The history of the children of Israel is a type of the church, and the whole Bible gives us the revelation of God’s economy concerning the church.
This week in our crystallization-study of Deuteronomy we come to the matter of, Aspects of the Church Life under the Government of God, in which we focus on the statutes and judgements presented in Deuteronomy.
The statutes and judgements presented in Deut. 14:1-26:19 show not firstly what we need to do to please God but what kind of God we have.
They show how considerate, detailed, loving, tender, kind, merciful, gracious, symphatetic, humane, righteous, just, and fair our God is.
God’s statutes, ordinances, and judgements show us what kind of God we have; we as those who have God’s life must learn of God to be the same as He is (Eph. 5:1).
As believers in Christ, we need to walk before God and with God according to what He is; we have His divine life and nature, and because He lives in us, we can live this kind of life.
We are not supposed to outwardly obey this or that rule, neither are we to conform by ourselves to all the ordinances and judgements that Deuteronomy says; rather, we need to take God’s way and what God is so that we may be transformed into His image (2 Cor. 3:18).
Oh, what a God we have! His laws and ordinances and judgements really show His heart, His love, His character, and His being; and He is such a One so that we may match Him and be the same as He is.
We are not here to be law-keepers but loving seekers of God, those who love God and keep His word in their heart, allowing Him to work in them and do what He wants to do in them to make them the same as He is.
A law reflects the character and heart of the law-maker; the law of God reflects the kind of God we have.
Moses was successful in speaking forth the attributes and virtues of God, as they are expressed and manifested through the laws, ordinances, and commandments uttered by God and recorded by Moses.
What God wants is not people who obey His laws and commandments in themselves; He wants His people to breathe in His word, receive the essence of His commandments, and be constituted with the word of God, realizing that all Scripture is God-breathed.
Everything that comes out through the mouth of God is for our constituent, supply, and nourishment, so that we may eat God’s word, digest it, and assimilate it.
So this week as we come to the many aspects of the church life under the government of God, we need to realize that our attitude should be to love God, love His word, breathe Him in, and allow His word to work in us and be expressed through us.
Realizing that the History of Israel is a Type of the Church
In His administrative arrangement, God chose the children of Israel (His Old Testament people, the descendants of Abraham) and made them His people as a type of the church (Rom. 9:11-13; Acts 7:38).
In the Old Testament God chose a man, Abraham, and through Him He gained a called race; hundreds of years later, He gained a people, a corporate man, with whom He can work and through whom He can be expressed and manifested.
In the Old Testament the church is not mentioned in plain words, but there are types that portray the church.
For example, Gen. 2:21-24 mentions Even, who is a type of the church coming out of Christ and being absolutely in the resurrection life of Christ, returning to Christ as her Husband to match Him for their marriage life.
Similarly, in 1 Chron. 28:11-19 we see the temple with its ordinances as a type of the church as the temple of God for God’s expression on the earth.
The greatest type and the most all-inclusive type of the church in the Old Testament is the people of Israel with their history and their experiences.
The things they went through as a nation – as mentioned in the Old Testament – is a type of the church, and both Peter and Paul have applied many of the aspects of their experience to the church.
In Hebrews and 1 Corinthians Paul points out clearly that what happened to the children of Israel is a type of the believers; what happened to them in the wilderness especially is an example to all of us (1 Cor. 10:6).
The entire history of Israel is a story of the church.
Some of the milestones or major events in the history of the people of Israel in Exodus – Numbers are the deliverance from Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, passing through the wilderness, the experiences of rebelling against God and being judged by God, God feeding them day by day, God providing water for them to drink, the experience at Mara and Meriba, the revelation of the tabernacle, the priesthood, the Ark, following God’s lead, being formed as an army, being formed as a corporate priesthood, and being made ready to enter into the good land.
Then in Joshua and Judges we see how they took the good land by following God’s lead and being one with God, each being allotted a portion of the land, defeating the enemies in the land, falling under God’s judgement as they followed different gods, and being rescued from the hands of the enemies.
Then for the rest of the Old Testament we have God’s speaking through the prophets, the children of Israel being degraded and taken into captivity, and God delivering them and returning some of them – a remnant – to the place of God’s choice to rebuild the city and the temple.
The Old Testament ends with the children of Israel awaiting the coming of Messiah, Christ; they expected the coming of Christ in His first coming.
All these are a type of our experience as the church, and they can be spiritually interpreted as applying to the church, the New Testament people of God; they depict God’s economy concerning the church.
