After seeing the central thought of Exodus, the purpose of the book of Exodus, and God’s goal and His divine thought in Exodus, today we want to see what the direction of the book of Exodus is. All the events, things, people, and situations in Exodus are working together and heading toward one direction: the building of the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God with man (see Exo. 25:8-9; 40:1-2, 34-35).
The central thought of Exodus is that Christ is the redemption, salvation, and supply of God’s people, and He is the means for them to worship God and serve God, so that in Christ God’s people may be built up with God together for them to meet, communicate, and dwell mutually. The central thought of Exodus is focused on God’s building, and Christ is everything to God’s people for God’s building.
The purpose of the book of Exodus is to show us that the goal of God’s full salvation is the building up of His dwelling place. The purpose of Exodus is not merely to show us how God rescued His people with a mighty hand and cared for them in a miraculous way throughout their journey in the wilderness; it is to show us that in His full salvation God wants to obtain the building up of His dwelling place, the church.
God’s goal in dealing with His people the way He did in the book of Exodus was so that He may obtain a dwelling place. God’s goal throughout the Bible is His building, and the divine thought in the Bible and in the book of Exodus is that Christ is everything to us and for us so that we may be built up as God’s dwelling place, God’s building.
Today we want to see that the direction of the book of Exodus with all its events and situations is toward the building of the tabernacle. Applying this to our Christian experience, the direction of our salvation, enjoyment of Christ, growth in life, receiving light from the word of God, and meeting in the church life is the building up of the church, the Body of Christ.
May we be delivered from the world and be freed to participate in God’s building, having God’s direction as the direction of our life.
Taking God’s Building as the Direction of our Life
The direction of all the events and things that take place in Exodus is the building up of the tabernacle (see Exo. 25:8-9; 40:1-2, 34-35). This is the direction of all that God does related to His people, beginning from rescuing them from the world and bringing them to His holy mountain to show them a revelation of Himself.
The building up of the church is the direction of the divine life in all of us. We were redeemed, saved, born again, shepherded by the Lord, enlightened and supplied by Christ, and brought into the desire of God’s heart in the church life so that we may build up the church, the dwelling place of God.
We need to go through all the necessary spiritual experiences until we come to know the Body, reign in life, engage in spiritual warfare, and are filled unto all the fullness of God.
The direction in Psalm 23 is the same as in Exodus: the Lord shepherds us, He brings us to green pastures and beside the waters of rest, we are led on the paths of righteousness, He walks with us even in the valley of the shadow of death, we feast in the presence of our enemies on the battlefield, and the goal is the Father’s house, where we enjoy goodness and lovingkindness forever, and we dwell here for the rest of our days.
What God desires is to have a corporate expression of Himself through His called and redeemed people, and this is what He is obtaining as He saves us, renews us, transforms us, conforms us to His image, and then glorifies us.
Everything that God is doing today in our personal life, church life, family life, and in all the aspects of our life is toward this goal: the building up of the church, His habitation. Since this is the direction God takes, this should be the direction of our Christian life.
We should pray, enjoy the Lord, eat and drink Christ, seek to grow in life, be shepherded and shepherd others, and meet with the saints with God’s building in view. If we enjoy the Lord for our own satisfaction and nourishment, this will not last long. If we pray regularly and have a time with the Lord personally yet without the building of God as our direction, these will not last very long.
If we really touch the Lord, know His heart’s desire, and have a revelation of Himself, we will take God’s direction as our direction, and we will have God’s building in view in everything we do and say.
Lord Jesus, thank You for redeeming us, saving us, and reconciling us to God for the building up of the church. Lord, grow in us, renew us, and transform us for Your building. Make us those who seek You, enjoy You, spend time with You, have much and thorough prayer times with You having the building of God in view. Lord, we take Your direction – the building up of the church, God’s building – as the direction in our life!
Being Willing to be Delivered from the World to Participate in God’s Building
In order to participate in God’s building we need to be delivered from the world. When we believed in Christ and were baptized into the Triune God we were rescued from the world and separated from it; however, we still live daily in the world, we are affected by the world, and we may even treasure some things in the world or desire a future in the world.
In order for God to have a building, His people need to COME OUT of Egypt and UNTO Him in the wilderness (Exo. 1:11). The world is against God’s building and God’s building is opposed to the world (Rom. 12:2).
If we spend time in the world and do our best to have a great career in the world, our time and energy will be usurped by Satan, rendering us useless in the building up of the church. We need to CHOOSE between the world and God’s building.
We may be in the church life in a certain way outwardly, on our own terms, under certain conditions, and with particular assumptions; but are we built up in the church as God’s dwelling place? There’s no way to reconcile the world and God’s building: we need to choose between the two.
The Lord will NEVER force us to choose His building, but as the Spirit He will bring us to this basic decision: what are we here for, the world or God’s building?
What is your goal and direction in life as you choose to go to law school or study medicine? No matter how strong we think we are in ourselves, we cannot serve two masters: we cannot serve the world and the Lord. We should stop limping between these two masters and choose the Lord and His building!
What is our direction? We may study toward a certain profession, we may get a certain trade, we may have a very demanding job, and our family life may be complicated and so busy; but what is our goal, the direction of our life?
We can have a profession, we can be a student or a parent, but we should live for God’s building! We need to hear the Lord’s word, Let My People GO to build up My house, my habitation!
If we as God’s people are willing to be rescued from the world unto God, God can work out His purpose to have a dwelling place (Exo. 40:1-2, 34-35). We just need to be willing. As the Lord saves us organically day by day, He imparts His heart’s desire to have a house into us; we should then just be willing and tell Him,
Lord, rescue us from the world so that we may live a life for Your building! Deliver us from the usurpation of Satan so that we may serve You and hold a feast unto You for the building up of Your house, the church! Lord, we are willing to be rescued from the world. We don’t want to serve two masters, have two goals, take two directions, be of a double mind, or have a divided heart! We choose Your direction. Lord, we choose to be rescued from the world to serve You! Give us the experiences of Christ we need that we may be rescued from the world and build up the church according to the pattern You revealed to us!
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, Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 14, 21, 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:
# We were bound in Egypt, building for the foe; / God of the Hebrews said, “Let My people go!” / We have crossed the Red Sea, reached the other side; / Pharaoh, his army, perished in the tide…. / We’re released, and now we build the house of God; / His tabernacle is our true abode. (Hymns #1271)
# Lord, increase Thyself within us / That we might be built by Thee / Into that great corporate vessel / Filled with God exclusively. (Hymns #1325)
# Within those whom You’d call / Put such a restless caring / For building to give all— / These times are for preparing; / The gates of hell cannot prevail / Against the builded Church! / The hours are few, the builders too— / Lord, build, O build in us! (Hymns #1248)
About aGodMan
Having been redeemed by the Passover lamb, we traveled through the wilderness and experienced Christ as the heavenly manna and enjoyed Him as the living water out of the cleft rock. Eventually, we were brought to Mount Sinai, and it is here that we have the church life, typified by the living of the children of Israel around the Tent of Meeting. Even if not all of us have entered into the tabernacle, we all are gathered around the Tent of Meeting, and we can see the cloud on the Tent of Meeting. Here there is no sin, no death, and no world. Here at the Tent of Meeting we have God in His presence and glory. Here we become His dwelling, and He becomes our dwelling. This is a mutual abode. With the Tent of Meeting what we have is not merely an individual expression; we have a people as God’s corporate expression. The goal of God’s purpose is to have such an expression through His redeemed people. This expression is the goal not only of God’s redemption, but also of His eternal purpose. What God desires is to have a corporate expression of Himself through His called and redeemed people. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 14)