incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, so that we may be one with You!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word, chs. 4-5, as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1), week 1 / msg 1, A Revelation of God and God’s Building as the Goal of His Salvation, Provision, and Revelation.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Open now the crystal fountain, / Whence the healing waters flow; / Let the fiery, cloudy pillar / Lead me all my journey through; / Strong Deliv’rer, / Be Thou still my strength and shield; / Strong Deliv’rer, / Be Thou still my strength and shield. (Hymns #391)
# Rock of Ages, cleft for me, / Let me hide myself in Thee; / Let the water and the blood, / From Thy riven side which flowed, / Be of sin the double cure, / Save me from its guilt and power. (Hymns #1058)
# ’Tis th’ eternal golden lampstand, / Holding Christ, the lamp of light; / God in Christ the light of glory / As the Spirit shineth bright! / ’Tis the ultimate expression- / Man in God and God in man; / ’Tis their mutual habitation, / Goal of God’s eternal plan. (Hymns #976)
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Exodus stresses two matters concerning the Trinity: the Angel of God, or the Angel of Jehovah, and the Spirit of God. An angel is one who is sent by God. The Spirit of God is the One who comes from God to reach man and, in a deeper sense, to enter into man. One who is sent to us may come to us but not enter into us, but the Spirit comes from God to reach us not only objectively but also subjectively by entering into us. In Exodus God is the Angel of God, who is sent to be with man, and the Spirit of God, who comes to reach man in a subjective way. In the New Testament the One sent by God to us was Jesus Christ, the second of the Trinity. In John the Lord often said that He was sent by the Father (e.g., 5:36; 6:57; 8:16; 12:49; 14:24). Then this sent One said that He would ask the Father to send another Comforter, the Spirit (14:16, 26; 15:26). These two, Christ and the Spirit, in the New Testament are the fulfillment of the Angel and the Spirit in Exodus. (Witness Lee, The Divine Trinity as Revealed in the Holy Word, p. 19)
Lord Jesus, thank You for the shadows and types in the Old Testament, but the reality of them all is found in You, and You O Lord, through the wonderful process You went through, became to us who believe into You, the life-giving, life-imparting Spirit bringing these realities to us, through the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity, to make us living stones for the building up of the church, for Your glory to shine and be expresses, as a miniature of New Jerusalem. Lord Jesus!