Seeing God’s Economy concerning the Church: how the History of Israel is a Type of the Church
In the Old Testament the church is not mentioned in plain words; however, there are many types that portray the church and show God’s economy concerning the church.
What happened to the children of Israel is a type of us, and the entire history of Israel is a history of the church.
The whole Bible shows us two histories – the history of the people of Israel in the Old Testament as a type, and the history of the church in the New Testament as the reality and fulfillment.
The entire Bible gives us one revelation, the revelation of God’s economy concerning the church; we see this in type in the Old Testament and in reality in the New Testament.
Before God came in to accomplish His economy, He first put out a type, a figure, a shadow; in His economy the people of Israel are just a type, a figure, a shadow, and the church is the reality.
The children of Israel, as the chosen people of God, are the greatest collective type of the church, in which we see that the church is chosen and redeemed by God, enjoys Christ and the Spirit as the life supply, builds God’s habitation, inherits Christ as its portion, degrades and is captured, is recovered, and awaits Christ’s coming.
The Bible contains two histories — the history of Israel and the history of the church (Acts 7:1-53; Rev. 2—3).
In the Old Testament we have a type, a picture, of God’s economy concerning the church, and in the New Testament God’s economy concerning the church is fulfilled (1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:10; 3:9-11).
Israel being in Egypt under slavery typifies the believers being in the world under its slavery and usurpation.
The Passover is a type of Christ, who is our Passover (2 Cor. 5:7); He is the Lamb of God, the reality of the bitter herbs, and the unleavened bread, and His blood covers us to protect us and cause God’s judgement to pass over us.
The people of Israel crossing the Red Sea typifies our baptism; we are baptized in the death waters in the death of Christ and rise up in resurrection to be a new creation in Christ.
Israel’s journey through the wilderness is a type of our wandering in the wilderness of our soul and our Christian walk today on earth.
Israel’s having a revelation of and building the tabernacle is a type of our having a revelation of and building the church according to God’s specific instructions.
The various experiences of the children of Israel in the wilderness also typify the church’s experience of God’s care, His discipline, and His provision and guidance to prepare and form the believers into an army to enter into the possession and enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ as the good land.
The children of Israel entering into the possession of the good land is a type of the church entering into the enjoyment and possession of the all-inclusive Christ as the reality of the good land.
The various experiences of the children of Israel in the good land, including them following in apostasy, being recovered to God, building the temple, defeating their enemies, and serving God, all are a type of our experience as the church, showing us God’s economy concerning the church.
Israel becoming degraded and being taken in captivity in Babylon is a type of the church being degraded. In Rev. 17 the Lord called the degraded church “the great harlot”, the Great Babylon (Rev. 17:1, 5).
The fact that some in Israel took the lead to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city with its walls and the temple is a type of the overcomers, those in the church who return to the genuine ground of oneness to build God’s testimony and represent Him on earth.
The people of Israel awaiting the coming of Messiah (the first coming of Christ) is a type of the church awaiting the Lord’s second return.
May we see all these types of the church and praise the Lord that today we are in the fulfillment of God’s economy concerning the church!
Praise You Lord Jesus for making us the church, the Body of Christ! Thank You for God’s economy concerning the church as seen in the people of Israel in the Old Testament being a type of the church, and their history being a type of our experience! Hallelujah, we have been chosen and redeemed by God, we enjoy Christ and the Spirit as our life and life-supply, we build God’s habitation, and we inherit the all-inclusive Christ as our portion. Thank You Lord that, even though the church is degraded and captured, we are being recovered back to God’s original intention, we build up the church on the ground of oneness to become God’s corporate expression! Amen, Lord Jesus, we are waiting for Your return, and we want to be prepared as Your bride to hasten Your return!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Living a Life according to the High Peak of God’s Revelation,” pp. 179-181, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 11, Aspects of the Church Life under the Government of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Lord, Thou art our true Passover, / God passed over us thru Thee; / By Thyself and Thy redemption / We with God have harmony. (Hymns #196)
– Down in Babylon, in captivity, / Oh, the Lord has stirred our spirit up! / Scattered everywhere, without unity, / Oh, the Lord has stirred our spirit up! (Hymns #1252)
– Now on the earth the church we see, / God’s kingdom here expressed, / Where He has full authority / His rule to manifest. / The place where Satan has to flee / Our mighty conquering rod, / The kingdom through the church will be / Brought to the earth for God. (Hymns #1296)
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