Praise the Lord for the book of Exodus! Starting from this week for 11-12 weeks we will be enjoying the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the second part of Crystallization-Study of Exodus, which is focused on Exodus chs. 19-24 and a little of ch. 25. In our first study of Exodus we saw how God delivered His people from Egypt, provided for them in the wilderness, led them, reconstituted them, and made them His people.
In Exodus 19-24 the people of Israel are brought to a very special place – prior to this, God did a lot of work with His people corporately by delivering them, saving them, providing for them, and leading them, but this time He brought them to a special place, which is:
- A place of fellowship. Before Exo. 19 we see how God saved His people, delivered them, outwardly provided for them, and led them, but never before did He fellowship with them. We need to be brought on to have fellowship with the Lord, not only to know what He does for us but know Him!
- A place of worship. God brought His people to a place where they could worship Him. The children of Israel were finally brought to a place where they could worship God, as promised in Exo. 5:1, 10:9, 3:18, and 8:27. And to worship God doesn’t mean prostrating ourselves before Him but feasting with Him and offering sacrifices to Him, beholding God and eating and drinking in His presence.
- A place to know what God is. Before Exo. 19 God’s people knew about God, how He was the God of their forefathers, how He delivered them and provided for them, but they didn’t know God Himself. How did God make Himself known to His people? By the law with the ten commandments, which is a picture of who God is. The law has a positive meaning and function, which is to reveal to us who and what God is.
In Exo. 19 we see a big contrast: in the beginning of the chapter God was loving and tender, but later after God’s people responded to Him, the entire scenery and atmosphere changed. God told His people that He brought them to Himself on eagle’s wings as His personal treasure and possession to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
These are tender and personal words; God took care of His people as a mother eagle would care for the young eagles, and God led them through the wilderness in the kindness of their youth (see Jer. 2). He bore them to Himself, made them a personal treasure and a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, and they ate and drank.
But when they responded with, All that Jehovah said, we will do! – the entire atmosphere changed. There was thunder, lighting, the earth was shaking, there was fire, and the people trembled, there were words like death, perishing, and Moses went to God in deep darkness…. – this is the negative aspect, the “night aspect” of the law.
God’s law, His word revealing who He is, can be either negative or positive to us depending on our attitude and person. If we are the Lord’s loving seekers desiring to touch God, enjoy Him, and be in His presence, the law of God has a positive effect on us, infusing us with what God is.
But if we seek to “do what God says in His word”, desiring to obey God and fulfill all He said (in our own strength), the law of God has a negative effect on us. May the Lord’s word contained in His law be the living word of God that infuses His substance in us as His loving seekers!
The Law is the Testimony of God, the Expression of God, the Revelation of who God is
A law is always a revelation of what kind of person is; a robber would make a law that allows people to rob, and unrighteous people would make laws that reflect their unrighteousness. The law of God in the ten commandments is the testimony of God, the expression of God, the revelation of who God is to His people (see Exo. 16:34; 31:18; 32:15; 40:20; 25:21-22; 38:21; 20:1-17; Psa. 19:7; Gen. 1:26).
God regards the Ten Commandments, the ten laws, as “the ten words” (see Deut. 4:13; Exo. 34:28; 20:1). The ten words God spoke are a revelation of God Himself, since the words a person speaks are a revelation of that person. Our God is a speaking God, and we get to know Him through His speaking.
The Ten Commandments are divided in two groups of five: in the first five the sacred title “Jehovah your God” is used in each commandment, and in the second five God’s name is not used at all. The use of the Lord’s name is a determining factor in reckoning the arrangement of the Ten Commandments.
Since the law is a revelation of who God is, in the Ten Commandments we can see six major characteristics of God:
- God is jealous (Exo. 19:4-6; cf. 2 Cor. 11:2). Our God is a jealous God: He wants us to love Him and worship Him only, and not have any pictures of any other gods. He wants us to be exclusively for Him and not be “broad-minded” by keeping a picture of our “previous gods”. He wants us to call only on His name and have no other name besides Him. In a love relationship you don’t want the man to have pictures of other women besides his beloved; similarly, God loves us and we love God, and we should call only on His name and have only His image (not other idols or gods).
- God is holy (Exo. 20:7-11). Our God is not common. He set up the Sabbath for His people to be distinct, separate, and different from any other people on earth. Our God is a Holy God, and He makes us His holy people. We are not like the others: we are sanctified people having a holy God, and our God infuses His holy nature into us to make us holy as He is holy.
- God is loving (Exo. 19:12-15, 6; cf. Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14). If we keep His commandments, He loves us and blesses us generations after generations. No other religion speaks of a loving God; our God, the real and true God, is a loving God. Our God is a God of love; honoring our parents implies our loving them; if we love others, we will not steal from them. The Lord Jesus implied that the whole law is fulfilled by loving God and man (Matt. 22:37-40). The law is fulfilled in loving God with our whole being and in loving our neighbor as ourselves; we can love God and others because our God is love, and He is infusing His loving nature in us (Gal. 5:14).
- God is righteous (Exo. 20:5). Just because God is love doesn’t mean that He’s not righteous; if we sin against Him and break His law, He will visit our iniquity up to the third and even fourth generation. God doesn’t ignore our sins or unrighteousnesses; He has to judge sin and condemn it; because of His righteousness, Christ came and fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the law and of God, and now we are righteous in Christ before God.
- God is truthful (Exo. 20:16; cf. 1 John 1:5-6). He is the light: He speaks the truth, He is truth, and He wants us to not bear false witness or speak falsehood; our Yes should be Yes and our No should be No. Because God is truthful, we need to be honest and truthful as He is.
- God is pure (Exo. 20:2-3, 17; cf. Psa. 119:140). The last commandment doesn’t deal with anything outward but with the heart: we should not covet. The fact that we’re covetous shows that we’re not pure; only God is pure, but our heart, desires, and intentions are impure and unclean. We need the law to expose us and for God to purify our heart to be pure in every way and thus not to covet.
What a wonderful God we have! He brings us into fellowship with Himself and shows us who He is: He is jealously loving us, He’s holy, He’s loving, He’s righteous, He’s truthful, and He’s pure. When we see what God is, we will love Him!
Thank You Lord for giving us a clear picture of who and what You are through the law, the Ten Commandments. Lord, we love You. You are jealous, holy, loving, righteous, truthful, and pure. We come to You as Your loving seekers to be infused with all that You are and thus be made the same as You. Lord, amen, make us jealously loving You and Your people, holy and set apart for You, loving You and loving man, righteous as You are righteous, truthful and honest, and pure in heart as You are!
The Law is a Type of Christ as God’s Word and God’s Testimony, God’s Expression
Who can fulfill the law? Only Christ. Christ came as the word of God (John 1:1); the law was given through Moses, but grace and reality came through Jesus Christ (v. 18). As the word of God and the testimony of God, the law is a type of Christ as God’s word and God’s testimony, God’s expression (Rev. 19:13; 1:5; Col. 1:15).
Christ came and expressed God in a full and adequate way; He was jealous for God, He was holy, loving, righteous, truthful, and pure. Jesus Christ Himself is the essence and the reality of the law. Christ is the reality of God’s word and the reality of God’s testimony; when you see Christ, you see God expressed, defined, and explained.
As the law is the ten words describing God to His people, so Christ is the Word of God revealing God to us. Hallelujah for our Christ, the reality, essence, and fulfillment of the law of God!
Lord Jesus, we love You! You are God’s word and God’s testimony, God’s expression. You are the essence and fulfillment of the law of God. Thank You for coming to fulfill the law and be the reality of the law. Lord, we open to You: infuse Your element into us to make us Your loving seekers who become the same as You are, the testimony of Jesus! Praise the Lord!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, msg. 51 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 1 / msg 1, The Law – the Testimony of God Revealing him to His People and the Living Word of God to Infuse His Substance into His Loving Seekers.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# The law of letters God defines, / It is His testimony true; / It shows how loving, holy, just, / Is God, with whom we have to do. (Hymns #735)
# Jesus, O living Word of God, / Wash me and cleanse me with Your blood / So You can speak to me. / Just let me hear Your words of grace, / Just let me see Your radiant face, / Beholding constantly. (Song on God’s Living Word)
# O living Word of God, God’s image true, / Thou art the content of God’s written word; / God in Thee we have met, God’s fulness found, / And in the Scripture we Thyself have heard. (Hymns #801)
The law is a type, a figure, of Christ who speaks God, describes God, and expresses God. The law is, therefore, a type of Christ as God’s testimony. It is crucial for us to see that the law is a testimony which reveals God to us. As a type of Christ, it typifies Christ as God’s testimony, the One who describes God and expresses Him in a full and adequate way. As the law is the ten words of God which reveal God to His people, so Christ is the Word of God revealing God to us. (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, p. 602)